The Face of the Deep (on Revelation); Poems

Climb at their call, all scaling heaven toward Love. Fear hath least grace but great expediency;

Prudence and Hope mount balanced equally. Obedience marches marshalling their throng,

And all the six uplift a pilgrim's song. By day they rest not, nor they rest by night:

Weans them and woos them from the dark to light. Each plies for staff not reed with broken stem,

Till Love being theirs in New Jerusalem, Transfigure them to Love, and so they cease.

All other graces, to their vast increase Of glory, look on Love and mirror Love.

" A great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth." — The latter clause is perhaps a saving clause, reserving pre-Adamite convulsions of which geology (if I am not mistaken) appears to detect tremendous indications.

O Lord God Only Wise, keep us or deliver us, I beseech Thee, from ignorant assertions and ignorant denials, from con fusing probabilities with certainties and opinions with beliefs.

" And the great city was divided into three parts." — If we may understand by this division not simply one material result of the earthquake, but also internal dissension and a splitting asunder into parties, then the " three parts " may perhaps correspond with the dragon (devil), beast (world?), false prophet (man): and we behold as in a picture that mutual hatred, inextinguishable ire, reviling, loathing, in which must end the cajoleries, befoolments, besottedness, of any congregation and assembly whose bond of union is evil deliberately chosen and finally adhered to.

"Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement.... Your cove nant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand."

Whatever the secondary cause, a bitter foretaste of such mutual damage befell the Philistines when of old the Lord saved Israel by the hand of Jonathan and his armour-bearer: " And there was trembling in the host, in the field, and among all the people: the garrison, and the spoilers, they also trembled, and the earth quaked: so it was a very great tremb ling.... And, behold, the multitude melted away, and they went on beating down one another.... And, behold, every man's sword was against his fellow, and there was a very great discomfiture."

If our Lord's "parable" spoken to certain impious Scribes and Pharisees conveyed a prophecy as well as a lesson, may not this passage of the Apocalypse be reverently studied in connection with it? — "If a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end."

"And great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath." — Great Babylon incurs but the greater destruction: better was it for " little " Zoar than for its neighbour cities in the day of retribution. Ill fares it with him that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.

" And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found." — " I beheld the earth, and,lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds

of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by His fierce anger."

" And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven... and men blasphemed God." — Jeremiah dwelling on the pro longed agony which in his day wrung Jerusalem, declared: " The punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her." In comparably great is the woe beheld by St. John, when extension of time is abused to enhance provocation: for in Jeremiah's experience some men even in extremity may so have numbered their days as to apply their hearts unto saving wisdom.

This crushing hail recalls the corresponding Egyptian plague: but then a shelter was provided; not so now.

Man's extremity is God's opportunity: so long as this proverb holds good true extremity has not been reached. But Wisdom has forewarned man of such extremity: ''• Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out My hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all My counsel, and would none of My reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon Me, but I will not answer; they shall seek Me early, but they shall not find Me: for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: they wou'd none of My counsel: they despised all My reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices."

Divine gifts are called by our Master " talents." Every gift must turn to the recipient's impoverishment., unless it be so used as to secure the true riches: of goodly talents misused noth'ng will at last remain but as it were the avenging weight. First, gift; afterwards, reward or penalty: they all equally come " out of heaven."

" Every stone about the weight of a talent ": — of a talent I have done amiss with, or done nothing with. God forbid.

" Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages, earneth wages to put it into a brig with holes. Thus saith the Lcrd of hosts; Consider your ways."

1. And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:

nication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

As to its subject, the vision of this chapter does not in order of time appear to follow passages which more or less remotely precede it; but rather to be at least partially simultaneous, elucidatory, and so to say parenthetical. The very words " Babylon is fallen " (ch. xiv. 8), " Great Babylon came in remembrance" (ch. xvi. 19), show that her existence antedates either mention of her. So far then it becomes conjecturable that this present chapter will exhibit a traceable connection with previous portions of the Apocalypse; will, as it were, fit into what we have already studied.

Lord, Who by Thy Most Holy Spirit hast inspired Thy Prophets to speak and to wiite Thy word, grant us by help of the Same Spirit to study that blessed word which for each of us contains an individual lesson. Give us one by one grace to learn our own lesson, neither vexing nor envying one an other: but so imbued with wisdom that we may become pure, peaceable, gentle, easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, void of partiality and hypocrisy, sowing righteousness in peace while we make peace. For our Peacemaker's sake, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Isaiah instructs us how profitably to contemplate God's judgments, while putting our whole trust in Him and honour ing His Holy Name and His word: " Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. For He bringeth down

them tliat dwell on high; the lofty city, He layeth it low; He layeth it low, even to the ground; He bringeth it even to the dust.... Yea, in the way of Thy judgments, O Lord, have we waited for Thee; the desire of our soul is to Thy Name, and to the remembrance of Thee. With my soul have I desired Thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek Thee early: for when Thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness."

Far from being necessarily an insurmountable disadvantage, I think that ignorance of the historical drift of prophecy may on occasion turn to a humble but genuine profit. Such ignor ance entails (or wisely utilized might entail) that a general lesson, a fundamental principle, essence not accident, will be elicited from the abstruse text. Further: — instead of attention being directed to the ends of the earth, our eye must be turned within; elsewhere at a future moment additional light will doubtless be vouchsafed, but for the present the message is delivered pointedly to ourselves; as when " there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken "; — and could no more be evaded than could that other message; " I have an errand to thee, O captain.... Unto which of all us?... To thee."

Wherefore " one of the Seven Angels " talks with me, say ing: " Come hither; I will shew unto thee...." And what he shows me (at any rate) amounts to the vileness and ruinousness of idolatrous defection in every form subtle or gross. Assume what shape it may, its nature remains the same: kings may idolize all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them; whilst subjects bow down to wealth, influence, fame, genius, beauty, or even to success. But under one aspect or other the sin infects " kings of the earth " and " inhabitants of the earth "; and whilst mighty men shall be mightily tormented, the meaner sort cannot go unpunished.

The First and Second Commandments concur to forbid idolatry: misplaced preference breaks the First, misdirected worship the Second. The first holds out neither threat nor promise, neither reward nor punishment: it is one, simple, featureless, absolute; and being equally incumbent upon all rational beings, addresses man on his spiritual side, not taking account of the earthy. The Second commands, but it also reasons: it sets before man his own interest, adjures him for his children's sake, deters him by a threat, allures him by a promise; remembers whereof he is made, and appeals to him both as flesh and as spirit. Perhaps even the Fifth Commandment is less persuasively formulated than the Second: the Fifth guarantees a contingent blessing to ourself, the Second to our cherished a thousands." And even in the appalling entail of contingent judgment "upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation," a door of hope, howbeit of a trembling hope, remains open, when we turn to a Divine exposition of mercy and judgment; for by the mouth of Ezekiel the Lord God deigned to refute the Jewish proverb, " The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge," and to declare concerning a hypothetical heinous offender: " Now, lo, if he beget a son, that seeth all his father's sins which he hath done, and considereth, and doeth not such like, that... hath executed My judgments, hath walked in My statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live." Thus the second generation can by righteous obedience in some measure retrieve the error of the first, thereby recovering mercy as an inheritance to his posterity; so that (may we not hope?) even the visiting upon them of their more remote forefathers' sins will be so far reversed as to help them, if they choose, to walk humbly. To the next of kin appertained a twofold office: as avenger of blood he executed judgment, as nearest in blood he filled the vacant place. Moreover though the fathers may not, yet may the children take courage and rejoice in their grievous liability because of Christ-likeness: for Christ was born for this very end, that on Him might be visited the iniquity of father Adam and of all mankind.

I suppose it is no exaggeration to say that every sin, fleshly or spiritual, is a sin of idolatry, inasmuch as it is the preference of some object tangible or intangible to God All Good: indeed further reflection recognizes sin as simply the preference of self to God; self-pleasing, self-will, self-indulgence, self in a word, being the universal lure. St. Paul brands covetousness as idolatry: thus the First, Second and Tenth Commandments concur in forbidding idolatry; whilst to break any of the remaining seven involves a breach of the spirit common to all.

If three Commandments out of Ten be explicit, and if the other seven implicit against one and the same wickedness, let us pray to be delivered and evermore kept safe from the wide spread snare without and from the foolhardy traitor within: —

From love that cleaveth not to Thee, From worship that waiteth not on Thee, From a tongue that extolleth not Thet, From labour and rest that serve not Thee,

Good Lord, deliver us. Wanderings of heart, * Crookedness of intention, Unsanctified speech, Vain labour, slothful rest, Disrespect and stubbornness, Hasty spirit and hasty hand, Corrupt eye, Graspinj fingers, False tongue, Evil covetousness,

What would move me to love one who loved me? — If he sacrificed himself for me, changed places with me that I might be safe, impoverished himself to discharge my ruinous debts, preferred me at every turn to himself, bore and shared my griefs, planned and wrought for my happiness, earned and laid up treasure for me, remembered me when I forgot him and myself, put me on the best robe when I had shamed him, and a ring after I had deserted him, won back for me alienated friends, released me from bonds on his own suretyship, sought me where I was straying among quicksands, found me, carried me, rejoiced over me.

Lord, give me love that I may love Thee much, Yea, give me love that I may love Thee more, And all for love may worship and adore

I halt to-day; be love my cheerful crutch, My feet to plod, some day my wings to soar: Some day; but, Lord, not any day before

This is a day of love, a day of sorrow, Love tempering sorrow to a sort of bliss; A day that shortens while we call it long:

A longer day of love will dawn to-morrow, A longer, brighter, lovelier day than this, Endless, all love, no sorrow, but a song.

3. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

He who exhibits is an angel, and he who inspects is a saint: yet does this exalted pair betake themselves into " the wilder ness," there and not elsewhere to set themselves face to face with an impersonation of abominable wickedness. So likewise did their and our Divine Master do when He deigned to con front Satan. And if the Standard Bearer among ten thousand, and if the flower of His armies did thus, it leaves us an example that we should tread in their steps.

Some innocent souls there are who from cradle to grave remain as it were veiled and cloistered from knowledge of evil. As pearls in their native deep, as flower-buds under Alpine snow, they abide unsullied: the lot has fallen unto them in a fair ground. But for most persons contact with evil and conse quent knowledge of evil being unavoidable, is clearly so far ordained: they must achieve a more difficult sanctity, touching pitch yet continuing clean, enduring evil communications yet without corruption of good manners.

To each such imperilled soul, Angel and Apostle here set a pattern. If we too would gaze unscathed and undefiled on wickedness, let us not seek for enchantments, but set our face toward the wilderness. Strip sin bare from voluptuousness of music, fascination of gesture, enhancement of the stage, rapture of poetry, glamour of eloquence, seduction of imagina tive emotion; strip it of every adornment, let it stand out bald as in the Ten stern Commandments. Study sin, when study it we must, not as a relishing pastime, but as an embittering deterrent. Lavish sympathy on the sinner, never on the sin. Say, if we will and if we mean it, Would God I had died for thee: nevertheless let us flee at the cry of such, lest the earth swallow us up also.

Wherever the serpent is tolerated there is sure to be dust for his pasture: he finds or he makes a desolate wilderness of what was as the Garden of Eden. Only an illusion, a mirage, can cause a barren desert to appear in our eyes as a city of palaces, an orchard of fruits.

This woman Babylon sits upon a scarlet beast, it appears not whether as upon a throne or as upon a chariot: if a throne, steadfast in evil; if a chariot, swift unto perdition. Moreover, in a former verse we read of her as sitting " upon many waters ": a point to be noted further on.

The woman and the beast by a foul congruity seem to make up a sort of oneness, after the fashion of a snail and its shell. If she removes he is the motor;' she is lifted aloft to the extent of his height; her stability depends on his. In semblance lie is her slave, in reality her master.

4. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abomin ations and filthiness of her fornication:

5. And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery,

Babylon the Great, The Mother of Harlots and Abomin ations of the Earth.

The beast is scarlet, and the woman wears scarlet. He is full of names of blasphemy, and her names are of the same sort.

He is scarlet as sin. She is both scarlet and particoloured, decked with such gauds as St. Paul warns us women against. As it seemed possible to study the sun-clothed exalted Woman (ch. xii.) as a figure of the all-glorious destiny awaiting the Virtuous Woman, so now I think this obscene woman may (on the surface) be studied as illustrating the particular foulness, degradation, loathsomeness, to which a perverse rebellious woman because feminine not masculine is liable.

Execrable, for aught we know, as any devil, beast, man, of them all, the resources and so to say the tactics of Babylon differ from theirs: she and they proceed to a common goal by distinct paths. They have (such as it is) counsel and strength for war: she less astute in counsel, less hardy in war, makes of her own self a trap, a bait, a ruinous prize. She seduces, not coerces. She tyrannizes by influence, not by might. Filthy she is, but she proffers filthiress in a golden cup. No heart of husband safely trusts in her, no children arise up and call her blessed: vile mother is she of vile daughters, all alike be dizened, perfumed, debased to hell; all alike blood-suckers, as we read: " The horseleach hath two daughters, crying, Give, give."

Some have opined that a woman's wickedness even exceeds that of a man; as Jezebel stirred up Ahab, and Herodias out stripped Herod on feet swift to shed blood. But this point must stand over for decision to the Judgment of that Only Judge to whom each and all of us will one day stand or fall. Solomon meanwhile by warning man against woman has vir tually warned woman against herself: "When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; dis cretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee.... To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from 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 nnto death, and her paths unto the dead. None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life ": — " The lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: but her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell. Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them": — "A foolish woman is clamourous: she is simple, and knoweth nothing. For she sitteth at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city, to call passengers who go right on their ways: Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither.... But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell."

To us each unforgotten memory saith: " Learn as we learned in life's sufficient school, Work as we worked in patience of our rule,

Hope as we hoped despite our slips and scathe, Fearful in joy and confident in dule." I know not if they see us or can see:

How looking back to earth from Paradise Do tears not gather in those loving eyes? —

Ah, happy eyes! whose tears are wiped away Whether or not you bear to look on me.

" Upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery... " — '• The mystery is announced to all; but is not explained to all, if to any.

Is it disappointing to be restricted to faith? Faith, the grace, is a higher endowment than intelligence, the gift.

A revealed unexplained mystery is (as it were) my Tree of Knowledge accessible whilst forbidden; a theme for prayer, not a bait for curiosity. Ignorance by virtue of good will takes rank as a part of obedience.

6. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

rich men as St. James addresses; which correspondence as with a redoubled alarum urges whosoever will be saved to choose if not actual poverty at least not riches: " Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.... Ye have lived in pleasure on earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord."

Deliver us, I beseech Thee, Good Lord Jesus, from indifferentism, superciliousness, shallow judgments, crooked judg ments; from curiosity without faith, superstition instead of faith, opinions subversive of faith. For whatsoever is not of faith is sin, and without faith it is impossible to please God. To Whom, O Lord, in Thine all-gracious, well-beloved Self, bring us near and make us well pleasing. Amen.

7. And the Angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou. marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.

The voice of conscience echoing the angelic question, asks reader after reader, Wherefore didst thou marvel? Athenian curiosity of old was eager to hear some new thing, and readily inquired concerning " certain strange things," promulgated by inspired lips; but in the end some mocked, some postponed investigation, few it seems were converted and clave to the truth. Of these timely wise few we know one man by name, Dionysius, the Areopagite, and one woman, Damaris: and to this very day the Word of God, quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, divides the new man from the old man, Dionysius and Damaris from their fellows.

Thou art or ait not as Dionysius: I am or am not as Damaris. God Most Merciful, imbue us with such love of the truth, that being likeminded we may have the same love, and desiring the sincere milk of the word may grow thereby. For Christ's sake. Amen.

God reveals what He pleases, as much as He pleases, no more than He pleases. The faithful soul is as Issachar: he sees that the land is pleasant, and bowing down rests between his burdens.

8. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

(If I may venture so far out of my depth —) This seems by various indications to be the very beast which St. John saw rise up out of the sea (ch. xiii.). If it be the same, in the present chapter (ver. 3) for the first time is its colour defined as scarlet: yet since at its former appearing the red dragon gave it " his power, and his seat, and great authority," it seems not incongruous to surmise that such foul dominion may have been expressed by the imperial scarlet colour.

If it be the same beast, then we discern how the woman can sit at once on the sea beast and on "many waters" (ver. i). Though all be symbolic, the symbols may presumably har monize. (It follows not, however, that I can harmonize them.)

Moreover the " woman " whom now of a sudden we en counter: have we under a different aspect already met her? Chapter xiii. exhibits various points of apparent correspondence with the present chapter. Besides the sea beast, it clearly mentions the dragon, and an earth beast: which three monsters (assuming the earth beast to be identical with the false prophet of ch. xix. 20) are destroyed further on (ch. xix. 20; xx. 10), and thus are accounted for and done with. With them, like them, yet not the same as any of them, appears " an image " (ch. xiii. 14, 15) of the sea beast, itself instinct with at least a semblance of hideous life, endowed with the faculty of speech, moved apparently by an impious and perhaps an independent volition. Can this image be a diverse presentment of the woman? So much in the kingdom of darkness seems an awful mockery of the Divine Kingdom, that I think the image and woman assume a possible interchangeableness when we recall St. Paul's sentence: " A man... is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man."

That this woman does in an appreciable degree resemble the beast which carries her has, I think, transpired. And whilst the end of the image, as such, is not revealed, that of the woman is made abundantly clear.

Each symbol suggests thought, however the veiled reality may elude discovery. Interpretation is the gift of some, thought of all. Lack of interpretation dispenses not from the duty of thought.

"And shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition." — The Revised Version expresses with vividness imminence and movement: "And is about to come up out of the abyss, and to go into perdition." St. John witnessed such a rising out of the sea as before narrated, whether or not both passages refer to the same incident. If the same, the sub stance of this present vision seems authoritatively displaced from its apparent order of time.

"And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder."— Re calling the words of Habakkuk as quoted by St. Paul: " Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish."

" Whose names were not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world ": — or as in the Revised Version: " They whose name hath not been written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world." — Although the two translations can (I think) be understood in precisely the same sense, I yet feel or fancy a possible difference betwixt them: the Authorized Version conveying the idea of election and predestination once for all and irreversible; the Revised, of a period of probation and contingent election from the foun dation of the world onwards.

" The beast that was, and is not, and yet is." —

O Lord Jesus Christ, Who changest not, but art the Same yesterday and to-day and for ever, support us in all dangers and carry us through all temptations. From open and secret foes, from snares and pitfalls, Good Lord, deliver us.

9. And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom; that we may receive the instruction of wisdom, justice and judgment and equity. O Lord, Who givest wisdom, Who layest up sound wisdom for the righteous; teach us in the way of wisdom, lead us in right paths. Furnish our lips with wisdom: let us not die for want of wisdom. Grant us wisdom with the just, the lowly, the well advised; that with the prudent we may understand our way, and ceasing from our own wisdom may learn of Thee, Lord Jesus Christ our Wisdom. Amen.

The Virtuous Woman whose price is far above rubies "openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness." Wisdom, then, associates with kindness: to cultivate kindness is to frequent the society of wisdom. A clue especially vouchsafed to us women.

I observe that while to Moses celestial patterns were displayed and on him was poured the radiance of direct revelation; and that whereas " Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise-hearted man, in whom the Lord put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary," so wrought: " all the women that were wise-hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen. And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun goats' hair." Thus coverings, curtains, veils, were assigned to the women: to the men those sacred things enshrined beneath and within.

So long as he or she who " standeth without " can hear the Bridegroom's Voice, surely it is joy fulfilled.

"The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth." — The interpretation lies above and beyond my range: the symbol conveys a lesson.

Mortal life is, so to say, a tissue of sevens; and each seven must be guarded against the fascination of that World whereof "the woman" (be she ultimately what she may) exhibits characteristics.

Guard, so far as in thee lieth, innocence in infancy, reverence in childhood, holiness in youth, aspiration in maturity, patience on the decline, perseverance in age, hope in death. Is it too late for thyself? Then guard them in others: and as to thyself, at least redeem the remaining time from waste and snatch thy grave from desecration. Guard others and thyself against that world which defiles innocence by contact, substi tutes foolhardiness and false shame for reverence, violates holiness, paralyzes aspiration; which breeds selfishness instead of patience, frivolity instead of perseverance; which is too corrupt, too dead, too twice dead for hope in death. And whilst the seven stages of life compose thus a sort of week, each stage is itself composed of weeks of days, seven within seven, seven after seven, each and all needing the Gift of Sevenfold Grace to consecrate labours and hallow rest.

Yet as St. Paul exhorts not his converts to go out of the world, but to act rightly in it; and much more as our Divine Master offering up His High Priestly Prayer spake, saying: " 1 pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil," — let us not be afraid of her terror, but sanctify the Lord God in our hearts. We cannot prevent the World's besetting, haunting, overshadowing us: only let us not suffer her to sit down.

of Dante} tells us how he " dreamed of a woman stammering, squinting, lame of foot, maimed of hands, and ashy pale. He gazed on her, and lo! under his gaze her form straightened, her face flushed, her tongue loosed to the Siren's song."

Foul is she and ill-favoured, set askew: Gaze not upon her till thou dream her fair, Lest she should mesh thee in her wanton hair,

Her heart lusts not for love, but thro' and thro' For blood, as spotted panther lusts in lair; No wine is in her cup, but filth is there

Gaze not upon her; for her dancing whirl Turns giddy the fixed gazer presently: Gaze not upon her, lest thou be as she When at the far end of her long desire

Her scarlet vest and gold and gem and pearl And she amid her pomp are set on fire.

" Seven heads... seven mountains " — seven deadly sins: these sustain the World, and the World fosters these. High crested Pride, volcanic Anger, smooth sloped Lust, overhanging Envy, undermined Avarice, swine pasturing Gluttony, landslip Sloth. A dark continent of spiritual geography.

10. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.

From evil rulers and pernicious laws, from obeying man by disobeying God, from misusing our short space, for short is our space, Good Lord, save us:

Lest we become as a plant that buds not, as a bud that blows not, as a flower that fruits not, in our short space until the harvest, our only space.

11. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

From comradeship with devils and disciples of devils, from persisting in sin and passing away into perdition,

Lest it had been better for us never to have been born, never to have known the way of life, never to have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear. never to have beheld the Kingdom of Heaven set open to all believers.

12. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings,

which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

From selling our birthright for a mess of pottage, from bartering eternity for one hour,

13. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast

Lest we spend money for that which is not bread, and our labour for that which satisfieth not.

14. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful

From choosing the evil and refusing the good, from setting ourselves in no good way, from the tactics of Balak and the end of Balaam, Good Lord, save us:

Lest we who are dust set ourselves in the balance against Thee: and lo! we are dust in the balance.

15. And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest,

where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

From following a multitude to do evil, from sinful COTIpliances, from saving our life but not with Thy salvation,

Lest amid multitudinous glory and pomp and rejoicing we be put to open shame and perish together.

16. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

From such hatred of sin as is not love of righteousness, from hating not sin but sinners, from casting the stone of condemnation whereby we condemn ourselves,

17. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil His will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

From fulfilling a Divine behest in the spirit of rebellious Absalom, apostate Jeroboam, bloodthirsty Edom, Caiaphas harder than flint,

Lest in us be fulfilled that other word also: " Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels."

18. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

From the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, from foreheads of brass and hearts of stone,

Lest in the end we be past renewing unto salvation, and there be none to save us.

"And there are seven kings." — The Revised Version pre serves this reading marginally, whilst the text gives: " And they [/. e. the ' mountains ' mentioned in the previous verse] are seven kings." Suggesting a many-sided significance in at least one of the images employed: if in one, perhaps in others. For here the original figure is "seven heads": mountains and kings alike belong to the angelic interpretation.

" And the beast... even he is the eighth, and is of the seven ": — in the Revised Version: "... is himself also an eighth,... " — As moral goodness or depravity finds expression in the face, whilst the seat of life is the heart j so a seven- headed monster may infuse into every head his own hideous vitality, whilst each head acts independently of its fellows as mouthpiece and intelligent agent to the abominable animating principle. Perhaps the beast's being " also an eighth " may inspire a dread that in the final death-struggle of Satan against Christ, wickedness superhuman or subhuman (whichever it should be termed) will take the field openly and visibly; and will act in person, as well' as through the instrumentality of its miserable mortal allies.

The seven heads have not only the beast for a basis, but have moreover the seated woman for a superincumbent load: the one detaches them from earth, the goodness of nature; the other blocks them out from the sky, the goodness of grace.

I think not as interpretation but as meditation such thoughts may spring from the text.

Have we sought great things for ourselves? Seek them not. Ten kings receive authority, but it is with the beast, and for one hour. "Yea, even like as a dream when one awaketh."

"The Lamb shall overcome them: for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings." — Although both the Lion and the Lamb are titles belonging to our Lord, here in the day of battle we read of Him as the Lamb, not as the Lion. Whatever inscrut able reasons there may be for this choice of a designation, one or two obvious ones suggest themselves. Thus is accomplished one of the Beatitudes: " Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth." Thus Christ in His own adorable Person heads the army of those who "out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens." Thus "the weakness of God" stands forth as "stronger than men." "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." And thus also by a con descension of grace, Jael, a certain woman (see Judges ix. 53), Esther, Judith, become figures illustrative of like truth.

Weakness, however, is not as weakness this more than conqueror. Our Redeemer's weakness was rather the triumph of His strength, because to become weak and work mightily through weakness He laid aside His strength and kept it in abeyance. Our weakness, if it is to win a victory, must include a voluntary element; at the least so far as to will in concert with the Divine Will, and never to have recourse to illicit weapons.

And I think that in these days of women's self-assertion and avowed rivalry with men, I do well to bear in mind that in a contest no stronger proof of superiority can be given on either side than the not bringing into action all available force. As yet, I suppose, we women claim no more than equality with our brethren in head and heart: whilst as to physical force, we scout it as unworthy to arbitrate between the opposed camps. Men on their side do not scout physical force, but let it be.

Does either man or woman doubt where superiority resides, when at chess one player discards a pawn in favour of the other?

Society may be personified as a human figure whose right hand is man, whose left woman; in one sense equal, in another sense unequal. The right hand is labourer, acquirer, achiever: the left hand helps, but has little independence, and is more apt at carrying than at executing. The right hand runs the risks, fights the battles: the left hand abides in comparative quiet and safety; except (a material exception) that in the mutual relations of the twain it is in some ways far more liable to undergo than to inflict hurt, to be cut (for instance) than to cut.

Rules admit of and are proved by exceptions. There are left-handed people, and there may arise a left-handed society!

Content to come, content to go, Content to wrestle or to race, Content to know or not to know, Each in his place;

Lor 1, grant us grace to love Thee so That glad of heart and glad of face At last we may sit high or low Each in his place:

Where pleasures flow as rivers flow, And loss has left no barren trace, And all that are, are perfect so Each in his place.

"And they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful ": — or according to the Revised Version: " And they also shall overcome that are with Him, called and chosen and faithful ":— thus, towards the end, sending thought back to the beginning, to the ever-recurring "overcometh" of the Messages to the Seven Churches, that " overcometh " on which depends each consummating benediction.

God of His free Love calls and chooses: man's faithfulness certifies the call, until by overcoming he crowns all by final perseverance.

Lord Jesus, give us hearing ears, responsive wills, some fear, much faith, much hope, most love.

"The waters... where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues." — " Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame."

" The ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore." — The Revised Version supplies a notice able variation: " The ten horns... and the beast, these shall hate...," thus uniting a1! in one close confederacy, as in ver. 13 ante: "These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast."

Whatever further the wise may elicit from this passage and its sequel, even the foolish may deduce somewhat. The kingdom of the beast is essentially unalterably a kingdom of hatred, hatred underlying any and every appearance of its spurious love: sift such love, and the residuum will be hatred. In the day of her foul attractiveness the lost woman was idol, mistress, plaything: in the day of her decay she becomes a prey, and there is none to help her. The drunken with blood must herself be devoured.

Evil may subserve evil, yet be overruled for good. Thus the horns spring from the beast, and in their turn give their kingdom unto the beast: wherefore? because " God hath put in their hearts to fulfil His Will."

" The woman... is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth." — "Without controversy" who then, what then, is she?

She seems to include or invite all which tempts man at his earthly proudest and mightiest: ambition shedding blood as water, with garments rolled in blood scarlet as her array; enervating luxury, as she herself sits inert on her scarlet beast; sensual excess foul as her cup; licence that is not liberty, but is chains and fetters like her bravery of gold and pearls and precious stones. Woe to her dupes! " Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness."

Such as this, then, is she. From all this and from whatso ever besides she may be, may we every one of us great or small be delivered Amen.

1. And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.

If chapter xvii. may be treated as parenthetical, the present chapter appears to supply a sequel to chapter xvi., and particularly to ver. 19 of that chapter.

St. John beheld and recognized a frequent recurrence of Angels: here one, there seven, there again ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands. What he records affords a presumption of what may encompass or cross my own path any day, any hour. I ought not to imagine omens or supernatural indications with rashness; yet neither ought I to feel positive that the rainbow I discern has no connection with an Angel I discern not, or that the blaze which appears to be lightning may not dart from a descending Angel.

Great St. John knew; and unfolds his knowledge in order that others should reverently surmise things they know not. " That which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider."

2. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying,

Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

Compare " The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.... Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged."

Is not this great Babylon? is it not also a hell? For what but a hell can be " the habitation of devils? " If they find not a hell they make one.

The Revised Version writes " hold " (a second time) instead of " cage "; and as a marginal alternative proposes in each instance "prison": according to which it might appear that even foul spirits and unclean and hateful birds consort with the fallen mother of luxury not of free will but by constraint. Devils (Revised Version: " demons ") her inhabitants are perhaps at home in her.

Shall I choose sweet that turns to bitterness? or bitter that turns to sweetness?

Upward, and saw a world of righteousness: Downward, and saw darkness and flame begin Which no man can express.

From face of darkness and devouring flame: And fled I had, but guilt is loading me With dust of death and shame.

Beams to me from the world of far-off day: — Lord, Who hast called them happy that endure, Lord, make me such as they.

3. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have com mitted fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

So far, then, all are alike: yet it may be that in guilt they are not altogether alike. The first class, nations (which indeed includes both kings and merchants), have more or less "as natural brute beasts " succumbed to her seductions. Kings, in the position to exercise a royally untrammelled choice, have of free will and voluntary preference wallowed in her company.

Merchants substituting gain for godliness have trafficked in her gauds, dealt in her poisons, filled their purses by help of her abominations; and thus ruining others, have ruined themselves both at first and at second hand.

The national sin illustrates what nature may lapse to divorced from grace. The regal sin, how far more perilous it is to sit high than to sit low. The sordid sin, how easily those who will be rich fall into temptation and a snare. " Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good. God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did under stand, that did seek God. Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one."

4. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

5. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

"Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city! She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction."

A "Voice from heaven." — Alas! that oftentimes I have not heard, have not heeded, have not obeyed, have not returned thanks. Lord, forgive me.

" Come out of her." — Alas! that oftentimes I have sat still, have looked back, have not escaped for my life, have not fled to the mountain, have not praised the Lord for His Goodness. Lord, forgive me.

" My people." — Alas! that when Thou hast chosen me, many times I have not chosen Thee. Lord, forgive me.

" That ye be not partakers of her sins." — Alas! that I have ere now if not now walked in the counsel of the ungodly, have stood in the way of sinners, have sat in the seat of the scornful. Lord, forgive me.

"That ye receive not of her plagues." — Alas! that I have been afraid where no fear was, that I have fled when no man pursued, but have not put my whole trust in God, nor honoured Thee my Father, nor feared Thee my Master. Lord, forgive me.

" Her sins have reached unto heaven." — Alas! that when Thou hast looked for judgment, behold oppression; for right eousness, behold a cry. Lord, forgive us.. " God hath remembered her iniquities." — Alas, Lord! Ac* cording to Thy lovingkindnesses, according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out our transgressions, blot out all our iniquities. Lord, forgive us.

God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, forgive us. I plead the Blood of Jesus Christ Who took away the handwriting that was against us, nailing it to His Cross.

6. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.

The Revised Version furnishes a variation of the first clause: " Render unto her even as she rendered." By thus omitting the pronoun you, the precept seems no longer so pointedly addressed to the once persecuted faithful, but simply to form part of a sentence of condemnation which the Strong Lord God Alone pronounces upon her directly from Himself without specification of secondary agency.

I write under correction, — but whilst I recollect that Angels are mentioned as executing final Divine Judgment on human kind, I recollect not that men are thus unequivocally mentioned in regard to their fellow-men; although the saints are to judge the world and to judge angels, as St. Paul intimates to the Corinthian Church. All saints are to sympathize indeed with the triumph of good over evil, but not with their own hands (?) to set fire to the great pile. " He shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in His wrath. The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily He is a God that judgeth in the earth."

A secondary human agent indeed there is, a human second cause in every man's penalty: the selfsame man himself.

For similarly: what reward is the foul woman to receive? such as she gave. Her own works are to be doubled unto her, her own cup is to be filled double to her.

Obstinate disobedience sifted, meted, weighed, is the un erring measure of that vengeance which God measures to it.

Utmost obedience is no measure of that blessing wherewith God overfills and overflows any measure.

" Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens."

7. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

8. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God Who judgeth her.

Because this type of transcendent wickedness is presented under the feminine aspect, doubtless we women may elicit thence our own appropriate lesson. When we behold gauds and frivolities go up toward heaven in smoke of hell, they become a beacon fire to warn us from making shipwreck be it on a mudbank of vileness or on a curious reef of luxury. Scant comfort would it be to perish, though on a very miracle of beauty.

" Moreover the Lord saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet.... The Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon, the chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers, the bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings, the rings, and nose jewels, the changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins, the glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the vails. And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty."

" How much she hath glorified herself...." — On the other hand, who would choose to live and die inglorious? and who shall glorify us, if we ourselves achieve not glory. No mere surface glory though it stream down from heaven can abide: were Coniah the signet upon God's right hand, yet would wickedness pluck him thence. Moses in his sanctity illustrates the difference between outward albeit genuine glory, and glory everlasting, assimilated, inalienable: he comes forth from the earthly Tabernacle of the Divine Presence, and the glory of his countenance fades away; he reappears from the unseen world " in glory" on the Mount of the Transfiguration, changed from glory to glory, clothed upon with glory. The all glorious within can afford to wait patiently for clothino- of wrought gold.

O Soul insatiable of glory, covet earnestly the best gifts, pursue them along the more excellent way. Barter not for Cleopatra's dissolving pearl the pearls which are entrance-gates to New Jerusalem; for Dives's sumptuous daily fare the marriage-supper of eternity; for black tents of Kedar the curtains of Solomon; for Nabal to-day, David to-morrow; for what hath been told us, that whereof the half hath not been told us; for sight of eye, and hearing of ear, and heart's present desire, that which eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man.

Crouch lowest to spring highest. Disperse abroad and give to the poor, so shall thy riches make themselves wings and fly away as eagles toward heaven. Strip off thine ornaments now, that they may become chains about thy neck hereafter. To night turn from the west in its fading purple, and set thy face steadfastly toward the east, where out of darkness golden glory and roses of a dawn that sets not will be revealed.

Dear Brother, dear Sister, God grant thee such grace, and deny it not to me. For Jesus' sake. Amen.

" In one day, death, and mourning, and famine."— At once corpse and mourner: a famishing corpse. It recalls Zechariah's awful prediction: "And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusa lem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth."

" I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow "— Yea, scarlet woman, to-day: but not yea at all to-morrow. Scarlet queen on a scarlet throne all to-day without sorrow, Bethink thee: to-day must end; there is no end of to-morrow.

O Strong Lord God, Who judgest her and wilt judge all mankind, grant to the exalted humility, to the desolate thank fulness, to the happy sympathy with sorrow; that so earthly eminence may become a stepping-stone to heavenly heights, and loneliness may introduce to the full communion of saints' and joy blossoming in time may bear eternal fruit. Be we high or low, prosperous or depressed, wheresoever, whatsoever we be, make us and evermore keep us well pleasing in Thy sight. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

9. And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornica tion and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her,

and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, 10. Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying,

Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city!

for in one hour is thy judgment come.

" It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes."

" Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help." Least of all in wicked men can there be any help.

Adam seems not to have found one word to plead for Eve in the terrible hour of judgment.

To-day is the day of helpfulness: the Day of Doom will be a day of helplessness. Moreover, the relative attitude of the righteous and the wicked as now it exists will then be reversed.

Now they are the wicked who stand callous amidst the fears, torments, miseries of others; not investigating human claims, not mourning with them that mourn, not moving burdens with one of their fingers, not heeding the burning questions of their day, neighbourhood, nay sometimes of their own hearths. Now they are the righteous who quake in horrible fear for the ungodly, and all but enter within the vortex of evil in rescue work, and cry out, Alas the pity of it! over perishing souls, and with Christ-like tears bewail the impenitent; saying, How often would I, and ye would not.

Then it will be the obdurate wicked who weep and lament, having reached the end of softness and sweetness, beholding the lap of their luxury set on fire, foretasting in that perdition their own perdition. Then it will be the righteous who of one mind, will, desire, with God All-Holy, at the execution of His sentence become as it were " Yea and Amen " to His Glory: of old all His promises have been unto His glory and unto them " Yea and Amen " in Christ; and now they themselves shine forth and glow as reflections of the Just Judge, renewed in His image, perfected in His likeness.

Who stare upon her fall, Quake for themselves with hair on end. Will she be done away? vanish away?

Yea, like the shades that seem Somewhat, and lo! are nought by day. Alas for her amid man's helpless moan,

"In one hour is thy judgment come." — "Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shall no more be called, The lady of kingdoms.... And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it. Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children: but these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments." — " Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the Lord's vengeance; He will render urfto her a recompence. Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord's hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad. Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed. We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies."

11. And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more.

Those kings did at least bewail Babylon for herself: these merchants bewail her because of their own impoverishment. They all alike are " of the earth," yet is there a finer and a coarser clay.

Only I must beware of reckoning that sympathy with evil in itself is nobler than sympathy with evil in its effects. Neither is nobler: one may be baser. From both, O Lord, deliver us.

12. The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,

cense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of mer.

" A man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." We know that it is so now: we shall see that it is so then. If either, his death rather than his life consisteth in such.

"Brethren, the time is short: it remaineth," that they that buy be " as though they possessed not; and they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away."

Yet on the same principle that we are bidden redeem the time because the days are evil, Christians find ways to redeem these other creatures despite their evil tendency. Gold and silver they lend unto the Lord: He will pay them again. Precious stones and pearls they dedicate to the' service of His Altar. With fine linen, purple, silk, scarlet, they invest His Sanctuary; and fragrant " thyine " wood they carve delicately for its further adornment. Vessels of ivory, of most precious wood, of brass, iron, marble, are refined to serve as lavers, ennobled to become alms coffers or alms dishes. They burn cinnamon, odours (the Revised Version for "odours* gives " spice and incense "), frankincense, for a sweet savour in the Divine Presence. Wine, fine flour, wheat, constitute their most pure Oblation. With ointments and oil they comfort Christ in His beloved sick members. With beasts and sheep they spread a feast for His poor. On horses and in chariots they carry His Gospel afar. And ministering rather than being ministered unto, they tend bodies and travail for souls. (For " slaves " the margin gives as literal " bodies.")

" The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever: the Lord shall rejoice in His works."

\Vhoso has the spirit of Elijah, though his horse and chariot have come up out of Egypt, yet shall they receive virtue as " of fire " to forward him on his heavenward course. And this despite a horse being but a vain thing to save a man.

14. And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all.

Or according to the Revised Version: " And the fruits which thy soul lusted after are gone from thee, and all things that were dainty and sumptuous are perished from thee, and men shall find them no more at all ": — reminding us of St. Paul's words to the Colossians: "... The rudiments of the world... (Touch not; taste not; handle not; which all are to perish with the using)."

As regards the second clause of the doom (in this verse), the two Versions suggest each its own sense. The Authorized, as if those objects of desire may have been not destroyed but withdrawn whilst the craving remains insatiable. According to both texts the loss appears absolute, final, irreparable; but (collating the two) that which departs instead of perishing leaves behind it in addition to the agony of loss the hankering, corroding misery of absence.

15. The merchants of these things, which were made rich

by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,

16. And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!

17. For in one hour so great riches is come to nought.

And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,

This desolation which we have not yet seen must one day be seen. Meanwhile we have known preludes, rehearsals, foretastes of such as this: so that looking back through the centuries we may take up our lamentation and say: — •

Alas Tyre whose merchants were princes! From riches but not toward God, Good Lord, deliver us.

Alas the man whose barns sufficed not! From heart and hands shut close, Good Lord, deliver us.

Alas Dives clothed in purple and fine linen! From reme diless destitution, Good Lord, deliver us.

Alas any whom the unknown day and hour find unprepared! From the folly of the foolish virgins, Good Lord, deliver us.

Alas England full of luxuries and thronged by stinted poor, whose merchants are princes and whose dealings crooked, whose packed storehouses stand amid bare homes, whose gorgeous array has rags for neighbours! From a canker in our gold and silver, from a moth in our garments, from blasted crops, from dwindling substance, from righteous retribution abasing us among the nations, Good Lord, deliver us. Amen.

18. And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning,

saying, What city is like unto this great city!

If any shipmasters and crews, sailors and sea-traders, have yet to lament and quake, well may arrogant England amid her seas quake and lament betimes.

" What city is like unto this great city! " — Like what she was, like what she is: her present tallying with her past.

For purposes of probation height and depth are at once distinguishable and continuous: man, the probationer set midway between their extremities, has it' within his option to reclaim either from the other. Probation over, height and depth, whilst still of two aspects, will yet form one evidently undivided sequence; to the summit or to the base of which consummated man has worked his way. And why not all the baptized to the summit? " Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? "

19. And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

To cast dust on the head with penitence attests death unto sin. To cast dust on the head with impenitence prefigures the second death.

Sin conducts all to one goal. The land sinner finds dust in plenty; the seafaring sinner shall inherit dust enough.

Thank God, ample provision is stored for every penitent wheresoever and whatsoever: dust, ashes, are ready to hand for all.

Lord, array us in spiritual sackcloth, that by penitence we may bear witness to Thy Goodness.

20. Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.

In the Revised Version: " Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye saints, and ye apostles, and ye prophets j for God hath judged your judgment on her."

This second rendering endears itself to us all the more because in it we meet with simple "saints," saints of any shade or degree. All are not " apostles " or " prophets," neither can be: " heaven " suggests (for the time being) the exceeding nobility of the ninefold angelic host, too exalted for the Church's fellowship during her prolonged exile. But high and low, rich and poor, young and old, great and small meet together as "saints" in a general beatitude; not one is absent, overlooked, forgotten.

Behold them at last! All His saints are in His hand, He has kept their feet, they are rejoicing in goodness, singing unto the Lord, loving the Lord, fearing the Lord but without torment, gathered together unto Him, a congregation, an assembly, their souls preserved, their death precious in His sight, shouting aloud for joy, blessing God Who is their praise, joyful in glory, every one honourable, having attained unto the kingdom. Behold saints from Lydda, beloved ones of God called to be saints from Rome, poor saints from Jerusalem, saints known to us by name and other saints with them, saints from Achaia, from Ephesus, all in Christ Jesus from Philippi; now fellow-citizens of no mean city, partakers of the inherit ance in light. " My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen."

21. And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.

So of old Noah beheld the whole wicked world "like a great millstone " vanish beneath the flood. So after Lot fled, the cities of the plain " salted with fire " were superseded by the Dead Sea. So the Red Sea swallowed up the strength of Egypt. [I am aware that a different site has been proposed for the cities of the plain, and that I only follow one opinion.]

" We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work Thou didst in their days, in the times of old."

The deed of this " mighty Angel " seems at first sight inimitable by man. Yet ponder our Lord's injunction to the Twelve: " Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith ": — sacred words which besides any literal promise doubtless convey a profound spiritual lesson.

Feeling our way amongst these Apocalyptic symbols, these mysteries of life and death, we observe the mother of abomin ations and mistress of kings and peoples seated upon seven mountains; dark mountains whereon our feet stumble. The darkness conceals much, but not all. For so long as there are seven stumbling-blocks (well known, alas! to most of us) upholding and upheld by the world, — overtopping Pride, Anger flaming and fuming in the face of heaven, Gluttony bloated as a toad in a stone, Lust a slippery precipice, Avarice hard as a flint, Envy barren as peaks above the snow-line, Sloth deadly as sleep amid that snow, — by labouring to remove these stumbling-blocks from our own heavenward path, and so far as in us lies from our neighbour's, we can and shall do somewhat towards undermining the throne of the world. " Who art thou, O great mountain? " Before faith working by prayer thou shalt be swept away. " He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city ": — thus may any earnest person help to take, and taking to overthrow, Babylon. Moreover, by aspiring to become that which " is better," we shall also one by one take another city, a city which hath foundations, and wherein we may abide for ever.

O Lord God, Whose Strength is sufficient for all who lay hold on it, grant us in Thee to comfort our hearts and be strong. Humility, meekness, temperance, purity, large-heartedness, sympathy, zeal, grant us these evidences of faith, handmaids of hope, fruits of love. For the sake of Jesus

This great lewd Babylon which " shall be found no more at all," becomes (whatever else she may be) a figure to us of strong temptation: harassing, persistent, insistent, all but irresistible to-day • to-morrow nothing.

It is not merely that the world will be abolished; my own temptation from the world must end in one of two ways: either I shall have sunk below any pleasures, or I shall have risen above polluting pleasures. If only I could realize to practical purpose that even long-drawn incessant temptation is yet not interminable.

Ah, poorest Man, if so Thou turn thy back on bliss And choose amiss! For thou art choosing now: Sinner, — or Saint.

22. And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers,

and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a mill stone shall be heard no more at all in thee;

23. And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. No more in Babylon. But in New Jerusalem we shall hear

No more in Babylon. But in New Jerusalem we shall behold once more (God grant it!) every craftsman of whatso ever craft who hath wrought a good work toward Christ or toward His disciples.

No more in Babylon. But in New Jerusalem we shall rejoice (God grant it!) with some taken from grinding at the mill while others were left.

No more in Babylon. But in New Jerusalem (God grant it!) we shall walk in the light that has no need of a candle.

No more in Babylon. But in New Jerusalem we shall keep high festival (God grant it!) with bridegrooms and brides re united in the communion of saints and fellowship of angels.

No more in Babylon. But in New Jerusalem (God grant it!) we shall exult amongst the company of merchantmen who once sold all for the treasure field or for the pearl of great price.

"... No more at all in thee." — Whether the enumerated multitude has been involved and for ever silenced in the ruin of Babylon, or whether it has clean escaped among those legions of whom the world was not worthy, in either contin gency one faculty common to all has saved or lost each: free will.

Not Nemesis, Destiny, Predestination, hast cast the lot i man's own free will has been the factor of good or of evil.

Lord God Almighty, Who hast promised to Thy servants deliverance from their enemies, much more deliver us, I implore Thee, from ourselves. We, only we, can destroy our selves: Thou, Thou alone canst rescue and save us. I plead our Saviour Jesus. Amen.

From labour for the meat which perisheth and not for that which endureth unto life eternal, From lamps going out, gone out; from any light that shineth not to the glory of our Heavenly Father,

From such temporal love and joy as forfeit eternal love and joy, From earthly gain which is heavenly loss, From the whole world in exchange for our souls,

24. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.

" O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place. Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high." — " O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed."

Well may the virgin, the daughter of Zion, despise and laugh to scorn her adversary: well may the "daughter of Jerusalem shake her head at her.

Yet so long as time lasts, probation lasts; and so long as probation lasts, the end of individuals is not assured. It were folly to boast in girding on the harness, or at any moment short of putting it off.

Because he is not a Jew which is one outwardly, but he only which is one inwardly, the Church militant here in earth must still give diligence to make her calling and election sure. All her members must: each must.

It is awe-striking to observe the similarity between our Lord's accusation against the Jerusalem of His mortal day, and this final allegation against lost Babylon. In both cases a surface life overlaid a deep-seated death.

" Then spake Jesus.... Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee...."

" Of all that were slain upon the earth." — Since no exception is made, may we understand not the immortal righteous only, but the twice dead unrighteous also, all? Her smooth words have been very swords, and her tender mercies cruel. Her hatred slays bodies, her love souls: better her hatred than her love.

1. And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:

2. For true and righteous are His judgments: for He hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of His servants at her hand.

While a great voice of earth uplifts Alas I (ch. xviii. 10, £:c.) the " great voice " of heaven will uplift Alleluia. Even now already it is so, whether or not we have ears to hear. One laments, the other exults, over the selfsame doom.

The prefixed day will come upon all the earth. With one or other company, I in the flesh or in the spirit shall then be saying Alas! or Alleluia!

At present, if I utter not Alas! I as it were am feeling Alas for disappointment, pain, trouble, anxiety, weariness, failure. For these and for such as these I may feel it perchance unblamed: yet only perchance: each grievance and each pang must be tested and brought to the light ere safely I can acquit myself. Disappointment should not dishearten, nor pain exasperate, nor trouble overwhelm, nor anxiety sour, nor weariness exhaust, nor failure hinder me. Verily I dare not acquit myself.

Moreover my Alleluias, when and wherefore come they? Few, cold, tearful, far between; more like the high octave of Alas than is seemly; too unlike the peaceful song of saints.

Alleluia! or Alas! my heart is crying: — So yours is sighing: Or replying with content undying, Alleluia!

Alas! grieves overmuch for pain that is ending, Hurt that is mending, Life descending soon to be ascending, Alleluia!

'•' I will consider Thy testimonies. I see that all things come to an end: but Thy commandment is exceeding broad."

When amid the luminous obscurity of prophecy insight fails, obedience remains. " I see that all things come to an end ": yet see it not in such wise as to forecast times and seasons, modes and details. None the less things better than these lie within my scope: already I can ascribe to my God all "glory and honour" of every dispensation or event; I can long after His salvation, rely upon His power and goodness, justify His judgments, divorce my heart from perverse sym pathies, cast in my lot come what may with His servants.

I can, or I cannot, already do all this. If I can, the term of my mortal life will not exhaust such gracious employments: if I cannot, the same term will be wholesomely spent in acquiring so blessed a temper.

In hope and fear, glory and abasement, honour and dis honour, power and weakness; by purifying and ruling our sympathies, recognizing and magnifying Thy judgments, loving and emulating Thy faithful servants; while evermore we wait patiently for Thee, O Lord, and for Thy salvation; give us grace to cry Alleluia, through Jesus Christ to the Glory 'of God the Father. Amen.

I lift up wistful eyes and bow my knee: Trembling, bowed down, and face to face with Death,

Lo, what I see is Death that shadows me: Yet whilst I, seeing, draw a shuddering breath,

Death like a mist grows rare perceptibly. Beyond the darkness light, beyond the scathe

Healing, beyond the Cross a palm-branch tree, Beyond Death Life, on evidence of faith:

3. And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever.

If Amen did not appear and reappear in the celestial vocabulary, one might have supposed that Alleluia had taken its place. As it is, both words being at once terrestrial and celestial, link earth to heaven: here Amen prevails, there Alleluia.

It emphasizes to our apprehension the momentous difference between eternity and time, to read that "her smoke rose up for ever and ever." Throughout time smoke is an emblem of transitoriness, evanescence, as both the Canonical Scriptures and the Apocryphal Books teach us: — " As smoke is driven away, so drive them away " — " My days are consumed like smoke" — "They shall be... as the smoke out of the chimney " — " The breath in our nostrils is as smoke " — " The hope of the ungodly is like... as the smoke which is dis persed here and there with a tempest."

Time with all its possibilities is yet a day when that which is wanting cannot be numbered. Eternity with all its impossi bilities is yet the day when God will require that which is past.

4. And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.

Whatever else varies, one condition abides invariable: the heavenly host is absolutely at one with God Omnipotent in will, choice, approval, pleasure. The Free Will of the Creator and the free will of the creature, in heaven coalesce in one eternal concord, one indissoluble harmony. Nevertheless from first to last (so far as last can be predicated of aught which ends not) both wills were and are and will be free.

Free will is the foundation of heaven. Free will at the opposite pole is the basis of hell. Free will may not elect hell per se, but by rejecting God it leaves itself no other alternative. Perhaps hell may even be the least degree of ruin compatible with man's dogged, unwavering freedom of -choice. Not of course that he chooses it purposely; only virtually, by repudi ating whatever is not hell or hellish.

If man has a right to his free will, so also has God to His. <cHe hath shewed thee, O man, what is good."

5. And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our

God, all ye His servants, and ye that fear Him, both small and great.

The little one has become a thousand, and the small one a strong nation: the zeal of the Lord of hosts hath done this.

A very dear and saintly person years ago called home, once in my hearing exulted at this appearance of the small that fear God: viewing it as a vast encouragement. Even they will be there, not on sufferance, but taken account of, brought forward, called upon to enhance the acceptable rapture.

all which Thou couldest sacrifice, cast out envy from our hearts and fill them with love like Thine.

That in the day of rejoicing we one and all may rejoice with Thee in the Communion of Saints, by virtue of love like Thine.

That Apostles, Prophets, Patriarchs, Martyrs, all Saints, even ourselves also, may love one another for pure love of Thee: yea, with love like Thine.

That the great rich in tenderness, and the small rich in veneration, may praise Thee each for other, overflowing with love like Thine.

That as heaven is heaven to Thee because of love, so it may be heaven to every one of us because of love, of love like Thine.

That we who can carry away nothing when we die, may yet carry love from earth to heaven, love in its measure like Thine.

And to the end that there we may superabound in love, grant us here to abound in love, in love like Thine. Amen. Alleluia.

6. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth.

Hearken to music of the deaf whose spirit was not deaf, and a song of the dumb whose heart was not dumb; for in this chorus all the redeemed, whatever their sometime gift or blemish, sing together. Deafness, dumbness, every imperfec tion has been left behind with the dust of death; and God hath put a new song into all mouths, even a thanksgiving unto our God. " Many shall see it, and fear; and shall put their trust in the Lord." (Lord, so be it for Jesu's sake.)

May I be one of those wise master singers! If then I would be so, now I must become so. The talents vouchsafed me I must use and improve thankfully; the gifts withheld I must forego ungrudgingly and thankfully.

O Lord my God the Omnipotent, Who searchest all hearts; Who knowest my heart through and through; Who in many hearts discernest lifelong disappointment, mortification, aching rankling soreness; O Lord our God, grant us such grace that Thy Will may be to us glory and Thine award satisfaction; so in our solitary place shall we be glad, awaiting that day of days when patient mourners shall come forth in the dances of them that make merry. Amen, for the honour of Jesus Christ, Who for our sake exhausted human bitterness.

If reverently I may say so: — In the Bible God condescends to employ multiform overtures of endearing graciousness, wooing, beseeching, alluring, encouraging. We love beauty; He lavishes beauty on the sacred text. We desire knowledge; He tells us much, and promises that one day He will tell us all. We are conscious of feelings inexpressible and as yet insatiable; He stirs up such feelings, at once directing them and guaranteeing their ultimate satisfaction. He works upon us by what we can and by what we cannot utter; He appeals in us to what we can and to what we cannot define.

Whence it seems to ensue that not only words and thoughts compose such a commentary on Revelation as may lawfully be brought by man for his offering of firstfruits; but that painting, sculpture, music, all are sources capable of swelling that store.

Without cavilling or doubt then let us worship God in wordless aspiration aroused by any form of beauty, let us praise Him in musical yearnings and ecstasies. Or if not thou, at least I; who remember how one highly endowed by nature and by grace and by me ever to be venerated, was affected by one movement in the overwhelming harmony of the Hallelujah Chorus.

Whence death has vanished like a shifting sand And barrenness is banished with the sea. Its bulwarks are salvation fully manned,

And pearls for pureness radiant glimmeringly, And gold for grandeur where all good is grand. An inner ring of saints meets linked above,

And linked of angels is an outer ring: For voice of waters or for thunders' voice Lo! harps and songs wherewith all saints rejoice,

And all the trembling there of any string Is but a trembling of enraptured love.

7. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready.

Let us meanwhile " be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him," because this which shall come will come, and will not tarry.

As God brought Eve to Adam, so now is He bringing each pure and lovely soul to Christ. As He conducted fair Rebekah to Isaac unseen yet the chosen of her heart, so is He now calling and guiding the elect to Christ. As Jacob loved and served for Rachel, so and much more Christ loves His own, and will accept no different guerdon. As Joseph amid home joys forgot his toil, so Christ makes no account of His toil in comparison with the love of His beloved. As Moses was first champion, then husband; even such Christ is and will be to every sanctified soul. As Moses sang and Miriam answered, so will there be " the song of the Lamb," and the responsive adoring song of the Church. As Moses prayed for leprous Miriam, so is Christ now interceding for the heirs of salvation. As the daughters of Zelophehad were espoused by their near kinsmen, so to blessed souls Christ deigns to say, " My sister, My spouse." As at Achsah's request Caleb bestowed on her water-springs, so does our Heavenly Father reserve " a pure River of Water of Life " for them who ask in His Son's Name. As Jephthah's daughter became the glory of her father's house, so will the King's daughter arise, shine, to His glory, never more lamenting on her mountain-tops, but exulting on the height of heavenly Zion. As Ruth by untried paths journeyed home to Boaz, so are sweet souls by untried paths journeying home to Christ. As Elkanah was better to downcast Hannah than ten sons, so is Christ now to His faithful mourners; what will He be then? As Rizpah's self-devotion to the slain for sin won for her everlasting renown, so even now all who devote themselves to Christ, the Sole Sacrifice for sin, are winning a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; winning, not earning. As the Queen of Sheba exchanged gifts with King Solomon, so gracious souls to-day exchange love with Christ,, and will carry on the exchange for ever; unlike that Queen who returned to her own country, they, born in the region and shadow of death, will return no more, nor see their native country, but will stand continually before Christ and hear His Wisdom: " Because the Lord loved Israel for ever, therefore made He thee king." As the Widow of Zarephath enter taining Elijah received a prophet's reward, so all ministries to Christ in His poor and afflicted shall one day by no means lose their reward. As Elisha at the Widow's word turned her penury into wealth, so God is giving good gifts to them that ask Him, and withholds no good thing from them that live a godly life. As the great Shunammite according to Elisha's promise embraced a son, so Christ bestows a name better than of sons or of daughters on such as choose the things that please Him. As the daughters of Shallum helped their father to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so now feeble souls are strengthened to edify others, while they themselves are being built as lively stones into Christ's living temple. As Esther excelled Vashti and assumed her forfeited crown, so the Christian vocation at once human and superhuman hath the promise of that which now is, and of that which is to come; and as after a brief fast, mourning, trembling terror, Queen Esther atiained to the half of her husband's kingdom, so the Church looks onward, upward, to the moment of sitting down with her Divine King and Spouse in His Throne.

All this and much more I profess when I say: I

believe in the Communion of Saints, and the life everlasting.

As everything human that is masculine is or should be typical of Chiist, so all that is feminine of the Church. Why then break off our parallel with the galaxy of holy maids and matrons memorialized in the Old Testament, and not carry it further by help of their sister saints in the Gospel?

Because it is so lovely a privilege to have stood really and truly in some direct relation to Christ that it may well take precedence of aught figurative. There is no title by which to indicate the Blessed Virgin Mary half so august as that of His Mother. The glory of righteous P^lizabeth was her worship of His unseen Presence. It was enough for ascetic Anna to behold Him and to speak of Him. And so each named or unnamed personage appears invested with her proper halo. To the Woman of Samaria He announced Himself as the Messiah. The Widow of Nain He consoled. He accepted love and tears from a woman a sinner, and faith from her who had suffered many things from many physicians. Jairus's Daughter He took by the hand. On the Canaanitish Mother He bestowed an unique commendation. Martha and her sister Mary He loved. The woman bowed with infirmity He acknowledged as a daughter of Abraham. He set store by the Widow's two mites. And His last recorded words before the Seven Sentences from the Cross were addressed to the wailing and lamenting Daughters of Jerusalem.

O Christ our God, remember Thy strong and weak ones, great and small, men and women, for good. Remember the nursing Fathers and nursing Mothers of Holy Church for good. Remember the righteous who worship Thee by faith, and bestow on them the blessing of those who not having seen have believed. Remember and advance all who worship Thee with fasting and prayer, and reveal Thy gracious Presence unto them. Remember any overthrown through frailty, raise them up and perfect Thy strength in their weakness. Remember the bereaved in their anguish, and make their latter end better than their beginning. Furnish the fallen with love, and accept their love. Grant to sufferers faith, and reward their faith. Raise sinners now from sin to righteousness, that Thou mayest hereafter raise them as saints to perfection. Remember the love of Parents; remember not except to forgive them the offences of children. Love us all, that we all may love Thee. Remember the despised, the overlooked, the misunderstood, reserving mercy for them in the day of Thy justice. Remember munificent hands to refill them, and generous hearts to spiritualize them. Remember all who mourn in Zion. My God, forget not any mourner. Remember us all, O Lord our God, for good. Amen.

Who shall decide whether to be constituted in the first instance strong or weak holds out the greater promise of ultimate strength? And it is the end crowns the beginning, never the beginning the end.

St. James erects a standard as it were of equality in in equality: " Let the- brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted; but the rich, in that he is made low."

" The marriage of the Lamb is come."

O Gracious Master, Who of old forgavest Thy disciples when they believed not for joy and wondered, so now, so always forgive us. We believe; help Thou our unbelief. If we believe not, let it be for joy and not for unwillingness; through mistrust of self, not of Thy word; for a moment, not for ever. Open Thou our understanding that we may understand the Scriptures; understand somewhat, believe all. So, Good Lord, make us ready. Amen.

"And His wife hath made herself ready." To Jacob by reason of his great love seven years seemed but a few days; we read not that they seemed so to Rachel. He by de sire shortened delay; she by responsive desire may have lengthened it.

Christ saith: " Surely I come quickly " — while the Church ceases not to cry: " How long, O Lord, Holy and True? "

At length in St. John's vision her mystical week is fulfilled. The Bridegroom cometh forth out of His chamber; let the Bride come forth out of her closet.

Many times heretofore has she come forth fasting, praying, weeping between the porch and the altar, imploring mercy. Now is she called forth to rejoice in the dances of them that make merry. " Then were we like unto them that dream."

She hath made herself ready; but in what royal closet, what dainty bower? She who comes out of great tribulation hath made herself ready in great tribulation, which yet was to her the secret of His Tabernacle.

As swelled by a thousand confluents from a thousand sources some unmeasured river at last attains the measureless ocean, so she comes forth from the thousand battle-fields of the fierce fight of her afflictions. Beds of weariness, haunts of starvation, hospital wards, rescue homes, orphanages, leper colonies, fires of martyrdom, in these and such as these did she set up mirrors whereby to fashion herself after Christ's likeness; workhouses, prisons (thank God!), the sea, the land, the rocks for a shelter, each and all send up their contingent of saints; palaces, hovels, houselessness, homelessness, again saints; east, west, north, south, still saints. Every gift, every grace, arrays and adorns her; innocence, penitence, purity, purification, largeness of heart as the sand of the sea; weighty judgment, mercy, faith; carefulness in well doing, as mint and anise and cummin; no longer patience, yet fruits of patience; no longer chastening, yet its peaceable fruit of righteousness; hope that maketh not ashamed, love superseding all that is not love or love's. She has forgotten her own people and her father's house, has forgotten all who are not of her or with her, in the supreme moment of going home to Him Whom her soul loveth. She has come up from the wilderness leaning upon her Beloved, and leaning upon Him she will sit down in the Promised Land flowing with milk and honey.

" The Voice of my Beloved!... Arise, My love, My fair one, and come away."

8. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white; for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

Or in the Revised Version: " And it was given unto her that she should array herself in fine linen, bright and pure; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints."

teaches both that we cannot, and that we must, array ourselves in righteousness. Whence one conclusion appears both safe and reasonable: what we can, do; what we cannot, trust God to do.

Till one tries, it is easy to fancy oneself doing everything: when one tries, it is not difficult to despair of doing anything. Neither delusion will work us ultimate harm if we so let these extremes meet as to. curb, balance, counteract each other. Presumption should at least fight lustily; despondency should at least pray urgently. Genuine prayer in conjunction with genuine fighting must sooner or later overthrow presumption and dissipate despondency.

If I may venture to say so, I think the Revised Version of this passage appears eminently consonant with those Provi dential circumstances which day by day dictate our duties. It exhibits the Bride as arraying herself " in fine linen, bright and pure "; but not for her is such vesture provided, as were the cloud garment and swaddling-band of thick darkness for the primeval sea: hers is a nobler law, " Give her of the fruit of her hands." " Righteous acts " have woven that lustrous linen, acts of all saints from the beginning to the end. Spot less and radiant now, it has been steeped in tears and bleached in the heat of the day: woven and at length without flaw from the top throughout it forms one fair unbroken web \ but held up to that light which manifests all works, behold! its warp and woof have not been wrought into a perfect whole except by an interweaving of cross threads, of crosses. The acts and crosses of each day and of every day, your acts and crosses and my own, are capable of reappearing in that achieved glory.

If the Revised Version incites us to abound in labour to-day while it is called to-day, the Authorized promotes no different result by enamouring us of that final perfection when all having been done both for and by the Church (for the things con cerning her also have an end), she shall be presented as a chaste virgin to Christ: and so shall the king have pleasure in her beauty.

9. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

Speech ends, writing endures. Wherefore this "Write" has respect even to children that are yet unborn: for the promise is unto us and to our children and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

My neighbour's call I may not apprehend: my own I recog nize. All things, all events, knowledge, even ignorance, speak to me. Thou knowest? " thou oughtest therefore ": thou knowest not? none the less " how dreadful is this place." "There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification ": — or according to a marginal rendering of the concluding phrase, " and nothing is without voice."

This Revelation of St. John the Divine excepts from its summons none who have ears to hear. By trumpets and harps, by thunders and voices, it calls on all men everywhere to repent. What or how we may learn hereafter stands over until that hereafter. What we cannot yet know will not yet be demanded of us.

At present and at once all earthly things teach some lesson to the teachable. " For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and God head." And whereas (if I may reverently use the word) accessories in this Inspired Book seem in great measure emblematical rather than actual; I can at least infer thence that every such figure must have an original, every type an antitype. Only a substance can cast a shadow.

To-day while daylight lasts let us study the shadows vouch safed us: when our night falls they for us will vanish. Hezekiah had his faith confirmed by a shadow. "The shadow of Peter passing by " was not lightly to be regarded.

Let us sit down amid Divinely cast shadows with great delight: it is good for us to be here.

Fulness of beauty and reality of perfection belong to sub stance, not to shadow. Meanwhile shadows, although they reproduce neither details nor colours, familiarize us with broad outlines.

However weary the land of our sojourn, the "great rock" extends for us a refreshing shadow; itself, and not its shadow, being our ultimate benefactor.

Shadows befit probation, but befit not the promised beatitude. Whilst set in their midst I must thankfully utilize them, yet must not make myself so comfortable in their region as to settle down or to drop asleep. Symbolism affords a fascinating study: wholesome so long as it amounts to aspiration and research; unwholesome when it degenerates into a pastime.

As literal shadows tend to soothe, lull, abate keenness of vision; so perhaps symbols may have a tendency to engross, satisfy, arrest incautious souls unwatchful and unprayerful lest they enter into temptation.

Eyes patient till the end to watch and weep. So will sleep nourish power to wake and rise With Virgins who keep vigil and are wise,

From out man's deep to call Thy vaster deep, And tread the uphill track to Paradise. Sweet souls! so patient that they make no moan,

So rapt in prayer that half they dwell in heaven Thankful for all withheld and all things given;

So lit by love that Christ shines manifest Transfiguring their aspects to His own.

" Blessed are they which are called unto the Marriage Supper of the Lamb." — This beatitude is specially vouched for as a true saying of God, and baptized Christians have received the call; yet so long as mortal life endures each soul must use all diligence to secure the blessing, probation rendering every promise contingent.