The Face of the Deep (on Revelation); Poems

The revelation and record are to be of things seen, and which are and which shall be; not of opinions or of fancies. A world 'of mere opinions and mere fancies, of day-dreams and castles in the air, is antagonistic to the true and substantial world of revelation, and is more hollow and unavailing than was Jonah's gourd. " Now it is high time to awake out of sleep."

The mystery of the seven stars and the seven candlesticks is both revealed and explained. Thenceforward mystery after mystery will be revealed, but not necessarily explained. It is nobler to believe than to understand.

O only Lord God, Father of lights and Maker of darkness, send forth Thy light and Thy truth that they may lead us through dimness of things seen to clarity of things unseen. For our Lord Jesus Christ's sake, the Light of the world.

" Behold the height of the stars, how high they are! "

The star floats in heaven, and has no contact with earth except by sending thither its own radiance. It bestows light, and grasps at nothing in return. Earthborn clouds stop short at an immeasurable distance below its altitude: it is a celestial creature, a recluse by day, a watcher by night; its bands regu late it within its assigned orbit, its sweet influences stream forth unbound to all within its radius. God Almighty, without Whom was not anything made that was made, made the stars also.

The candlestick is of gold, weighty, firm, and it cannot stand without a foundation. Its luminosity is derived, being no feature of its original self; effectually kindled, yet ever liable to extinction. Without fuel the flame expires, without air it cannot exist: it cannot kindle or rekindle itself, or feed itself, or maintain itself. " What hast thou that thou didst not receive? "

O God, our God, Who makest both high and low, grant unto the lofty to look down in Christ-like self-abasement, andunto the lowly to look up in Christ-like self- oblation. Accept Thy great and small, I beseech Thee, in Jesus Christ, Who loveth first and last. Amen.

1. Unto the angel of the Church of Ephesus write; These things saith He that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand, Who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.

" He telleth the number of the stars; He calleth them all by their names."

Concerning Himself God Almighty proclaimed of old: " I AM THAT I AM," and man's inherent feeling of personality seems in some sort to attest and correspond to this revelation: I who am myself cannot but be myself. I am what God has constituted me: so that however I may have modified myself, yet do I remain that same I; it is I who live, it is I who must die, it is I who must rise again at the last day. I rising again out of my grave must carry on that very life which was mine before I died, and of which death itself could not altogether snap the thread. Who I was I am, who I am I am, who I am I must b^ for ever and ever.

I the sinner of to-day am the sinner of all the yesterdays of my life. I may loathe myself or be amazed at myself, but I cannot unself myself for ever and ever.

There is no refuge, no hiding-place in multitude. The associated stars and candlesticks conceal not nor shelter that one star and one candlestick which God bringeth into judgment. Yet whilst no man may deliver his brother, there is dignity, joy, comfort, a present blessing and a future beatitude in the Communion of Saints.

Lord, make me one with Thine own faithful ones, Thy Saints who love Thee and are loved by Thee; Till the day break and till the shadows flee

And him who yearns for union yet to be; At one with all who throng the crystal sea And wait the setting of our moons and suns. Ah, my beloved ones gone on before,

If beautiful to me while still in sight, How beautiful must be your aspects now;

Your unknown, well-known aspects in that light Which clouds shall never cloud for evermore.

2. I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:

3. And hast borne, and hast patience, and for My Name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.

Our Lord saith, " I know," and proceedeth to enumerate the graces of His Church, as the bridegroom sets forth the loveliness of the bride. "Behold, thou art fair, My love; behold, thou art fair." He will not blame until first He hath praised: He lays the firm foundation of His approval before He upbraids for a spreading leprosy in her superstructure. He doth not change His affection though He must needs change His voice: " O, My dove, thou art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let Me see thy countenance, let Me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely. Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes." He Who is Himself the True Vine, He best knoweth what shame it is, what loss, what ruin to any branch which is spoiled. Better the smart of to-day's pruning than of to-morrow's lopping.

The Church of Ephesus seems prepared to say: " All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? " and we to answer: " Surely the Lord's anointed is before Him." For how many of ourselves perform half the deeds which yet availed not to clear Ephesus?

Here are genuine works, not mere eye-service; labour through the burden and heat of the day; patience tried and not found wanting; abhorrence of what is abominable; sifting and upholding of truth to the unmasking of Satan, though he simulate an angel of light; endurance outliving impulse; and in this catalogue of virtues, two which appear at the beginning reappear at the end; patience whose silver cord has not broken despite the long, strong strain put upon it, and labour now certified as done for Christ's Name's sake. Moreover, the doer of these great things fainteth not, but at the weakest moment is at least as Gideon with his three hundred of old, faint yet pursuing.

May not Ephesus aver: " Lo, these many years do I serve Thee, neither transgressed I at any time Thy commandment "? Nay, of a truth: Ephesus may not so much as plead trem bling: " We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do."

4. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

Behold the worm in the gourd! All that gracious verdure and flourishing luxuriance is death-stricken. " The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: the grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever."

Love shaken, all totters. Love expiring, all perishes. For the first and great commandment is in effect: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy being, and with all thy powers. Whoso transgresses this commandment is verily guilty of the whole law.

It is not that such an one offers nothing, but he has volun tarily come down to offering less. He is as an ebbing, who was as a mounting wave. Many a leaf still green hangs long in autumn, but only the green leaves of spring attain to summer perfection. Ananias and Sapphira offered somewhat, for aught we know they offered much; but they possessed more than they offered, and what they withheld and the spirit in which they withheld it invalidated what they presented.

The Searcher of hearts saith not that Ephesus had renounced love, but that Ephesus had left its first love.

Whereby one or both of two lapses may be understood: a decline from a standard once attained, or a turning aside from a former centre of attraction. Either lapse must perhaps entail the other; the second inevitably the first.

O, my God, Fountain of Love, we know not but Thou knowest which of us hath fallen from first love. Have patience with us and we will pay Thee all, Thou Thyself furnishing the love we owe. If Thou furnish it not, whence shall we fetch it? Have pity, have mercy upon us and we will pay Thee all, hiding ourselves in the merits of Jesus Christ.

" Somewhat against thee," saith the patience and meekness of Christ, Very God and Very Man. He rejects not a scanty remnant; rather He stoops to gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. In the former days having feasted others on whole barley loaves He deigned Himself, as I suppose, to eat of the broken victuals. Now by a more amazing con descension He stoops to crave a revival of love. He seeketh His one strayed sheep, although not alone the ninety and nine which went not astray are His, but so also are all the beasts of the forest and the cattle upon a thousand hills.

Long ago God Almighty had said: " If I were hungry, I would not tell thee "; now, on the contrary, He tells us, as though to sinners might be applied that sacred sentence: " Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the Lord your God?"

What seekest Thou from hill to hill? Sweet were the valley pastures, sweet The sound of flocks that bleat their joys,

I Who chose death and clomb a hill, Accounting gall and wormwood sweet, That hundredfold might bud My joys For love's sake and good will.

5. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto th.ee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

Ah, Lord, Who biddest us remember our shameful falls, re member Thou Thy long-suffering and bounties. As righteous Zacharias attested Thy remembrance of Thy holy covenant, as St. Mary, blessed to all generations, bore witness that Thou hast holpen Israel in remembrance of Thy mercy, so for good remember us.

As the thief on his cross besought Thee, saying, " Lord, re member me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom," so now and ever remember us.

By all that Thou alone rememberest, O Thou, Whose is the awful Book of Remembrance, for good and not for evil re member us.

" Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him, until He plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: He will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold His righteousness."

" Repent, and do the first works."

" None, except destruction, a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation."

" Yea, assured and boundless hope. For if what man has done, man may do, much more what a man has once done, he, by God's help, may do again; and that very word, ' do the first works,' certifies that when formerly done they were acceptable. Do them once more, cease not to do them, do them with thy first love, do them with more love than ever because now thou more needest forgiveness, and at the eleventh hour well is thee and happy shalt thou be."

It often happens at church that wandering thoughts are recalled at a moment when no prayer specially interesting to ourselves is being offered; we are tempted to catch up one we have missed, or to look forward to one still to come. Yet here at this very point lies our vantage-ground; now is our oppor tunity for self-discipline. By resolutely checking any indulgence of favourite petitions; by instantly, simply, honestly concen trating attention on the matter in hand, there seems good hope that gradually a habit of attention may be formed.

Shrink as we may from facing the consequences of our faults, yet lost opportunities are and must remain lost. If I pray not at the hour of prayer, the hour passes, and I have not prayed; if I pray not the appointed prayer at the appointed moment, the moment passes and I have not obeyed. In God's strength let us face the consequences of our sins. Sins are worse than their consequences.

To improve all our prayers is to improve our favourite prayers amongst the rest. — Is not this appealing to a secondary motive? — Yes; and I hope innocent secondary motives may be called in to reinforce the prime motive; our whole strength thus becomes concentrated in one effort made in one direction. The spring-tide is strong, the neap-tide comparatively weak, because the first obeys sun and moon attracting in unison, the second is subject to their forces acting at cross purposes.

" Or else I will come unto thee quickly," — the desire and salvation of saints, the horror and overthrow of impenitent sinners. He Who comes is the same; in them to whom He comes lies all the difference. To such a word St. John will afterwards reply: " Even so, come, Lord Jesus." Lord, teach us to pray.

"Quickly."— Guilty fear mutters, "Art Thou come hither to torment us before the time?" Innocence and sanctity cry out, "Why tarry the wheels of His chariots?" Penitence re joins meekly: "The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him. to the soul that seeketh Him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord."

"Remove thy candlestick out of his place." — He saith not abolish or extinguish, but " remove "; surely there lingers a gleam of hope for them whose candlestick is as yet only removed. Judah carried afar into captivity, repented, and was brought back to his own borders.

Repentance averts judgment, repentance reverses judgment, repentance recovers " two legs, or a piece of an ear " out of the very mouth of the lion.

To repentance all is promised. But alas! to us repentance itself is not promised.

Lord Jesus, the Fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness, Who promisest forgiveness to penitence, but reservest penitence to Thyself to give or to deny; deny us not that penitence which Thou acceptest, and which Thou alone canst give.

6. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.

"Ye that love the Lord, hate evil; He preserveth the souls of His saints/'

Good it is to hate what Christ hateth; better still to love what He loveth, and what He is. If hatred be our strongest feature of Christ-likeness, well may we betake ourselves to dust and ashes, to repentance and first works; for without love, to hate even the same object is to hate it out of a far different heart. Pride may hate much that is contemptible, fastidious ness much that is foul, softness much that is cruel; but what has pride or fastidiousness or sensual softness in common with Christ? If all human virtues are to be mistrusted, sifted, tested, not least that virtue of hatred which has for counterfeit a deadly sin.

Nevertheless Christ clearly commends hatred, and what He commends we are bound to aim at. For great saints there may be a direct royal road thither, for ordinary sinners a circuitous path may possibly prove safer if not shorter.

Extremes meet; therefore let us work our way round to hatred by way of love. A long round perhaps, but an abso lutely safe one. Were we even to die in mid-pilgrimage we might hope to be accepted according to that we had, if not according to that we had not.

Moreover, however slowly, yet surely, love does infallibly breed a hatred akin to the Divine hatred. Such hatred abso lute, unqualified, irreconcilable, is restricted to the one odious object. To love involves of necessity the capacity for hatred; how shall we not hate that which may sever ourselves from the supreme desire of our hearts, or may destroy others whom we love as ourselves?

And when we have learned so much of the science of love and hatred, we shall be ready to add: How much more shall we not hate that which doeth despite to the God of all good ness? Which solitary odious thing is sin.

The difficulty of hating aright is intensified by our predis position towards hating amiss.

Lord of all power and might, bestow upon us, I beseech Thee, both love and hatred; but only that hatred which is a form and fruit of love. For Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.

"The deeds of the Nicolaitanes." — Commentators explain that the Nicolaitanes (see also ver. 15) were misbelievers of impure life. A suggestion which brands as their founder Nicolas of Antioch, seventh on the catalogue of the firstordained seven deacons (Acts vi. 5, 6), is not to my knowledge supported by historical proof.

Whoever was their founder, their deeds and doctrines were hateful to Christ, Who is both righteousness and truth. St. John instructs us how "he that doeth righteousness is righteous"; thus doing, we shall keep free from the guilt of the Nicolaitanes; moreover thus doing we shall escape the contamination of their doctrines, in right of our Lord's own comforting declaration: " If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God."

To avoid the contagion of their example is the essential point. If still we feel curious to ascertain what the Nicolaitanes actually professed and did, although clearly such knowledge is not necessary to our salvation, let us rather ponder the words of St. Paul on a congruous subject: "It is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret/' — lest we should degrade ourselves like any against whom elsewhere he bears witness: " Unto them that are denied and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.''

7. He that hath, an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

By it we are instantly reminded of that reiterated saying of our Lord's, recorded in their Gospels by SS. Matthew, Mark, Luke, but not (I believe) by St. John: " He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."

If I may venture to study both the similarity and the difference between the two forms, it seems to me that our Master's in vitation has a wider and (if I may call it so) a more elementary sound. He appeals to all within reach of His blessed Voice: " To you is the word of this salvation sent." It was at the outset of a new dispensation, a first call of sinners to come out of the world and become saints. It was, as by the prophet of old, " Ho, every one." The words of winning mercy issued from the lips full of grace; the Aspect of unutterable attraction, as He spake, was visible to all who would behold. In that day He called not the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

The message of the Spirit being addressed " unto the Churches," suggests that the hearer who is called upon to hear it is in heart no alien, but one already concerned in the import of the message; one who, having actually started on his course, now needs the advanced graces of perseverance and patience; or at the very least one who, being predisposed with open face to behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord, is apt to be changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. The mere word' "an ear" instead of " ears," reminding us of that single eye which is the light of the body, suggests that this is the parallel ear, the purged ear which hearing the Word of God is blessed, inasmuch as he that heareth is a doer and not a hearer only.

But there is a quite different train of thought unconnected perhaps with any argument to be founded on the words of our text, yet to which these may lead us as to a blameless, pious contemplation and exercise of devout gratitude. "An ear": how does God accept the poorest offering if it be all a man has to proffer. Thus elsewhere we are certified of the oneeyed, one-footed, one-handed penitents who shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. The lame and the blind might be haled of David's soul; to the Son of David they are dear as the apple of the eye.

Of old Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt Thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? and urging his in tercession onward and downward, at length obtained a promise of safety for all the cities of the plain, could ten righteous be found in Sodom. He fixed ten as the extreme boundary of what he dared implore; at ten he became dumb, and opened not his mouth, for it was God's doing; could ten not be found, Abraham acquiesced in the threatened de struction. But long ages afterwards, what saith God Al mighty Himself of that Jerusalem which by the mouth of Isaiah He once upbraided under the name of Sodom and Gomorrah? Speaking yet again by the Prophet Jeremiah, He saith: " Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it."

Human charity laid hand on mouth at ten. Divine charity sought and sifted, and would have pardoned for the sake of one.

O God, all-Good, Father all-Merciful, Who didst provide Thine own Lamb for Thy Burnt Offering, even the One Man for Whom Thou soughtest; for His sake Who died in our stead that we should not also die, pardon and save us, the very sinners for whom He died.

" What the Spirit saith." — Is it then no longer Christ that speaketh? Surely it is the All-Holy Christ Who speaketh by His Spirit; and the All-Holy Spirit Who speaketh being One with the Father and the Son. Whatso each Divine Person doeth, the Godhead doeth.

With the ability to hear stands indissolubly connected the obligation to hear. He that hath an ear cannot make himself like him that hath none. He who has heard cannot make himself like him who has never heard. By shrinking from hearing more the sluggard or the coward bears witness against himself to having already heard somewhat.

"Unto the Churches." — Not only to that one Church primarily addressed, but to all Churches throughout all generations. To the Church of England now, as to the Church of Ephesus then.

A message to my neighbour! True; but equally a message to myself. If I long to improve my neighbour, the first step towards so doing is to improve myself: "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye."

" To him that overcometh." — We are not here told what he overcometh in particular, but looking back it becomes clear that in this instance the foe to be overcome is the defaulter's own self; his accusation concerning neither word nor deed, but motive, the deep-seated spring of conduct, the inner man of the heart. " Ye did run well; who did hinder you? "

Ephesus appears like Ephraim of old: " Strangers have de voured his strength, and he knoweth it not; yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth it not." St. Paul writes: "As dying, and, behold, we live"; concerning Ephesus the sentence might be reversed: As living, and, behold, they die. If in fall vitality they begin to die, how being half dead shall they retrieve their life? "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible." "He giveth

mere grace. Wherefore He saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble."

And what will He give? " To eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God," thereby reversing Adam's doom: "The Lord God said... Now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden... And He placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubims, and a naming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life."

Thus the eastern gate, the gate of light, shut out man into darkness; immortal cherubim barred him from the precincts of life; flame repelled him into the cold of death; until the times of refreshing should come from theXord, and to Christ's brethren every loss should be made up, yea, and much more also.

Christ is our Tree of Life, whereof even now we eat and drink in the Sacrament of His most Blessed Body and Blood; even now whilst, please God, we are overcoming, though we have not yet overcome. "Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled." He " the Branch," foretold by prophets, He " the True Vine," revealed by His own lips, He now is man kind's centre to which turn eyes and hearts. Long ago the Tree of Life so stood in the midst of Eden, and so in vision St. John beheld it stand in the midst of the street of Holy New Jerusalem (see ch. xxii. 2).

If we could forget the Vine's sweetness, can we forget how it left its sweetness to become our King? If we could forget the Tree of Life, can we forget that tree of death whereon Christ hung that so He might be indeed our life?

O our Saviour, grant us grace to love Thee in and above all Thy gifts, and to love Thy gifts because of Thee.

" The Paradise of God ":— were it not "of God " it would not be Paradise. " In My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."

Paradise is God's by right, man's by grace. In its midst Christ, Very God and Very^Ian, stands symbolized by the Tree of Life; later on we read of the Lamb " in the midst" of the Throne. In an awe-striking mystery we seem thus to behold Christ not centre of humankind alone, or of all creation alone; but even Christ in the Bosom of the Father, the Beloved Son in Whom the Father Himself is well pleased.

That Eden of earth's sunrise cannot vie \Vith Paradise beyond her sunset sky Hidden on high.

Four rivers watered Eden in her bliss, But Paradise hath One which perfect is In sweetnesses.

Eden had gold, but Paradise hath gold Like unto glass of splendours manifold Tongue hath not told.

Eden had sun and moon to make her bright; But Paiadise hath God and Lamb for light, And hath no night.

Unspotted innocence was Eden's best; Great Paradise shows God's fulfilled behest, Triumph and rest.

Hail, Eve and Adam, source of death and shame! ]New life has sprung from death, and Jesu's Name Clothes you with fame.

Hail Adam and hail Eve! your children rise And call you blessed, in their glad surmise Of Paradise.

8. And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the First and the Last, which was dead, and is alive.

He Who was made like unto us knoweth whereof we are made; and that we are but dust well may He remember Who died and was buried, although it was not possible that He should see corruption or be holden of death. He feels with us as well as for us: He died, as we all must die; He lives again, as by His grace we all may rise to life everlasting. Thus He maketh Himself all things to all men, willing by all means to save us. His death and His life as it were salute us: O ye dead, believe on Me and ye shall live; O ye living, believe, and ye shall never die.

9. I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.

The Searcher of hearts has no word of blame for Smyrna, only encouragement, approval, benediction. Her oblation is threefold: works, tribulation, poverty. Yet Ephesus exhibited a longer list of offerings, Ephesus whose heart was not right

with God. " From all blindness and hardness of heart, good Lord, deliver us."

Of those three acceptable offerings, one alone properly appertained to Smyrna; her works, that is; and even these were wrought only by aid of Divine grace. Tribulation, whether we regard it as simply equivalent to affliction, or tracing it to its root call it rather sifting, was her appointed discipline: poverty (unless voluntary) was her assigned condition.

O Gracious and Bounteous Lord God, Who furnishing our offering acceptest it, blessed be Thou for ever and ever, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Nothing on earth is a substitute for performance of duty, be that duty what it may. Affliction cannot exempt us, nor great searchings of heart, nor poverty: these are conditions under which to work, not workers in our stead. "Is any among you afflicted? let him pray," prayer being practical and promotive of practice.

Yet deeds wrought in God become eminently glorious when wrought under stress of sorrow with patience and fear, with faith, hope, and charity. Such affliction will turn to gladness, such sifting and testing will certify, such poverty will enrich.

My God, openest Thou to us such possibilities, profferest Thou such vast grace and glory, and shall bapti/ed Christians, being harnessed, turn themselves back in the day of battle? Not so, Lord Jesus, for Thine own sake.

"If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small."

"But thou art rich." — Neither is all wealth poor, nor all poverty rich. That widow who cast two mites into the sacred treasury, by so doing became rich, but had she kept them she had remained simply "a poor widow." God then sat in the congregation of princes visibly as Judge: still He sits invisibly: yet a little while and again He will sit visibly. Now He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver: then He will acknowledge every gift He has purified and accepted. God will be no man's debtor.

Then will come to light transfigured every offering in righteousness. The gold, frankincense, myrrh of wise men; the boats and nets of fishermen; the money of the exchanger; the loaves and small fishes of disciples; the ointment and alabaster box of loving women; houses, lands; a cup of cold water. All riches which have spread wings and flown away as eagles "toward heaven, shall then reappear as treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.

Is it difficult to realize the transcendent riches of poverty? To me it should not be impossible. For once I knew a holy woman, who having given up one possession which was very dear to her, foresaw with delight the regaining it imperishable. To have known her long and intimately was a course of spiritual training: may it not turn to my condemnation.

" The synagogue of Satan." — Evil neighbourhood ranks amongst the trials of the Church of Smyrna, all whose trials however were privileges and potential blessings. Still, when ever evil is the appointed channel of grace, there is obviously peril involved: as St. Paul warned his Corinthian flock, " evil communications corrupt good manners." Whilst doubly lovely by contrast appears that "lily among thorns," which surmount ing them blossoms in their despite, elsewhere we read of good grain choked and ruined by thorns which sprung up in its company.

" Lead us not into temptation " is one enjoined prayer. Yet when we fall into divers temptations we are to count it all joy, because the trying of faith worketh patience. " Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him."

" I know the blasphemy of them," saith the Judge; yet knowing it, He permitted His outraged Church to sojourn within hearing of that blasphemy. A comfort to all Christians who involuntarily remain exposed to so keen a trial. "Hallowed by Thy name. Deliver us from evil."

" The synagogue of Satan." — As then certain non-Jews called themselves Jews, and composed in fact Satan's Synagogue, so now presumably there may be non-Christians, who calling themselves Christians, are the Church of Satan. Touching which ghastly possibility it is well to pray for others as for ourselves, but to mistrust ourselves rather than others. My self in some degree I am bound to know and am bound to judge.

My permitted wanderings in prayer dishonour God's Holy Name. My indulged rebellious feelings deny His love.

O Merciful Lord Jesus, cast me not out, forget not me as I have forgotten Thee. For us all, Amen.

10. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

" Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer." — O God our Father, Who callest us to be Thy children, give us filial fear and self-mistrustful fear; and toward all beside courage indomitable, for our great Champion's sake, Jesus Christ. Amen.

I who thro' dread of death do daily die By daily foretaste of an unfelt pain. Lo, I depart who shall not come again;

As a leaf trembling, as a wheel I fly, While death flies faster and my flight is vain. Chastened not slain, cast down but not destroyed:—

They too pent passions in a house of clay, Fear and desire and pangs and ecstasies; Yea, then they joyed who now are overjoyed,

" Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried." — Though it be the devil's doing, yet are not those saints to fear. They might be bound, but the Word of God could not be bound. Moreover their bodies might be bound, but not their souls; these would still sit in heavenly places with Christ Jesus. Even their bodies, because temples of the Holy Ghost, would remain " Christ's freemen " while in bonds; for where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

What then could Satan bind? Flesh and blood which shall not inherit the kingdom of God: the outer man of spiritual per sons who used to spend themselves in going about to do good, and who would find and recover their strength in sitting still.. Thus Satan wrought evil in will but good in effect. Alleluia!

" The trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, want ing nothing.'*

"And ye shall have tribulation ten days." — It may be that even the excellent souls addressed understood not what period that cipher indicated. At any rate I assuredly understand it not. But wisdom transcends understanding; and doubtless this word is capable of instructing us, God helping an honest endeavour.

There is comfort in the certainty that though the limit of any trial be hidden from me, by God that limit is prefixed and is all along well known; the end is planned and adjusted from the beginning. As the hairs of our head, so the throbs of our agony are all numbered. Nor do "ten" seem so very many: one over, but nine remain, and so on and on; till one by one all arrive, pass by, are finished.

Ten commandments compose a complete scheme of righteous ness. Ten days even of tribulation will not be an excessive period wherein to practise their observance.

David had his instrument of ten strings whereon to worship God. Our ten days of weeping may emit as sweet a harmony of prayer and praise, and as triumphant a note of victory.

Ten days are as ten talents for each good and faithful servant to employ profitably.

Ten days of darkness may shine to the glory of God, like ten lighted lamps of wise virgins, who with oil in their vessels go forth to meet the bridegroom.

Ten days of trial should be treasured more than ten pieces of silver: holy souls take jealous heed lest one be wasted or lost.

Our ten days (alas!) at their best will by taint of sinfulness show more or less like ten lepers. At least let us secure that on each of them God be thanked and worshipped.

Ten days are as ten servants entrusted with ten pounds capable of multiplication.

Ten days of discipline may become as Hezekiah's ten degrees on the sundial certifying recovery: only, blessed be God! they go forward and not backward.

O God, through Whose good Providence Daniel and his fellows flourished by reason of ten days' cheerful austerity; grant to us, I beseech Thee, like good will and a happy issue out of all our afflictions. For our Saviour Jesus Christ's sake.

Our Lord in His own Person was " faithful unto death," thereby winning the " Crown of Life " He weareth. Shall we bemoan ourselves because He bids us do as He once did, and be made like Him as He now is?

Faithful unto death. We often think of it as if it must demand a long as well as an unflinching effort; and so indeed it may demand, but we know not whether it will. One moment may suffice, for aught we truly know to the contrary. One moment's effort: the weakest might undertake so much.

Or if ever so long a strain be required, God's strength is always stronger than strong enough.

Let us not despise others or ourselves for a mere instinctive dread of death; while we observe that Christ Who by ex perience knew the bitterness of death, here sets death as the test of man's faithfulness and limit of his endurance. [If such a meaning may be understood as included in the charge to be faithful unto death.]

If we fear not, let us thank God and do valiantly. If we fear, let us thank God and take courage, offering up our fear to Him Who Himself was heard in that He feared.

Great is their grace who instead of choosing their offering simply offer whatever they have; as Jacob of old in extremity of danger took of that which came to his hand a present.

The faithful alone appear thoroughly furnished to treat of faithfulness. Yet since many truths admit of being vividly set forth by help of negatives, even unfaithfulness viewed as a sort of negation need not altogether strike us dumb, so long as we are hoping and aiming at obedience to Christ's injunction. If we cannot acquire faithfulness at once, let us patiently, humbly, anxiously, unlearn unfaithfulness. Till we can affirm truth, at least let us deny error.

The resolute unlearning of unfaithfulness is in fact the practice of faithfulness. " Cease to do evil; learn to do well,' hang together. The Ten Commandments are mainly conveyed by negatives.

Be faithful unto death. Christ proffers thee Crown of a life that draws immortal breath:

To every living soul that same He safth, " Be faithful: " — whatsoever else we be, Let us be faithful challenging His faith.

Tho' trouble storm around us like the sea, Tho' hell surge up to scare us and to scathe,

O Lord, Thy gift is better than any earnings, and Thou Thyself art better than Thy gift. " Thy love is better than wine."

"A crown of life." — Life had appeared no small boon, and must always have been beyond fallen man's utmost deserts. But Christ's promise goes far beyond bare life, and mounts up to dignity, beauty, a garment of praise. " For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly."

We live after a sort, but all the while we are dying. We who dying live can form no conception of what the true, full, unstricken, undying life will be. Life, though along with many pleasures and alleviations, is now a matter of pains and aches, hunger and thirst, faintness and weariness: this is the life we experience. That other life will not be such; we realize not yet what it will be.

Once in his life "Israel said, It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die." For the moment love and joy because of another's life cast out the sting though not the foresight of death.

O Lord Jesus, Who being yet alive art alive for evermore, and Who to every faithful soul art " better than ten sons," fill us with such love of Thee, and such joy in Thy joy, that for us also death in foresight may lose its sting. Amen for us all, Amen.

"A crown of life." — Of what fashion shall such a crown be? St. Paul speaks of an amaranthine crown, contrasting it with earth's fading crowns of victory. And later in this Book of Revelations we read of crowns of gold.

We may hope to discern in celestial crowns every adornment of all possible crowns. Gracefulness of leaves, loveliness of flowers, endearment (if I may call it so) of tendrils, permanence of gold, lustre and tints of jewels. Such crowns I hope to see on heads I have venerated and loved here.

Meanwhile, because our dear Lord, flower of humankind and comparable with fine gold (though fine gold sufnceth not to compare with Him), was contented on earth to be crowned with a crown of thorns; let us be patient, contented, thankful, to wait on in hopes of a crown of life and glory.

" Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart."

Our King Whom we behold is not only the wisest of Men but is Very Wisdom Incarnate. He summons us to behold Him; He waits if so be we will turn and behold Him. His Crown is a Crown of Thorns transcending any which Solomon in all his glory put on. His mother crowned Him therewith, Eve the mother of us all, Eve whose wilfulness brought in death, Eve to whom the victorious Seed was promised. And it was in the day of His espousals, when He betrothed to Himself His bride the Church, that in Will and purpose He assumed this crown, making ready to " leave His Father " and cleave unto His wife. Moreover it was in gladness of His heart that He put it on, in the eternal unbroken calm of Divine goodwill and good pleasure. Afterwards, for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the Cross, despising the shame; and doubtless when beforehand He counted the cost, He anticipated also the ensuing joy. His Love (as it were) forgets the anguish, for joy of our new birth; only never may our love forget it; forget that glorious shame for our sakes against which He set His Face as a flint, that sorrow for our sakes like which there is no second sorrow.

11. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

" Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory."

Parallels cannot converge. If Christ the Life occupy and pervade us, death cannot annex us. Death may run alongside of us all our days, and hold out hands of invitation to seduce us, or clench fists and raise an outcry as though it could do us a mischief; but death and Christ's members tend towards different points; and there is nothing it can really effect to harm us so long as we cleave to Christ by faith, lean on Him by hope, hold Him fast and let Him not go by love. The first death (which is but the shadow of death) is indeed ours by birthright under a curse which God has long ago turned for the elect into a blessing; the second death, which alone is absolute, unmitigated death, has no fellowship with him that overcometh.

What then is he, are we, summoned to overcome? With out, fightings; within, fears.

Amen, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

These things saith He which hath the sharp sword with two edges;

"The word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

If the powers which are His ordinance bear not the sword in vain, much less He from Whom all power is derived. On the other hand, if they are a terror not to good works but to evil, so and much more He also. " Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same."

"Sharp." — The sharpness guarantees nicety of operation, exactness to a hair's-breadth, no atom too much or too little affected by the stroke. "Two-edged."' — None can evade that sword which cuts both ways.

But who is He that hath this deadly sword? He Who was Himself wounded for our transgressions, Who died in our stead that we should not also die. " 1 have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye."

O Lord Jesus, we fear Thee; but much more, Thou enabling us, we will trust and love Thee.

David, the man after God's own heart, was afraid because of the sword of the Angel of the Lord. Supreme dominion and supreme fear are with Him with Whom we have to do.

We may perhaps lawfully think thus of the two edges as under one of their aspects. One cuts asunder the evil servant penally, irremediably, by decree of the Supreme and Just Judge. The other, by tenderness of the Good Physician, wounds us for our own benefit and that afterwards He may heal us. " He that sinneth before his Maker, let him fall into the hand of the physician."

" Into Thy hands I commend my spirit: for Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, Thou God of truth."

13. I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast My Name, and hast not denied My faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.

In the Authorized Version all the Seven Churches alike are addressed in these same words: " I know thy works ": whilst in the Revised Version this Church of Pergamos alone is not so addressed. Because the clause is here in one text omitted, whilst in both texts repeated throughout the corresponding passages, I here venture to pass it over. The Revised Version commences: "I know where thou dwellest; even where Satan's throne is " — thus supplying a second variation, throne for seat.

"Satan's seat," more especially when designated as his throne, recalls that phase of our Master's temptation when "the devil, taking Him up into an high mountain, showed unto Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto Him, All this power will I give Thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it." Elsewhere we read of " principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world, spiritual wickedness in high places "; of " the prince of the power of the air "; of " the god of this world."

A common deadly inalienable peril thus appears to en compass the whole human race. Our enemy, further described as " a strong man armed/' is no less than in some sort a prince.

Of his resources we know not the extent, of his armies we know not the number; but his being prince of the power of the air suggests that we are as closely beset by temptation as though this formed our atmosphere, as though at each breath we drew we inhaled it. " O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? "

Nevertheless our fathers in the flesh have resisted unto blood, striving against sin: why should not we? He that is on our side is greater than he that is against us: there is " a Stronger than he." "The breath of our nostrils" is "the Anointed of the Lord."

" I will hope continually, and will yet praise Thee more and more. My mouth shall show forth Thy righteousness and Thy salvation all the day; for I know not the numbers thereof."

"Thou holdest fast My Name, and hast not denied My faith " — the hidden allegiance of the heart, the open profession of loyalty. " With the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

When men (and women and children too) are called to martyrdom, not to deny amounts to plenary confession. But so long as the world says, Peace, peace, then oftentimes not to confess becomes virtually a denial.

O Jesus Christ, Who for love's sake desirest to confess and not to deny us before Thy Father; grant us such love of Thee that we too for love's sake may confess and never deny Thee before men.

" In those days." — No momentary trial: saintly impulse not enough, saintly endurance equally essential. Here then once more patience is in requisition: patience a tedious, indomitable grace.

" Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."

"Antipas was My faithful martyr." — Men know him not now, how he lived or how he died. God alone knows him. Enough for blessed Antipas.

Hidden from the darkness of our mortal sight, Hidden in the Paradise of lovely light,

Hidden in God's Presence worshipped face to face, Hidden in the sanctuary of Christ's embrace. Up, O Wills! to track him home among the bless'cl; Up, O Hearts! to know him in the joy of rest; Where no darkness more shall hide him from our sight, Where we shall be love with love and light with light, Worshipping our God together face to face, Wishless in the sanctuary of Christ's embrace.

" Slain among you." — The blood of Martyrs is the seed of Saints: and " if it bear fruit, well." If it bear not fruit, the dust of martyrs cannot but testify against those among whom they were slain. Whoso has seen cannot revert to be as if he had not seen: whoso has heard cannot revert to be as if he had not heard. This latter point our Lord Himself attests in His charge to the Seventy; " Into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say, Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you."

So "where Satan dwelleth " turns out to have been in a city of saints from whose midst flashed forth a faithful martyr.

And to-day assuredly in our o\vn midst he dwelleth; making his neighbourhood known by hideous temptations to foulness, cruelty, self-ruin.

Here is the city and here is a cityful. But where are the saints? and where, in will if not in deed, is the martyr?

I trust such seemly inmates abide in my neighbour's habitation. Shall not one such abide likewise in my own? Amen, God helping me.

14. But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumbiingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.

" A few things." — Thus tenderly does our Lord speak, not breaking the bruised reed or quenching the smoking flax. Submit yourselves therefore to God. " Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you."

15. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the

Our Lord rebukes not Pergamos because Satan dwelt there, but because Balaamites and Nicolaitanes flourished there. The one intruder they had no power to eject; the others they could and therefore they were bound to discountenance.

At which announcement should we be more scared: that Satan kept his court amongst us, or that misbelievers and misdoers infested our neighbourhood? Very probably at the former; but the Mind of Christ seems otherwise.

" The doctrine of Balaam." — Yet studying Balaam's history (see Num. xxii. 23, 24; xxxi. i — 8, 16; and in addition Micah vi. 5 — 8, according to one view of the passage), his doctrine might to some of us have seemed his one strong point. He overflowed with knowledge, nor flinched from its eloquent exposition. Nevertheless and alas! he showed forth his faith by his works, which works were devilish. " The devils also believe." " Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh "; and out of the abundance of his heart proceeded that counsel which put a stumblingblock before Israel.

Knowledge then is not necessarily faith, neither is eloquence unction, neither is resource wisdom.

0 my God, Who callest us to search Thy Scriptures of truth, furnish us, I beseech Thee, with faith, unction, wisdom; with willingness to shine to Thy glory, or not to shine at all so it be always to Thy glory. Grant us the life of the righteous, and a last end like his. For His sake Who alone is righteous and is our righteousness, Jesus Christ our Saviour.

Balaam put an outrageous stumblingblock in men's way, barefaced idolatry with gross impurity being the result.

Are there no Balaams nowadays? We become Balaams when our influence lowers the tone of any who are about us.

What children are near me? What servants? What less educated persons? What individuals whose inclination it is rather to follow than to lead? I myself become a Balaam if I misuse my influence. Good Lord, deliver me.

Balaam has still to face at the Day of Judgment the wretched tools who adopted his policy, the wretched victims of his accursed counsel.

1 myself must face on that Day and at that Bar all whom I have ever affected on earth, all who directly or remotely have responded to my influence for good or for evil. Good Lord, deliver us.

Lord, make us all love all: that when \ve meet Even myriads of earth's myriads at Thy Bar,

We may be glad as all true lovers arc "Who having parted count reunion sweet. Safe gathered home around Thy blessed Feet,

Whether by whirlwind or by flaming car, From pangs or sleep, safe folded round Thy seat. Oh. if our brother's blood cry out at us,

Thee Whom we never loved, not loving him? The unloving cannot chant with Seraphim, Bear harp of gold or palm victorious,

16. Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth.

Lord, shall we repent, lest Thou come quickly unto us? Thy saints are praying: Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

Lord, if better may not as yet be, grant us the repentance which stayeth Thy coming; and lead us up to that loving penitence which longeth after Thee and inviteth Thee, and to which Thou wilt not say nay.

"With the sword cf My mouth." — This -Mouth which threatens to fight against obstinate sinners is the very Mouth which heretofore loved to say, Come unto Me, — Follow Me. To Christians thus it still speaketh. Under the elder Dis pensation it spake not thus: not thus to Balaam with the living Voice of a. Man our Brother, although by a miracle a rebuke was vouchsafed him. Wherefore if we Christians make ourselves like him, we make ourselves twofold more the child of hell. Our grace is fuller than was his grace, our knowledge clearer than his knowledge: he did despite to a Love that had still to be revealed; we do despite to a Love that now and for eighteen centuries past can call heaven and earth to witness, saying, What could I have done more that I have not done?

Lord, let not Thy life, Thy death, Thy resurrection for our sakes, Thy proffered grace, Thy longsuffering to usward, rise up in the Judgment with us to condemn us.

unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

Already we eat of " the true bread from heaven " in the Blessed Sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood. Eating thereof we receive strength to overcome; and truly it is " hidden Manna " of virtue indiscernible by fleshly eyes and carnal hearts. Blessed are they who thus eat Bread in the Militant Kingdom of God. Afterwards, having overcome, God's faithful soldier and servant will once more eat of the hidden Manna in the peace of God's Triumphant Kingdom; no longer to sustain a life that may die, but to satisfy a life that will live for ever.

The subtlest and profoundest of men cannot explain mysteries; the simplest person can appropriate and exult in them. On the very surface of this great promise it transpires that as Christ is life to the faithful soul now, so He will be life to the indefectible soul then. This for the present suffices; if I am fain to know more, by overcoming I shall one day attain to full knowledge.

Lord, Thou Thyself art here our Heavenly Food and sustenance, and it passeth all understanding what there Thou wilt be. Already Thou art to us Strength and Sweetness, Life and Joy, Safety and Sanctification. What wilt Thou be to us then? Yea, Thou Thyself wilt not be changed: we shall be changed. We shall see and flow together and wonder. Amen! Amen!

" Hidden manna." — We often hide what is deepest and dearest in us, yet one friend has cognizance of it. Is it thus, Lord, that Thou too hidest Thyself, and while thus hiding revealest Thyself to Thy chosen ones?

"A white stone, and in the stone a new name written." — Here (if it be lawful) I read a promise of the everlasting renewed innocence of the redeemed. For their name shall be inscribed on stone, which amongst earthly substances excels in durability; and that stone shall be white, as lambs, doves, light, are white. And as whiteness is not a colour, but rather an absence of tints; so innocence is not a virtue, but rather an absence of guilt.

Each soul that overcometh will have its new name written on whiteness; and new indeed will it be when our name (God grant it!) endorses innocence and not guilt. For noiv " if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."

The names of the twelve Apostles appear on foundation stones; the names of all faithful soldiers and servants on white stones; all alike imperishable in the Presence of God Almighty.

Nevertheless as whiteness may again be defined not as absence but rather as invisibility of colour, so these white stones may be contemplated as white because of their proper stainlessness, yet equally as coloured in response to that Divine Light which bathes them: even as the hueless diamond blazes with rainbow tints in answer to the sun's glory.

"In the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it." — The reverse of our present ex perience; for now the saints are they who know not their own names, however unhesitatingly they name each other. Thus Patience will not discern herself, but will identify a neighbour as Charity, who in turn will recognize not herself, but mild Patience; and they both shall know some fellow-Christian, as Hope or Prudence or Faith; and every one of these shall be sure of the others, only not of herself.

But in the beatified life it shall be otherwise. When Christ shall call each happy, heavenly soul by name, as once He called "Mary "in an earthly garden, then each will perceive herself to be that which He calls her; and will no more question her own designation than did those primitive creatures whom the first Adam named in the inferior Paradise.

" Which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it." — "Thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name." Close, intimate, flawless as will be the com munion of beatified saints with each other; still closer, more intimate, perfect will be the communion between Christ and each saved soul. This is the supreme Fellowship which includes and entails the other, this is the supreme Union which the other is like unto. And so far as it is lawful to flesh and blood to meditate on matters not revealed (taking with us words, and turning to the Lord, and saying unto Him,, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously), may we not even reverently ponder whether, after some transcendent, supersensual fashion, Christ and His own beloved one by one may not reciprocally have a love-name known to both and endeared to each, as it were a name (I mean) expressive of what He was and is to that one soul, and what that one soul to Him. and which as regards all others will pass man's or angel's understanding? " He that hath the bride is the Bridegroom," however the friend of the Bridegroom may stand and hear Him and rejoice greatly because of the Bridegroom's voice.

" That it may please Thee to give us true repentance; to forgive us all our ignorances; and to endue us with the grace of Thy Holy Spirit to amend our lives according to Thy holy Word; We beseech Thee to hear us, good Lord."

Soul, is there not now already a secret between Me and thee? I know thy name now, whether thou be Impenitent Sinner or Sinful Penitent. I know it now; but none other knoweth it fully, neither dost thou thyself fully know it. Now in part thou knowest it: hereafter if thou be of those who overcome, thou shalt know even as thou art known. —

Soul, canst thou drink of the cup that I drank of? —

18. And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, Who hath His eyes like unto a flame of fire, and His feet are like fine brass.

"The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judg ment unto the Son." " My defence is of God, which saveth the upright in heart. God judgeth the righteous, and God is

angry with the wicked every day." " Remember not, Lord, our offences, nor the offences of our forefathers; neither take Thou vengeance of qur sins: spare us, good Lord, spare Thy people, whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy most precious Blood, and be not angry with us for ever. Spare us, good Lord."

" Eyes like unto a flame of fire." — Omniscience from which nothing is concealed; unto which nothing is veiled, disguised, obscure. " Feet like fine brass." — Almighty Strength and Stability, before which all other strength and steadfastness become impotence.

This Who cannot err will be our Judge: This Whom none can gainsay will decree our sentence: as of old by Amos the Prophet He declared to revolted Israel: " Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. For, lo, He that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The Lord, The God of hosts, is His Name."

19. I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.

Good works to begin with, and abundant good works as time progresses; and meanwhile charity which covers the multitude of sins, and service which cannot go unrewarded, and faith whereby it becomes possible to please God (see Heb. ii. 6), and patience by which saints put on the likeness of holy Job and of Job's most holy Redeemer;— charity which never faileth, service which beginning on earth ends not in heaven, faith which can remove mountains, patience which is of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ and which fainteth not utterly waiting for the Goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Thus even on earth are the elect arrayed in loveliness and adorned with graces. Not here are they crowned: persever ance entitles to a crown, final perseverance attains to one. It needs profound patience, patience born of love and sustained by love, to achieve final perseverance.

What is the beginning? Love. What the course? Love siill. What the goal? The goal is Love on the happy hill. Is there nothing then but Love, search \ve sky or earth? There is nothing out of Love hath perpetual worth: All things flag but only Love, all things fail or flee; There is nothing left but Love worthy you and me.

" Thy works." — As we read that the last were more than the first, they were surely works of charity towards men and service towards God, wrought in faith and completed in patience. Such is that path of the just which shineth more and more unto the perfect day.

O God of all Goodness, Who on others hast bestowed such grace that their last works excelled their first and their end was exalted above their beginning; grant us like grace, that by as fair a path we may attain to as goodly a goal. For the sake of our Redeemer Jesus Christ. Amen.

20. Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce My servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.

Pergamos and Thyatira have this in common; both have praise of God, whilst against both He bringeth forward " a few things."

Man's estimate might incline in both cases to reverse the proportion of virtues and vices; but God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.

" I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of the Lord; for very great are His mercies: but let me not fall into the hand of man."

" Because thou sufferest." — To put up willingly with abominable sin in our midst, even while holding aloof from any such malpractice, is so far to cast in our lot with sinners. To endure it unwillingly is what Christ Himself chose as a mortal Man to do, and is what He is pleased to exact from all successive generations of His disciples. Evil knowledge need not harm us whilst involuntary; but to court it without justi fying cause is to court death, as Eve courted death by bye-path •of knowledge. " Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but •even their mind and conscience is defiled."

It becomes a matter of conscience what poems and novels to read, and how much of the current news of the day.

A second point also Pergamos and Thyatira have in common: false teachers. Yet I observe some difference between the quality of these; Balaam representing the pest of Pergamos, Jezebel that of Thyatira.

Jezebel (see her history in the First and Second Book of Kings), if we may take Jehu's word for her character, was an abandoned woman and a witch, besides being, as the Inspired Record shows, a nursing mother of idolatry. But whatever witch she may have been, there appears about her no trace of the genuine prophetess; any more than we infer that there was about that Thyatiran Jezebel, of whom it is expressly mentioned that she "calleth herself" a prophetess. Queen Jezebel there fore may have rivalled or surpassed Balaam in guilt, but seems not to have been his equal in gifts.

Whence a double consideration arises, if from these particular instances I am justified in generalizing. As Balaam in com parison with Jezebel, so men in comparison with women may •usually be expected to exhibit keener, tougher, more workworthy gifts. Therefore if Jezebel the woman, going about to •establish her equality with Balaam the man, poses as prophetess to h\s prophet, nothing is more likely than that she will have to eke out and puff up her pretensions by a whiff of imposture, •conscious or unconscious imposture. [History repeats itself.]

21. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.

Empty space, neutral space, is impossible; it must be occu pied by accumulating guilt or by repentance unto progressive amendment.

Space is mine to-day by God's gift. Grant unto us all, I beseech Thee, O Lord, space to repent, and repentance while it is called to-day, repentance not to be repented of, repentance unto salvation. For Jesu's sake. Amen.

22. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit

adultery with her into great tribulation, except they* repent of their deeds.

Any to whom space for repentance is still accorded, are still they whom God desireth to bring less into than out of great tribulation.

" Turn Thou us, O good Lord, and so shall we be turned. Thou sparest when we deserve punishment, and in Thy wrath thinkest upon mercy."

23. And I will kill her children with death; and all the-

churches shall know that I am He which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.

"And I will kill her children with death." — Doubtless " children that are corrupters," for by his prophet Ezekiel Almighty God protested aforetime: " The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him."

Yet as we read in Wisdom of " parents that killed with their own hands, souls destitute of help," so did this Jezebel make her self a murderess whether the children here denounced were hers according to the flesh, or hers only by an execrable discipleship.

" Let us also fear." All influence, my own influence, tends and cannot but tend either to preserve or to destroy.

" I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth

() my God, if for our own souls' sake we forbear not, yet grant us grace for the sake of those we love to cease from sin, lest we bring upon them a curse and not a blessing. At the •least and lowest for their sakes, until by the same grace we attain to do all for the sake of Jesus Christ, Whose all-availing sake I now plead with Thee.

" And all the Churches shall know that I am He which search eth the reins and hearts." — "When Thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness." Kven the whole Church Militant herself is an inhabitant of the world, as our Blessed Lord in His unfathomable love for souls provided: " I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil."

" I am He which searcheth the reins and hearts." — An awful promise even to the righteous; an awful threat to the im penitent wicked.

First Christ searcheth all the earth to find and reclaim souls. Next He searcheth each individual soul to prove and see what manner of soul it is. He sifts, as it were, our dust to detect the least germ of latent life. He examines the will, which is our strength (reins); the affections, which engross our heart. The will to love Him He accepts and quickens into love: the faintest emotion of love towards Him He acknowledges and is ready to confirm and develop.

He craves for our sake that we should love Him, but also He craves it for His own. He is not too lofty to ask our love, to seek for it, to desire it. He searches while there is hope: like the husbandman " who hath long patience " He waits.

0 Lord, what canst Thou find, except Thou first furnish it? All is of Thy bounty, and but for Thine own gifts we can have no gift for Thee. I beseech Thee give us each some good gift, and receive it back as our gift to Thee.

" And I will give unto every one of you according to your works." —

1 tremble at this word: but what word then would re assure me? This is the Voice of the Just Judge; would I desire rather to hear the voice of an unjust judge? If justice be my destruction, could injustice be my salvation? Nay.

How should injustice deliver me, if I be such as justice cannot deliver? From what do I need deliverance: from punishment? Yes, and from very much besides punishment.

If I were saved from the punishment outside me, how save me from the punishment within; from the fire, but how from the worm? Rescued from all else, how rescue me from myself?

O Jesus, All Holy, All Just, All Merciful, deliver us from our perverse selves, and no other enemy can ruin us. For Thine own sake. Amen.

Again. What other standard would I crave than this of work? for work is voluntary, within my own option to do or leave undone.

Otherwise St. Paul could not thus write to his beloved Roman converts concerning the powers that be: " Rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: for he is the minister of God to thee for good."

What I do, I will to do: what I leave undone, I will to leave undone. Who then is it that betrayeth me: Lord, is it I?— It is I.

Lord, carry me. — Nay, but I grant thee strength To walk and work thy way to Heaven at length. —

Lord, why then am I weak? — Because I give Povrer to the weak, and bid the dying live. —

Lord, I am tired. — He hath not much desired The goal, who at the starting-point is tired. —

Lord, dost Thou know? — I know what is in man; What the flesh can, and what the spirit can. — Lord, dost Thou care? — Yea, for thy gain or loss So much I cared, it brought Me to the Cross. — Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief. — Good is the word; but rise, for life is brief. The follower is not greater than the Chief: Follow thou Me along My way of grief.

21 But unto you I say. and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden.

A variation appears in the Revised Version: — " But to you I say, to the rest that are in Thyatira/' — The retrenchment of the word " and " (if correct) seems to convey the sense more clearly, by making the second clause of the sentence define the first instead of adding to it.

Blessed simplicity, not to hold false doctrine. Blessed inexperience, which knows not depths of Satan.

From corrupt doctrine, foul knowledge, abominable experi ence, good Lord, keep us; good Lord, deliver us. Keep rather than deliver, for deliverance brings not back innocence. Yet at the worst deliver us, that we may be Thy penitents, miracles of Thy pity. Amen.

" Depths of Satan." — Why dive into such depths, when deeper depths open before us?

"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and know ledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!... For of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things: to Whom be glory for ever. Amen."

We, no less than St. Paul's Ephesian converts, if " rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge."

" As they speak." — " Let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave. Let the lying lips be put to silence."

" I will put upon you none other burden." — None other than the burden Christ Himself has laid upon us, and which He elsewhere assures us is light.

" Why art thou so full of heaviness, O my soul?... WThy go- 1 thus heavily, while the enemy oppresseth me?... Why art thou so heavy, O my soul: and why art thou so disquieted within me? O put thy trust in God."

Christ's burden weighs heavily, not because of the burden's weight, but of the bearer's weakness. Blessed is he who embracing bears it. Not upon such a one laden with blessing, but upon another, his opposite, is woe pronounced: " Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay! " ** For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"

Lord Jesus, I pray Thee bestow upon us that grace of strength whereby Thou didst uplift and comfort Daniel Thy saint: —

" O my Lord.. * my sorrows are turned upon me, and I have retained no strength... O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee: be strong, yea, be strong."

25. But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. Truly here are the patience, obedience, faith, of the saints! Latter works must go on being more than former works, thus making last works most of all. Charity must never fail, but must abide. Service must to the end fulfil what ever it is our duty to do. Faith, though feeling compamonless in a faithless generation because unwitting of God's seven thousand like-minded ones, must endure.

The Cross we have shouldered we must not lay down. The burnt sacrifice we have become we must continue to be though offered on a slow fire. Nor dare we say, It is finished, until Christ Himself say concerning us, It is finished; for He has pronounced: " No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."

Such is our lot. Without our own will we were born to inherit it, without our own will we (most of us) were baptized into it: no will of ours can undo what is done.

And because by His Will, therefore it becomes possible for us to endure it, to profit by it, even by wonder-working grace to rejoice and be glad in it. Once let our will be conformed unto the Divine Will, and powers and pleasures shall be added unto us.

Even so. Lord God, conform our will to Thy Will, for our blessed self-sacrificing Saviour's sake. Amen.

Moreover we must not so dwell on our sore need of patience as to overlook faith, or worse still to overlook love. "Till I come," saith the Word, the Truth, in whom all Divine promises are Yea and Amen.

"Till I come." How long is that till? We cannot compute its days, weeks, months, years. But this we know: the re mainder of time is the extent of that ////: all eternity is the fullness of the ensuing thereafter.

Is time long? It may seem so, until it ends. Is eternity long? It is so, for it ends not.

Serve Him in dust, until He lift thee thence; Till death be swallowed up in victory,

When the great trumpet sounds to bid thee hence. Shall setting day win day that will not set?

Must we then call our burden no burden? Not so, for Christ Himself by implication admits that a burden it is.

He, the Truth, requires of us the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. We are no more allowed to put sweet for bitter than bitter for sweet.

" Hold fast."— As one Greek whose grasping hands were hewn off, held fast the Persian vessel with his teeth; as the pilot of one burning ship held fast the helm while the flames consumed him; so, if we be called to any such supreme act, even so must each one of us hold fast our burden and birth right till Christ come.

And if we be of those who oftentimes in the Blessed Sacrament of His Body and Blood show forth His Death till He come, we amongst all Christians are bound and are fortified thus to lose life and save it.

O Lord, Who assuredly wilt come; in that tremendous Day suffer not our own privileges and our own words to rise up with us in the Judgment and condemn us.

We dwell upon terrors of Judgment: let us also dwell on its hopes. It will have a great sound of a trumpet, and the trumpet-blast is music. It will be with clouds, and God A1 mighty of old set His bow in the cloud. It will bring to sight angels. It will bring back saints; the particular saints we having loved and lost, long for.

It will bring back Christ; our supreme Hope, or else our F-upreTie Fear. But the hope is in Him, the fear is in oui selves.

26. And he that overcometh, and keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:

27. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers; even as I received of My Father.

We are constantly to imitate, and by His strength made perfect in our weakness are as it were over and over again to reproduce, His blessed works. Because He prayed, we must pray. Because He went about doing good, we must do good. Because His meat was to do the will of Him that sent Him, so must ours be. Such are His works by us and through us.

And thus must we persevere to the end, lest we be not numbered amongst those who overcome.

We must also hold fast His works in us. The purifying grace of Baptism, the maturing grace of Confirmation, the sustaining grace of Holy Communion, we must hold fast. We holding fast what He bestows, He will continually bestow more and more. There is no limit to His bounties, nor can we assign a limit to our own capacity.

King Joash smote thrice and stayed, whilst he might have stricken five or six valid strokes. The miraculous flow of oil stayed only when the widow's receptacles were exhausted.

He who in overcoming himself and all things has first exercised power, he it is on whom will be conferred power over the nations.

Unlike most of the rewards held out to our hope, this power appears to be punitive, destructive. Thank God, it is not ours at present; nor at present could aught like it by any possibility befit us common sort of Christians. He whom God may call to such an office, God by His Almighty Spirit will adapt to the call, and will keep safe in responding to it. Into His hands Fatherly, merciful, perfect, let us meanwhile commend and commit all men.

Nevertheless it cannot be without practical purpose that this prospect, " terrible as an army with banners," is opened to us. It brings home to our conviction that a day approaches, when, cost what it may, all the elect will be of one mind with God. Whatever He decrees they will uphold; whatever He inflicts they will approve. Even to the tenderest mother, the Divine good pleasure will then be altogether better than seven sons or than ten sons. Whom God pities not, neither will His saints pity: whom He saves not, neither will His saints yearn to save. They who are exalted to see Him as He is, will be likj Him.

The punishment is greater than we can bear. God keep us from ever looking upon our beloved ones with changed eyes, or from being looked upon with changed eyes by them.

O my God, Who hast no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, preserve Thou them that are appointed to die; and when this dying life is fulfilled, bring us of Thy mercy to the life everlasting. Through Jesus Christ our Life. Amen.

" Even as I received of My Father." — The extreme instance vouching for all subordinate instances. Christ, Who so long hath invited all men, saying, "Come unto Me," will at last say to those on His left hand, " Depart from Me."

Elsewhere our Lord declares: " I am... the Bright and Morning Star." Thus (if the inference be allowable) here at the outset He promises to give Himself to him that overcometh.

To whom does a man give himself? To one whom he loves as himself. Such is the standard of human self-gift; and Christ, Very Man no less than Very God, will not fall short of it. To " the friend that is as His own soul " will He give Himself; giving Himself, He will withhold nothing.

We know not a millionth part of what Christ is to us, but perhaps we even less know what we are to Him.

1. And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith He that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.

If it be lawful to regard these " Seven Spirits of God " as that " One and the self-same Spirit," Who divideth to every man severally as He will, our Lord's preamble to the Church in Sardis corresponds with Isaiah's prophetic description of the Messiah: "The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel and Might, the Spirit of Knowledge and of the Fear of the Lord; and shall make Him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears."

Thus He Who telleth the number of the stars and calleth them all by their names, before He pronounces judgment on even one star, deigns to proclaim and certify His own infallible insight.

" I know thy works " — the works of Sardis, of all Christen dom, of the whole world. Yea, and my works indeed, O Lord, Thou knowest: it is I myself who know them not fully. " Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

" Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead." — Sardis with her name to live worked after a fashion, although dead. Centuries before the Psalmist had placed on record: " Men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself." And in our Lord's Sermon in the Plain we read: " Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! "

Sardis doubtless in some sense did well unto herself, how ever cruel in truth were her tender self-mercies; and thus earned the condemnation of God with the praise of men, inas much as that which is highly esteemed among men is abomina tion in the sight of God. The particular works of Sardis are not enumerated, but of this we may rest assured: so far as she was a dead Church her works were infallibly dead works. Yet works they were, and of such a semblance that men said she lived: God and God only knew and testified that she was dead.

Her fair name and fame, her self-complacency, her lustre, have passed away: yea, like as a dream when one awake th, so hath He made her image to vanish out of the city. A temporal doom has long ago overtaken her: may it not be that an eternal doom overhangs her!

Our Lord rebuked Sardis in the day of grace, lest at last He should condemn her in the day of justice.

As once to her, so now if need is He speaks to us, to me. In love He forewarns us all: " Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy Name? and in Thy Name have cast out devils? and in Thy Name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity."

Shall the dead rise up again and praise God? Yea, the dead also, if they will respond to the call of His grace. As avers the Father in the parable: " This my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found."

" Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God."

2. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.

" What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch." The watch ful must watch on, the unwatchful must learn and practise watchfulness. Every one of us is either watchful or unwatchful. " Teach me, O Lord, the way of Thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end."

Watchfulness is no easy duty. When Elijah answered, "Thou hast asked a hard thing," he made its coming to pass depend on Elisha's own watchfulness: whence we may infer that the boon being difficult of access, that on which it de pended was not lightly to be achieved. St. Peter, St. John, St. James, for all their love, failed in watchfulness, while their Saviour watched alone and agonized alone.

My God, if watchfulness taxes the strength of Thy saints who live unto Thee, how shall the dead in trespasses and sins renew their vigil to praise Thee with songs in the night? — Nay, hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good? " O put thy trust in God: for I will yet lhank Him, which is the help of my countenance, and my God."

"Strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die." — God, Whose good pleasure hath chosen "things which are not," equally of His grace calls upon the dead to strengthen what remains and is ready to die. What He commands He renders possible. " He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength." When Isaac asked, "Where is the lamb?" while as yet there appeared no lamb; not Abraham himself can have understood the fullness of his own answer: " God will provide Himself a lamb."

Praise be to Thee, O God, Who both didst provide a lamb for Thyself, and Thyself becamest that Lamb which Thou providedst. Praise be to Thee, forasmuch as the ram offered in Isaac's stead was caught in a thicket by his horns; not weakness, but the sign of his strength holding him fast. Even SD, not through weakness, but by Thine own Will, Strength, Glory, didst Thou stoop to become fast bound in the thicket of our troubles: nor wouldst Thou by any means pass out thence except as a Lamb for a burnt offering; even the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Alleluia!

" Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." — This is one sort of dead man who shall live; together with Christ's oncedead Body shall he arise. Perhaps for us the main point of that text roots itself in the word will. None predicates of him he can nor yet he ought: he alone says, and says only, / will. He says not, I do; for far from him be lying lips and a deceitful tongue. He says, I will: and the man who has the will to say, I will, has latent within him the power to bring to pass by God's assisting grace the purpose of that good will. His dew is as the dew of herbs, his earth shall cast out her dead.

When God demanded: " Son of man, can these bones live? " even E; ekiel could answer no more than, " O Lord God, Thou knowest." God alone, then as ever, knew what He would do.

We, every one of us, must at this moment be either dead or alive. Let us put it at the worst, and postulate that we are dead: what shall we do that we may come again to our border.

and return into the land of the living? Sardis was bidden " strengthen those things which remain, that are ready to die": whence it follows: This do, and thou shalt live. And what if gazing within we discern nothing remaining; nothing even so far alive as to be ready to die? We still can lift up our eyes and look without, in obedience to St. Paul's precept: " Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others." Our neighbour languishes, is weak, wavers, is ready to perish: whoso strives by prayer, or by any other conceivable agency to uphold him, shall himself be up held; even as Job, praying for his friends, received in his own person a blessing. " He that watereth shall be watered also himself."

If the light that is in us be as darkness that may be felt, let us work and walk by the light that is without us; until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in our hearts.

O Christ, the Resurrection and the Life; O Christ, Light of the world and of every man that cometh into the world, call Thy dead out of darkness of death into light of life. Say once again, yea, say again and again, Let there be light: and there shall be light.

"I have rot found thy works perfect before God" — or according to the Revised Version: " I have found no works of thine fulfilled before My God." — The former reading recalls our Lord's words in His Sermon on the Mount: " Be ye there fore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect; " a precept so lofty that mortal man can appropriate it only in aim and intention, except so far as his being Christ's member clothes him with Christ's righteousness. The latter reading suggests works left incomplete even according to the standard of human completeness; beginnings broken off short, starts without careers, wishes instead of resolves, repentances still to be repented of. We are reminded of Lot's wife, the fig-tree leafy but fruitless, the son in the Parable who answered, I go, sir, and went not.

We look out of ourselves at these and such as these. God help us to look into ourselves, lest all the while we be such as they and know it not.

3. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.

Well may He Who beyond all others loves us, for that very love's sake bid us " Remember," lest all too late we should remember. For it has been said of old that there is no bitterer pang than in misery to remember past happiness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth when the children of the kingdom being thrust out behold their birthright blessedness given to others that are better than they. " Son, remember," spake Abraham to Dives.

To-day it may be that if we choose we can forget; another day we shall not be able to choose, but must perforce remember what we have received and heard. Not through time and never through eternity can we make ourselves as though we had not received and heard.

We have heard the Word of God, the witness of saints, the voice of conscience whereby God the Holy Spirit speaks within us; these we must sooner or later remember.

We have received the Life of Baptism, the Strength of Con firmation, the Sustenance of Christ's most precious Body and Blood; these we must sooner or later remember.

Our stortings aside have been from all these, our falls from a'.l these. These we have held fast; or have let go.

And if we have let them go, can we ever again hope to hold them fast? Yea, saith our Judge: " Hold fast, repent."

Let us go forth in the strength of the Lord God, and make mention of His righteousness only.

O God Whose hand is not shortened that it cannot save, Who to him that hath no might increaseth strength, Who didst up hold St. Peter on the waters, convert him in the high priest's palace, restore him by the Sea of Tiberias, O our God, Who hast done all for us, now do all in us. Hold us fast, that we may hold Thee fast. Remember now our sins, that Thou mayest move us to repentance; and washing them away in Thy blood mayest remember them no more. Amen for Thine own sake, Lord Jesus, Amen.

Contempt and pangs and haunting fears — Too late for hope, too late for ease, Too late for rising from the dead; Too late, too late to bend my knees,

Once more the word is, Watch. In whatever mood, in de pression if need be, let us watch. As sings the Psalmist: " I have watched, and am even as it were a sparrow, that sitteth alone upon the house-top. Mine enemies revile me all the day long; and they that are mad upon me are sworn together against me. For I have eaten ashes as it were bread; and mingled my drink with weeping; and that because of Thine indignation and wrath: for Thou hast taken me up, and cast rne down. My days are gone like a shadow; and I am withered like grass." For this woeful complaint is still a song: even while he lies under the Divine indignation and wrath the penitent sings and makes melody in his heart to the Lord. By Whose gracious help we all may do likewise. Repentance pleases God; and that whereby we please God cannot be to ourselves mere unmitigated grief.

Nor is it any trivial matter which depends upon our watch fulness. According as we watch, or watch not, Christ will come to save or to punish.

" Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh."

- Yea. in the way of Thy judgments, O Lord, have we waited for Thee; the desire of our soul is to Thy name, and to the remembrance of Thee. With my soul have I desired Thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek Thee early." " I am my Beloved's, and His desire is toward me."

4. Thou Ixast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white: for they are worthy.

Primitive man arrayed in innocence needed no other robe. Fallen man God Himself deigned to clothe } and the garment of fallen man may (I think) be regarded as representing such sort and degree of holiness as being possible to a sinner is therefore required of him. For God Almighty is never that ruler who demands brick in a territory of no straw.

Absolute innocence on this side of the grave no soul can win back, yet holiness transcends innocence. A law, " Thou shalt not," hedged in innocence in the Garden of Eden; but St. Paul declares that " the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temper ance: against such there is no law."

"A few names even in Sardis." — Ten righteous would have ^ preserved Sodom; one would have sufficed to save Jerusalem. Thus we discern that Abraham's persistence of intercession yet stopped short of the bounty of God's unsolicited Goodwill. Human tenderness pleaded ten, Divine yearning craved for one. Both however bore immediate reference to temporal punishment, not apparently to eternal judgment.

The " few " in Sardis safe themselves could not deliver their fellows. Their case corresponded with that set forth in Ezekiel's prophecy: " When the land sinneth against Me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out Mine hand upon it... Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their \S righteousness, saith the Lord God." Psalm xlix. (Prayer-Book version) throws light on the subject: " No man may deliver his brother, nor make agreement unto God for him; for it cost more to redeem their souls: so that he must let that alone for ever; yea, though he live long, and see not the grave." Truly did it cost more to redeem our souls, for it cost the life of that Man Who is the Lord's Fellow; had He lived long and not seen the grave, even He (so far as the Divine counsels have been revealed to us) must have let that alone for ever. Thus by a sort of harmony of contraries the Psalmist provides a clue to the coming mystery of Redemption. We recognize a revelation of Divine Might where at first seemed but a state ment of human impotence. A veiled mystery flashes through this verse; which verse of the Holy Bible may not veil a mystery?

Lord, grant us eyes to see and ears to hear And souls to love and minds to understand, And steadfast faces toward the Holy Land,

Before Thee heart in heart and hand in hand, And Alleluias where their chanting band

Lord, grant us what Thou wilt, and what Thou wilt Deny, and fold us in Thy peaceful fold: Not as the world gives, give to us Thine own: