The Face of the Deep (on Revelation); Poems

" A few names even in Sardis." — A few in a whole city, a few out of an entire population. Shall London cast the first stone at Sardis?

O God, merciful and pitiful, Who hast created us all, and knowest us all, if we be children teach us to honour Thee, and if servants to fear Thee: yea, if we be stones teach us to celebrate Thy praise. For Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.

"A few... which have not defiled their garments." Who are these? Baptized infants, and sweet souls of any age unexperienced in mortal sin.

None beside these? Thank God, the text says not so. By His grace it may (surely) include along with all who have never defiled their garments those likewise who have not permanently defiled them.

He Who has been pleased to promise that the elect human family shall be made equal to the elect angels, can if He pleases make the choir of penitents equal to that kindred choir which by comparison need no repentance. Once He vouchsafed to say touching one sinful woman: "Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little."

"Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, Who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts." Only whilst we have time let us love much.

"And they shall walk with Me in white." — The precarious

purity of mortal life shall become the indefectible purity of life immortal. As the bud becomes the lily, as the dawn the day, so white robes of earth shall reappear, transfigured as robes of heaven, white as no fuller on earth can white them. Such whiteness as we now are used to can scarcely abide un sullied unless it also abide intact; thus trodden snow turns to mud; whilst snow on mountain summits endures alone, in accessible, stainless. Even so chaste virgins choose solitude fora bower; and recluses dwell apart and unknown, like unfound pearls; and great saints betaking themselves to heavenly places in Christ Jesus, move aloft like white sunny clouds of the sky.

Nevertheless, however good for the present distress, yet from the beginning God Himself declared that it is not good for man to be alone. No trace of solitude reappears in the next life, the life that lives for ever. Whatever we know, or know not, about Heaven, this beyond possibility of doubt is certified to us; it will contain a great multitude that no man can number, and these congregated into one body, one community of saints. Nothing will ever any more separate them; not night, for there is no night there; not the sea, for they stand together upon that unearthly sea.

Yet all this accumulation of beatitude taken by itself could not satisfy us; it would still be no more than a turning aside by the flocks of the companions. Christ's promise exceeds this. "They shall walk with Me." Herein is beatific love.

It is stated in our text (ver. 4) that those whose earthly garments have been undefiled, are the same who will be invested with a heavenly white garment. A second point, though unstated, may (I think) be inferred: those who like Enoch have "walked with God" on earth, are the same who shall walk with Him in Heaven.

Little as we know of blessed Enoch's personal history, yet the phrase "walked with God" tells us much. "Can two walk together, except they be agreed? " asks the Lord by the mouth of His Prophet Amos. Enoch's will must then have been conformed to the Divine Will. Moreover, exalted as it is to "sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus," blessed as it is to " sleep in Jesus "; yet of Enoch we are told not that he sat, still less if possible that he slept, but that he walked. He exerted himself, he made progress, he persevered, until " God took him."

Truth and Wisdom hath said: " None is good, save One, that is, God."

As Isaac received Rebekah into the tent, and himself was comforted; as Boaz extended his protection to Ruth, and while loving and ennobling her rejoiced in her affection; so our dear Lord enriches our poverty with His own wealth, covers our unworthiness with His own worthiness, sees in us of the travail of His Soul, and is satisfied. He, Bridegroom of souls, saith to His beloved: " With all My goods I thee endow": His Blessedness is as of the sun which gives, and ours is as of the moon which receives. " It is more blessed to give than to receive."

" I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which Thou hast showed unto Thy servant."

5. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels.

Once again " he that overcometh " is the only person to •win a prize. Not even Christ's work for us can be substituted for the Holy Spirit's work in us. By aid of Whose indwelling Might may every one of us watch, strengthen what languishes, remember, hold fast, repent, flee defilement.

Not that thesa are ever easy duties, but by help of grace they become possible: were they easy, we need not be incited to overcome. And if possible to any, then are they possible to all, even to the most backward: for it is the same Almighty Spirit Who dwells and works in great and small, and Who many times has vouchsafed the race to the not-swift, and the battle to the not-strong. One by one let us consider these particular points of duty.

Watch. As failure may betide swift and strong, so imy it betide watchers also: " Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." Still, if watchfulness may, unwatchfulness must be rife with peri!. " The earth is weak, and all the inhabiters thereof: I bear up the pillars of it," came evidently to pass on that searching night of the Passion when our Lord watched alone, because the three whom He had bidden watch with Him slept. On the other hand, under the elder and less helpful dispensation, Nehemiah with his faithful adherents having prayed, set a watch day and night against their foes and prospered; and Habakkuk in the midst of his prophecy protests: " I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what He will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved." Psalm cxxiii. furnishes us with the very words we need: " Unto Thee lift I up mine eyes, O Thou that dwellest in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, until that He have mercy upon us."

Strengthen what languishes. What desperate ruin it is by letting slip the last opportunity and extinguishing the last glimmer of light to do despite to Him Who breaks not the bruised reed nor quenches the smoking flax, Christ's own words and tears have revealed: " He beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes." For examples of selfretrieval we turn to Joseph of Arimathsea, who being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, at length went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the Body of Jesus, — to Nicodemus, who first resorted to Jesus by night, later on spoke however feebly in His defence, and at last shared with several saints (women as well as men) the devotion and anguish of His sepulture, — to St. Mark, who once hung back, but after wards repented and went. "Hear my prayer, O Lord, and with Thine ears consider my calling: hold not Thy peace at my tears. For I am a stranger with Thee: and a sojourner, as all my fathers were. O spare me a little, that I may recover my strength: before I go hence, and be no more seen."

Remember. God Who bids us remember, Himself re members: woe were it to mankind if He remembered not. "Yea, many a time turned He His anger away, and did not stir up all His wrath. For He remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again." Since He spake against His rebellious children, He doth earnestly remember them still. To renegade Israel He even saith: " I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals... I will yet plead with you." God hath indeed not forgotten to be gracious, and graciously He enjoins upon us the duty of ourselves remembering. Let us call to mind a few points which we have received and heard: — " Remember the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy." " Behold,

God exalteth by His power.... Remember that thou magnify His work, which men behold. Every man may see it; man may behold it afar off." " If a man live many years, and rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of dark ness; for they shall be many." "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth." St. Paul charges us " to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, It is more blessed to give than to receive." St. Jude exhorts us: "Remember ye the words which were spoken before of the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts." And infinitely above even the Apostles, our Master bade them and through them bids us: " Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord." — O Lord, the Better David, remember all Thine own trouble; and for good remember us, remember me, when Thou comest into Thy Kingdom.

Holdfast. Shall we fill our hands with possessions which are not worth holding fast? " There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt. But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand." We can carry nothing away when we die, neither the hurtful riches denounced by the Preacher, nor the thick clay denounced by the Prophet (see Hab. ii. 6). Hands preoccupied by such as these cannot grasp veritable wealth: " How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! " Hands emptied by showing mercy to the poor, are set free to hold fast what God will require of us; hearts emptied of self are prepared to receive and retain all He will demand; such blessed store as righteousness, with Job who would not let it go; that which is good, with the Thessalonian converts; the apostolic form of sound words, with Timothy; our profession, and confidence, and rejoicing of hope firm unto the end, with all faithful Christians. Thus Jacob said: " I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me.... And He blessed him there." Yet because God Himself is to us more than all His blessings, let us rather protest with the Bride: "I found Him Whom my soul loveth: I held Him, and would not let Him go."

Repent. There is no Divine promise which penitence may not claim; no height, no depth of Divine Love secluded from penitence. All is promised to the penitent, but repentance itself is not promised to the sinner. Yet, O my God, how otherwise should sinners be half so hopeful of repentance, as now that it depends solely on Thy Goodwill? Thou Who biddest us repent, fulfil in us Thine own bidding. Thou Who hast declared concerning Israel: " I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely," make us such as Thou canst heal and love. Thou Who art long-suffering to usvvard, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance; bring us to repentance, for none else in heaven or in earth can bring us. Thou Who holdest out to us hope, let us not be disappointed of our hope. If we be lost, Christ thereby loseth the price of His most precious Blood: suffer us to plead Christ with Thee, and to say: Who shall countervail the King's damage? Repentance is not promised to the impenitent, but to those who serve God all that they ask aright is promised; Christians know this, say this, build and rest on this: thus prevailingly they implore for themselves fuller, deeper, ever renewed repentance; thus availingly they might implore it for those who for themselves implore it not. O God of all Mercy and all Comfort, God the Father Who lovest us, God the Son Who lovest us, God the Holy Spirit Who lovest us, give us for whom Christ died grace to love our neighbour as ourself, and to pray for him as for ourself. Am I my brother's keeper? Yes.

Flee defilement. St. Mark records how when our Lord "had called all the people unto Him, He said unto them, Hearken unto Me every one of you, and understand: there is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear." So emphatically are all the people, every one of them, instructed that the spiritual garment contracts defilement not from with out but from within. Purity follows a contrary rule to many other virtues. Many are promoted by dwelling on the an tagonistic vices; by coming, so to say, to close quarters with these, by waging war with them face to face, war to the death. Look hard at ill-temper, for instance; and when you attain to appreciate its contemptible aspect, you may advance to discern and fall in love with the majesty of meekness. Not so with impurity: cover and turn away the eye lest it should behold it, stop the ear lest it should admit it; for the blessed pure in heart who shall see God, copy their Lord the Holy One Who is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and Who cannot look on iniquity. Nor does this imperative duty of shunning contami nation from without, at all clash with our Master's warning that defilement has its sole root within: the knowledge of foulness welcomed, entertained, gloated over, breeds in us foulness like itself; it acts like blood poison which infused from with out turns the man himself, or the woman herself, to a deathstruck mass of corruption. Holy courage often befits us: in this single instance holy cowardice becomes man's only available courage; as Joseph fled, abandoning and risking all rather than do a great wickedness, and sin against God. Akin to our duty towards ourselves in this matter, is our duty towards others, especially towards the young: in their regard we may pray to be made perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect; Who vouchsafed to shield the innocent ignorance of young Samuel, even while denouncing by his mouth abominable and crying sin. " Finally, brethren, whatsover things are true, what soever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

" The same shall be clothed in white raiment." — " Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy Name give the praise." God will clothe us who cannot clothe ourselves. Wherefore we need not inquire either for earth or for heaven, " where withal shall we be clothed? " for our Heavenly Father knoweth that we have need of many such things, and will without fail add them unto us if meanwhile we seek first His kingdom and righteousness. Whereof we enjoy already encouraging signs. As when He covered Adam and Eve after their shameful fall. Or as when under a similitude His love for Jerusalem is set forth: "I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. I decked thee also with orna ments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck. And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head. Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work... and thou wast ex ceeding beautiful.... And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through My comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God." Or as when the Father in the Parable arrays his prodigal son: *' Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet." And how beautiful is whiteness for a garment we see illustrated on all sides: the dove " is covered with silver wings "; lambs wear a white fleece; lilies and snowdrops are white, and there is a white rose; the swan floats in whiteness on blue waters, and over head white clouds float across the blue sky. Snow is white,.and so is a pearl; and diamonds and light are colourless.

Nevertheless whiteness is not an absence but rather a com pendium of colour. All tints when united in a perfectly balanced harmony resolve themselves into whiteness, and consequently all tints are capable of being re-developed from whiteness. Thus colourless light paints the rainbow. And thus celestial whiteness will not restrict but may rather gratify the taste of all who wear it.

At the first moment whiteness does not suggest colour: yet.all colour being latent in it, we finally discern in its train every lovely hue and gradation of hues. If thus it is with one word characteristic of Heaven, how know we that it is not so with every word?

To-day we hear by the hearing of the ear. So it was in her day with the Queen of Sheba, who allured by what she heard betook herself to the Holy Land; and when she saw King Solomon in his royalty, and saw those who served him, "Behold," said she, "the half was not told me'."

O Christ, our King and our Wisdom, bring us, I beseech Thee, to Thy Holy Land which is very far off, that there our eyes may see Thee in Thy Beauty.

'"King Solomon gave unto the Queen of Sheba all her -desire, whatsoever she asked, beside that which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty."

God grant us such a mind to be glad after our kind, And to sing His praises evermore for everything.

Much that we see must vanish with the sunshine, _ Sweet Spring must fail and fail the choir of Spring:

But Wisdom shall burn on when the lesser lights are gone, And shall sing God's praises evermore for everything.

" I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life." — Human life is in two sections, life terminable and life inter minable: and if I may so express it, the Book of Life appears to be correspondingly in two volumes; the Register of Baptism for this world, and the Register of Final Perseverance for the next. I say of Baptism because to us Christians the word of this salvation is sent, and according to it we must judge our selves, and abide the final Judgment.: whereas as St. Paul

"instructs us, " What have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth." To Whose mercy in that day let us commend ourselves and every living soul.

That first volume is constituted our Book of Life to the extent of promise, privilege, possibility: it depends on ourselves to realize the possibility, perpetuate the privilege, claim fulfil ment of the promise. It is also our patent of nobility: the Name that is above every name heads the " glorious, goodly, noble " list of those who please God; for He is not ashamed to call us brethren, He of Whom it is recorded, " Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of Me), to do Thy Will, O God."

Thy Name, O Christ, as ointment is poured forth Sweetening our names before God's Holy Face;

It is out of that first volume that names may be blotted: once entered in the second they become (thank God!) in delible. Change and vicissitude are confined to this life and this world: once safe in the next world the saved are safe for ever and ever. So our Lord deigned in effect to teach us all, when answering certain Sadducees, He said: " The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage: but they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection." And further we gather hence by implication that not all shall " obtain... the resurrection from the dead ": all must rise; but some will rise alive unto life, and some will rise dead unto damnation; in accordance with Christ's explicit statement elsewhere: " The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation."

Let us lay to heart each allusion to God's most awful Book. David mentions it where he prophesies against our Saviour's adversaries on Calvary; whose children, crucifying the Son of God afresh, and putting Him to an open shame, are the apostate Christians of successive generations: " Let them be blotted out of the Book of the living, and not be written with the righteous."

We meet with such a Book in the prophetic record of Daniel: "There shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the Book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt."

Malachi speaking of such a Book encourages the faithful: "Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a Book of remem brance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His Name. And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him."

St. Paul too alludes confidently to the Book in question when he writes concerning certain saints: " Clement also, and... other my fellow-labourers, whose names are in the Book of Life." After which words no wonder that he goes on to say: " Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice."

Nor are we left in any shadow of doubt as to the standard according to which names will or will not abide in that Book. Long before any of the texts hitherto cited, we read concern ing idolatrous Israel: "The Lord said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against Me, him will I blot out of My Book."

" I will confess his name." — What is it that men confess? Something that they are, that they have done, that they admit; something personal, intimate: not things indifferent or alien.

Even so Christ in promising to confess the name of him that overcometh, promises to confess the name of one who is His member, bone of His bone, and flesh of His flesh, one Body and one Blood with Him; in whom He Himself has wrought the work of salvation, and by His Spirit has overcome.

Of which condescending Divine goodwill, St. Paul's declara tion is the aspiring human correlative: " I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me "; from which exalted grace no Christian is excluded:

" Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus."

\Ve baptized Christians who bear the Name of Christ, and whom His Spirit indwells, are already one with Him. This union awaits not the future: it took place so many days, months, years ago; it now is, except we be reprobate; it will ever abide, except we fall away. Immeasurable heights of hope, unmeasured depths of fear, open to us at the word: beyond either, the height and depth of Christ's Love. " He that hath ears to hear" hears His Voice pleading with the most lost, the most rebellious: " How shall I give thee up...? how shall I deliver thee...? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? Mine heart is turned within Me, My repentings are kindled together/'

O Lord, wilt Thou be less to us than Adam was to his Eve? for he prophesied: " Therefore shall a man... cleave unto his wife."

O Lord; cleave Thou to us, or we cannot cleave to Thee. O Lord, wilt Thou require of us guilty more than Adam re quired of his innocent Eve? when he bade not her weakness cleave to his strength, but promised that his strength should cleave to her weakness.

O Lord, cleave Thou to us, or we cannot cleave to Thee. If our Lord had willed to keep secret the mutual love of each elect soul and Himself; and so had ascended alone with it into Heaven, or gone down alone with it into Hades, or dwelt alone with it in the uttermost parts of the sea, great and marvellous had been the condescension. How far greater, how transcendently marvellous, when He promises to confess the names of His faithful followers before His Father and before His angels. Before His Father, Whose equal He is as touch ing His Godhead, and Whose inferior He willed to become as touching His Manhood: before His own most noble creatures the angels, than whom He willed once to be made a little lower for us men and for our salvation.

In Him we hope, in ourselves we fear. Christ's words are clear as to our personal power to decide our own doom: " Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven." " Whosoever shall confess Me before men, him shall the Son of Man also confess before the angels of God: but «he that denieth Me before men, shall be denied before the angels of God."

Is it wors-j shame and ruin to be denied before God, or before angels? Surely and beyond comparison, before God. Yet Christ forewarns us of both contingent horrors: from both then there is some hely to be derived against that deadliest of all our enemies, self.

Perhaps the utter inherent disproportion between the Infinite Creator and the finite creature might seem to some perverse minds to blunt the sting of rejection before God. But that our elect fellow-creatures should behold us weighed and found wanting, exhibits no colour of propriety: they stood, we might have stood; they overcame, we might have overcome. Their steadfastness confronts our falling away, and condemns us.

7. And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith He that is holy, He that is true, He that hath the key of David, He that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth.

The name of Philadelphia sets before us brotherly love and the bliss of those who love as brethren. It invites us to pause and refresh ourselves with an appropriate Psalm of David:

" Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment.upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore."

"The key of David" has doubtless mysteries and hidden meanings to unlock. Here, meanwhile, it seems to fit the words (or wards, to carry on the figure) both of this Apocalyptic text and of this Psalm of Degrees; opening to our contemplation the grace and the corresponding blessing of unanimity, faith fulness, stability.

Graces, before they can become human graces, are primarily and transcendently Divine Virtues or Attributes. Man's graces are fruits of the Spirit: and in the human heart the Holy Spirit bears His own proper fruits, not alien or arbitrary fruits. The stability, faithfulness, unanimity, required of us, are first of all exemplified in Christ; Who being God became also Man, and as Man received not the Spirit by measure.

" He that is Holy." To His Holiness Hannah bore exultant witness: " There is none holy as the Lord: for there is none beside Thee: neither is there any Rock like our God,"— thus

extolling also His Immutability. Which likewise are combined by the Psalmist: "He hath commanded His covenant for ever: holy and reverend is His Name," — and by Isaiah: " To whom then will ye liken Me, or shal) I be equal? saith the Holy One... Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fairiteth not, neither is weary? " Habakkuk cele brates with His Holiness His Eternity: " Art Thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One? " And centuries later, after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour to ward man appeared, the apostolic company (see Acts iv. 23, &c.) praised God on this wise: " Of a truth against Thy Holy Child Jesus, Whom Thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel de termined before to be done "—because heaven and earth may pass away, but not God's Word.

And Chiefest among ten thousand, our Great High Priest interceding for His own, whom having loved, He loved unto the end, vouchsafed to pray for their perpetual safeguard and indissoluble union even after the likeness of God's own Per fection: "Holy Father, keep through Thine own Name those whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, as We are."

Heaven and the elements, earth and her main features, may seem to us enduring in perpetuity; but they are not so. God's Will alone is established for ever, and His promise it is which can never fail. Whence St. Peter deduces a lesson of personal holiness: " The Lord is not slack concerning His promise... The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such thing?, be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless.'3

"Who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is like Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? "

" He that is True."— On earth, and during His mortal life, the Only Begotten of the Father had been full of grace and truth toward all men. Once, speaking to certain Jews, He designated Himself as "a Man that hath told you the truth": while to Pontius Pilate He proclaimed: " To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth, heareth My voice." All those were open sinners. To His saints He said: " I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you... When He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth." And praying for the same beloved disciples, and for all who should believe on Him through their word. He said: " Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth... And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth."

Thus "grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." Glory be to Thee, O God, in His most Holy Name. Amen.

Beholding our Master, we behold Man in incomparably transcendent perfection: yet we ourselves, according to the Will and purpose of God, are designed in some sort and in miniature to become like Him. Beholding how in this life and in the next He is equally and unchangeably "the Truth" and " True," we become certified that this present life is the first stage of that future, ever-during life: strength, beauty, dignity, loveliness, delight, may be added; but added only to what we are, never to what we are not. What we essentially are in this world, that we shall be in the other: what here we absolutely are not, we shall not be there.

If there is no truth in us now, either through wilful lack of faith or of sincerity, neither will there be any then.

" Purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up."

It was once pointed out to me by one whose was indeed a loving heart, that David had "a passion" for God. Such a dominant, absorbing passion, cries out in the familiar words: " Like as the hart desireth the water-brooks: so longeth my soul after Thee, O God. My soul is athirst for God, yea, even for the Living God: when shall I come to appear before the presence of God? " Little as we " can understand his errors," still less perhaps can most of us hope to understand his sanctity: his errors we cannot but understand, so far as kindred errors of our own may serve to enlighten us; but where in too many is the kindred sanctity to furnish a clue to his sanctity?

Adam and Eve illustrate how impossible it is for man to know that which is utterly alien: they knew not and could not know evil until they had involved themselves in it. If we would fathom how it was that despite his sins David was yet a man after God's own heart, let us pray to love in some measure as he loved; for without love we shall never understand either God or His saints.

And because David thus devotedly loved God, knowing none upon earth to desire in comparison of Him; therefore (be other reasons what they may), doubtless does our Lord honour his name and memory by repeated and permanent association with His own Person; permitting Himself to be designated and saluted as Son of David, in this world; and in the other world laying claim to " the key of David," and afterwards announcing Himself as the Root and Offspring of David.

"The key of David" may haply give access to the treasure of David. Prophecy, vision, noble natural endowments, a. very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument, these were his and may never be ours; but pervading and excelling all these was that love without which even David would have been but as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. Which best gift is attainable by us all.

Safer than in David's hand, the master-key is in our own Saviour's hand. With it He can unlock what He pleases to whomsoever He will.

What is there, is there anything, from which Christ would exclude us? He so identifies His own with Himself that we must stand or fall according to this word: " Inasmuch as ye have clone it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.... Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to Me." He shares with us His Name, He makes us partakers of the Divine Nature.

Even the key of David and its powers are promised by prophecy to "Eliakim the son of Hilkiah," and in words analogous to those of the Apocalyptic text: " The key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open,, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open."

But is not Eliakim a typical personage? I suppose so: still, to become typical, one must first be real.

^ O Gracious Lord, Who hast said: The disciple is not above his master; but every one that is perfect shall be as his master;. Thee we adore, making answer: It is enough for the disciple that he be as his Master.

"And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen stand ing in the court, that she obtained favour in his sight: and the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre that was in his hand. So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the sceptre. Then said the king unto her: What wilt thou,. queen Esther? and what is thy request? it shall be even given thee to the half of the kingdom."

O Tender Lord, Who unto two disciples, one unnamed and both sad, didst once unlock in all the Scriptures things concern ing Thyself unlock to us, I beseech Thee, treasures of Thy word and wisdom. Thou, Who lovest and forgavest David, love us, forgive us, who in Thee are made akin to him. O Thou the more excellent David, Champion, Prophet, Shepherd, King, whether or not we be of a fair countenance amongst men, make us comely unto Thee. Whether or not we be sweet singers in Thy houses made with hands, grant us grace to-

make melody in our hearts to Thee; and say Thou to each of us, Sweet is thy voice. Show to us great mercy, bestow on us sure mercies; incorruption for this corruptible, immortality for this mortal. Be each of us Thy Jonathan, beloved and loving. O Lord the Righteous Branch, make us also to bud, taking root downward and bearing fruit upward. O Lord the Rod of Jesse, reject not our names from before Thy Mercy Seat, but make the feeblest amongst us to be as David. Thou Son of David, have mercy on us. Hosanna to the Son of David. Amen.

Nevertheless, community of flesh and blood, confidence of prayer, union of will, fervour of love, while they make us near and dear to Christ with an unutterable nearness and dearness, •cannot in relative proportion add one cubit to the stature of the creature worshipping the Creator, of man adoring God. The Son of Mary, Son of God, is God the Son, \7ery God of Very God. " To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven... a time to keep silence, and a time to speak.... Be not rash with Thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few." Before we study the opening and shutting with which we now have to do, let us reverently contemplate that Eastern Gate which Ezekiel beheld in vision, and from which mankind is excluded: " He brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east: and, behold, the Glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: His voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with His glory.... Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looketh toward the east; and it was shut. Then said the Lord unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the Lord, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut. It is for the Prince."

Without adverting to the mystical interpretation of this venerable Eastern Gate, it bids us bring awe, homage, adoration, self-abasement, self-oblation, when we lift up hands and eyes toward Him Whom our souls desire to love.

Shamefaced and trembling we lift our eyes to Thee: O First and with the last! annul our ruined past,

From sin and from sorrow to fall down and worship Thee. Full of pity view us, stretch Thy sceptre to us,

Make us lovely, make us new, set us free, Heart and soul and spirit to bring all and worship Thee.

" He that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and

no man openeth." — " When Thou hadst overcome the sharp ness of death: Thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers."

So mighty an opening has time already witnessed. A second correspondingly mighty it has still to behold, according to that prophecy of Ezekiel, where the great type sets before our eyes the yet greater anti-type: " Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O My people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up out of your graves."

Truly " no man shutteth." They who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do, cannot debar from rising again those blessed bodies \\hich once they slew, sawed asunder, burned to ashes, scattered to the four winds of heaven. Man proposeth, God disposeth. Man's extremity is God's opportunity.

Each blessed body for its blessed soul, Refashioning the aspects of the just. Each saint who died must live afresh, and must

Of his own proper glory to his goal; As seeds their proper bodies all upthrust. Each with his own not with another's grace,

Each with his own not with another's heart, Each with his own not with another's face, Each dovelike soul mounts to his proper place: —

O God, the only Creator of all things, uplift our spirits, I pray Thee, on the wings of Thy divine Dove; that like birds of Thy first Paradise, they may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. Cover us with silver wings of renewed innocence, with feathers like gold in the sunshine of Thy grace: that the waters of this troublesome world may bring forth abundantly to Thee the moving creature that hath life, and hath a tongue to sing Thy praises. For our Lord Jesu's sake.

" Doth the ploughman plough all day to sow? doth he open

and break the clods of his ground?" O our God, Who so teachest him, forget not thine own Acre, and the holy seed sown therein. For Christ's sake, the Firstfruits. Amen.

Let us take courage, contemplating some of the doors set open, or ready to be set wide open, before every one of us. And if all we observe be not doors, let us be thankful that they all are openings for our benefit: —

" If thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all His commandments... The Lord shall open unto thee His good treasure." — " The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry." — " Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the Lord: this gate of the Lord, into which the righteous shall enter."— " Thou openest Thine hand, and satisfies! the desire of every living thing."— "We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth, may enter in."— "In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness." — " Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lcrd of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of- heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." — " Knock, and it shall be opened unto you."- " Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."

Opening is suggestive of mercy; of Christ's arms spread wide to draw all men unto Him, of His Heart pierced to shelter us. Shutting suggests (though not always does it imply) durance or exclusion, in accordance with which Job bears witness, *' He shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening," — David implores, " Let not the pit shut her mouth upon me," — Jeremiah laments, " When I cry and shout, He shutteth out my prayer." It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of Him Who shutteth and no man openeth. " When once the Master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us;... He shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are."— "The Bridegroom came, and they that were ready went in with Him to the marriage; and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But He answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not."

Yet so long as the period of probation extends, even durance and exclusion may be blessed to man's safety; as befell Noah in the ark, when the Lord shut him in; Miriam also, when she was shut out of the camp as a step towards her restoration. These become to us spiritual symbols.

Our inexhaustible hope:— Jesus said, (( I am the door of the sheep... I am the door; by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved."

8. I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept My word, and hast not denied My name.

The Revised Version reads: " I know thy works (behold, I have set before thee a door opened, which none can shut), that thou hast a little power, and didst keep My word, and didst not deny My Name."

According to the first rendering, the " open door " seems to be a reward of the works summed up afterwards. The second rendering, by making the " door opened " parenthetical and so connecting the works directly with their ensuing summary, appears to announce that opened door as a bounty and safe guard rather than as a reward. While as to the good works themselves, the first version leads our thoughts to a habit of faith and courage: the second, to a distinct crisis of temptation overcome by those virtues.

The two translations combined kindle hope, gratitude, con fidence, excite emulation. (A remark glib and impersonal, valuable only when personal and practical. The slothful servant has to be condemned out of his own mouth.)

The Church Triumphant dwells at large in the land that is very far off, "that goodly mountain." The Church Militant sojourns in "this world," whereof Christ declared: "The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me." Thus abides she within the enemy's camp, finding there no rest for the sole of her foot. Howbeit, in accordance with that great prophetic promise which our Lord vouchsafed to St. Peter, she is set upon a rock where the gates of hell shall not prevail.against her. She stands as a city that is set on an hill, as a besieged city, compassed together on every side, hostile hosts swarming about her like bees. Their camp is " walled up to heaven," but its gates stand open, and the concentrated strength of hell cannot prevail to shut them upon her. For the true

Samson has passed through them once for all, and wrecked those gates; and Greater is He that is with her, than he that is against her.

" Let My people go, that they may serve Me." Each faith ful soul is as the Church, for the Church is the congregation of all generations of faithful souls. " Ye are the children of the prophets."

"Thou hast a little strength." — Why not much strength? God knoweth. — Were it not better to have more? No, while God assigns no more. — With much, much could be done. With little, all can be done. — Give much, and I will glorify the Giver. Given much while disdaining little, and thou wouldst glorify thyself or Satan. — O wretched man that I am! Pray God to mend thee, and He will mend all else for thee.— If it be so, why am I thus? For the glory of God. — Yet fain would I like an angel excel in strength. Safer for thee like St. Paul, in weakness to be strong.

Can I know it? — Nay. — Shall I know it?— Yea, When all mists have cleared away For ever and aye. — •

Why not then to-day? — • Who hath said thee nay? Lift a hopeful heart and pray In a humble way. —

Other hearts are gay. — Ask not joy to-day: Toil to-day along thy way Keeping grudge at bay. —

On a past May day Flowers pranked all the way; Nightingales sang out their say On a night of May. —

Dost thou covet May On an Autumn day? P'oolish memory saith its say Of sweets past away. —

" Hast kept My word, and hast not denied My name." — They who keep Christ's Word, and deny not His Name, keep their own life from going down to the pit. And this God reckons to them for righteousness, and recompenses with an inconceivable reward.

O Lord, Whose Word is a lantern unto our feet, and a light unto our paths, I pray Thee make the law of Thy mouth dearer unto us than thousands of gold and silver. O Lord, Whose Name is a strong tower to the righteous, I pray Thee give us wisdom to run into it and be safe.

To keep every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, strains strength; or the young ruler, who had kept many Divine precepts, had not at the last word gone away grieved. Not to deny His Name, strains strength; or St. Peter had not denied it. (Can I by possibility be called to wax stronger than that young ruler whom Christ beholding loved; stronger than St. Peter, whose love dared challenge his Lord's own witness? " The things which are impossible with men, are possible with God." Thank God, through Jesus Christ our Saviour.)

9. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; be hold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.

Thus translated, the promise reads as if the whole " synagogue of Satan " should "come and worship." The Revised Version seems rather to speak of some individuals so doing, not of all: " Behold, I give of the synagogue of Satan, of them which say they are Jews, and they are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship...." I can but quote both texts.

" Known unto God are all His works, from the beginning of the world." He knoweth them, and He alone exhaustively. To bear this in mind everywhere and always would go far to curb rash judgment, and to still strife of tongues. I deem not that you know, and you feel certain that I know not; He only Who knoweth us both, knoweth all.

At the first flush we discern in this promise (ver. 9), glory to Philadelphia, humiliation to that unseemly synagogue. And humiliation indeed there may be, and in humiliations generally we feel with instantaneous keenness the shame and sting.

Yet is there a gratuitous grace and unearned honour to that offender, who being converted from the error of his ways, retraces his steps even through the valley of humiliation. *' There is a shame which is glory and grace."

Por Satan's synagogue to bow down before Christ's saints, for those who lied even in calling themselves Jews, to know anything of the love wherewith Christ loves His own, may, in comparison with their former position, be at the least an approach "not far from the kingdom of God."

There dwells in this wide world no man or woman or child but either is, or is not, of the number of God's saints. We in Christendom, if we belong not to that illustrious company, yet abide within sight of it. God grant that the shining lights may shine, glow, radiate, more and more, and that the lookerson glorifying the Father of all, may catch fire.

The self-assertion of Jews who were not genuine Jews, illustrates how " the fashion of this world passeth away." I know not whether at this day any one feels the pressure of that particular temptation.

There is one advantage in ignorance writing for ignorance; the writer sets before the reader resources common to both. Only we must all beware of becoming as blind who lead the blind.

Yet, after all, neither knowledge nor ignorance is of first importance to Bible students: grace is our paramount need; Divine grace, rather than any human gift. Acquirements and deficiencies sink to one dead level when lacking grace: — "Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath He covered. And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed: and the book is de livered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned."

Such considerations befit my own ignorance concerning the particular misbelievers branded as " the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie." Still, something I gather from those words: an evil and not a good spirit swayed them; they asserted what was in their own in tention a claim to superiority; in so doing they lied. Thus with threefold voice they warn all men to try the spirits whether they be of God; to sit down in the lowest room; to speak the truth without respect of persons.

0 God, only Good, think upon Thy congregation whom Thou hast purchased and redeemed of old. Rule all hearts by Thy Most Holy Spirit; that humbly we may worship Thee, and truthfully confess Thee, owning ourselves unprofitable servants, and in honour preferring one another. To the praise of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

u I will make them.... to know that I have loved thee." —Yea, gracious Lord, even while Thou waitest to call- her also beloved who was not beloved. Thy waiting to love, is love. Thy forsaking for a small moment becomes, if we will, a step towards gathering with great mercies. Thy hiding Thy face in a little wrath for a moment, hinders not Thine everlasting kindness and overflow of mercy if we repent Thy beloved ones, whom beholding we admire, are persons of like passions as we are: Thou lovest them, Thou waitest to love us; yea, already Thou lovest us, except we be reprobate.

Even so, God loved the world before it was reconciled to Him by the gift and sacrifice of His Only Begotten Son (see St. John iii. 16, 17). Even so, the father in the Parable loved his prodigal before ever he came in sight.

1 pray Thee, Lord Jesus Christ, make those whom Thou lovest, and who return Thy love, mirrors of Thee unto their unloving brethren; that these too becoming enamoured of Thine image may reproduce it, light reflecting light, and ardour kindling ardour, until God be all and in all. Amen.

UI have loved thee." — "Thy love is better than wine." We know not all the features of lovableness which adorned these Philadelphian saints; but we are sure that lovable they were, inasmuch as Christ loved them. (A safe standard by which to estimate my neighbour. If I cannot love him, which is alien to love? he or I?)

10. Because thou hast kept the word of My patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

So far as I am aware the word patience is exclusively a New Testament word, although patient and patiently occur in both Testaments. Not that the virtue so named waited for these last days for illustration: on the contrary, St. James cites the Prophets and Job as examples of patience. Yet because patience in perfection was not found on earth until Christ trod our weary ways, it wakes a harmonious chord in our hearts to observe that till His blessed human lips spake the word, that word was not (unless I mistake) recorded in the Scriptures of Truth.

Once in the days of His mortality He had said to His disciples, " In your patience possess ye your souls; " but now in His glorious immortality He so far unites His suffering Church with Himself as to tay, " Because thou hast kept the word of My patience."

O kind Lord, Who so identifiest Thy Church with Thyself that what Thou art she is accounted, and what she is Thou takest upon Thyself, grant that as Thy Desire is unto her, so her whole desire and longing may be unto Thee purely and without distraction, for ever and ever.

Patience goes with sorrow, not with joy. And by a natural instinct sorrow ranges itself with darkness, joy with light. But eyes that have been supernaturalized recognize, not literally only, but likewise in a figure, how darkness reveals more luminaries than does the day: to the day appertains a single sun; to the night innumerable, incalculable, by man's perception inex haustible stars.

This is one of nature's revelations, attested by experience. God grant us to receive the parallel revelation of grace: then whatever tribulation befalls us will by His blessing work in us patience, and our patience will work experience, and our ex perience hope; "and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us."

What those saints kept was not patience merely, but " the word " of Christ's patience. At His word they kept patience; they kept it because of His will toward themselves, and subject to each jot and tittle of His revered law. He was their pattern and text-book of patience; because He bore contradiction of sinners, so did they; because He, when He was reviled, reviled not again, neither did they; because He prayed for His enemies, they likewise prayed for theirs.

Of these unknown, unrecorded Philadelphians do we then really and truly know such great things? Yea, such things as these, inasmuch as we are certified that they kept the Word of Christ's patience.

" As unknown, and yet well known."

Have pitched their tent together here: Love all alone will build a house to-morrow,

Patience is its own reward. It preoccupies the soul with a sort of satisfaction which suppresses insatiable craving, vain endeavour, rebellious desire. It keeps the will steadfast, the mind disengaged, the heart quiet. Patience having little or having nothing yet possesses all things; for through faith and patience the elect inherit the promises. Here, in our text, follows a momentous promise: —

" Because thou hast kept the word of My patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come..."

Even so David's voice vibrates to us from a far-off century: " Oh how plentiful is Thy goodness, which Thou hast laid up for them that fear Thee: and that Thou hast prepared for them that put their trust in Thee, even before the sons of men! Thou shalt hide them privily by Thine own Presence from the provoking of all men: Thou shalt keep them secretly in Thy tabernacle from the strife of tongues." And so of old Isaiah bore witness: "A Man shall be as an hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land."

The Philadelphia!! saints by patience obtained the special promise we are considering. We ourselves a thousand and a thousand times by impatience have forfeited our claim to it. They thus were guaranteed exemption from an awful impending trial; while we...! Yet " hast Thou not reserved a bless ing for me? Hast Thou but one blessing, my Father? bless me, even me also, O my Father."

St. James, who by inspiration sets forth the praise of patience, equally by inspiration blesses those who instead of being sheltered from temptation are sustained under it: "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."

"Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation."

" Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."

"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man."

Draw freely, generously, hopefully upon patience; for the more we draw upon it, so much is the strain upon it lessened. On one memorable occasion had King Saul's patience held out for perhaps a single hour longer, the Lord would have established his kingdom upon Israel "for ever/'

God reserves many ways within His limitless resources whereby either from or under temptation to rescue as He pleases any soul He pleases. Death is one of His blessed ways: "The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness." (Let us not then mourn inconsolably for our own "not lost, but gone before.") Or He can with a stroke fortify that weak point which would facilitate a given temptation, as blindness or deafness seals up eye or ear against pollution. Or He can deaden our faculty of enjoyment, and therewith our inclination to parley. Or He can replace an expelled vice by its antagonistic virtue, so that seven or seven times seven wicked spirits moaning and gibbering around our swept and garnished house should find no entrance there.

Nor can we while wheat and tares grow together foresee which ears quickly ripened and spared the brunt of wind and rain, will be garnered betimes as firstfruits of a multitudinous harvest. Not even their mother presenting her petition for the sons of Zebedee can have calculated that St. James would head the noble army of martyred Apostles, whilst St. John, the last survivor of their glorious company, would come to his grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in, in his season.

"The hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon- the earth." — The surface of the universe, or to bring my remark within a less unmanage able area, the surface of familiar nature and of society, presents incalculable if not infinite variety. Light stands out against darkness, growth against decay; the contrast of wedding and funeral stares us in the face. Divergences are the order of our day; insomuch that it even has been alleged that no two leaves can be found alike; and I for one am ready to believe it.

Yet the more we think over these diversities and such as these, the more (I suppose) we may discern something common underlying all that is individual. To take an instance: at one moment a wedding appears all life, a funeral all death; at another, both are perceived to b^ equally and at once an end and a beginning.

A step further, and I recognize that during this probational period not some influences only, but all influences as they touch us become our trials, tests, temptations; assayed by which we stand or fall, we are found wanting or not wanting, as genuinely as will be the case with us in the last tremendous Day of account.

Therefore while fear is quickened because of constant peril, any sort of unreasoning horror is abated, inasmuch as even the great last Judgment though supreme and final will not stand unprecedented and alone: over and over again we have been judged and condemned, or else acquitted; over and over again have fallen or stood to our own Master.

O my God, grant us the uprightness of saints, or at the least only such falls as they arise from. For Jesus Christ's merits' sake. Amen.

This " hour of temptation " was ordained to overtake all the world. Is it already past, is it passing, or is it still to come? To ourselves it may be present, or it may be future: it were rash to reckon any temptation assuredly past, whilst the liability to all temptation remains. The "old man" dies slowly, tediously, painfully: death-stricken by our Mighty Avenger of Blood, his life is indeed but death and corruption, yet "while there is life there is fear."

"To try them that dwell upon the earth." — All alike must be tried: not all alike will meet and pass through the trial. The qualification for trial is dwelling upon the earth: they^who are least of the earth earthy will presumably fare best; inas much as this trial is not in order to confirm man upon the earth that now is, but to fit him for translation to that new heaven and*new earth wherein shall dwell righteousness.

Foothold we must needs have, at least until we be made equal unto the angels; but let us pray against roothold. A foot may spurn the ground it cannot choose but tread; a root grasps and holds fast the soil whence it sucks subsistence, and whence it oftentimes cannot be wrenched except to die.

Sparrows and swallows are alike safe when once they have become denizens of the amiable tabernacles. But on earth, which is at best heaven's ante-chamber, it is wiser to construct a one-season's nest than a house for prolonged residence: the swallow of this generation is wiser than the sparrow.

Perched on the housetop, its own upper chamber, for nest; Wisest of swallows that swallow which timely has flown Over the turbulent sea to the land of its rest:

Wisest of spirits that spirit which dwelleth apart Hid in the Presence of God for a chapel and nest,

Sending a wish and a will and a passionate heart Over the eddy of life to that Presence in rest: Seated alone and in peace till God bids it arise.

Will the trial last for ever? — No, for some period which an hour represents. " Couldest not thou watch one hour? "

Will it overwhelm us? — No, for the promise is unto us and to our children: <; God is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."

When will it befall us? — " Of that day and hour knoweth no man... Watch therefore."

We fear. " He that feareth God shall come forth of them all."

We hope. "It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord."

"And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good? But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: having a good conscience."

11. Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.

" Behold, I come quickly." — But some man would answer: Lord, sayest Thou that Thou comest quickly Who all these eighteen hundred years hast not come? Well may we pray that we may interpret.

Christ's blessed words are truth, sending forth wisdom by unnumbered channels. For He uses many seasons and modes of coming, besides and before that final coming when every eye shall see Him. To some exalted souls He has come ere now in vision and special revelation. To all His brethren down to the poorest and hungriest He comes, or is ready to come, in the Blessed Sacrament of His Body and Blood. To every man who loves Him and keeps His words He comes beyond the world's comprehension and makes His abode with him (see St. John xiv. 22, 23). To His beloved He comes in their death whereby they go to Him. In any or in all of these ways we believe and are sure that He kept faith with His faithful Philadelphians.

On the other hand, not the creature of time but only the Lord of time and eternity can pronounce on what is or is not quickly brought to pass. At eighteen we think a year long, at eighty we think it short: what terminable duration would seem long to us, what such duration would not seem short, if we had already passed out of time into eternity? Wherefore He alone Who saith "quickly" can define quickly.

O Gracious Lord Christ, Who lovest Thine elect with an everlasting love, keep us, I pray Thee, peaceful and trustful in our due ignorance until the day break and the shadows flee away.

Oh knell of a passing time, Will it never cease to chime? Oh stir of the tedious sea, Will it never cease to be? Yea, when night and when day, Moon and sun pass away.

Surely the sun burns low, The moon makes ready to go, Broad ocean ripples to waste, Time is running in haste, Night is numbered, and day Numbered to pass away.

"Hold that fast which thou hast."— Hold fast for one thing the word of Christ's patience. To let go patience would entail forfeit of both praise and promise.

With our little strength let us hold fast patience and what ever else has been entrusted to our keeping. Be we of no reputation and ever so small, God's blessing on our little strength will make it adequate, and will brace it to keep His commandments.

That which as yet «' thou hast " is not thy crown, but on it depends thy crown. As safety depended on the steadfastness of the Alexandrian manners (see Acts xxvii. 6, 30 — 32), so on our steadfastness here depends our coronation hereafter. And as then a delusive appearance of safety, or even perhaps a partial safety, had to be sacrificed to the general security, so our Lord has forewarned us, " He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it."

O Lord Whose symbol is the unchanging sun, enlighten us to be Thy faithful sequent moons; waxing to Thee, waning to ourselves, walking in brightness, reflecting and spreading abroad Thy glory. Lighten our darkness, I beseech Thee, O Lord.

Can I hold fast my crown on purpose "that no man take" it; and yet love my neighbour as myself? Yes, verily, and by God's help so I will.

For the Divine Treasury is never so scantily furnished that one man's enrichment depends on the impoverishment of another. Indeed the very contrary may be looked for, as is illustrated by a parallel case: " Whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it."

All is as God wills, and what He pleaseth to do He doeth. On the one hand the fall of Judas left an apostolic throne vacant for St. Matthias: on the other hand St. Paul out of due time became an Apostle in excess of the original Twelve. The Bounty of God never ceases, as it were, to appeal to man: " Prove Me now... if I will not —." " And yet there is room."

If I ruin myself the loss is mine, but my squandered blessing is net lost to the Church. The forfeited bishopric another takes. The forfeited mansion another will inhabit. God's House must needs be filled, though the door be shut in the face of ten thousand invited guests. The cast-out childrens' places will be occupied by elect children from east and west, and north and south.

Worst of all is it when self-ruin involves the ruin of others. There is a giving and taking which is mere absolute loss to both giver and receiver: " My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. If they say, Come with us,... cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse: my son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: for their feet run to evil... And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives." "The strange woman,... the stranger which flattereth with her words; which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God. For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life."

<;Thy crown." — What am I, to foresee a crown for myself? For my neighbour I will think out a crown.

Earthly maidens and brides wear garlands of blossoms which must wither: the heavenly Virgins and Brides shall wear amaranthine wreaths. So (please God) some whom I have known will be crowned. Far from crowned have I heretofore beheld them, meek, lowly, patient, obscure, perhaps unsightly, perhaps uncouth; but if I see them again " in all their glory," I shall see such persons as in his mortal day Solomon the magnificent could not vie with.

Crowns of righteousness await all the righteous; but not, it may be, crowns all alike, any more than stars beam all alike in their glory. If by way of figure and illustration earthly treasures correspond at all with heavenly treasures, pearls seem fit for purity, and most fine gold for sanctity, changeable opals with one abiding fire-spark for penitence, the perennial green ness of emeralds for hope that maketh not ashamed, diamonds sun-reproducing for faith, and for love carbuncles like coals of fire that hath a most vehement flame. Or rather, one and all for love: love being guard of purity, root of sanctity, spring of penitence, sustenance of hope, life of faith.

Is love then the only crowned virtue? Yes, only love: in asmuch as the others, divorced from love, would not be virtues.

Lord, what like will my crown be? — Call it not thine before thou hast striven for it. — Lord, will it not be of glory? — Mine once was of thorns. — Can a crown of thorns be in truth my desire? — With desire I desired Mine. — Thorns, if so it must be, to-day: but what to-morrow? — This day is called to-day: to-morrow will take thought for the things of itself.

" My Beloved is mine, and I am His," saith the Bride of the Canticles, and makes no mention of her own inferiority in the gracious communion and so-far equality of love. Indeed, if there be a difference, I think the Bridegroom may rejoice over the Bride with a more absolute complacency of affection than that wherewith she on her side worships Him: for He calls her " My love," she Him " my Beloved"; " My love," as if she were very love itself, "my Beloved," as if her love graced Him.

Than this we need seek no sweeter marvel. To be classed with it are two prophecies of Isaiah when set side by side: " In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of His people ": • — " Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God."

12. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the Name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of Heaven from My God: and I will write upon him My new Name.

" A pillar " — great strength, the fruit and guerdon of a little strength; absolute immovable stability, the outcome of the effort to hold fast. Behold the choice work wrought out of the costly material; wrought out by dint of blows, of cutting, of shattering in a measure; but (thank God!) wrought out at last. White and ruddy as alabaster; not all white lest it seem cold, nor all ruddy lest it seem blood-stained; lilies, knops, pomegranates; — nay, we know not what colours and devices shall make it comely; but this we know, that it will be the finished work of Him all Whose works were good in the beginning; how much more, in the end and consummation of all things!

Nor merely a pillar, but "a pillar in the Temple of My God." A pillar adorns, dignifies, upholds the structure to which it belongs. Even thus may it be with celestial pillars, yet never otherwise than where a Psalm speaks with the Voice of Christ: " I bear up the pillars of it." He Who was Strength to the weak on earth, will be Strength to the strong in Heaven: that which was founded on Rock here, will not be founded on sand there.

Can man uphold the glory of God? Yea, God so gracing him. Similarly we read of mortal men helping, — or rather, alas! of their not helping the victorious Lord of all: " They came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty." Not that He needs our help: but whoso helps Him shares His Triumph; whoso upholds His glory becomes invested with His Glory.

Good Lord, make me, me also of Thy votaries. Neither pray I for myself alone, but for all.

"And he shall go no more out." — •

" I will write upon him the Name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, which is new Jerusalem,... and I will write upon him My new Name."

Children bear their father's name, a wife her husband's. Thus the Divine Father bestows His own Name on His adopted children, and thus the Divine Bridegroom on His purchased bride; and this to all eternity, as we see in the text.

But Christian Baptism is Baptism in the Name of the Most Holy Trinity, of Father, of Son, and of Holy Ghost. All through mortal life regenerate man bears that Sacred Name in Its fulness: God forbid that he who finally perseveres unto salvation, should then cease to bear It in unabated fulness of Perfection. [I write under correction: I repudiate my own thoughts if erroneous.]

Wherefore I humbly ponder whether " the name of the City of God, which is new Jerusalem," may hide at once and reveal the Supreme Name of that Divine Most Holy Spirit Who deigns to inhabit her. " In His temple doth every one speak of His glory "; and she is that Temple built of living stones; which stones are men, of whom each one severally is con stituted a Temple of the Holy Ghost consecrated to worship God in spirit and in truth.

If such a train of thought be lawful, it seems to illustrate the Inscrutability ot the Third Person of the Ever Blessed Trinity: a sacred Inscrutability of Mystery in the revelation to man of God the Holy Spirit, beyond what invests the corresponding revelation of God the Father or of God the Son. Even natural instinct attests as true the revelation of One Divine, universal Father: the heart's desire of all nations heretofore thirsted for, and now in some measure acknowledges, the revelation of God the Son. But Christ Himself said in reference to an operation of God the Holy Spirit, ** The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth "; and we are ready to answer: " Lo, He goeth by me, and I see Him not: He passeth on also, but I perceive Him not."

I think that a devout contemplation of our most approach able Master may help us to perceive and adore our "Other Comforter." During His earthly life Jesus engaged few followers; and these in varying degrees of knowledge or of ignorance apprehended or apprehended not His Divinity; but after His Resurrection, and again in greater splendour after His Ascension, light sprang up. Thus so long as eyes could see and ears hear and hands handle the Word of Life, Christ abode for the most part unseen, unheard, untouched; but when a cloud had received Him out of sight, then it became possible for mankind at all times and in all places to behold Him with the eye of faith, listen to Him with the ear of hope, hold Him fast and not let Him go with the clasped hands of adoring love. So long as His Tabernacle was mortal it obscured the indwelling Deity: when His mortal put on immor tality it revealed what till then it had veiled.

For more than these eighteen hundred years past it has pleased the Holy Spirit by choosing mortal men as His temples to dwell in houses made of dust and which must return to dust. The evidence He vouchsafes of His Presence consists in the supernatural endowments of His saints. Holy men, holy women, holy children, act like prisms to exhibit His Light: they are not that Light, but bear witness of that Light. Their love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, bear witness to Him: these are His fruits, and the fruits declare the tree.

Now if Christ's mighty works, perfection of grace, un measured plenitude of the Spirit, did not to the universal apprehension announce His Godhead so long as this was enshrined in a mortal though ever-immaculate Body, — no wonder is it that the Presence of God the Holy Ghost, in shrines so narrow, frail, flawed, polluted as are ordinary human hearts which have still to die, is often overlooked or denied: no wonder that His very Being should be denied by some who look for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.

An awful responsibility devolves on each Christian soul. You, I, are summoned and constituted to bear witness to the Person and Work of Almighty God the Holy Spirit; to be in some degree His evidence, His illustration, His proof. " O God, Thou knovvest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from Thee... Let not those that seek Thee be con founded for my sake, O God of Israel."

The saints are God's epistle known and read of all men: "tables of testimony... written with the finger of God."

"New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from My God." — Wherefore cometh she down? and whither cometh she down?

It seems to be the reverse of what our Redeemer spake concerning Himself: " No man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven."

He first descended, then ascended. His followers cne by one slowly, painfully, precariously toil up from earth to the better country. And then after all we read that the New Jerusalem will come down!

Now if for the present this scarcely sounds to us like any phase of beatitude, it may prove to us none the less profitable: by setting us on our guard against fancying we know and comprehend what we neither know nor comprehend; by inviting us to trust God implicitly, and not to lean to our own understanding; by bringing home to us that God's perfect Will and not our own desire or imagination is the standard of beatitude.

O our God, teach us so to trust Thee that knowledge and ignorance may be alike welcome to us when of Thine ap pointing. What we know we know only in part; what we know not Thou knowest altogether. The darkness and light to Thee are both alike: therefore under the shadow of Thy wings will we rejoice. Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

" My New Name." — O Lord Whom we have loved as God, as Man, as Son of God, Son of Man, Son of David, Son of Mary, as Christ, as Jesus, what is that New Name, under which Thine own shall one day love Thee? I ask not to know it while It is secret. I ask that with all my brethren and all my sisters in Thee I may know, adore, love Thee under that New Name and under every Name through all eternity: for ever following on to know Thee; ever learning, and coming to the knowledge of the truth, and learning still for ever.

As tho' I loved Thee as Thy saints love Thee \ Yet turn from those Thy lovers, look on me,

But pour on me ungracious, pour Thy grace To purge my heart and bid my will go free, Till I too taste Thy hidden Sweetness, see

14. And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the beginning of the creation of God.

An " Angel " still though arraigned at the supreme bar. A " Church " still, though being weighed and found wanting. " Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in His goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off."

" The Amen." — Elsewhere the Voice of Inspiration affirms: " The Son of God, Jesus Christ.. was not yea and nay, but in Him was yea. For all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God..." [Or according to the Revised Version: "... but in Him is yea. For how many soever be the promises of God, in Him is the yea: wherefore also through Him is the Amen, unto the glory of God... "]

To Balaam of old was revealed the immutability of God and of His Word: "God is not a man that He should lie;

neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath HJ siid and shall He not do it? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?" In which utterance, as in a glass darkly, we haply trace an allusion to the Mystery of our Lord's Incar nation: Who verily became a Man and the Son of Man neither that He should lie nor repent, but to make good His plighted word by bruising the serpent's head. He Who is the Truth from all eternity, remains the Truth to all eternity. His faith fulness and truth are our shield and buckler.

In Him the promises are yea, wherefore the threatening! likewise cannot but be yea. Indeed the several accomplish ments of promises and of threatenings, even if not interde pendent, seem to be closely allied. As where we read: " The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in tho blood of the wicked. So that a man shall say, Veiily there is a reward for the righteous " — "The day of vengeance is in Mine heart, and the year of My redeemed is come" — "Behold, My servants shall eat, but yj shall be hungry: behold, My servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: behold, My servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed: behold, My servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit. And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto My chosen " — "Judas... went immediately out: and it was night. Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him " — "Then shall the King say unto them on His Right Hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.... Then shall He say also unto them on the Left Hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.... And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal."

" The Faithful and True Witness." — Our Lord instructed Nicodemus, saying: " We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen."

Lord, what is it which Thou hast seen in me? What now seest Thou? What wilt Thou see at the awful day of my death? What in the most awful Day of Thy Judgment? Thou Who beholdest sin, kindle and behold in me repentance; that so at last even I may see the felicity of Thy chosen, may see Thee in Thy beauty, may see Thee as Thou art. Amen.

There are some touching whom Christ forewarns us: " Then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me,

ye that work iniquity." " 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."

" The beginning of the creation of God." — " Without Him was not any thing made that was made." Thus is He the Source, Spring, Origin of creation.

Elsewhere we read: " A Body hast Thou prepared Me.'7 This obviously and primarily refers to Christ's sacred Human Body. But as the Church is His Mystical Body no less truly than the other is His literal Body, we may (I think) attach a second signification to the same text, and adore Him as the Beginning especially of our own creation, inasmuch as we are made expressly and paramountly to bear so glorious a relation to Him: even before redeeming and quickening His members, He became Head of the race in order to redeem and quicken them. That human kind existed centuries before the Incar nation, alters not the order of beginning and sequence: creation dates not from commencement but rather from consummation. Thus we call not Adam as yet created whilst he remained no more than a lifeless body of clay; but only after God had breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Christ the Source whence creation proceeds, stands as the Centre whence it radiates.

« Is anything too hard for the Lord?" He who can commu nicate life to the lifeless can even renew life in the dead.

O Jesus Christ All- Holy, Who beheldest in Thy beloved Mary Magdalene first seven devils, then Thine own image;, in Thy beloved James and John first the fiery natural man, next the enkindled spiritual man; in Thy beloved Peter first three lapses, then three aspirations of love; in Thy beloved Thomas first, doubt, then faith; in Thy beloved Paul first Thy persecu tor, next Thy chosen vessel; in Thy beloved Mark, first one who answered, I will not, afterwards one who repented and went: us too behold, us too transform, us too accept; for which of us hast Thou not loved, O our All-Loving Lord? ^

Not that we should restrict meditation to mankind exclu sively, when we wo: ship Christ as the Beginning and Head cf creation; God " having made known unto us the mystery of His Will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself: that in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him: in Whom also we have obtained an inheritance." To widen thanksgiving is or ought to be to widen enjoyment.

" O all ye works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord: praise Him, and magnify Him for ever."

15. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.

16. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of My mouth.

I suppose the particular form of this tremendous anathema may take its rise from the nauseating tendency of tepid water. The cold or the hot may cause pleasure or exquisite pain: the lukewarm simply invites expulsion.

Degradation it were and ruin to become an abhorring unto all flesh: unspeakable degradation, ruin unutterable, to become Christ's abhorrence. We must recollect what did not suffice to make men so, before we can in the least estimate what con summate loathsomeness it is which will suffice. To be dead sufficed not, for all whom He hath quickened were dead in trespasses and sins. To lie in wickedness sufficed not, for the whole world lieth in wickedness, and He came not to condemn the world but to save the world. To be His enemies sufficed not, for we were enemies when He reconciled us to God by His death. To crucify Him sufficed not, for He interceded for His crucifiers. To persecute Him sufficed not, for He brake not in pieces like a potter's vessel Saul of Tarsus. To look back from the plough sufficed not, for He reclaimed Mark sister's son to Barnabas.

Christ in His mercy preserve us from ever sounding that surpassing depth of Satan. Amen.

" I know thy works." — Every variety of perversity is possible to free will. Some sinners work, and their work is their sin: others work not, and their sin consists in their not working. Yet not to work is in some sort to work amiss. " He that gathereth not with Me scattereth."

" I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot." — Instinct and reason agree in classing cold with death, heat with life: lukewarmness" stands midway between the twain, akin to both while stopping short of either.

Like Israel under Ahab and Jezebel, the lukewarm Christian halts between two opinions, and appears after a fashion to act out the startling letter of two inspired sentences: "Be not righteous over much.... Be not over much wicked." If he be a guest, he wears a very decent cloak over his sins; but alas! he has not on a wedding garment. He is as a fountain which gives out water neither quite sweet nor quite bitter; as a sheep that is neither black nor white.

As lukewarmness stands between cold and heat, so indiffer ence stands between love and hatred. If under the surface as well as upon the surface the two series correspond, at once light breaks in upon our subject. For indifference, so far as Holy Scripture instructs us, has no part whatsoever in the Divine Being. God Almighty we know is Love; and it is revealed that He can hate: but love and hatred alike preclude indifference. Thus indifference appears to involve absolute alienation from His Image and Likeness.

Yet, Lord Jesus, Thou breakest not the bruised reed, nor quenchestthe smoking flax, and Thou praisest the little strength of Philadelphia. Wilt Thou not compassionate the little heat which is lukewarmness, and the languishing life which still is not death?

Because Thou art the Good Samaritan, the Good Physician; bind up our wounds pouring in Thine oil and Thy wine, take care of us, provide for us, set us forward on our way, bring us home. And because Thou lovest us, even for Thine own sake,

Without fully understanding wherefore so heinous, we yet cannot, but understand from our text the precipitant-deathward tendency of lukewarmness. To face and investigate may Jielp us to flee the danger.

And especially so because to face, investigate, and so far to grapple with the demon of lukewarmness, does then and there tend to rout him. Those are energetic acts; and energy infallibly clashes with a fault which is fostered by sloth, and in its turn fosters a low-born comfort.

A comfortable but insidious spiritual drowsiness seems one ailment symptomatic of lukewarmness. We know how physi cal heat and cold, however opposite to each other, so far agree that an excess of either disturbs rest: medium warmth, hikeivarmness, woos and wins sound sleep.

Is this the time, is this the world, are we the persons safely to woo and win sound sleep? " Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light."

" I would thou wert cold or hot." — We seem to hear again the awful charge to Judas: " That thou doest, do quickly."

I ponder, Lord, the mystery of Thy words. For it never can be that Thou desirest my reprobation; Thou Who didst undergo the chill of death, lest I should undergo the second death. Though I cannot fully comprehend it, I pray Thee prosper this word which Thou sendest me to the end where - unto Thou sendest it.

I hear another word of rebuke, yet of hope: " Now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee." — Lord, grant me grace to strip myself of any subterfuges which hide me from myself but never from Thee; of any whitening which overlays my foulness; of any self-righteousness whereby I say Peace, peace, while there is no peace. For Thou hast declared that publicans and harlots go into the Kingdom of Heaven before Pharisees.

One broad difference I remark between lukewarmness and coldness: the difference between dying and death.

The cold soul is a soul dead in trespasses and sins. A dead soul cannot requicken itself; if it is to be quickened, it can be so only by an act external to itself infusing ne\v life. The lukewarm soul is a dying soul: wherefore because a vestige of life remains to it, and so a vestige of power, it must co-operate with external aid in the task of arresting decay and reinforcing vitality.

Is it for such a reason as this, most gracious Master, that Thou wouldst some were cold rather than lukewarm? For being cold we fall into Thy hand (and very great are Thy mercies), and not into the hand of man: But being lukewarm we partly fall into our own hands; whilst because we are lukewarm we seem of all men least likely to stir up the gift that is in us, redeem the time, rend hearts and not garments, or take the Kingdom of Heaven by force.

Still I attain not to grasp Thy saying. Yet thus much I know: out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh, and Thou art Love.

17. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:

18. I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve that thou mayest see.

The Revised Version of this passage brings out with startling emphasis the self-complacency, arrogance, and destitution at once absolute and culpable of the offender: "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing; and knowcst not that thou art the wretched one, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of Me gold refined by fire, that thou mayest become rich; and white garments, that thou mayest clothe thyself, and that the shame of thy nakedness be not made manifest; and eyesalve to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest see."

" Because thou sayest... " — Presumedly not aloud in so many words, but rather like that fellow " fool " who saith in his heart, There is no God. Akin to both speakers is the rich fool of the Parable: " The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: and he thought within himself, saying, What shall 1 do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast p'rovided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

Thus the covetous man and the lukewarm man have this in common: in their own eyes they do good unto themselves. Take we heed that we speak not well of them.

O All-seeing Lord, that which I know not and which Thou wouldest have me to know, teach Thou me. Expel my covetousness, even if by Thy good gift of poverty: enkindle my lukewarmness, even if in the furnace of affliction.

" I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing."— Of nothing? Alas! as it would seem, not even of beatification. For the poor in spirit, and the hungry and athirst after righteousness, say not, "I am rich"; neither the mourners, " I have need of nothing." Nor are the meek or the merciful engrossed by their own prosperity. Nor do the pure in heart set great store by aught short of God. Nor the peacemakers hug themselves because of that which may breed envy: though if persecution arise for the word or for righteous ness' sake, such as they are not offended.

If a merry heart is a continual feast, a lukewarm heart is a continual lack. Worse still, it is a centre of spiritual creeping paralysis: a hairbreadth less of live man to-day, a hairbreadth less to-morrow; until unless the strong hand of Divine Grace should arrest decay, the dying man of so many days becomes the corpse of the ultimate morrow.

O Lord, Who extendedst mercy to him who believing craved help in his unbelief, extend mercy to all who half alive crave help in their half deadnes?. And for any who pray not for themselves vouchsafe to hear this prayer. Amen.

Give, Lord, the word: that we may give Thanks for a word unheard Till now, of pity not denied albeit deferred.

" And knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." — For the lukewarm person is as one drunken but not with wine. " Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.'"'

What damps hope in such a case is not the wretchedness, misery, poverty, blindness, nakedness; but the self-ignorance. This ties our own feet from resorting to Christ, although it ties not His bounteous Hands; as He saith: " How often would I.,. and ye would, not! " — or as we read elsewhere: " He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief ": — "He could there do no mighty work... And He marvelled because of their unbelief."

Glory be to God Who concedes not one only channel of grace, but many channels; not one only point of access, but many points. Intercessory prayer is truly our Gate Beautiful: outside it sits the halting multitude of our brethren and sisters: we, by God's blessing on our weak walk and endeavour, can enter the Temple through that gate; and not we ourselves alone, but so bringing others with us. Blessed are they who frequenting that Gate enter by it into the Presence of God; they are making ready for a future day whereon to enter into His Presence through a Gate of Pearl.

If we loved all mankind we should pray for them. If we prayed for all mankind we should love them. " Stir up, O Lord, the wills of Thy faithful people."

" I counsel thee." — " His Name shall be called... Counsellor." Most gracious Counsellor, He Who after guiding with counsel afterward receives to glory. Lord, suffer us not to be of those who forget Thy works and wait not for Thy counsel.

" With Him is wisdom and strength, He hath counsel and understanding... He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death." " When we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world." O Lord, Who searchest us out and knowest us and understandest our thoughts long before; grant us grace in Thy sight.

41 Doth not wisdom cry?... Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength." O Thou Who art a strength to the needy in his distress, strengthen us.

" Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel." Lord Jesus, Thine is the Name which is as ointment poured forth, and Thou hast called us friends. Give us grace to be sure that salutary is any bitterness of Thy sending, faithful are any wounds of Thine inflicting; and that while Thou art our loving Father to correct us, Thou art still as our mother to comfort us.

" There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord."

<; I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich." — But wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the High God? Lo, there is nothing in my hand. Except Thou give me treasure in my sack's mouth I cannot traffick in Thy land.

" Ho, every one.. and he that hath no money; come ye, buy... without money and without price."

Lord, I have nothing, and this Thou knowest. Turn not Thy Face away. I would fain borrow of Thee; so in the Great Day Thou shalt receive Thine own with usury. For I perceive that whilst first and last all is Thy gratuity, there must still be between us a sort of barter. As spake King David in the joy cf his heart: "All things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee."

Wherefore, Thou helping me, I will break oft" my sins by showing mercy to the poor. Give Thou wings to my riches, and bid them fly as eagles towards heaven. By Thy grace I will lay up not corruptible treasures upon earth, but incorruptible in heaven. For he that, hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto Thee, and' I look that what I lay out it shall be paid me again. For earthly gold, which though it be tried seven times in the fire, perisheth, give me such imperishable gold as Thou usest for New Jerusalem and crowns of Thy saints triumphant. The gold of that land is good. The gold which I offer Thee must be purified in the fire; fire of self-denial, of self-sacrifice, of love; and if thus I that was lukewarm labour in the very fire, yet shall I not weary myself for very vanity.