27. XVII

SARDIS.

WE now pass on to a Church of knowledge, indeed, and comparative orthodoxy, but withal to one which is fast sinking from the Heavenly Places into the world, and losing all its spiritual power. The word "Sardis" is not Greek: hence some have derived it from a Hebrew root, which would give it the meaning of "remnant"; and this they refer to "the rest in Thyatira" mentioned in the preceding Epistle. But such a derivation is unfair: for the word is no more Hebrew than it is Greek. It is a Lydian name; and, therefore, in a Lydian root we must seek its interpretation, which will then be "new," "new-born with the year," "renewed."² This at once suggests the Churches originating in the Reformation, which have been generally distinguished as orthodox on the whole, but very seldom as showing a spiritual power in due proportion to their privileges. For, as we have previously remarked, when the enthusiasm occasioned by their delivery from the thraldom of Jezebel had subsided, instead of gathering in one loving circle around the Saviour, they fell apart into antagonistic sects, which, so far as the great crowd of their members was con-

¹ Mal. iv. 2.

² See Stier's "Words of the Risen Saviour"

SARDIS.

cerned, soon lapsed into a state of spiritual deadness. And few, indeed, were the exceptions which proved this rule, at least until the efforts of Wesley, Whitefield, and their contemporaries, began to excite some symptoms of returning life.

To the professing Christians of this period the Lord presents Himself as "He that hath the seven Spirits of God," a title which is full of meaning for them. They lack vitality, and He appears as the Possessor of the Spirit in all the sevenfold plenitude of His power: whatever may be their intellectual force and activity, they are little moved by Divine energies, and He comes with gracious purpose, that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.

In His hand He holds all the seven stars which are the angels of the Churches. This seems to be, as it were, a solemn repetition of His claim to be Head over all, and to indicate the critical time of a new beginning, a fresh departure, analogous to the return of the Jews from captivity and the rebuilding of the Temple.

Again the Lord knows: He has no need that any should witness to Him of this Church, and it is useless for special pleaders to defend her. His eyes of flame pierce through every covering of hypocrisy: therefore, void as she is of spiritual power, it will not avail her to have a name to live. She may deceive men, and may even, like the more advanced Laodicea, go on to deceive herself; but she cannot hide her real condition from Him. Against the Church which preceded her, she boasts that she holds to the pure word of God; nevertheless, her vitality is at so low an ebb, that she is spiritually almost as a person in a swoon is physically: it might be said of her, as Paul says of the woman who lives in pleasure, that she "is dead while she liveth."

It is not without deep significance that, whereas adversaries are found assailing five of the Churches either from within or from without, there is no mention of any foe in the Epistles to Sardis and Laodicea. For these two have ceased to be effectual witnesses, and, therefore, Satan has no quarrel with them: they do not in any way torment those who have settled down as dwellers upon the earth; why, then, should anger be excited against them? They have a tacit understanding with the world that, although their opinions may differ upon some points, there is nothing to hinder a mutual friendship.

The first admonition of the Lord points directly to the source and root of all this deadness to spiritual things and conformity to the world. "Become watchful," He commands; and, if we interpret this verse by the next, we shall see that He is not speaking of general watchfulness, but of waiting for His return. Yet such a waiting certainly includes watchfulness in all things; for he who lives in the daily expectation of seeing Christ as He is will surely not be deficient in zeal to purify himself even as He is pure. But, after the Reformation, the Protestant Churches seemed to have little love for their Lord's appearing: they rarely mentioned it, and persuaded themselves that, although it was an event which must assuredly take place at some far-distant time, it, nevertheless, could not happen for a long season; not, indeed, until after the whole world had been converted and changed by means of their exertions. And so they made the fatal

S.1KDIS.

mistake, from which the Scriptures should have saved them, of saying in their heart, "My Lord delayeth His coming," and soon fell into the idle slumber from which He now calls upon them to arise, lest coming suddenly He should find them sleeping.

"Strengthen," He continues, "the things which remain, that are ready to die"—for life was not quite extinct. And in this warning we may probably discern a reference to teaching, as well as to work: the thought of the Lord's appearing had been cast aside, and all other doctrines were becoming indistinct. The great disclosure, which impresses upon us, more powerfully than any other revelation, the fact that we are strangers and pilgrims here, was "spiritualized," and whatever else seemed burdensome was deprived of its meaning in a similar way. The literal presence of Christ was not desired; therefore, His person was no longer a constant subject of contemplation. Compared with the multitude who had the responsibility of knowledge, but few gazed fixedly upon Him; and, consequently, but few were changed from glory to glory into the same image. And since the Church had no apprehension of being suddenly called away, she found it easy to do much the same as the world, and, settling down upon earth, began to lose all the heavenly gifts. Gradually it became the custom to bring everything to the test of intellect and human philosophy; so that, as time went on, the very foundation-doctrine of the Atonement began to disappear from the sight of those who were unaffected by the Philadelphian revival, and large numbers of professing Christians are now denying the Lord Who bought them.

But the waning of faith speedily changes outward conduct, and so the Lord goes on to say;—“For I have found no work of thine fulfilled before My God.” The works are deficient in quality: it is not the pure love of Christ which constrains the doers, but lower motives. They are wanting in quantity: the daily tale which God has appointed is not accomplished. “Suffer it now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness,” said the Lord: but the Sardians, if they coldly perform some part of their duty, are satisfied that they have thereby compounded for the neglect of all the rest. This, however, will not suffice. “And say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it.”¹ For God reviews, not merely the things that are done, but also the things that are left undone.

That she may realize her present lifeless condition, Sardis is exhorted to remember how she received the word which was sent to her; with what heartiness of joy, which is now gone; with what warmth of love, which has now grown cold; with what demonstration of the Spirit and power, which is no longer felt! And, at the same time, she should call to mind the substance of the instruction, reproof, and correction, which she has heard; the earnest appeals, the teachings of the Spirit, and the great responsibilities which they involve.

She has received and heard, and, consequently, there is no excuse for her, as there was for the remnant in Thyatira. “If ye were blind, ye would have no sin: but now ye say, We see: therefore your sin remaineth.” And so a solemn appeal is made to her; she is urged to observe and keep what she has heard, and to repent quickly: but if she refuse to respond, the time of

¹ Col. iv. 17.

SARDIS.

visitation is passing: there is a limit even to the forbearance of God. The faithless Church must share the fate of the world which she has loved, and That Day come upon her unawares. At an hour when she thinks not, unexpectedly, as a thief in the night, He will arrive in the air to beckon away all who are watching for Him; and, as Enoch vanished from among his fellows, they will depart, or as Lot was hurried through the streets of slumbering Sodom. But those believers who dare to sleep as do other men, who suffer their God-consciousness to grow drowsy, so that they become apathetic, and the powers of the World to Come lose their hold upon them—such foolish ones must be left for a while among the wicked, to experience the full development and unrestrained nature of that lawlessness which they have not been sufficiently careful to avoid.

But there are, the Lord says, a few names in Sardis which did not defile their garments. How sweeping the charge implied in these words! What! in professing Christendom only a few with whom the Lord is satisfied! Even so: for alas! we may flatter ourselves now, but shall shortly be subjected to a very different kind of judgment, and shall discover how fearful a mistake it is to confound privileges with the use made of them. "And thou, Capernaum, shalt thou be exalted to heaven? Thou shalt go down unto Hades: for if the mighty works had been done in Sodom which were done in thee, it would have remained until this day. Howbeit I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee." We have ever before us, in the case of the Jews, an awful instance of the severity of God towards those who have proved faithless in spite of abounding grace and long forbearance; of how much sorer punishment shall they be judged worthy who could grow cold and worldly, who could be disobedient and self-willed, even while Jesus Christ was being openly set forth crucified before them!

There are, however, a few in Sardis whose garments are not spotted by the flesh; for if at any time they have stained them, they have gone at once to the fountain, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. They have escaped the contamination of the leaven, and preserved purity of doctrine; they have esteemed Christ in all things as the First and the Last; and if urged to conduct which was not in the strictest accord with His commands, they have replied, "We ought to obey God rather than man," and have not hesitated to stand firm, even when they were but two or three against the great multitude. Nor will God forget their faith and patience: when others are in anguish, when the whole earth is writhing and throbbing beneath the repeated strokes of the Almighty in the days of terror, they shall be walking with Christ in the heavenly places, clothed in the white robes of righteousness: they shall be far removed from all trouble and alarm, even as Abraham was when, from the mountains of Canaan, he looked down upon the smoking ruins of Sodom.

In this promise there is probably an allusion to the procession of priests and Levites who, clothed in white linen, followed Solomon on his way to dedicate the newly built Temple.¹ And certainly the psalm of

¹ 2 Chron. v. 11, 12.

SARDIS.

praise, which at that time ascended to God, will well suit the happy throng which shall hereafter cluster round the Lord Jesus, never again to leave Him. With heart and lips will they rejoice to cry;—"For He is good; for His mercy endureth for ever."

But they shall fare thus because they are worthy. Let not Christians of our times dare to shrink from that word uttered by Him Who is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. The light of the glorious Gospel must, indeed, first shine into our hearts by the command of God alone; but after the darkness has been dispelled, though all the power must still come from Him, He, nevertheless, expects a co-operation of hearty will on our part. When we know His promise to give His Holy Spirit to them that ask Him, it becomes our duty to ask; and if we ask, we shall receive, and shall then be enabled to do "those good works which God afore prepared that we should walk in them."¹ But if we are careless in this matter, we shall fail in power, our work will be left undone, and we shall not gain the prize which is set before us for patience in the race, and self-denial in the fight. It is possible for a Christian to suffer loss, and to be saved only so as through fire,² instead of having an entrance richly supplied into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour.³ And one way, at least, of suffering the loss and passing through the fire seems to be the being left upon earth in the days when the Lawless One shall be unveiled.

In the words to the overcomer, the promise of white raiment is repeated; and we are, moreover, told that those who are thus arrayed will have passed beyond

¹ Eph. ii. 10.

² 1 Cor. iii. 15.

³ 2 Peter i. 11.

all tests, and will never be in jeopardy again; for the Lord will in no wise blot their names out of the Book of Life. The expression is difficult: it seems to imply that all who are brought under the sound of the Gospel are graciously written in the Lamb's Book of Life; just as every Israelite at his birth was numbered among the favoured people. But an Israelite might so neglect or despise the law of his God that sacrifice could not be accepted for him; so that he was doomed to bear his own iniquity, and be cut off from his people.¹ In like manner, those who have heard the glad tidings of salvation may, by their disobedience and continued rebellion, cause their names to be erased from the Book of Life. They may be within the Gospel-net when it is brought to shore, but be cast away as bad fish when the separation takes place.

In Ezra there is a significant verse which careless professors would do well to ponder. Of certain of the children of the priests we read;—"These sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy, but they were not found; therefore were they, as polluted, put from the priesthood."²

The Lord will own the overcomers of this Church before His Father and the angels, because they have not been ashamed to confess Him before men. Living in the midst of a cold and spiritually dead generation, who regarded any attempt to put faith into practice, or evince love by obedience, as the act of a troublesome enthusiast, they, nevertheless, remained true to Him who died for them, and accepted the consequences. And so He meets them, when the trial is over, with the gracious acknowledgment, "Well done, good and

¹ Levit. xix. 8; Num. xv. 30. 31; xix. 13. ² Ezra ii. 62.

faithful servant." He presents them to His Father as His own, those whom He has chosen to reign with Him, whom He has taken from the dunghill to make them inherit the Throne of Glory.¹

XVIII.

IN the Epistles to Philadelphia and Laodicea we come to the immediate times of the end; for these Churches seem to represent the final result of the Reformation-period, and the two classes which are to be ultimately evolved from it. Philadelphia, which signifies "brotherly love," is the company of the elect upon earth; those who will be chosen when Laodicea is rejected and left to suffer the judgment threatened to Sardis. The present Epistle is, therefore, specially addressed to the people of the Lord in the last days, to those who shall be alive when He comes. And the voice of prophecy agrees with the course of events in pointing to ourselves as being the persons directly concerned, either with this letter, or with that which follows it: so that the solemn question for each of us is, Which of them applies to my case? Am I among the beloved of the Lord who shall be delivered from the hour of temptation? The question is urgent, and must be settled at once while opportunity is still granted: for all things are full of warning that the Lord is at hand. To the reasons which have been already suggested for this expectation, we will here add another, which is connected with the subject of this Epistle.

¹ I Sam. ii. 8

On the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit had descended and endued the disciples with His mighty power, great was the astonishment of those Jews who had come from distant regions as they heard, each in his own tongue, the speech of the Apostles. "What meaneth this?" they cried in their perplexity. "Behold, are not all these which speak Galilæans? And how hear we every man in our own language, wherein we were born?" But while some were amazed, others mocked, and said;—"They are filled with new wine." Then, amid the bewildering din, the Twelve stood up, and Peter stepped forward as spokesman. They were not, he said, drunken with wine, as some supposed; but God was bringing to pass that which He had spoken by the mouth of the prophet Joel in the glorious words—

"And it shall be in the last days, saith God,

I will pour forth of My Spirit upon all flesh:

And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

And your young men shall see visions,

And your old men shall dream dreams;

Yea, and on My servants and on My handmaidens in those days

Will I pour forth of My Spirit; and they shall prophesy.

And I will show wonders in the heaven above,

And signs on the earth beneath;

Blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:

The sun shall be turned into darkness,

And the moon into blood,

Before the day of the Lord come,

That great and notable day:

And it shall be, that whosoever shall call upon the name of the

Lord shall be saved."

Now this prophecy of the latter days foretold an outpouring of the Spirit of God upon all flesh—that is, upon all nations without distinction, and not merely upon Israel, to which such influences had been previously confined; and Peter affirmed that the promise was even then beginning to be fulfilled in the eyes of the people. But the words which he quoted go on to speak of signs in the heaven above, and on the earth beneath, which did not then appear, nor indeed will do so, until the close of the dispensation and the eve of the Day of the Lord. Indeed, they are the same as the signs mentioned in the discourse on the Mount of Olives, which will be the signal that the times of the Gentiles are ended. And, consequently, the predicted work of the Spirit extends throughout the whole of the present age. Hence, perhaps, the reason why Peter does not say, "This is the fulfilment of that which hath been spoken," but only, "This is that which hath been spoken"; in other words, "This is a part," or, "the beginning of it." Since, then, there were to be outpourings like those of Pentecost connected with the whole period of the dispensation of grace, in what way were they to happen?

If we keep in mind the fact that the metaphor is that of a refreshing shower of rain, we may find an answer to the question in the following words of James;—"Be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord is at hand."¹

Now in Palestine the normal early, or autumn, rain begins in October, at sowing time; while the

¹ Jas. v. 7, 8.

latter comes on in March, and continues a little way into April. By the middle of April the barley is ready for cutting, and the wheat harvest follows about a fortnight later. At the present time both the rains are usually scanty; and, on the other hand, there is no absolute cessation of wet weather between the seasons. But this is doubtless an abnormal condition of things; for in more than one passage of the Old Testament it was plainly intimated that the rain-supply of the Holy Land would depend upon the obedience of the people. We may cite the following promise as an instance;—"And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto My commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve Him with all your heart, and with all your soul, that I will give you the rain of your land in its due season, the first rain and the latter rain."¹

It would seem, therefore, that we must understand James to be alluding to the regular early and latter rains, the course of which would be after this manner. The first would come on during sowing-time: storms would prevail for a day or two; then there would be a short interval of fine weather succeeded by another series of showers; and so on, until the dry season set in, at the close of which, about six weeks before harvest, the clouds would return, and the latter rains begin.

Accordingly, in applying the figure, we should expect copious outpourings of the Spirit in the early days of the Church, and also toward the close of the age, at

¹ Deut. xi. 13. 14. Compare Levit. xxvi. 3. 4; Jer. iii. 3; Joel ii. 23.

the sowing and just before the reaping, with an intervening period of but little power. And this is precisely what has happened. From the Pentecost which was the birthday of the Church, there were for some three centuries showers of grace in many countries, and multitudes of earnest preachers overspread the world. But in the fourth century, when the persecutions had ceased, and Christianity was becoming corrupt and fashionable, a coldness, worldliness, and laxity of doctrine, set in; the power of the Spirit was withdrawn, and there was a great drought which lasted, without any general intermission, through many weary years, until the close of the Dark Ages.

Then the season of the latter rain seems to have commenced, and the first copious showers resulted in the Reformation. The next remarkable outpouring in this country caused the awakening in the middle of the eighteenth century. Then came a marvellous and abundant rain in the revivals of 1857—59, which affected the whole of the Protestant world; and, lastly, the movement which is still going on.

It will be noticed that the great showers follow at ever-shortening periods. Between the Reformation and the days of Wesley more than two centuries had passed by; but seventy or eighty years spanned the interval between Wesley and the revival which commenced in America; and about fourteen years after the latter, the present movement began.

Another interesting fact is that the former rain lasted about three hundred years, and that it is now rather more than that time since the Reformation. Is the patient waiting for the early and latter rain all but over, and has the season of harvest come at last?

What means the cry which is ever gathering strength among the people of the Lord;—"Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet Him!"? Does the eye of faith already discern One like to a son of man seated upon the white cloud with His sharp sickle in His hand, and expecting the message, "Thrust in Thy sickle and reap: for the time is come for Thee to reap: for the harvest of the earth is ripe!"? But if so, how will that harvest affect us? Shall we be gathered into the Master's garner, have an entrance richly ministered unto us into the Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour, and pass through the pearly gates of the city with the rejoicing cry, "'Tis heaven at last!"? Or shall we be left upon the reaped earth, miserably groaning, "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved!"?

Yet one more remark upon the four great revivals: for we may discern in them a very striking and significant progress of doctrine.

In the times of the first, the everlasting foundationstone, which had been buried beneath the rubbish of centuries, was uncovered, so that it could be seen by all; and once again the apostolic message was freely proclaimed, that man can be saved only through faith in Christ Jesus, and not by his own works or deservings.

In the second, the new point chiefly insisted upon was that conversion is instantaneous and miraculous, being caused by the entrance into a man of the Holy Spirit, by whose indwelling he is made a new creature in Christ Jesus, separated off from the world, and gradually sanctified and prepared for his glorification.

In the third movement, the great truth of the unity of the Church was recovered, and men began to see, as they never had before in modern times, that Christ is the one Centre around which all who believe in Him must cluster; that no human sects or creeds must be allowed to keep Christians apart, because the whole of the real Church has been baptized by the Spirit into one body.

And lastly, during the present outpouring of grace, two things have been brought into unwonted prominence—the doctrine of sanctification with the necessity for a higher spiritual life, and the proclamation that the Lord is at hand. These doctrines are closely connected, and their simultaneous appearance shows that the Spirit is now pressing upon the Church the words, "Therefore, be ye also ready: for in an hour that ye think not the Son of Man cometh."

These considerations may be added to what has been previously said, as tending to strengthen the conviction that we are now living in the time indicated by the Epistle to the Church at Philadelphia, the prophecy in which is being manifestly fulfilled around us. For the deadness of Sardis has for some time given place to the warmth of revival; though alas! this accession of energy is by no means confined to the Church of Christ: for all the powers of Satan seem on every side to be starting into activity.

We find in this letter no open mention of blame or rebuke in regard to those who are directly addressed. For Philadelphia is the Church of brotherly love,¹ and when that grace reigns, Christ has little fault to find. We must, however, be careful that we understand the meaning which the New Testament attaches to the term: we must not interpret it of the world's love of

¹ Φιλαδελφεια, from φιλεῖν, "to love," and ἀδελφός, "a brother."

clansmen, of the feeling which keeps together members of the same sect or society, or of the mutual attraction of minds which have been cast in a similar mould. For it is a yearning toward all true believers, not by reason of any qualities they may possess, nor on account of coincidence of opinion, but because they are the objects of Christ's affection.

To this John refers when he says;—"We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren."¹ For if the love of Christ constrains us, so that we are drawn toward those who would naturally be unattractive or even offensive to us, we have proof that we are a new creation in Him, because we no longer know our fellow men after the flesh, but only through the great heart of the Lord Jesus, Who has become our life.² And this grace must be manifested in us, if we would belong to the Philadelphian Church, and be saved from the evil that is coming upon a flesh.

To His own people Christ chooses to be known as "He that is holy," thereby intimating to us what manner of persons we also must be, if we would be His at His coming; for without holiness no man shall see the Lord.

But He also presents Himself as "true," and what earnest searchings of heart should that word stir up in each one of us! For how great insincerity, and what confusion of motives, may be found even in our service to God! So natural, indeed, is this condition to us that none can tell how often he offends; and yet the Most High desires truth in the inward parts, and all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of Him

¹ 1 John iii. 14.

² 2 Cor. v. 14—17; Gal. ii. 20.

with Whom we have to do. Surely the most advanced believer is ever needing to pray with the Psalmist—

"Remove from me the way of lying."

Lastly; the Lord speaks of Himself as having the key of David, an expression of considerable difficulty on account of the purpose for which the key is afterwards used. It seems, perhaps, better not to seek an explanation from the twenty-second chapter of Isaiah—where "the key of the house of David" may have a different shade of meaning—but to understand a simple claim on the part of the Lord to the power of the throne of David.

When the heart of Ahaz was moved and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved by the wind, through fear lest the royal family of Judah should be exterminated, God announced that the root of Jesse should not fail until a virgin should bring forth a Son upon Whose shoulder the government should rest for ever.¹ Now Christ, alone of men, was born of a virgin mother, and He was also the lineal heir to the throne of David; therefore, in Him the prophecy must be fulfilled. Accordingly, He here asserts His claim to that power over the world which is the prerogative of the Davidic crown. He has the right to open, and none dare shut; or to shut, and none may open: He alone can let loose, and He can restrain. This great power He will shortly assume to Himself in the sight of all men; but, even before His time comes, He will anticipate it in favour of the Philadelphians, so as to set for them an open door which no man can shut.

The open door probably means an opportunity for

¹ Isa. vii. 2, 14; ix. 6, 7 testimony. "Withal praying for us also," says Paul, "that God may open unto us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ."¹ And again; "But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost; for a great door and effectual is opened unto me."² And in yet another place he relates that, when he came to Troas to preach the Gospel of Christ, a great door was opened unto him in the Lord.³

Thus the title, He that hath the key of David, taken in connection with the promise which follows it, may have been intended to signify that the Lord would use His rightful power over the world to restrain opposition to the preaching of His people in the times of the end. In other words, that a testimony should go forth, a last warning cry, like that of Enoch before he was taken away from the doomed earth.

And the promise is now being fulfilled before our eyes. The world is not changed; yet at the present time it suffers the preaching of Christ with a forbearance never before known. Its great and wise men do not indeed conceal their contempt for the Divine revelation, though by their sneers they are ever proving its truth while they cry;—"Where is the promise of His coming? For from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning." Its ecclesiastics and sectaries are still as averse to the real doctrine of Christ as the Pharisees and Sadducees were at the first advent. Nevertheless, there is at present no serious interference with the work of Evangelical Christians: for the Lord has opened, and there is none who may dare to shut. How fearful is our responsibility during a time so

¹ Col. iv. 3.

² 1 Cor. xvi. 8, 9.

³ 2 Cor. ii. 12.

graciously given: how earnestly should we strive, if by any means we may save some of those for whom Christ died! Now it is day; but the day is fast declining, and the night cometh, when no man can work.

The Lord is, however, careful to explain why He has thus opened a door for Philadelphia. She has heeded the warning given to Sardis: she has strengthened the things that were ready to die, so that she now possesses "a little power"; therefore, He is able to fulfil to her His own words;—"Unto every one which hath shall be given." This little power has been shown in the fact that she has not suffered herself to be carried away by any of the currents of the world: she has held fast to the word of Christ, and has yielded neither to the traditions nor to the philosophies of men. And in the present day how hard it is to do this, how few the number of those who follow such a rule! Yet for this the Lord loves Philadelphia, and will save her from the hour of temptation.

O that all true believers would apply the lesson thus presented to them, and begin to prepare for the impending change by a strict comparison of their own doctrine and practice with the revealed laws of the King! How otherwise can we be ready for His coming! And let us not imagine that any supposed service will cover the defects of our obedience. "Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams."

And we must not forget that, to pass by individual mistakes, there is not a sect in Christendom which has not some errors in its creed. These it is the duty of every Christian to detect and discard; and so all true believers would find themselves drawing nearer and nearer to each other, and would soon be standing, in these last times, as one body, separated from worldly religion, as well as from every other kind of worldliness, and awaiting the summons which shall bid them quit for ever the painful conflicts of earth for the glory which dwells in Immanuel's land.¹

It is also said of the Philadelphians that they did not deny Christ's name. Such a denial is not necessarily made in express terms: we may put an earthly Church in His place; we may deify human intellect; or, perhaps, the denial may rest in an ignoring of Christ's name, either through a false shame, or because, however willing we may be to speak of Him as a great teacher and philosopher, we do not really believe Him to be the Only Begotten Son of the Father, and the One Sacrifice for sin.

There are many roads by which Satan leads professing Christians far away from the pale of the Philadelphian Church; and yet how easy it is in these

¹ We do not mean by this to suggest the formation of a new Church with none but real Christians for its members. Such a scheme has been often tried with the invariable result that another sect, if not more than one, has been added to previous distractions. None but the Chief Shepherd Himself will ever succeed in gathering the harassed sheep into one visible fold. But while Christians remain—so long as conscience permits—in whatever communities they may happen to be, let them be ever ready to join in intercommunions, and let them remember the solemn context of those words;—“Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another.” If the distinctions and feelings of sect keep them from these things, they have little hope of being included within the pale of the favoured Philadelphian Church.

times to confess Christ, when the worst consequences which are likely to follow a faithful testimony are nothing more than the derision of the world, the censure of nominal Christians, and, perchance, the loss of some few friends! Very different will it be when liberty is taken away, and the false king sits on his throne: for then, in the case of all who are to be saved, that confession, which love could not call forth in the days of ease, must be extorted by the fires of persecution.

The renewed activity of preaching, caused by the latter rain, moves Satan to repeat the stratagem by which he gradually counteracted the work of the early Church; and, consequently, the false Jews, the synagogue of Satan mentioned in the Epistle to Smyrna, appear for the second time upon the scene. For some years they have been rapidly overspreading the countries in which outpourings of the Spirit have occurred, especially England and America, neutralizing the pure word of God by means of Babylonian ritual and priestcraft, and often guiding men back to Rome itself. Their followers are taught to look down upon believers who hold more Scriptural views, and to arrogate to themselves the place of God's Church, just as the Pharisees did at the first advent.

But all who are really resting upon their Lord may be well content to endure this treatment for a season; for He has here promised to plead their cause in His own person, and to show that He has loved them. And He will do it in such a manner that some of those who have been led blindfold into the false synagogue, through not understanding the depths of Satan, will repent and bow down before them, confessing that after all they were the true Church, and desiring to be joined to them in Christ.

How this change will be effected, and in what way He will put a distinction between the obedient and the misguided, the Lord now proceeds to explain. But, first of all, there must be no mistake in regard to His reason: because the Philadelphians have kept the word of His patience, therefore He will keep them from the hour of temptation. How great trouble might we spare ourselves did we but keep the word of Christ! It is comparatively easy to receive it: the difficulty is to hold it fast with patience until the end.

The idea conveyed by the Greek noun translated "patience" is that of manly endurance: the verb connected with it is sometimes used of soldiers who, when charged by the enemy, do not give way, but stand their ground. And so the Lord has set each one of us in a position which we must maintain in spite of all the efforts of the Powers of Darkness to dislodge us.

Waiting amid trials and temptations is a chief ingredient in our cup of discipline; for "it is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord." There is no fruition for us now, except peace and joy in the Spirit: we must live on the future; we must, like our Master, endure the cross, despising the shame, for the joy that is set before us. For here we have no continuing city, but are strangers and pilgrims, until we are brought into our own city which is in heaven. Hence Paul says to the Hebrews;—"Ye have need of patience that, after ye have done the will of God, ye may receive the promises." And he commends the Thessalonians because they turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven. This patience and willingness to wait for Christ the Philadelphians have, and their reward is that He will keep them from the great hour of temptation.

Now the temptation will not be partial, but universal; for it is to come upon "the whole world": and, consequently, those who are to be delivered from it must needs be taken out of the world, even as Enoch was before the corruption and violence of men had come to their worst in the days of Noah. And that this is what the Lord means is evident from the following words, "I am coming quickly." The Philadelphians will obey the command to watch and pray always, that they may be accounted worthy to escape all the things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man; and they will be heard. At a time known only to God, but, as we have previously seen, before the rise of Antichrist, the Lord will descend to the mid-region of the air, and call to Himself all those who are looking for Him. And then the temptation will come upon the whole world, "to test them that dwell upon the earth."

The last expression is doubtless to be understood in a moral sense of all those who have settled themselves upon the earth, with little or no aspiration beyond it; and who must be tested, because there is some wheat even in that vast heap of chaff. For there are many who believe in the Lord Jesus, but do not go much further in His ways; who are careless of pressing on to know Him and the power of His resurrection, being content with things here below, with their Churches and acts of devotion and good works. And so their thoughts are fixed upon earth: they seldom contemplate the heavenly calling, and do not look for that blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Such a state of mind must engender worldliness, and cause those who have it to be more or less dwellers upon the earth. And to separate them from the altogether carnal, to make them start back with horror from the things that are seen and long for the advent of the Deliverer, the hour of trial will come: they will be made to experience what the world is when the restraining influence of the Spirit is withdrawn, and the Mystery of Lawlessness unveiled. Then the miracles of Antichrist will bewilder, and his bloody persecutions terrify, them; but, since they are the beloved of the Lord, He will sustain them, and the fearful agitation of the sifting shall prove them to be wheat.

Very different will be the result to the rest of the world. They will yield to temptation: having rejected God and His Christ, they will fill up the measure of their iniquity by bowing before Satan and the Beast; and be, consequently, swept as chaff into the unquenchable fire.

Since, however, the grace of God will have previously separated the Philadelphians from the world and the false Church, they will not need the severity of the last winnowing, and will, therefore, be removed before that terrible purging of the floor commences. Their minds should be fixed on the promise, "I am coming quickly!" for their toil, and testifying, and light affliction, will not last long: Christ will shortly appear, and turn all their sorrow into everlasting joy.

But He adds a caution. Let them be careful and continually watch and pray, that they may retain the

PHILADELPHIA grace given unto them. For although His people can never perish, neither shall any one snatch them out of His hand, yet they may be beguiled of their reward. If by yielding to their own inclination, and the words of those who deprecate fanaticism, they lapse into indolence; if they follow in the way of others and indulge their fleshly appetites; if they suffer the cares of life to gather around them like a mist beyond which they can see nothing; if they turn aside either to human philosophy or tradition—they may fail to lay hold of that for which they were laid hold of by Christ, and miss the glory of the Kingdom, though they be saved from eternal death.

The Lord presses His exhortation still further by the promise to the overcomer. When those who are ready shall have been caught up to Him, it will be time to begin the building of the great living Temple. For the chief of the stones will then have been conveyed to the appointed spot, hewn and chiselled and fitted each for its place, so that no sound of hammer, or axe, or any iron tool of affliction, will ever be heard there.¹ And in the glorious erection those who have endured the contempt of men for Christ's sake will be pillars of strength and beauty, fixed on their bases, so that they shall no more go out. For the former things will then have passed away, and those who in previous times have been bidden to come out from the world, or—which is still more painful—to turn their back upon the false Church, and go forth unto Christ without the camp bearing His reproach, will then have reached the abode of everlasting rest, the dwelling of glory.

The mention of the place appointed for them in the

¹ 1 Kings vi. 7.

Temple may intimate that, during the interval between their rapture and the Lord's appearing in glory, He will judge them in regard to the things done in the body, and assign to each the part he is to sustain in the celestial worship.

But there are yet other rewards for the overcomer. The Lord adds;—"I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from My God, and Mine own new name." There is something very gracious in the expression, "My God," which occurs four times in this verse. We are reminded of a former utterance;—"Go unto My brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and My God and your God."¹ By so speaking the Lord seems, in both instances, to identify Himself, as the last Adam, with His own people, in accordance with the Scripture;—"For both He That sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of One: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren."²

In regard to the significance of the names, Christ will acknowledge His faithful disciples before His Father, Who will then Himself recognise them, and by setting His name upon them seal them as His own. The overcomer will also be marked as a citizen of the Jerusalem which is now above, but will shortly descend to be the light and glory of the redeemed earth. And, lastly, Christ will write upon him His own new name, probably that to which allusion is afterwards made;—"And He hath a name written, which no man knoweth but Himself."³ In Immanuel's land a name is no

¹ John xx. 17.

² Heb. ii. 11.

³ Rev. xix. 12.

empty sound, as with us: it declares the real nature of its possessor. Probably, therefore, this new name indicates some glorious mystery of which, by his union with Christ, the believer will be made a partaker in the coming age.

The last words of the Epistle, the exhortation to listen, should fall solemnly upon our ears: for, as we said just now, there is strong probability that they apply to us above all others, that the Lord is even now completing the number of the Philadelphian Church, and will, in the times of the present generation, remove her to the Heavenly Places. "Watch therefore; for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh."

XIX.

IN its prophetic bearing this Epistle depicts the great body of professing Christians in their last phase, and describes that worldly and self-satisfied disposition for which Christ will at length openly reject them. It is also a final warning, summoning all who can hear to leave the dead, though outwardly prosperous, Church, and join the despised Philadelphians, before Laodicea is disowned by Him Whom she insincerely calls Lord, while she does not the things which He has commanded. For her very name points to her lawlessness, since it signifies the Church in which the people are the judges of what is right.¹ And this indicates the deep-seated cause of corruption, by which she has been

¹ Λαοδικεία from λαός, "people," and δίκη, "custom," "usage," "right."

so terribly affected that, while the Lord finds no fault with Philadelphia, He knows of nothing for which He can commend Laodicea.

As Sardis was evolved from Thyatira, being the development of that body which knew not the depths of Satan, so Philadelphia consists of the faithful and true who have come out from Sardis; but Laodicea—to quote the striking words of Stier—is “the great residuum of dead Christianity gathered together at the last time.”

To this Church the Lord introduces Himself in a peculiarly solemn way, which intimates that faith in His promises and person has waned and almost disappeared. For, in the first place, He is the Amen, that is, the Truth, the word being the same “Verily” with which He was wont to preface many of His utterances. He thus meets the ever-spreading unbelief, which, in various forms and degrees, we may detect in almost every circle. It is now the time of the scoffers, who are saying;—“Where is the promise of His coming?” Nay, there are not a few who profess to be Christians, and yet eliminate all that is supernatural from their Christianity! And others, like the Pharisees, are so satisfied with their own Church upon earth, that they can see no necessity for Christ’s appearing, and dislike all thought of the changes which such an event would occasion. These and similar ideas are destroying the faith of many; so that, while they profess to think much of the Lord’s moral teaching, they disregard or explain away His prophetic utterances. But their folly will soon be turned into bitter repentance: for all that He has said shall be yea and amen—a joy to the Philadelphians, but a terrible woe to the Laodiceans.

He is also the Faithful and True Witness: therefore, although He is long-suffering, yet His very faithfulness will presently cause Him to send forth His wrath. And, accordingly, in the eleventh verse of the nineteenth chapter, where He is represented as suddenly unveiled before the affrighted world, He is styled the Faithful and True.

But there is also another meaning to His title; for Laodicea has failed in her testimony, therefore He must Himself appear. It is recorded of the persecuted Christians at Lyons and Vienne that, during their severe and protracted sufferings, they refused to be called martyrs, or witnesses, affirming that their Lord was the only true Martyr. Self-satisfied Laodicea has no such thoughts of Him; and so He declares His character before delivering upon her a judgment awfully contradictory of her own. She has vaunted herself to others, but He is the great Truth-speaker: will she dare to support her cause against Him?

Lastly; the Lord is "the Beginning of the creation of God," an expression which Arians have interpreted to mean that He was the first of created beings. But revelation teaches us that He was the Only Begotten Son of the Father; and, moreover, that "all things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that hath been made." Hence, it is evident that He is called "the Beginning of the creation of God," as being the First Cause of all created things. He is thus the Beginning, and He is also the Amen, or the End; while in the meantime He is the Faithful and True Witness.

As regards those whom He addresses, since they are described as neither hot nor cold, they must be the saved who have allowed themselves to sink back into "the corruption which is in the world through lust," the unstable believers who strive to make the best of both worlds—to serve God and Mammon. Such an attempt can be made only by withdrawing to a distance from Christ, and then the warmth and zeal of first love quickly begins to cool in the chilly atmosphere which surrounds it. So is it with Laodiceans, wherever they are found: they have ceased to be affected by the powers of the World to Come; Christ is no longer in them as the hope of glory; and, since they do not experience His constraining love, they are naturally disinclined to suffer inconvenience for His sake, to spend and be spent in His service.

The cities of Laodicea and Colossæ were very near to each other, so that the Churches were closely connected; and it is interesting to notice that Paul, in his letter to the Colossians, directs them to salute the Laodiceans for him, and to send on the Epistle to be read in their assembly!¹ We may, therefore, fairly infer that the proximity and intimacy of these Churches had caused them to be infected with similar errors, and that the faults of the one had become, to some extent at least, the faults of the other.

Supposing this to have been the case, we can get a glimpse of the state of Laodicea by carefully reading the Epistle to the Colossians; and, in doing so, shall find the great charge against them to be, that Christ had been deprived of His honour and glory by their doctrines and the practices evolved from them. Accordingly, in the first chapter, Paul sets forth the power and Godhead of the Lord Jesus in a marvellous

¹ Col. iv. 15, 16.

description, and then comments upon the errors which had caused Him to be slighted.

The converts had not looked for all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge in Him, and were, consequently, allowing themselves to be made a spoil by means of philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

For they did not walk in Christ Jesus, the Lord, as they had received Him and been taught: they did not consider themselves complete in Him, made full from His fulness: nor did they frankly believe that He had blotted out the handwriting of ordinances which was against them.

And thus they were moved to seek salvation from other sources, as well as from Him; so that their religion consisted largely of distinctions between clean and unclean meats, and of observances of festivals, which God had, indeed, formerly appointed as a shadow of the coming Saviour, but which had lost all their value now that the body which cast the shadow had taken its place. They were also devoting themselves to a self-conscious, and therefore profitless, humility; and were associating other objects of worship with the Lord Jesus, even daring to pray to those angelic beings whom He had created. Thus they had ceased to hold fast the Head, and just as if He had not died for them, were subjecting themselves to ordinances which He had never commanded, and which could only mean that His work was not all-sufficient.

Again; they practised fastings and other neglectings of the body, which Paul declares to be of no value, but merely to serve for the satisfying of the flesh.

And, in fine, instead of the spiritual service enjoined by Christ, they substituted a fruitless worship arranged according to human ideas, and already condemned by the words of the Lord ;—“ In vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” They were being beguiled of their reward, and were wasting the time which God had given them upon earth.

After thus sketching out their errors, Paul makes a powerful appeal to them. If they really were risen with Christ, they should look far beyond the meaningless trifles which were occupying their minds. What had “ Handle not, taste not, touch not,” to do with those who were dead to the world, and whose life was hid with Christ in God ? It was not theirs to be constructing elaborate systems upon earth : they should be setting their affections on things above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God, where is the city of true believers, and whence they should be looking for the Lord Jesus to come and change their vile bodies into the likeness of His glorious body !

But the Epistle which we are considering shows that Paul’s words had not availed with the Laodiceans, whatever effect they may have had upon the Colossians. The former had proved themselves worthy of their name : whatever was right in their own eyes, that was also their faith and their law. And, as a natural consequence, their love for Christ had cooled to lukewarmness : their religion was a mere practice of outward rites and customs and a belief of certain doctrines, and not a personal attachment to their Lord and Saviour.

In the prophetic interpretation, these Laodiceans seem to be identified with, or rather to include those who in the previous Epistle are described as falsely calling themselves Jews. And in all that we can learn of them there will be found solemn warnings against the carnal religionism and human philosophy which are now characterizing Christendom. For the lukewarm are an abhorring to the Lord: He would deal rather with the absolutely cold. The former class by their lack of love and inconsistent conduct cause the adversaries to blaspheme, and so compel God to reject them openly. If any man hold the form of godliness and deny its power, his chastisement must be made manifest to all, that the holiness of God may be vindicated, and men may know that He does not tolerate insincerity.

Therefore the Lord spued¹ out the Laodiceans of old, and so will He do to all whom He finds like them at His coming. These are they who shall be left when others are taken: these shall stand without, vainly knocking, after the Master has risen and shut to the door: these, having practically denied Christ by adopting traditions, teachings, and systems, which did not come from Him, shall feel what it is to be denied by Him, and be taught by the sharp goad of persecution to keep more carefully to the simple paths which He has revealed.

But the worst feature in Laodicean Christians is that they do not realize their sad condition: they think highly of themselves, and say that they are rich

¹ The metaphor is taken from the use of lukewarm water as an emetic, and expresses the very strongest abhorrence. So the land of Canaan is said to have spued out its inhabitants on account of their abominations (Levit. xviii. 28).

and have grown rich, setting forth the asserted fact and the process which led up to it in such a way as to imply that their own arm has done it; but the assertion itself is utterly false. They feel—most fatal of symptoms—that they have need of nothing! ordinances and will-worship have completely satisfied the flesh.

Sternly, therefore, does the Lord expose their real condition in the words;—"And knowest not that thou art the wretched one, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked!"

How often in this life are men deluded by sensuous dreams and the arts of evil spirits, until the time comes for an awful awakening! The rich man is clothed in purple and fine linen, and fares sumptuously every day; but presently he opens his eyes in Hades, being in torments, and unable to procure a drop of water to cool his tongue. And even among the saved, how many are now walking as the first who will have to change to the place of the last when the King comes! How many are sitting in the chief seat who will hear the humbling command;—"Give this man place"!

In the words, "And knowest not that thou art the wretched one," the article points to the previous Epistle, in which those who are here called Laodiceans are represented as looking down with contempt upon the Philadelphians; while the Lord comforts the latter with the assurance that He will make their despisers to come and worship before their feet, and to know that He has loved them. Not the little flock to whom it is their Father's good pleasure to give the Kingdom, but the self-satisfied professors and will-worshippers, are those who need pity. The Lord knows what is impending, and calls them the wretched and miserable, because He is just about to reject them as unworthy to escape all the things that shall come to pass. And they are also poor, for they have nothing but the riches and influence of this world, which is ready to fade away; blind, for they cannot see their own miserable condition and fearful prospect; naked, for the Lord has not clothed them, so that they may walk with Him in white.

In the following words, "I counsel thee," there is a mournful significance; for they intimate that Laodicea is departing from the Kingdom of God's dear Son, and crossing the boundary line into the realms of Darkness, so that He no longer commands her, as He would His own subjects, but only offers counsel. Indeed, Laodicea has altogether lost the habit of obeying Him, and seeks to traditions, and councils, and canons, and to science, and great men, and no longer to the word of God as the sole authority.

The doctrines of Pergamos and Thyatira are returning, and ominous is the fact that the Lord now finds no extenuating circumstances, as He previously did, and mentions no good works; for this rebellion is against light and knowledge.

Yet He warns the Laodiceans to cease boasting of their fancied wealth, and to buy of Him "gold refined by fire"; that is, a faith which will endure temptation, and be only purified the more when exposed to the fiery trial.¹ Thus, whatever their condition in the world, they would be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which He promised to them that love Him.

¹ 1 Peter i. 7.

It is the want of this quality which is ruining them : for they who cannot trust Christ for every need and in every perplexity soon begin to put confidence in themselves, or in their Church, and so are enticed away from the One Foundation.

He also bids them come to Him for white raiment, that they may cover themselves with His righteousness, instead of the filthy rags which can never hide the shame of their nakedness. And, lastly, He points out that they need His eyesalve to heal their blindness, and enable them to perceive what they are, and whither they are tending.

There is, however, but little hope that Laodicea can be restored, except by the Spirit of judgment and of burning ; therefore the Lord significantly adds, " As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten "—words which seem to mean as follows. Either you are Mine, or you are not. If you are not, then go your own way, and show the truth of the Scripture which says ;—" The heart of the sons of men is evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead." If, however, you are Mine, prepare for chastisement. But so terrible will be the chastisement of those who are left upon earth during the days of vengeance that the Lord's mercy again exhorts ;—" Be zealous, therefore, and repent."

For even now the acceptable time has not quite gone by : Christ is yet standing at the door. He should, indeed, be in the midst of those who are gathered together in His name ; but their sins have caused Him to depart from His own place, though He still lingers near them. The dispensation is closing, and the scene is, perhaps, similar to that which Ezekiel witnessed when Jerusalem was being given up to destruction. For the prophet beheld the Glory of the Lord withdrawing slowly and unwillingly from the Temple: he saw it halting first on the threshold of the House;¹ then raising itself from the earth, and taking up a more distant position above the East gate;² afterwards passing through the midst of the city, and lingering yet once more upon the mountain which is on the East side of it,³ before the final ascent of the Cherubim and departure of the Keeper of Israel.

So the Lord, unable any longer to endure the disobedience and multiplied abominations of the Laodicean period, is leaving the Church which boasts His name. Yet He also tarries awhile, as did the Glory in its passage from the Temple, and turns again to knock, if perchance any may awake to the consciousness that He Who should be the Centre is without, and may, therefore, run to open to Him.

Perhaps the knocking may refer to two different means which the Lord is using to rouse His people. The first of them is, probably, chastisement; and, while this would seem to include every kind of uncertainty, rebuke, and affliction, there is one sorrow which in a special manner belongs to the present time. For true believers are being continually vexed by the

¹ Ezek. x. 4.

² Ezek. x. 19.

³ Ezek. xi. 23. We are not told that the Glory ascended immediately. Perhaps the Lord remained for a while on the Mount of Olives to supervise the judgment which was about to fall upon the city and the Sanctuary. Standing upon the same spot, He afterwards announced the second destruction of Jerusalem (Luke xix. 43, 44), and uttered the great prophecy of its final trouble (Matt. xxiv.). From thence He ascended to heaven, and thither He will return with all His saints (Zech. xiv. 4).

failure, and, still worse, perversion of testimony, in the sects to which they have joined themselves, and by the corruption and lawlessness which surround them. They are thus being deprived of that thoughtless security in which some rest so entirely upon outward organizations, that they seem to differ but little from the dwellers upon earth. They are being warned by manifest tokens that, if the stream with which they have hitherto floated has been turned from its proper channel, they must no longer suffer themselves to be borne along by it, lest they be presently engulfed amid the waves of destruction instead of being carried into the ocean of Christ's love. They are being taught to cling more closely to the person of the Lord, more obediently to His revelation; and to long for His appearing, by which alone the power of evil can be checked, and the present perplexity disentangled.

For, while He is breaking in pieces their earthly rest, He has not forgotten to set that glorious hope before them. His secret has been communicated to them that fear Him: He has not hidden from them what He is about to do; and, consequently, on all sides proclamation is being made that He is at hand. And power has been given to those who seek it to understand the great prophetic utterances of God, which have for centuries lain sealed and comparatively unnoticed: many have read them through and through, and the knowledge of them has been increased.

Such are the Lord's appeals, which, however, He addresses no longer to the whole Church, but only to individual members of it. "If any man," He says, "hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me."

A few there may be who will listen to these words, but the great multitude of the Laodiceans have no desire to sup with the Lord.

They are feasting with the dwellers upon earth, nourishing their hearts in a day of slaughter, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage; and so they will go on, until the day that the Master of the house rises and shuts to the door. Then, at the sound of the closing portals, their indifference will be changed to feverish anxiety: they will shudder as they perceive that the Hour of Judgment is come.

In these days of luxury too many believers, like the spouse in the Song of songs,¹ have left the work of tending their flocks in the wilderness, and gone into the city of the world: they are slumbering at ease, and stifling conscience with the weak excuse, "I sleep, but my heart waketh;" I make no outward show of work or labour of love, but am right and true within. And so they permit the fear of any slight inconvenience to deter them from rising to open unto their Lord, until at last His hand is seen through the hole of the door, until He manifests His presence by the rapture of those who are looking for Him.

Then the careless ones awake to consciousness: they are smitten to the heart with remorse and returning love: they spring from the sinful couch, and hasten to unbar the door.

But no fair and glorious Form is waiting in the darkness of the night; the Beloved has withdrawn Himself, and is gone: they seek Him, but cannot find Him: they call Him, but no answer peals back through the gloom. They have trifled with warnings too long:

Song of Sol. v. 2-6.

the appointed time has passed, and they writhe in anguish as they perceive that the slighted threat has been suddenly and inexorably accomplished. The Master has knocked: they were not ready to open to Him immediately, and He has departed and left them alone in the midnight of woe.

But if any of the lukewarm Laodiceans can be roused before it is too late, they will be strengthened to overcome, and will yet attain to the dignity of sitting with Christ on the Throne of Glory from which He will judge the Millennial world. And even those who pass through the Tribulation, provided they refuse to worship the Beast or his image, or to receive his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands, will also reign with Christ, but, as we shall presently see, only as subordinates, and not on the Throne.

We have now considered the seven messages of the Lord to His people concerning the things that are. Who is wise that he may understand these solemn warnings, and find grace to act upon them while there is yet time? In his account of Christ's entry into Jerusalem, John remarks;—"These things understood not His disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of Him." How great suspense and anxiety would they have been spared if they had studied and applied the Scriptures before the death of their Master, had recognized every incident as it occurred, and known that He must first suffer those things and then enter into His glory! But they did not apprehend until the great crisis, with its days of perplexity and terror, had passed by. Shall we not learn wisdom

THE PRESENCE AND THE APPEARING.

from their error, and avoid the far more calamitous consequences of a similar mistake at the close of this age? It is toward evening, and the day is now far spent. He, then, that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches: for the time is at hand.

XX.