"*T THE FACE OF THE DEEP. / ) presented to the UNIVERSITY LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO by Dr. Frederick Schilling THE FACE OF THE DEEP: A DEVOTIONAL COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE. BY THE LATE CHRISTINA G. RPSSETTI, *s^~ AUTHOR OF "SEEK AND FIND, "TIME FLIES, ETC. "Thy judgments are a great deep." PSALM xxxvi. 6. THIRD EDITION. PUBLISHED UNDEB THE DIRECTION OF THE TRACT COMMITTEE. LONDON: SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, W.C. J 43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, B.C. NEW YORK: E. & J. B. YOUNG & CO. 1895. RKHAKD CI.AY & SONS, LIMITED LONDON & BUNGAY. TO tir ffiotjjer, FOR THE FIRST TIME TO HER BELOVED, REVERED, CHERISHED MEMORY. PREFATORY NOTE. IF tliou canst dive, bring up pearls. If thou canst not dive, collect amber. Though I fail to identify Paradisiacal "bdellium," I still may hope to search out beauties of the "onyx stone." A dear saint I speak under correction of the Judgment of the Great Day, yet think not then to have my word corrected this dear person once pointed out to me Patience as our lesson in the Book of Revelations. Following the clue thus afforded me, I seek and hope to find Patience in this Book of awful import. Patience, at the least : and along with that grace whatever treasures beside God may vouchsafe me. Bearing meanwhile in mind how " to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." Now if any deign to seek Patience in my company, I pray them to remember that One high above me in the Kingdom of Heaven heads our pilgrim caravan. O, ye who love to-day, Turn away From Patience with her silver ray : For Patience shows a twilight face, Like a half-lighted moon When daylight dies apace. But ye who love to-morrow, Beg or borrow To-day some bitterness of sorrow : For Patience shows a lustrous face In depth of night her noon ; Then to her sun gives place. THE APOCALYPSE. CHAPTER I. 1. The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to show unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass ; and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John : 2. Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. "Things which must shortly come to pass." At the end of 1800 years we are still repeating this " shortly," because it is the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ : thus starting in fellowship of patience with that blessed John who owns all Christians as his brethren (see ver. 9). More marvellous than many marvels subsequently revealed is that initiatory marvel, the dignity of Him Who ministers to His own servants. For God Almighty it is Who gives to Jesus Christ His Co-Equal Son a Revelation for man. It reaches us through Angel and Apostle, but these are the channel, not the fountain-head, as St. Paul writes to his Corinthian converts : " What hast thou that thou didst not receive ? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?" Wherefore are we God's creatures? To the end that He may do us good. Wherefore are we Christ's servants ? To the end that He may save us. And how helped He His fallen creatures? By taking their damage upon Himself. And how took He in hand to save His servants? By sacri- ficing Himself for them. Did He at all need us as servants ? Nay, but we needed Him. Thee we needed, Thee we need, O Only Almighty, All- merciful Redeemer. As Thou for us who needed Thee, so lo THE FACE OF THE DEEP. grant that we may spend ourselves for any who need us ; nor desire to have servants or dependents or inferiors except so far as we may do them good, requiting to them what Thou hast done to us. [Such cannot be our honest theory, unless it be likewise our honest practice.] We may not connect so human a virtue as patience with the blessed Angels, because exemption from sin seems to entail incapacity for certain graces. But St. John, of like passions with ourselves, may indeed have needed patience to " prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings " of that " whole world " whereof he himself avers that it lieth in wickedness. "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to show unto His servants things which must . . . come to pass." Christ reveals to us these things, and by virtue of His Spirit dwelling in us, these and all things reveal to us Christ. For while this Book abounds in the terror of the Lord, through and above tumult of multitudes and their voice as of voluminous waters or of mighty thunderings sounds the dear word, " It is I ; be not afraid." Teach us, O Lord, to fear Thee without terror, and to trust Thee without misgiving : to fear Thee in love, until it please Thee that we shall love Thee without fear. " To show unto His servants." The promise is to " His servants " only, in accordance with our Lord's own words : " If any man will do His Will, he shall know of the doctrine. . ." : he, not another. Obedience is the key of knowledge, not knowledge of obedience. Yet this showing is not the same as explaining : truths or events are certified to us, and in conse- quence we know them ; but it by no means follows that we can account for them or foresee the time or the manner of their coming to pass. Even St. Paul was content to class himself with his hearers when he wrote, " We know in part." And St. Peter attests how the prophets " inquired and searched diligently . . . searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify . . . Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister . . ." Seems it a small thing to minister rather than to be ministered unto ? Nay : for thus did the Lord Jesus, Who likewise said, " It is more blessed to give than to receive." " The goodly fellowship of the Prophets praise Thee." Things there are which "the angels desire to look into." THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 11 Somewhat of the manifold Wisdom of God was not known unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places until the Church brought it to light. " Therefore, with Angels and Archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify Thy Glorious Name, evermore praising Thee." O Gracious Saviour, Who declaredst unto St. Peter, " What I do, thou knowest not now ; but thou shall know hereafter " ; give us grace now to answer Thee with his final submission, that hereafter we may adore Thee with his insight. O Gracious Saviour, Who bestowedst upon St. John a great glory of humility when he bare record how Thou saidst not of him, " He shall not die," grant unto us in mortal life humility, and in life immortal glory. Heaven is not far, though far the sky Overarching earth and main. Itjakes not long to Hve_and die, Die, revive, and rise again. Not long : Tiow long"? Oh long re-echoing song 1 O Lord, how long ? "Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ." Elsewhere St. John writes : " If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater." All truth is venerable, let who will propound it ; now an Apostle, at another time Caiaphas. Our Lord Himself said : " Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth. But I receive not testimony from man." Clearly then the Truth is to be believed not for his word's sake who records it, but for His Verity's sake Who reveals it. O Lord Jesus Christ, who art" Truth and Wisdom, reveal Thyself unto us, we beseech Thee. Thou art not far from every one of us. Grant us good-will to draw nigh unto Thee, Who deignest to draw nigh unto us. " Who bare record ... of all things that he saw." J31essed he who once and again saw and believed. None the less Christ's promise stands sure to ourselves : " Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." O Saviour of men, Who sufferest not Thy beloved Disciple to exclude us, even us, from any height or depth of beatitude, give us grace to be of those blessed who not seeing believe. 3. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein, for the time is at hand. 12 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. " Understandest thou what thou readest?" asked Philip the Deacon of the Ethiopian Eunuch. And he said, " How can I, except some man should guide me ? " Whereupon flowed forth to him the stream of light, knowledge, and love. Yet not then did his illumination commence : it already was his in a mea- sure to enjoy, respond to, improve, even before his father in God preached Christ unto him. What could he do before that moment? He could study and pray, he could cherish hope, exercise love, feel after Him Whom as yet he could not intelligently find. So much at least we all can do who read, or who hear, this Book of Revelations : thus claiming, and by God's bounty inheriting, the covenanted blessing of such readers and hearers. Any who pray and love enjoy already no stinted blessing. Even the will to love is love. A Deader and hearers stand in graduated degrees of know- ledge or of ignorance, as the case may be. The reader study- ing at first hand is in direct contact with God's Word : hearers seek instruction of God through men. The reader requires most gifts : hearers may exercise fully as much grace. Most of us are hearers : having performed conscientiously the duty of hearers, we shall be the less prone to make mistakes if ever providentially promoted to be readers. Our dearest Lord, Who deigned to become the pattern of every grade of aspirant, as a Boy showed hearers how to hear (St. Luke ii. 46, 47) ; and as a Man showed readers how to read (St. Luke iv. 16 27). Lord, I am feeble and of mean account ; Thou Who dost condescend as well as mount, Stoop Thou Thyself to me And grant me grace to hear and grace to see. Lord, if Thou grant me grace to hear and see Thy very Self Who stoopest thus to me, 1 make but slight account Of aught beside wherein to sink or mount. It suffices not to read or to hear the words of this prophecy, except we also " keep those things which are written therein." How keep them ? One part in one way, another part in another : the commandments by obedience, the mysteries by thoughtful reception ; as blessed Mary, herself a marvel, kept mysterious intimations vouchsafed to her, and pondered them in her heart. Yet never had she gone on in pursuit of all mysteries and all knowledge if she had not first answered in THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 13 simple obedience : "Behold the handmaid of the Lord ; be it unto me according to thy word." O bountiful Lord, to Whom they who do the will of God are as brother and sister and mother, number us in that blessed company, that here we may obey and suffer as Thy patient exiles, and hereafter rule and rejoice as Thy nearest and dearest. "Blessed are they ... for the time is at hand." Even now, eighteen centuries later, we know not when that cry shall be made, " Behold, the Bridegroom cometh ; go ye out to meet Him." Nevertheless the time was then at hand, for so the Bible ceitifiss us, and still must it be at hand. What time? Doubtless the time of fulfilment after fulfilment until all be fulfilled. Likewise also that (so to say) secondary time when eacli one ofHSjliaving done with mortal life and pro- bation, shall await judgment. For truly the end of all flesh is at hand, whether or not we possess faith to realize how a thousand years and one day are comparable in the Divine sight. " A thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night." Blessed are the wise virgins whose lamps burn on unto the endless end. " Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when He comelh shall find watching." "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." "The time is at hand," ever at hand ; yet it waits long for us : " Who knoweth if he will return and repent ? " But if we will not return or repent, " iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall . . . whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant." O Lord God of time and eternity, Who makest us creatures of time to the end that when time is over we may attain to Thy blessed eternity ; with time, Thy gift, give us also wisdom to redeem the time, lest our day of grace be lost. For our Lord Jesus' sake. Amen. Astonished Heaven looked on when man was made, When fallen man reproved seemed half forgiven ; Surely that oracle of hope first said Astonished Heaven. Even so while one by one lost souls are shriven, A mighty multitude of quickened dead ; Christ's love outnumbering ten times sevenfold seven. Even so while man still tosses high his head, While still the All-holy Spirit's strife is striven ; Till one last trump shake earth, and undismayed Astonished Heaven. 14 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 4. John to the seven churches which are in Asia : Grace be unto you, and peace, from Him which is, and which was, and which is to come ; and from the seven Spirits which are before His throne ; 5. And from Jesus Christ, Who is the faithful Witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth. Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, 6. And hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father ; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. " John to the . seven Churches." Gracious the speaker, because his mouth was rilled with a grace not his own. Whoso speaketh for_C^od must take heed to speak like God. If St. Paul made himself all things to all men, that he might by all means save some, how much more Christ ! St. John saluteth, but not with his own salutation : " What hast thou that thou hast not received ? " Nothing perhaps ever brought more vividly home to me the condescension, not of the servant, but of the Master, than once when at a Communion which was to me almost a sick Com- munion, the Celebrant in administering moved a chair slightly for my greater convenience. " He knoweth whereof we are made ; He remembereth that we are but dust." " Grace be unto you, and peace." Before we tremble, God reassures us. " Yea, like as a father pitieth his own children, even so is the Lord merciful unto them that fear Him." O God Almighty, by Whom and before Whom we all are brethren, grant us so truly to love one another, that evidently and beyond all doubt we may love Thee. Through Jesus Christ Thy Son, our Lord and Brother. Amen. "Grace . . . and peace." "Thou shall keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee : because he trusteth in Thee." " From Him which is, and which was, and which is to come." Not "was is is to come." " Is" abides perpetual, unalterable, dominant. Antecedent to creatures, antecedent to time, is revealed to our finite conception by " was " : out- lasting time, by " is to come " : whilst parallel with creatures, with time, with all beginnings and all ends, abides the eternal "is." We creatures of time, who might instinctively have written " was is is to come," are thus helped, not indeed to understand, but to adore the inconceivable, eternal, THE FACE OF THE DEEP. absolute Unchangeableness of God. We run a course; not so He. " And from the Seven Spirits which are before His throne." These words appear to correspond with those of Isaiah : " The Spirit of the Lord . . . the Spirit of wisdom and understand- ing, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord." Also with the description of the golden candlestick in the Mosaic Tabernacle: "And thou shall make a candlestick of pure gold . . . And thou shall make the seven lamps thereof : and they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light . . ." A mystery confronts us. We read of Seven, yet we dare not think except as of One. " O God the Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son: have mercy upon us, miserable sinners." "Lighten our darkness, we beseech Thee, O Lord." Multitude no less than Unity characterizes various types of God the Holy Spirit. Water indefinitely divisible, and every portion equivalent in completeness to the whole. Fire kind- ling unlimited flames, each in like manner complete in itself. Dew made up of innumerable drops : so also rain, and if we may make the distinction, showers. A cloud as a cloud is one, while as raindrops it is a multitude. And as in division each portion is a complete whole devoid of parts, so equally in reunion all portions together form one complete whole simi- larly devoid of parts : let drops or let flames run together, and there exists no distinction of parts in their uniform volume. " Before His throne." As the golden candlestick stood before the Holy of Holies. "And from Jesus Christ, Who Is the Faithful Witness." Not John, but Jesus : or rather Jesus through John, and John only because of Jesus. St. John, the Apostle of love, becomes here the mouthpiece of very Love. So that in this Apocalypse not glories only, joys unutterable, perfection, are witnessed to us by Love, but terrors likewise, doom, the Judgment, the opened Books, the lake of fire. Love reveals to us these things, threatens now that it may spare then, shows us dc- structionTest we destroy ourselves. Let us not in all our tremblings forget or doubt that it is Faithful Love which speaketh. My God, Thyself being Love Thy heart is love, And love Thy Will and love Thy Word to us, Whether Thou show us depths calamitous Or heights and flights of rapturous peace above. 16 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. O Christ the Lamb, O Holy Ghost the Dove, Reveal the Almighty Father unto us ; That we may tread Thy courts felicitous, Loving Who loves us, for our God is Love. Lo, if our God be Love through heaven's long day, Love is He through our mortal pilgrimage, Love was He through all aeons that are told. We change, but Thou remainest ; for Thine age Is, Was, and Is to come, nor new nor old ; We change, but Thou remainest : yea, and yea ! "The Faithful Witness" demands faith : "the First Begotten of the dead " invites hope : " the Prince of the kings of the earth " challenges obedience. Nosv faith may be dead, hope presumptuous, obedience slavish. But " He that loved us " thereby wins our love : and forthwith by virtue of love faith lives, hope is justified, obedience is enfranchised. Loveless faith is dead, being alone. Loveless hope leads to I shame. Loveless obedience makes fair the outside, but within / is rottenness. Balaam seems to exemplify all three. " Without shedding of blood is no remission," wherefore Christ washed us from our sins in His own blood. But God Almighty declared of old : "Surely your blood of your lives will I require." Whence it follows that if after such cleansing we give ourselves over to pollution, we become guilty of the Blood of the Lord, and bring upon ourselves destruction. Our sins crucified Him once, and He forgave and cleansed us : if by obstinate sin we crucify the Son of God afresh, who shall again cleanse or forgive us ? for there remaineth no more offering for sins. Lord, by Thy Love of us, that great Love wherewith Thou hast loved us, let not our latter end be worse than our beginning. " Kings and Priests." At the least and lowest, each of us king with subject self to rule ; priest with leprous self to examine and judge. At one step higher "the King's face gives grace," and we edify our brethren. " Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven." Another step upward, and we execute our priestly function of intercession, offering up prayers and thanks for all men : and highest of all, we offer up ourselves to God in will and in deed as His reasonable and lively sacrifice, beseeching Him to sanctify and accept our self- oblation. O Good Lord God, Who uniting us with Thine everlasting Kino; and Priest Jesus Christ, makest us unworthy in Him to be Thy kings and priests, constitute us what Thou requirest, THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 17 endow us with what Thou desirest. Give us royal hearts to give back ourselves to Thee Who bestowest all, and priestly hearts to sacrifice ourselves to Thee, and keep back nothing, through the grace of Thine indwelling Holy Spirit, by Whom Christ dwells in His members. We ask this for His sake, for Whose sake we cannot ask too much. Amen. Long and dark the nights, dim and short the days, Mounting weary heights on our weary ways, The our God we praise. Scaling heavenly heights by unearthly ways, Thee our God we praise all our nights and days, Thee our God we praise. "The First begotten of the dead." "The Firstborn of every creature." " He is not a God of the dead, but of the living : for all live unto Him." " To this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and living." Thus tenderly does God provide for all estates of men, whether dead or alive. Though His elect be dead, He accounts and keeps them alive in Christ, and blots not their names out of the book of His remembrance, and suffers not earth so to cover their blood that they should be overlooked, and knows whence to recover their dust, and holds their souls in His hand. " The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them . . . They are in peace." St. Paul has left us words of mutual comfort : " I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God : and the dead in Christ shall rise first : then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air : and so shall we ever be with the Lord." And years before, as one whom his mother comforteth, saintly Martha had been comforted by Christ Himself: " I am the resurrection and the life : he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live : and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die." Amen, Good Lord. 8 18 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. [Our Church Palms are budding willow twigs.] While Christ lay dead the widowed world Wore willow green for hope undone ; Till, when bright Easter dews impearled The chilly burial earth, All north and south, all east and west, Flushed rosy in the arising sun ; Hope laughed, and faith resumed her rest, And love remembered mirth. "The seven Churches in Asia" on whom first alighted so great a benediction ceased centuries ago to flourish locally : nevertheless the Divine salutation has not returned unto God empty. All Christendom being the abode of the Son of peace, peace rests upon it and will rest to the end, although without respect of particular place or particular person. Those Seven Churches are representative of the entire Church Militant, the number seven standing for completeness : as seven tints paint the rainbow, and Wisdom hews out her seven pillars, and after seven weeks of years dawned the new year of the Jewish Jubilee, and a mystical seventh day closes the great week of time. Yet as to forgiveness, seven sums not up our debt : "Peter . . . said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him ? till seven times ? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times : but, Until seventy times seven." O Christ our God, Who of us requirest so much, suffer us to plead with Thyself for more than that measure which from us Thou requirest. For Thine own love's sake. " Shall mortal man be more just than God ? shall a man be more pure than his Maker ? " If thou be dead, forgive and thou shall live ; If thou hast sinned, forgive and be forgiven ; God waiteth to be gracious and forgive, And open heaven. Set not thy will to die and not to live ; Set not thy face as flint refusing heaven ; Thou fool, set not thy heart on hell : forgive And be forgiven. How can man effectually ascribe to Christ "glory and dominion for ever and ever"? Not merely by uttering Amen, but by living Amen. To use the grace of God's most bounti- ful salutation, thereby attaining His peace, constitutes us His faithful servants and patient saints : servants who shall see His face and serve Him in perfection j saints in whom He shall be THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 19 glorified when He cometh to be admired in all them that believe. " Lord, I believe ; help Thou mine unbelief." Lord Jesus, what joy was that, what covetable good, for whose sake Thou didst endure the Cross, despising the shame ? Not for glory and dominion for ever and ever simply and for their own sake. Already Thou hadst glory with the Father before the world was, and dominion and fear were with Thee before man transgressed Thy commandment. Nay, rather, it was that as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so mightest Thou rejoice over us. If Thou hadst given no more than all the substance of Thy house for love, it might have been contemned : but Thou hast given Thyself. What shall we give Thee in return ? What shall we not give Thee ? 7. Behold, He cometh with clouds ; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him : and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen. Once to Nicodemus our Lord said : " Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen : an'd ye receive not our witness." So now St. John, on the threshold of his revelation, cries to us : " Behold " being about to make us see with his eyes and hear with his ears, if only we will understand with hearts akin to his own. Dare we then aspire to become like St. John ? Wherefore not, when we are bidden and invited to become like Christ ? Our likeness to St. John (if by God's grace we assume any vestige of such glory) must include faith and love, but need not involve more than an elementary degree of knowledge. Humility and prayer will guard us against culpable misunder- standing, but may not for the present confer understanding. I once heard a teacher instruct his class that Joshua when he bade the sun stand still, himself rightly conceived the astro- nomical position, whilst he spoke according to the opinion of his hearers. Wherefore suppose this ? Faith alone, not knowledge, seems essential to the miracle. Similarly in our present study faith is required of us, and faith *nay consist with either ignorance or knowledge. We are bound to believe and obey: we may live, and haply we may die, before being called upon to recognize hidden meanings. St. John himself, illuminated as he was beyond mortal wont, becomes our pattern of a gracious partial ignorance when he records how the Lord said not of him, " He shall not die ; but, 20 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee ? " Certain disciples thinking to understand, misinterpreted : he himself abiding by the simple letter of God's word, awaited what the day should bring forth. "Behold, He cometh with clouds." " Behold, the Bride- groom cometh ; go ye out to meet Him." Who shall go out? Nay, who shall tarry within? "The virgins love Thee"; and the wise virgins at length after patient watching and waiting go out. The foolish virgins too go out ; but alas ! they are not of those who shall go in to the marriage. They that are in the graves go out, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. The sea casts up her dead. North and south, east and west, the winds, the ends of heaven, all give back, all bring back, the dead. A very great army. "And every eye shall see Him." All impelled in one direction, all looking in one direction. Even a very small crowd doing the same thing at the same instant has a thrilling, awful power ; as once when I saw the chorus of a numerous orchestra turn over their music sheets at the same moment, it brought before me the Day of Judgment. "He cometh with clouds." "Clouds and darkness are round about Him ; righteousness and judgment are the habit- ation of His throne." But we know not whether at that supreme moment any one will even notice clouds, or angels, or subordinate terrors. Now is our time to notice and avail ourselves of them, if we aim at living by every word that pro- ceedeth out of the mouth of God. Each common cloud in this our cloudy climate may serve to remind us of the cloud of the Ascension, and of the clouds of the second Advent. Also of that great cloud of witnesses who already compass us about, who one day will hear our doom pronounced ; who perhaps will then for the moment become as nothing to us when we stand face to face with Christ our Judge: "At the brightness of His presence His clouds removed." " Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun." Good also are clouds when they recall our thoughts to Christ ; yea, good is a horror of great darkness, if thereby He vouchsafe us a revelation. O all-sufficing Lord Jesus, our fear and our hope, nourish in us the fear Thou requirest, and the hope Thou acceptest ; that by fear we may become bold in obedience, and by hope indomitable in perseverance, lest we fall and perish at Thy presence. THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 21 Ah, Lord, we all have pierced Thee : wilt Thou be Wroth with us all to slay us all ? Nay, Lord, be this thing far from Thee and me : By whom should we arise, for we are small, By whom if not by Thee ? Lord, if of us who pierced Thee Thou spare one, Spare yet one more to love Thy face, And yet another of poor souls undone, Another, and another God of grace, Let mercy overrun. We all have pierced Him, and wicked Christians far more cruelly than did those who of old knew not what they did. Yet to those men who handled the nails and the spear (to any of them who repented not) seems to appertain one special pang of recognition, their pang and not another's a pang not awaiting any who even from the left hand can answer, Lord, when saw we Thee ? No retributive agony for offences against our neighbour may equal the sight of Christ Himself recognized too late. Yet may it be but the extreme instance of what we incur daily, hourly, by such offences, whether of commission, omission, malign influence. What will it be to meet again those whom we would have the mountains fall upon, and the hills cover? souls whose blood cries out against us? some twofold more child of hell of our own making? What will it be to depart with our victims into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels ? O my God, what would it be by some miracle of Thy mercy ourselves to stand safe while we behold one whom we have corrupted depart into everlasting punishment ? David when he beheld his own misdeed visited upon his people " spake unto the Lord . . . and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done ? let Thine hand, I pray Thee, be against me . . . " David, a man after God's own heart, saintly in his penitence. Long before him Moses, by the grace of God, had freely identi- fied himself for love's sake with his self-destroyed people : " Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if Thou wilt, forgive their sin ; and if not, blot me, I pray Thee, out of Thy book which Thou hast written." And once again, centuries afterwards, St. Paul, rapt out of himself by love, deliberately put on record : " I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren." For the spiritual world also has had its giants, mighty men that were, of old, men of renown. 22 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. Now we have been created small, and not great, and further, we may have stunted and dwarfed ourselves by sin ; and if so (at least for the present) it may both seem and be simply hopeless for us to aim at heights or at depths. Still, however ignominious our level, the person we have wronged has a present, urgent, instant claim upon us, and if we can do nothing else by way of reparation, we can pray for him. " Yes, verily, and by God's help so I will." O Lord God, Almighty and All-merciful, cleanse those whom I have denied, heal those whom I have wounded, strengthen those whom I have enfeebled, set right those whom I have misled, recall to Thyself those whom I have alienated from Thee. I pray Thee, save these sinners, save all sinners, and amongst all sinners save me the sinner. For Jesus' sake, the Friend of sinners. Amen. " All kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him " or, as in the Revised Version : " All the tribes of the earth shall mourn over Him." The two translations suggest different trains of thought. The first seems to set before us those whose resurrection bodies being still of the earth earthy, their resurrection cannot but be the resurrection of damnation. "Kindreds of the earth," and by their own free will wedded to earth, the union abides indissoluble even while earth and all that is therein are being burnt up because the Day of the Lord is come. " There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." They whose whole lives have clamoured to God to depart from them must abide by the awful sentence, " Depart from Me." But the second reading has a different sound, rather as if all souls alike should go forth and weep bitterly, alike, yet how unlike. Saints mourning because they have never mourned enough over the sins which slew their Beloved, because they have never loved enough the Beloved of their souls. "They shall look upon Me Whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him as one mourn eth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn." Yet not to picture saints as mourning when the days of mourning are ended, I set aside my own thought, and dwell upon it only so far as to realize vividly the unworthiness of even the most worthy, and (if such grace be granted me) to nurse tenderness and contrition in my own hard heart. Lord, now give us tears, yea, always tears so long as they shall be to Thy glory ; tears acceptable to Thee, stored in Thy bottle ; tears which Thou Thyself wilt wipe away. tHE FACE OF THE DEEP. Thy lovely saints do bring Thee love, Incense and joy and gold ; Fair star with star, fair dove with dove, Beloved by Thee of old. I, Master, neither star nor dove, Have brought Thee sins and tears ; Yet I too bring a little love Amid my flaws and fears. A trembling love that faints and fails Yet still is love of Thee, A wondering love that hopes and hails Thy boundless love of me ; Love kindling failh and pure desire, Love following on to bliss, A spark, O Jesus, from Thy fire, A drop from Thine abyss. " Even so, Amen." " Amen " alone closed the doxology (ver. 6), but here where judgment is the theme, St. John doubles his assent. A lesson of adhesion to the revealed Will of God, be that Will what it may : a foreshowing of the perfected will and mind of all saints at the separating right and left of the final division : an example of the conformity we must now pray and strive after : even so, Amen. . 8. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. " I am Alpha and Omega." Thus well-nigh at the opening of these mysterious Revelations, we find in this title an instance of symbolical language accommodated to human apprehension ; for any literal acceptation of the phrase seems obviously and utterly inadmissible. God condescends to teach us somewhat we can learn, and in a way by which we are capable of learning it. So, doubtless, either literally or figuratively, throughout the entire Book. Such a consideration encourages us, I think, to pursue our study of the Apocalypse, ignorant as we may be. Bring we patience and prayer to our quest, and assuredly we shall not be sent empty away. The Father of lights may still withhold from us knowledge, but He will not deny us wisdom. M Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law." If a letter of the alphabet may be defined as a unit of language, then under this title "Alpha and Omega" we may adore God as the sole original Existence, the Unit of Existence 24 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. whence are derived all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues ; yea, all other existences whatsoever. This title derived from human language seems to call espe- cially upon " men confabulant " for grateful homage. As said of old the wise son of Sirach : " The Lord hath given me a tongue for my reward, and I will praise Him therewith." Or as the sweet Psalmist of Israel declared : " I will sing and give praise with the best member that I have." Alas ! that men often pervert their choicest gifts to their soul's dire destruction. For St. James bears witness against the tongue: "The tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth ! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity : so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature ; and it is set on fire of hell . . . The tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison." O Lord Jesus Christ, Wisdom and Word of God, dwell in our hearts, I beseech Thee, by Thy most Holy Spirit, that out of the abundance of our hearts our mouths may speak Thy praise. Amen. " The beginning and the ending." "The beginning " abso- lutely and in every sense, antecedent to all, cause of all, origin of all. Not so "the ending" ; for by God's merciful Will whilst all creatures have a commencement, many abide exempt from any end, being constituted to share His own eternity. Yet in a different sense God is " the Ending " of all creation, inasmuch as all permanent good creatures converge to His Beatific Presence, find their true unalterable level at His right hand, rejoice in His joy, and rest in His rest for ever and ever. In Him all, out of Him none, attain to fulness of life immortal. " He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." Contrariwise, obstinate sinners who finally and of set purpose approach not unto Him by attraction of love, dash themselves against Him in endless rebellion of hatred; as miry waves upheaved over and over again from the troubled deep might shatter themselves over and over again against the Rock of Ages. " Fear ye not me ? saith the Lord : will ye not tremble at My presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it : and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail ; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it ? " THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 25 " If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there : if I make my bed in hell, behold, Thou art there." " The Almighty." O Lord Almighty, Who hast formed us weak, With us whom Thou hast formed deal fatherly ; Be found of us whom Thou hast deigned to seek, Be found that we the more may seek for Thee ; Lord, speak and grant us ears to hear Thee speak ; Lord, come to us and grant us eyes to see ; Lord, make us meek, for Thou Thyself art meek ; Lord, Thou art Love, fill us with charity. O Thou the Life of living and of dead, Who givest more the more Thyself hast given, Suffice us as Thy saints Thou hast sufficed ; That beautified, replenished, comforted, Still gazing off from earth and up at heaven, We may pursue Thy steps, Lord Jesus Christ. Christ said : " I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear. Fear Him, which after He hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear Him " words to awaken fear : may it be a godly fear. Meanwhile in these words of dread lies a great encourage- ment. The power to destroy us is limited to the Almighty, and He is the All-merciful. " O God, Who declares! Thy almighty power most chiefly in showing mercy and pity ; mercifully grant unto us such a measure of Thy grace, that we, running the way of Thy commandments, may obtain Thy gracious promises, and be made partakers of Thy heavenly treasure ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." "The Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God ; walk before Me, and be thou perfect." "When the Almighty scattered kings for their sake : then were they as white as snow in Salmon." Because our God is Almighty, therefore can He demand of us purity and perfection, for by aid of His preventing grace we can respond to His demand. Thanks be to Him, through Jesus Christ our Righteousness. How light a heart befits one whose burden the Almighty deigns to carry with him. "Why art thou so heavy, O my soul : and why art thou so disquieted within me? Oh, put thy trust in God." 9. I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the island that is called Fatmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. 26 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. " Your brother, and companion ... in the kingdom . . . of Jesus Christ." Thus far St. John addresses all baptized Christians ; but not necessarily all, as concerns " tribulation " and "patience." The first and obvious privileges are ours by Royal gift ; the second and less obvious are likewise ours potentially and in the germ, yet neither effectually nor in maturity unless our own free will co-operate with God's pre- disposing grace. Patience is a great grace ; but is it at all a privilege ? Yes, surely. The patient soul, lord of itself, sits imperturbable amid the jars of life and serene under its frets. " Let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." Hence we infer that where patience is perfect, nought else will remain imperfect. Tribulation cannot but be a privilege, inasmuch as it makes us so far like Christ. O Tender Lord Jesus, Who layest not upon us more than we can bear, give us patience in tribulation ; a courageous, sweet patience ; a patient, indomitable hope. "I John . . . was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ." All for edification, nothing for self-glorification : so much and no more does St. John tell us of his confession and exile. Christians should resemble fire-flies, not glow-worms ; their brightness drawing eyes upward, not downward. 10. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, 11. Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last : and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia ; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day." Rome and St. John had come to an issue. Rome had power of life and death, chains and sentence of banishment on its side : St. John on his side had the defence of the Most High and the shadow of the Almighty. " Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty," neither was the Word of God bound. Immovable as Patmos the rock amid buffeting winds and waves, St. John stood fast in the liberty wherewith Christ had made him free. THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 27 Earth cannot bar flame from ascending, Hell cannot bind light from descending, Death cannot finish life never ending. Eagle and sun gaze at each other, Eagle at sun, brother at Brother, Loving in peace and joy one another. O St. John, with chains for thy wages, Strong thy rock where the storm-blast rages, Rock of refuge, the Rock of Ages. Rome hath passed with her awful voice, Earth is passing with all her joys, Heaven shall pass away with a noise. So from us all follies that please us, So from us all falsehoods that ease us, Only all saints abide with their Jesus. Jesus, in love looking down hither, Jesus, by love draw us up thither, That we in Thee may abide together. "A great voice, as of a trumpet, saying . . ." Now if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle ? But this trumpet voice uttereth no uncertain sound, but a great alarum, sounding an alarm in God's holy mountain, and bidding every soul make ready against the sounding of that other trumpet-blast which will compel a response from living and dead, one and all. If we entertain any uncertainty as to this voice, the un- certainty lurks in ourselves, not elsewhere. So when long ago sundry men appeared " as trees, walking," any peculiarity observed resided in the vision of him who gazed, not in the appearance of them who walked. Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth. Grant us ears to hear, eyes to see, wills to obey, hearts to love : then declare what Thou wilt, reveal what Thou wilt, command what Thou wilt, demand what Thou wilt. Amen. The clause, " I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last," is here omitted by the Revised Version. Very nearly the same words have already occurred (ver. 8) and will recur (xxi. 6 ; xxii. 13). "What thou seest, write in a book, and send it . . ." " Write," and forthwith St. John wrote. " Send it," and when the moment came, means of transmission would be forthcoming. Could St. John forecast those means ? Very probably not ; but like another blessed saint before him, he did what he could. 28 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. Not so we. We make sure that the first step which depends on ourselves can be taken, but we indulge misgivings as to the second step which depends upon God alone. Whereupon we omit that first step divinely put within our own power. God condescends to trust us, and we will not trust Him. Lord, I am here. But, child, I look for thee Elsewhere and nearer Me. Lord, that way moans a wide insatiate sea : How can I come to Thee ? Set foot upon the water, test and see If thou canst come to Me. Couldst Thou not send a boat to carry me, Or dolphin swimming free ? Nay, boat nor fish if thy will faileth thee : For My Will too is free. Lord, I am afraid. Take hold on Me : I am stronger than the sea. Save, Lord, I perish. I have hold of thee, I made and rule the sea, 1 bring thee to the haven where thou wouldst be. "To the seven Churches which are in Asia." What St. John saw and wrote concerns Christendom of to-day, no less directly and urgently than it concerned the seven Churches of the Apostolic day. The great voice as of a trumpet adjures every soul within hearing. As a matter of history, those seven Churches were in the main swept away long ago, misbelief ravaging and occupying their territory. Their charge has been transferred to us, their burden laid upon us : it is we who are called upon to overcome. Amen ! 12. And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks ; 13. And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. 14. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow ; and His eyes were as a flame of fire ; 15. And His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace ; and His voice as the sound of many waters. 16. And He had in His right hand seven stars : and out of His mouth went a sharp two edged sword: and His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. " When Thou saidst, Seek ye My face ; my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek." THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 29 At the call of Jesus the saints turn as doves to their windows. Are then their faces ever set from and not towards their Lord ? Yes, by a figure, and so far as to confirm what St. John himself elsewhere avers: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves." Mortal saints at the best are such as St. Paul describes himself as being: "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect : but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus." Christ is our fountain-head and our abyss ; we begin from Him, we end in Him. What He maketh us we are ; what He bestoweth upon us we possess. We, as it were, pour and empty ourselves and our treasures into Him, yet we enrich Him not : what have we that we have not received ? The gifts He giveth us are and remain His : we only ourselves, unless we abide in Him, fetain neither life nor portion. " All the rivers run into the sea ; yet the sea is not full ; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again " this is true of earth's sea and of all which it typifies : full it is, yet not filled, and it moans as with a craving unappeasable. Let us not refuse fulness to choose emptiness. " Behold your God ! . . . Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket . . . And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering." " I sleep, but my heart waketh : it is the voice of my Beloved." As sleep with a wakeful heart soon to be fully awakened, as the needle's trembling to and fro to find its rest, so is the saint's turning from and turning back to Christ. The sanctified heart was neither slumbering nor estranged, but the face had as it were perforce been turned away while the feet sped on some Divine errand. " Turn again then unto thy rest, O my soul." " I turned myself to behold Wisdom." "And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the seven candlesticks One like unto the Son of man." St. John first saw, or at least he first mentions having seen, not the One like unto the Son of man, but the seven surrounding candlesticks. Even in that overwhelming Presence, and at that moment of visible reunion, those likewise he beheld : thus vividly bringing home to us the precept : " That he who loveth God love his brother also." O Gracious Lord Omniscient, Who hast forewarned us that if we love not the brother we see neither can we love Thyself unseen ; replenish us with such grace that we may love our 30 THE FACE OF THE DEEP, brethren much for Thy sake, and Thee much more for Thine own sake. And if any love us, grant us our heart's desire that from love of us they may ascend to the supreme love of Thee. Amen, merciful Lord Jesus, Amen. Moreover, who were they that St. John saw ? Not (so far as we read) St. James his brother and fellow- heir, not St. Peter with whom he had walked in the House of God as a friend, not one by one any of those elect persons whom he loved in the truth, and to one of whom he wrote : "And now I beseech thee . . . that we love one another." He beheld, and merely in a figure, congregations of Christians, the majority of whom he may never have seen face to face in the flesh. Now St. John wrote by inspiration of the Holy Ghost. "Saith He it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written." If St. John, a man so greatly beloved and so greatly corre- sponding to the Divine Love, recovered not in that moment of ecstasy the visible presence of saints personally dear to him, much more may we believe that from our frail selves the prospect of such reunions is kept veiled purposely and in mercy. As it is and thus relegated to the background of celestial prevision, the hope of reunion eclipses all earthly hopes : placed in the foreground, it might block out even our hope of the Beatific Vision. O Gracious Lord God, Who deignest to make of man Thy mirror, that we in one another may behold Thine Image and love Thyself; unto every one of us grant, I beseech Thee, thus to love and thus to be beloved. For our Lord Jesus Christ's sake, Son of God and Son of man. Amen. "Seven golden candlesticks." "The King's Daughter is all glorious within : her clothing is of wrought gold." " Is not . . . the body [more] than raiment?" So likewise the light of the candlestick is more than the gold thereof. Exterior gifts and privileges adorn and dignify Christ's Bride, interior grace makes and keeps her His. True alike of church, of congregation, of two or three gathered together, of each solitary soul. The golden candlestick is the vessel appointed to honour : the light freely received must freely be given forth. The gold is personal, yet by sympathy becomes common to all : if " one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it." The light too is personal, but by emission is shared by all : set on its candlestick it gives light to all that are in the house. THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 31 " Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, It is more blessed to give than to receive." O Lord, on Whom we gaze and dare not gaze, Increase our faith that gazing we may see, And seeing love, and loving worship Thee Through all our days, our long and lengthening days. O Lord, accessible to prayer and praise, Kind Lord, companion of the two or three, Good Lord, be gracious to all men and me, Lighten our darkness and amend our ways. Call up our hearts to Thee, that where Thou art Our treasure and our heart may dwell at one { Then let the pallid moon pursue her sun, So long as it shall please Thee, far apart, Yet art Thou with us, Thou to Whom we run, We hand in hand with Thee and heart in heart. " Moses hid his face ; for he was afraid to look upon God." The unutterable, unapproachable Majesty of " One like unto the Son of man " bids us fall prostrate. " Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few." I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord, co- eternal and co-equal with the Father. Daniel the prophet "beheld . . . and the Ancient of Days did sit, Whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool. ... A fiery stream issued, and came forth from before Him. . . . And, behold, One like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days." So now St. John beheld " One like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and His hairs were white like wool, as white as snow ; and His eyes were as a flame of fire ; and His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace." Daniel beheld a garment white as snow, but saith not that it was girded. St. John beheld a girded garment, but nameth not its colour. God, as God, is not girded : " The Father In- comprehensible, the Son Incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost Incomprehensible. And yet they are not three Incomprehen- sibles, but One Incomprehensible." God, as Christ, is girded : " He took on Him the seed of Abraham." Once even He deigned to say : " How am I straitened . . . ! " God in- habiteth eternity : Christ was sent forth in the fulness of time, and before His Passion spake saying : " My time is at hand." 32 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. The white garment recalls that light which no man can approach unto, wherein God dwelleth. But Isaiah in vision beheld Christ red in His apparel when, wearing the girded garment, He proclaimed Himself Mighty to save. Our Lord's own gracious words express to us the mystery of His eternal glory with the Father, and of His somewhile self-restriction to the limitations and poverty of time : " I have glorified Thee on the earth : 1 have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own Self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was." " Clothed with a garment down to the foot." Behold our great High Priest ! Now under the Mosaic dispensation, how was Aaron the first high priest clothed, and wherewith were his sacred vest- ments overclothed ? King David partially informs us : " Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity ! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard : that went down to the skirts of his garments; as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the moun- tains of Zion : for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore." That unction symbolic of God the Holy Spirit overflowed not Aaron's person only, but his robe also : in like manner Christ's Divine graces overflowing from Himself the Head, pour down upon His members, until the least little one whose life is hid with Christ may sing merrily : " I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God ; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels." For if brotherly unity be like that precious ointment, then is that precious ointment under some one of its many aspects like brotherly unity : which unity with one another, yea, with Christ Himself, it lies within our own option to clench and perpetuate according to His benign announcement : " Whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is My brother, and My sister, and mother." God's commandment is exceeding broad, not by us limitable. Amongst its incalculable treasures we here find our own com- manded blessing, even life for evermore, Christ, Who is our life. "The King . . . asked life of Thee, and Thou gavest it Him, even length of days for ever and ever." THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 33 "And girt about the paps with a golden girdle." This girdle lying next the Sacred Heart, as it were binds and constrains it. Now gold Christ hath in common with the saints who all together make up the Church's golden candle- stick. The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone, may seem memorialized in this golden girdle which, not for malediction but for bene- diction, Christ weareth for a girdle wherewith He is girded continually. O Lord, Who so hast loved us, Who so lovest us, grant us grace so to love Thee that we may never fall away from Thy love. "His eyes were as a flame of fire." "Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire ? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly . . . Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty." God is Light : Christ is Light of Light, Very God of Very God. His eyes are light, all-seeing : " Yea, the darkness is no darkness with Thee, but the night is as clear as the day : the darkness and light to Thee are both alike." O Lord, Who beholding Adam and Eve in their misery didst find comfort for them, Who beholding David in his pollution spakest the word that he should not die ; Thou, Lord, Who hast beheld all sinners from the first sinner, and wilt behold us all even unto the last ; turn Thy face from our sins, but turn it not from us. These are the very Eyes which I myself at the last day may look upon, and which will look upon me. " In the Day of Judgment, good Lord, deliver us." O Jesu, gone so far apart Only my heart can follow Thee, That look which pierced St. Peter's heart Turn now on me. Thou Who dost search me thro' and thro' And mark the crooked ways I went, Look on me, Lord, and make me too Thy penitent. " His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnnce." "I will make the place of My feet glorious." These dazzling Feet before which the sun running his course as a giant and the moon walking in brightness are ashamed, whence came they ? Out of great tribulation. These are they 34 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. which went about doing good, and grew weary along the paths of Palestine, and climbed Calvary, and were nailed to a cross. These are they which a penitent sinner and an accepted saint washed with tears, kissed, anointed with precious ointment, dried with tresses of hair. These are they which in infancy a Virgin Mother swaddled, and which after the Resurrection holy women were permitted to touch. No cross, no crown : no humiliation, no glory. Such is the rule for fallen man. And Christ, Who took upon Himself our nature and calls us brethren, exempted not Himself from the common lot. He willed thus to become like us. We by following Him shall in our turn put on a measure of His likeness. To-day He denies not to His beloved crosses and humiliations : to- morrow what will He deny to them whom He invests with crowns and glory ? " What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour ? " I have read of a holy person who said : " O my feet, ye shall tread upon the stars." Feet that would climb up into heaven must wend their way thither by treading in Christ's footsteps. " Feet was I to the lame," said righteous Job, whose end was better than his beginning. Now to walk in Christ's incomparable footsteps is both easy and difficult. The easiness lies in our surroundings, the diffi- culty in ourselves. Flesh is weak, and spirit too often unwilling ; otherwise London or any other neighbourhood might become to us holy as Palestine. There waits in every direction abundant good to be done, if only we have the will patiently to do it, first counting the cost. For though no literal mountain obstruct our path, mountainous opposition may confront us; and if it please not God to remove it, then in His strength, weary and heartsore as we may be, we must surmount it, " looking unto Jesus." " But as for me, my feet were almost gone ; my steps had well-nigh slipped." " No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him." " Draw me, we will run after Thee." " Feet have they, but they walk not," writes the Psalmist, in his description of idols : and he appends thereto, " They that make them are like unto them." Thus we behold the idolater furnished with useless feet; and so far like him appears the sluggard, standing here all the day idle on feet useless because unused. " O thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the Spirit of THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 35 the Lord straitened ? are these His doings ? do not My words do good to him that walketh uprightly ? . . . Arise ye, and depart ; for this is not your rest." "I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto Thy testimonies." How beautiful upon the celestial mountains will be those feet which, ever following in the steps of Jesus, at length ascend into the hill of the Lord, and stand in His holy place ! Surely it is no mean privilege here to wash feet which shall be dazzling there. It is good to wash them, it is better to follow them. Worthily to wash the saints' feet we need ourselves to be saints. It is a blessed communion of mutual service which our tender Lord enjoins upon us when He says : " Ye also ought to wash one another's feet " having first by His loveliest example commended to us His lovely precept. " What shall I say ? He hath both spoken unto me, and Himself hath done it." What will it be, O my soul, what will it be To touch the long-raced-for goal, to handle and see, To rest in the joy of joys, in the joy of the blest, To rest and revive and rejoice, to rejoice and to rest ! " His voice as the sound of many waters." Blessed be God Who hath vouchsafed us the revelation : " Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it." Our loving Lord hath declared : " My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me" " Every one that is of the truth heareth My voice." We are of those who tremble at Thy word ; Who faltering walk in darkness toward our close Of mortal life, by terrors curbed and spurred : We are of those. We journey to that land which no man knows, Who any more can make his voice be heard Above the clamour of our wants and woes. Not ours the hearts Thy loftiest love hath stirred, Not such as we Thy lily and Thy rose : Yet, Hope of those who hope with hope deferred, We are of those. , Centuries before St. John, the Prophet E/ekiel beheld and heard the Divine Glory and Voice : " Behold, the Glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east : and His Voice was like a noise of many waters : and the earth shined with His Glory." 36 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. It is the same Voice and the same Glory. " I am the Lord, I change not ; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." Still waters are silent ; flowing waters find a voice. This " voice as the sound of many waters " seems to address man not from the eternal calm of Christ's Godhead ; but rather from that veritable and accessible Humanity which He assumed, which can be touched with a feeling of our infirmities, which was symbolized by the smitten rock whence water gushed out, and which on the cross yielded water as well as blood from a pierced side. Therefore, though it be"& Voice to shake not earth only, but also heaven, to us who are bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh, it conveys not awe alone, but therewith courage and comfort. It hath " a sound of abundance of rain " when it certifies the outpouring of God the Holy Ghost in the waters of Baptism ; and a tone of tender reassurance in the protest that the waters of Noah shall no more go over the earth ; and a promise to saints that the one cup of cold water shall by no means remain unrequited ; and a hope for penitents that God keepeth a bottle for our tears. It crieth : " Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters " : and lo ! these are waters of comfort beside which the Lord Himself will lead us. The Prayer-book version of that lovely twenty-third Psalm gives " waters of comfort," whilst its Bible equivalent is " still waters." If we may figuratively connect one phrase with our Lord's Godhead, the other with His Manhood, then indeed are we reminded of God's promise to make His elect "partakers of the Divine Nature." God the Son clothed Himself with our nature to the intent that He might clothe us with His own. "There was no more spirit in her. And she said to the King . . . The half was not told me . . . Because the Lord loved Israel for ever, therefore made He thee King, to do judgment and justice." Lord, Thou art fulness, I am emptiness : Yet hear my heart speak in its speechlessness Extolling Thine unuttered loveliness. "And He had in His right hand seven stars." In His mortal day our Lord had said : " My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me : and I give unto them eternal life ; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 37 than all ; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one." " His right hand doth embrace me," saith peacefully the Bride of the Canticles. All weareth, all wasteth, A'l flitteth, all hasteth, All of flesh and time : Sound, sweet heavenly chime, Ring in the unutterable, eternal prime. Man hopeth, man feareth, Man droopeth : Christ cheereth, Compassing release, Comforting with peace, \S Promising rest where strife and anguish cease. Saints waking, saints sleeping, Rest well in safe keeping ; Well they rest to-day While they watch and pray, But their to-morrow's rest what tongue shall say ? " Out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword." Thus in the Epistle to the Hebrews : " The word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Four points I note : life, keenness, in the weapon ; depth, subtilty, in the wound. That which probes and sunders me will never of its own proper nature slay me ; for life it is, not death, that thus cleaves its way into my heart of hearts. It will do its work exquisitely, for it is sharp ; and thoroughly by reason of the might and skill of Him Who wields it. It may not spare for my crying ; nevertheless not a hair of my head need perish, and dear is my blocd in His sight Who smites me. No mere surface work can possibly be this saving work of which the text speaks : a religion without depth is not Christ's religion. The necessity of depth is set forth in the Parable of the Sower : the seed enters not at all into the first refuse soil, and barely penetrates into the second ; in the third it perishes from a different cause ; in the fourth and good ground alone does it take root downward and bear fruit upward. Are we afraid of a dividing asunder of our very selves ? Nay, and if we be, let fear nerve us to endure it ; for more dreadful will be the cutting asunder of the reprobate servant. 38 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. This whole passage (vers. 13 16) sets our adorable Lord before us under an aspect which recalls St. Paul's prophecy con- cerning Him as the destroyer of antichrist : " Then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming," and more remotely that Divine announcement con- cerning Leviathan : " He that made him can make His sword to approach unto him." Further on (xiii. 10) we shall read : " He that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword," or according to the Revised Version : " If any man shall kill with the sword, with the sword must he be killed " : whence by analogy it appears that he who must be slain by the sword of Christ's mouth, cannot but be one whose own tongue has been a deadly sharp sword. So Daniel saith of the " little horn," that it had " a mouth speaking great things," and again : " a mouth that spake very great things." Now without aiming at matters too wonderful for me which I know not, and amongst them must obviously be included those times and seasons which the Father hath put in His own power; and therefore without hazarding conjectures touching the coming of the last antichrist, I turn to St. John's first Epistle and read : " Little children, it is the last time : and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time . . . Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son . . . Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God : and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come ; and even now already is it in the world." Alas then for much which at this day is said and written amongst us upon whom the ends of the world are come. "And if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof." It is wiser to remain ignorant than to learn evil. Evil knowledge acquired in one wilful moment of curiosity may harass and haunt us to the end of our time. And how after the end of our time ? It is better to avoid doubts than to reject them. To study a difficulty is too often to incur one. " Who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the Lord's servant ? " They especially are bound to such reserve who have been in familiar contact with any living example of holy intellectual self-restraint : and amongst these am I, who for THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 39 years enjoyed intercourse with one thus truly wise, and before me in many gifts and graces. "And His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength." " The sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it : and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof." "That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world " : or as in the Revised Text : "There was the true light, even the light which lighteth every man, coming into the world." What, every man ? Yea, for the truth certifies it. Never- theless, " that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from Thee : shall not the Judge of all the earth do right ? " This Same is He Who having long made His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, will at length judge every man according to his works. Job bears witness against sinners : " They are of those that rebel against the light ; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof." Here it is not the light that with- draws from them, but they that withdraw from the light. Whilst in the Answer from the Whirlwind we read : " Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days ; and caused the day- spring to know his place ; that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it ? . . . And from the wicked their light is withholden." Here the light seems to reveal and overwhelm, yet penally to be kept back. And our Lord instructing Nicodemus declared: "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God," setting forth in harmony Divine free grace and human free will. And else- where He proclaims : " I am the Light of the world ; he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." Does light reveal the colours of coloured objects, or does it impart colour to objects in themselves all alike colourless ? Colour appears to be simply an analysis of light ; if so, the withdrawal of light involves no mere disappearance of colour, but its absolute absence. Thus objects shut up in darkness would needs become part and parcel of that darkness, not 40 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. because of any infliction from without, but because of what they themselves intrinsically are. By an awful parallel this suggests how " he that hath the Son hath life ; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." How " he that hath not" must be deprived even of that which he seemeth to have. How amongst the lost there may not be found any mixed characters, any redeeming points such as used to endear many a wilful sinner even to penitents and saints. For " every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights." Cut off from the dayspring of colour, there can be no colour ; from the Source of goodness, no goodness ; from the Fountain of grace, no grace ; from the root of life, no life. " O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself: but in Me is thine help." "To- day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts." Lord Jesus, Who lightest every man that cometh into the world, suffer us not for any snares of life or pains of death to fall from Thee. But not only are we warned that he " that hath not " forfeits what seems his, elsewhere we see the one talent transferred from the slothful to the diligent servant. What does this indicate ? Can it be that so we are taught how heaven can be made heaven even to those who may enter it bereft of some they loved on earth ? If we analyze love, what is it we love in our beloved ? Something that is lovable, not any hateful residuum ; something that kindles admiration, attracts fondness, wins confidence, nourishes hope, engrosses affection. If love arises from a mere misreading of appearances, then deeper insight may suffice to annul it. But if it arises from a genuine, though alas ! transitory cause, then a transference of the endearing grace to another might seem the remedy. On earth the hollow semblance or the temporary endowment is believed in and preferred ; in heaven the perpetual reality. Crown and love together are transferred from Vashti to Esther ; the satisfied heart accepts Jacob as " very " Esau. Not that flesh and blood may be able to endure the foresight. But as man's day so shall his strength be, and flesh and blood are not called to inherit the kingdom of God. Lord Jesus, save us from any such experience, Thou Who loving Thine own lovest them unto the end. Amen. Light colourless doth colour all things else : Where light dwells pleasure dwells And peace excels. THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 41 Then rise and shine, Thou shadowed soul of mine, And let a cheerful rainbow make thee fine. Light fountain of all beauty and delight Leads day forth from the night, Turns blackness white. Light waits for thee Where all have eyes to see : Oh well is thee and happy shalt thou be ! 17. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me. saying unto me, Fear not : I am the First and the Last : 18. I am He that liveth, and was dead ; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen ; and have the keys of hell and of death. "And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead." "The righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God : no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them. All things come alike to all : there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked ; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean. . . . There is one event unto all." In this world and on the surface so it is : God's elect seem to die, and their departure is taken for misery and their end to be utter destruction ; yet are they in peace. Even St. John the beloved Apostle when he beheld the glory of his ascended Lord fell at His feet as dead : " cast down, but not destroyed." Another there is, "that wicked," whom the Lord shall destroy with the brightness of His coming. God putteth a boundless difference between clean and unclean even here, where yet there is one event unto all. The very holy are of all saints those most ready to fall at Christ's feet as dead. Who else can realize so vividly His Purity and their own defilement, His Glory and their own shame? With David they weep for love till they exceed ; with Esther they faint in approaching their King : their eye seeth Him, and they abhor themselves and repent in dust and ashes ; they are jealous for His sake with a godly jealousy, and jealousy is cruel as the grave. But He bringelh down to the grave and bringeth up. And though the spirit fail from before Him and the souls which He hath made, yet truly these are they who hearing His Voice have turned to see Him that speaketh with them, who know His Voice, and being raised more and more continually to newness of life follow Him. 42 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. They come to Christ and He giveth them eternal life, as His own words of rebuke promise by implication : " Ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life." He to whom Christ cometh for destruction hath not come to Christ Let us encourage ourselves though He slay us yet to trust in Him, by help of some of those parables of nature familiar to us all which speak of life reborn from lifelessness, or from death or from decay. A leafless tree, a chrysalis, a buried seed, an egg. The twig sprouteth, The moth outeth, The plant springeth, The bird singeth : Tho' little we sing to-day, Yet are we better than they ; Tho' growing with scarce a showing, Yet, please God, we are growing. The twig teacheth, The moth preacheth, The plant vaunteth, The bird chanteth, God's mercy overflowing Merciful past man's knowing. Please God to keep us growing Till the awful day of mowing. St. John " heard " and endured to hear : not till he " saw " fell he as dead. Hearing prepares for sight. To-day is our day for hearing, faith, preparation. Lord Almighty, so make it full of grace to each of us, for Jesu's sake. Lord Jesus, how dare we at all times offer our petitions in Thy Name and for Thy sake ? What, lovest Thou us so inexhaustibly that not one praying sinner of us all risks lighting upon the moment when it would not pleasure Thee for the Father to show us mercy, for the Holy Spirit to succour us? This, Lord, I believe. I believe that when I ask salvation in Thy Name, Thou Thyself askest it for me : yea, I believe that many times Thou intercedest for us when we ask not at all or ask amiss. "For Thy sake" investeth us with Thine own claims : what is done for us Thou accountest as done for Thee. " Thy sake " moveth God to pity us ; let Thy blessed sake move us likewise to pity each other. Give us grace to comfort ourselves and one another by memorials of Thy love ; much more comfort Thou us by assurance of Thy love. THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 43 " As dying, and behold we live ! " So live the Saints while time is flying; Make all they make, give all they give, As dying ; Bear all they bear without replying ; They grieve as tho' they did not grieve, Uplifting praise with prayer and sighing. Patient thro' life's long-drawn reprieve, Aloof from strife, at peace from crying, The morrow to its day they leave, As dying. " And He laid His right hand upon me, saying, Fear not." That same Right Hand which holdeth the seven stars and hath the care of all the Churches is laid on one saint to comfort and reassure him. Think upon us all for good, think upon us each for good, O good Lord Jesus ! Christ spake from the troubled sea : " Be of good cheer ; it is I ; be not afraid." He saith in Heaven : " Fear not." "Jesus Christ the Same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." " I am the First and the Last " Christ's Godhead : " I am He that liveth, and was dead : and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen" Christ's Manhood. There is no grief of ours which Christ cannot and will not console. St. John falls as dead ; and his tender Master and Friend forthwith brings to remembrance how He Himself had verily been dead Who now was alive for evermore. In all our afflictions He was afflicted. We have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. In the Revised Version we read : "I am the First and the Last, and the Living One; and I was dead . . ." This punctuation by removing "the Living One" from the second to the first clause, seems to remove it from the Manhood to the Godhead, setting forth with exceeding vividness Christ's Unity of Person. " Behold," He saith. Who shall behold ? Shall St. John and shall not I ? I also ; because for me no less than for St. John He lived and was dead and is alive for evermore. " Therefore with Angels and Archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify Thy glorious Name; evermore praising Thee." "And have the keys of hell and of death." Here hell is " Hades," the land of the shadow of death, the abode of disembodied souls ; it is not Gehenna, the place of punishment 44 THE PACE OP THE DEEP. Our Lord Jesus hath the keys of death and of Hades. He it is Who unlocked the gate for those we love and whose memory is blessed. He it is Who will once again unlock that gate for them in the day of the restitution of all things : He, not another. Surely they were not so greatly afraid or in any wise damaged what time He fixed the bounds of their habitation and brought them to their quiet lodging and settled them therein. "The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places ; yea, I have a goodly heritage." But I, Lord, am sore afraid. I am afraid of Thee, of death, of myself: yea, rather, I am afraid of Thee and of that because I fear mine own self. The sting of death is sin. God be merciful to me a sinner. In that veiled land saints abide. Some saints who loved us on earth are there, saints whom we loved and love. If we call they do not answer. Surely one reason why they neither appear nor audibly respond to our desolate cry, may be that if it is hard for us now to love supremely God Whom we see not, it would be yet harder then were those who even in His eyes are lovely and desirable to woo us heavenward with unforgotten familiar human tenderness. Any of us who have lost our nearest and dearest may realize how keen would be the temptation to love alas ! it may be to go on loving the creature more than the Creator. This separation to them is not grievous, and for us it is safe. Disembodied saints are there. And no sinners? On the contrary, who beside sinners ? For these are the fruits of Christ's Passion, and He came not to call the righteous but/ sinners to repentance. " Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy Kingdom." To join the congregation of cleansed sinners we too may aspire : let us aspire. Liltle Lamb, who lost thee? I myself, none other. Little Lamb, who found thee? Jesus, Shepherd, Brother. Ah, Lord, what I cost Thee ! Canst Thou still desire ? Still Mine arms surround thee, Still I lift thee higher, Draw thee nigher. " The keys of hell and of death." No key need be preserved to the end were the door not at last to be re-opened. Many times opened to admit, once for all it will be re-opened to release. " There is hope in thine end." THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 45 19. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter ; 20. The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in My right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches ; and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches. " Write " not any ecstasy of thy love even in this moment of reunion. " Write " little for the indulgence of thine own heart, unless it be meat and drink to thee to do the Will of Him that sendeth thee, and to finish His work. "Write" that which shall glorify God, edify the Church, bear witness against the world. John the beloved and the true lover could endure this word : if it seems cold and disappointing to us, it seems so because we have not yet the mind of St. John ; much less the mind of Christ. These who met after separation were not only God and man, Creator and creature, Lord and servant : they were like- wise Friend and friend ; each to the other (if reverently we may say it) as his own soul. Yet still the standard is : If thou love Me keep My commandments ; and still the silence of the responsive soul makes answer : " Let my Lord speak ; for Thou hast strengthened me." Love, to be love, must walk Thy way And work Thy Will ; Or if Thou say, "Lie still," Lie still and pray. Love, Thine own Bride, with all her might Will follow Thee, And till the shadows flee Keep Thee in sight. Love will not mar her peaceful face With cares undue, Faithless and hopeless too And out of place. Love, knowing Thou much more art Love, Will sun her grief, And pluck her myrtle leaf, And be Thy dove. Love here hath vast beatitude : What shall be hers Where there is no more curse, But all is good? 46 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. The revelation and record are to be of things seen, and which are and which shall be ; not of opinions or of fancies. A world of mere opinions and mere fancies, of day-dreams and castles in the air, is antagonistic to the true and substantial world of revelation, and is more hollow and unavailing than was Jonah's gourd. " Now it is high time to awake out of sleep." The mystery of the seven stars and the seven candlesticks is both revealed and explained. Thenceforward mystery after mystery will be revealed, but not necessarily explained. It is nobler to believe than to understand. O only Lord God, Father of lights and Maker of darkness, send forth Thy light and Thy truth that they may lead us through dimness of things seen to clarity of things unseen. For our Lord Jesus Christ's sake, the Light of the world. Amen. " Behold the height of the stars, how high they are !" The star floats in heaven, and has no contact with earth except by sending thither its own radiance. It bestows light, and grasps at nothing in return. Earthborn clouds stop short at an immeasurable distance below its altitude : it is a celestial creature, a recluse by day, a watcher by night ; its bands regu- late it within its assigned orbit, its sweet influences stream forth unbound to all within its radius. God Almighty, without Whom was not anything made that was made, made the stars also. The candlestick is of gold, weighty, firm, and it cannot stand without a foundation. Its luminosity is derived, being no feature of its original self; effectually kindled, yet ever liable to extinction. Without fuel the flame expires, without air it cannot exist : it cannot kindle or rekindle itself, or feed itself, or maintain itself. " What hast thou that thou didst not receive ? " A Bishop and a Church should be congruous each with its symbol. O God, our God, Who makest both high and low, grant unto the lofty to look down in Christ-like self-abasement, and unto the lowly to look up in Christ-like self- oblation. Accept Thy great and small, I beseech Thee, in Jesus Christ, Who loveth first and last. Amen. CHAPTER II. 1. Unto the angel of the Church of Ephesus write ; These things saith He that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand, Who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. " He telleth the number of the stars ; He calleth them all by their names." Concerning Himself God Almighty proclaimed of old : " I AM THAT I AM," and man's inherent feeling of personality seems in some sort to attest and correspond to this revelation : I who am myself cannot but be myself. I am what God has constituted me : so that however I may have modified myself, yet do I remain that same I ; it is I who live, it is I who must die, it is I who must rise again at the last day. I rising again out of my grave must carry on that very life which was mine before I died, and of which death itself could not altogether snap the thread. Who I was I am, who I am I am, who I am I must be for ever and ever. I the sinner of to-day am the sinner of all the yesterdays of my life. I may loathe myself or be amazed at myself, but I cannot unself myself for ever and ever. " O Lord, I am oppressed ; undertake for me." There is no refuge, no hiding-place in multitude. The associated stars and candlesticks conceal not nor shelter that one star and one candlestick which God bringeth into judgment. Yet whilst no man may deliver his brother, there is dignity, joy, comfort, a present blessing and a future beatitude in the Communion of Saints. Lortl, make me one with Thine own faithful ones, Thy Saints who love Thee and are loved by Thee ; Till the day break and till the shadows flee At one with them in alms and orisons : At one with him who toils and him who runs 48 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. And him who yearns for union yet to be ; At one with all who throng the crystal sea And wait the setting of our moons and suns. Ah, my beloved ones gone on before, Who looked not back witli hand upon the plough ! If beautiful to me while still in sight, How beautiful must be your aspects now ; Your unknown, well-known aspects in that light Which clouds shall never cloud for evermore. 2. I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil : and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars : 3. And hast borne, and hast patience, and for My Name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. Our Lord saith, " I know," and proceedeth to enumerate the graces of His Church, as the bridegroom sets forth the loveliness of the bride. "Behold, thou art fair, My love; behold, thou art fair." He will not blame until first He hath praised : He lays the firm foundation of His approval before He upbraids for a spreading leprosy in her superstructure. He doth not change His affection though He must needs change His voice : " O, My dove, thou art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let Me see thy countenance, let Me hear thy voice : for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely. Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines : for our vines have tender grapes." He Who is Himself the True Vine, He best knoweth what shame it is, what loss, what ruin to any branch which is spoiled. Better the smart of to-day's pruning than of to-morrow's lopping. The Church of Ephesus seems prepared to say : " All these things have I kept from my youth up : what lack I yet ? " and we to answer : " Surely the Lord's anointed is before Him." For how many of ourselves perform half the deeds which yet availed not to clear Ephesus? Here are genuine works, not mere eye-service ; labour through the burden and heat of the day ; patience tried and not found wanting; abhorrence of what is abominable; sifting and upholding of truth to the unmasking of Satan, though he simulate an angel of light ; endurance outliving impulse ; and in this catalogue of virtues, two which appear at the beginning reappear at the end ; patience whose silver cord has not broken despite the long, strong strain put upon it, and labour THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 49 now certified as done for Christ's Name's sake. Moreover, the doer of these great things fainteth not, but at the weakest moment is at least as Gideon with his three hundred of old, faint yet pursuing. May not Ephesus aver : " Lo, these many years do I serve Thee, neither .transgressed I at any time Thy commandment " ? Nay, of a truth : Ephesus may not so much as plead trem- bling : " We are unprofitable servants : we have done that which was our duty to do." 4. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Behold the worm in the gourd ! All that gracious verdure and flourishing luxuriance is death-stricken. " The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry ? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field : the grass withereth, the flower fadeth : because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it : surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth : but the word of our God shall stand for ever." Love shaken, all totters. Love expiring, all perishes. For the first and great commandment is in effect : Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy being, and with all thy powers. Whoso transgresses this commandment is verily guilty of the whole law. Alas for each spiritual Ephesian who did run well, and afterwards loses ground. It is not that such an one offers nothing, but he has volun- tarily come down to offering less. He is as an ebbing, who was as a mounting wave. Many a leaf still green hangs long in autumn, but only the green leaves of spring attain to summer perfection. Ananias and Sapphira offered somewhat, for aught we know they offered much ; but they possessed more than they offered, and what they withheld and the spirit in which they withheld it invalidated what they presented. Th*e Searcher of hearts saith not that Ephesus had renounced love, but that Ephesus had left its first love. Whereby one or both of two lapses may be understood : a decline from a standard once attained, or a turning aside from a former centre of attraction. Either lapse must perhaps entail the other ; the second inevitably the first. O, my God, Fountain of Love, we know not but Thou knowest which of us hath fallen from first love. Have patience with us and we will pay Thee all, Thou Thyself furnishing D THE FACE OF THE DEEP. the love we owe. If Thou furnish it not, whence shall we fetch it? Have pity, have mercy upon us and we will pay Thee all, hiding ourselves in the merits of Jesus Christ. Amen. " Somewhat against thee," saith the patience and meekness of Christ, Very God and Very Man. He rejects not a scanty remnant ; rather He stoops to gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. In the former days having feasted others on whole barley loaves He deigned Himself, as I suppose, to eat of the broken victuals. Now by a more amazing con- descension He stoops to crave a revival of love. He seeketh His one strayed sheep, although not alone the ninety and nine which went not astray are His, but so also are all the beasts of the forest and the cattle upon a thousand hills. Long ago God Almighty had said : " If I were hungry, I would not tell thee " ; now, on the contrary, He tells us, as though to sinners might be applied that sacred sentence : "Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him ; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the Lord your God ? " "Thou hast left." My fault, my own fault, my own most grievous fault. Shepherd with the bleeding Feet, Good Shepherd with the pleading Voice, What seekest Thou from hill to hill ? Sweet were the valley pastures, sweet The sound of flocks that bleat their joys, And eat and drink at will. Is one worth seeking, when Thou hast of Thine Ninety and nine ? How should I stay My bleeding Feet, How should I hush My pleading Voice ? I Who chose death and clomb a hill, Accounting gall and wormwood sweet, That hundredfold might bud My joys For love's sake and good will. 1 seek My one, for all there bide of Mine Ninety and nine. Lord, dost Thou seek us, and will not we seek Thee? God forbid. 5. Eemember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works ; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 1 Ah, Lord, Who biddest us remember our shameful falls, re- member Thou Thy long-suflering and bounties. As righteous Zacharias attested Thy remembrance of Thy holy covenant, as St. Mary, blessed to all generations, bore witness that Thou hast holpen Israel in remembrance of Thy mercy, so for good remember us. As the thief on his cross besought Thee, saying, " Lord, re- member me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom," so no\v and ever remember us. By all that Thou alone rememberest, O Thou, Whose is the awful Book of Remembrance, for good and not for evil re- member us. " Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy : when I fall, I shall arise ; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him, until He plead my cause, and execute judgment for me : He will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold His righteousness." " Repent, and do the first works." What wearied me once, must I do yet again ? "Yes." Is there no alternative ? " None, except destruction, a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation." Is there no help? " Not until thou begin to help thyself." Is there any hope ? " Yea, assured and boundless hope. For if what man has done, man may do, much more what a man has once done, he, by God's help, may do again ; and that very word, ' do the first works,' certifies that when formerly done they were acceptable. Do them once more, cease not to do them, do them with thy first love, do them with more love than ever because now thou more needest forgiveness, and at the eleventh hour well is thee and happy shall thou be." It often happens at church that wandering thoughts are recalled at a moment when no prayer specially interesting to ourselves is being offered ; we are tempted to catch up one we have missed, or to look forward to one still to come. Yet here at this very point lies our vantage-ground ; now is our oppor- tunity for self-discipline. By resolutely checking any indulgence of favourite petitions; by instantly, simply, honestly concen- trating attention on the matter in hand, there seems good hope that gradually a habit of attention may be formed. 52 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. Shrink as we may from facing the consequences of our faults, yet lost opportunities are and must remain lost. If I pray not at the hour of prayer, the hour passes, and I have not prayed ; if I pray not the appointed prayer at the appointed moment, the moment passes and I have not obeyed. In God's strength let us face the consequences of our sins. Sins are worse than their consequences. To improve all our prayers is to improve our favourite prayers amongst the rest. Is not this appealing to a secondary motive ? Yes ; and I hope innocent secondary motives may be called in to reinforce the prime motive ; our whole strength thus becomes concentrated in one effort made in one direction. The spring-tide is strong, the neap-tide comparatively weak, because the first obeys sun and moon attracting in unison, the second is subject to their forces acting at cross purposes. " Or else I will come unto thee quickly," the desire and salvation of saints, the horror and overthrow of impenitent sinners. He Who comes is the same ; in them to whom He comes lies all the difference. To such a word St. John will afterwards reply : " Even so, come, Lord Jesus." Lord, teach us to pray. "Quickly." Guilty fear mutters, "Art Thou come hither to torment us before the time?" Innocence and sanctity cry out, "Why tarry the wheels of His chariots?" Penitence re- joins meekly: "The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him. to the soul that seeketh Him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord." " Remove thy candlestick out of his place." He saith not abolish or extinguish, but " remove " ; surely there lingers a gleam of hope for them whose candlestick is as yet only removed. Judah carried afar into captivity, repented, and was brought back to his own borders. Repentance averts judgment, repentance reverses judgment, repentance recovers " two legs, or a piece of an ear " out of the very mouth of the lion. To repentance all is promised. But alas ! to us repentance itself is not promised. Lord Jesus, the Fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness, Who promisest forgiveness to penitence, but reserves! penitence to Thyself to give or to deny ; deny us not that penitence which Thou acceptest, and which Thou alone canst give. 6. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate. THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 53 " Ye that love the Lord, hate evil ; He preserveth the souls of His saints." Good it is to hate what Christ hateth ; better still to love what He loveth, and what He is. If hatred be our strongest feature of Christ-likeness, well may we betake ourselves to dust and ashes, to repentance and first works ; for without love, to hate even the same object is to hate it out of a far different heart. Pride may hate much that is contemptible, fastidious- ness much that is foul, softness much that is cruel ; but what has pride or fastidiousness or sensual softness in common with Christ? If all human virtues are to be mistrusted, sifted, tested, not least that virtue of hatred which has for counterfeit a deadly sin. Nevertheless Christ clearly commends hatred, and what He commends we are bound to aim at. For great saints there may be a direct royal road thither, for ordinary sinners a circuitous path may possibly prove safer if not shorter. Extremes meet ; therefore let us work our way round to hatred by way of love. A long round perhaps, but an abso- lutely safe one. Were we even to die in mid-pilgrimage we might hope to be accepted according to that we had, if not according to that we had not. Moreover, however slowly, yet surely, love does infallibly breed a hatred akin to the Divine hatred. Such hatred abso- lute, unqualified, irreconcilable, is restricted to the one odious object. To love involves of necessity the capacity for hatred ; how shall we not hate that which may sever ourselves from the supreme desire of our hearts, or may destroy others whom we love as ourselves ? And when we have learned so much of the science of love and hatred, we shall be ready to add: How much more shall we not hate that which doeth despite to the God of all good- ness ? Which solitary odious thing is sin. The difficulty of hating aright is intensified by our predis- position towards hating amiss. Lord of all power and might, bestow upon us, I beseech Thee, both love and hatred ; but only that hatred which is a form and fruit of love. For Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. "The deeds of the Nicolaitanes." Commentators explain that the Nicolaitanes (see also ver. 15) were misbelievers of impure life. A suggestion which brands as their founder Nicolas of Antioch, seventh on the catalogue of the first- ordained seven deacons (Acts vi. 5, 6), is not to my knowledge supported by historical proof. 54 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. Whoever was their founder, their deeds and doctrines were hateful to Christ, Who is both righteousness and truth. St John instructs us how "he that doeth righteousness is righteous" ; thus doing, we shall keep free from the guilt of the Nicolaitanes ; moreover thus doing we shall escape the contamination of their doctrines, in right of our Lord's own comforting declaration : " If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God." To avoid the contagion of their example is the essential point. If still we feel curious to ascertain what the Nicolaitanes actually professed and did, although clearly such knowledge is not necessary to our salvation, let us rather ponder the words of St. Paul on a congruous subject : "It is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret," lest we should degrade ourselves like any against whom elsewhere he bears witness : " Unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure ; but even their mind and conscience is defiled." Ignorance is often a safeguard and a privilege. Lord, make me pure : Only the pure shall see Thee as Thou art, And shall endure. Lord, bring me low ; For Thou wert lowly in Thy blessed heart : Lord, keep me so. 7. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches ; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Not the promise only, the preamble also is full of grace. By it we are instantly reminded of that reiterated saying of our Lord's, recorded in their Gospels by SS. Matthew, Mark, Luke, but not (I believe) by St. John : " He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." If I may venture to study both the similarity and the difference between the two forms, it seems to me that our Master's in- vitation has a wider and (if I may call it so) a more elementary sound. He appeals to all within reach of His blessed Voice : u To you is the word of this salvation sent." It was at the outset of a new dispensation, a first call of sinners to come out of the world and become saints. It was, as by the prophet of old, " Ho, every one." The words of winning mercy issued from the lips full of grace ; the Aspect of unutterable attraction, THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 55 as He spake, was visible to all who would behold. In that day He called not the righteous, but sinners to repentance. The message of the Spirit being addressed " unto the Churches," suggests that the hearer who is called upon to hear it is in heart no alien, but one already concerned in the import of the message ; one who, having actually started on his course, now needs the advanced graces of perseverance and patience ; or at the very least one who, being predisposed with open face to behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord, is apt to be changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. The mere word " an ear " instead of " ears," reminding us of that single eye which is the light of the body, suggests that this is the parallel ear, the purged ear which hearing the Word of God is blessed, inasmuch as he that heareth is a doer and not a hearer only. But there is a quite different train of thought unconnected perhaps with any argument to be founded on the words of our text, yet to which these may lead us as to a blameless, pious contemplation and exercise of devout gratitude. "An ear": how does God accept the poorest offering if it be all a man has to proffer. Thus elsewhere we are certified of the one- eyed, one-footed, one-handed penitents who shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. The lame and the blind might be hated of David's soul ; to the Son of David they are dear as the apple of the eye. Of old Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt Thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? and urging his in- tercession onward and downward, at length obtained a promise of safety for all the cities of the plain, could ten righteous be found in Sodom. He fixed ten as the extreme boundary of what he dared implore; at ten he became dumb, and opened not his mouth, for it was God's doing ; could ten not be found, Abraham acquiesced in the threatened de- struction. But long ages afterwards, what saith God Al- mighty Himself of that Jerusalem which by the mouth of Isaiah He once upbraided under the name of Sodom and Gomorrah ? Speaking yet again by the Prophet Jeremiah, He saith : " Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it." Human charity laid hand on mouth at ten. Divine charity sought and sifted, and would have pardoned for the sake of one. 56 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. O God, all-Good, Father all-Merciful, Who didst provide Thine own Lamb for Thy Burnt Offering, even the One Man for Whom Thou soughtest ; for His sake Who died in our stead that we should not also die, pardon and save us, the very sinners for whom He died. " What the Spirit saith." Is it then no longer Christ that speaketh ? Surely it is the All-Holy Christ Who speaketh by His Spirit ; and the All-Holy Spirit Who speaketh being One with the Father and the Son. Whatso each Divine Person doeth, the Godhead doeth. This which I cannot understand, God helping me I will believe and hold fast. With the ability to hear stands indissolubly connected the obligation to hear. He that hath an ear cannot make himself like him that hath none. He who has heard cannot make himself like him who has never heard. By shrinking from hearing more the sluggard or the coward bears witness against himself to having already heard somewhat. "Unto the Churches." Not only to that one Church primarily addressed, but to all Churches throughout all generations. To the Church of England now, as to the Church of Ephesus then. A message to my neighbour ! True ; but equally a message to myself. If I long to improve my neighbour, the first step towards so doing is to improve myself : " And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye ? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye ; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye ? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye ; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." " To him that overcometh." We are not here told what he overcometh in particular, but looking back it becomes clear that in this instance the foe to be overcome is the defaulter's own self; his accusation concerning neither word nor deed, but motive, the deep-seated spring of conduct, the inner man of the heart. " Ye did run well ; who did hinder you ? " Ephesus appears like Ephraim of old : " Strangers have de- voured his strength, and he knoweth it not ; yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth it not." St. Paul writes : "As dying, and, behold, we live"; concerning Ephesus the sentence might be reversed : As living, and, behold, they die. If in full vitality they begin to die, how being half dead shall they retrieve their life ? "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible." " He giveth THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 57 more grace. Wherefore He saith, God resisteth ihe proud, but giveth grace unto the humble." O Christ the Life, look on me where I lie Ready to die : O Good Samaritan, nay, pass not by. O Christ my life, pour in Thine oil and wine To keep me Thine ; Me ever Thine, and Thee for ever mine. Watch by Thy saints and sinners, watch by all Thy {;reat and small : Once Thou didst call us all, O Lord, recall. Think how Thy saints love sinners, how they pray And hope alway, And thereby grow more like Thee day by day. O Saint of saints, if those with prayer and vow Succour us now . . . It was not they died for us, it was Thou. Even he " that overcometh " does not earn : it still is God that " will give." And what will He give ? " To eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God," thereby reversing Adam's doom : "The Lord God said . . . Now, lest he put forth his hand, and lake also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever : therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden . . . And He placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life." Thus the eastern gate, the gate of light, shut out man into darkness ; immortal cherubim barred him from the precincts of life; flame repelled him into the co'.d of death; until the times of refreshing should come from the Lord, and to Christ's brethren every loss should be made up, yea, and much more also. Christ is our Tree of Life, whereof even now we eat and drink in the Sacrament of His most Blessed Body and Blood ; even now whilst, please God, we are overcoming, though we have not yet overcome. " Blessed are ye that hunger now : for ye shall be filled." He " the Branch," foretold by prophets, He " the True Vine," revealed by His own lips, He now is man- kind's centre to which turn eyes and hearts. Long ago the Tree of Life so stood in the midst of Eden, and so in vision St. John beheld it stand in the midst of the street of Holy New Jerusalem (see ch. xxii. 2). 5$ THE FACE OF THE DEEP. If we could forget the Vine's sweetness, can we forget how it left its sweetness to become our King ? If we could forget the Tree of Life, can we forget that tree of death whereon Christ hung that so He might be indeed our life ? O our Saviour, grant us grace to love Thee in and above all Thy gifts, and to love Thy gifts because of Thee. "The Paradise of God " : were it not "of God " it would not be Paradise. " In My Father's house are many mansions : if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." Paradise is God's by right, man's by grace. In its midst Christ, Very God and Very Man, stands symbolized by the Tree of Life ; later on we read of the Lamb " in the midst" of the Throne. In an awe-striking mystery we seem thus to behold Christ not centre of humankind alone, or of all creation alone ; but even Christ in the Bosom of the Father, the Beloved Son in Whom the Father Himself is well pleased. That Eden of earth's sunrise cannot vie With Paradise beyond her sunset sky Hidden on high. Four rivers watered Eden in her bliss, But Paradise hath One which perfect is In sweetnesses. Eden had gold, but Paradise hath gold Like unto glass of splendours manifold Tongue hath not told. Eden had sun and moon to make her bright ; But Paradise hath God and Lamb for light, And hath no night. Unspotted innocence was Eden's best ; Great Paradise shows God's fulfilled behest, Triumph and rest. Hail, Eve and Adam, source of death and shame ! New life has sprung from death, and Jesu's Name Clothes you with fame. Hail Adam and hail Eve ! your children rise And call you blessed, in their glad surmise Of Paradise. 8. And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the First and the last, which was dead, and is alive. THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 59 He Who was made like unto us knoweth whereof we are made ; and that we are but dust well may He remember Who died and was buried, although it was not possible that He should see corruption or be holden of death.. He feels with us as well as for us : He died, as we all must die ; He lives again, as by His grace we all may rise to life everlasting. Thus He maketh Himself all things to all men, willing by all means to save us. His death and His life as it were salute us : O ye dead, believe on Me and ye shall live ; O ye living, believe, and ye shall never die. 9. I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. The Searcher of hearts has no word of blame for Smyrna, only encouragement, approval, benediction. Her oblation is threefold : works, tribulation, poverty. Yet Ephesus exhibited a longer list of offerings, Ephesus whose heart was not right with God. " From all blindness and hardness of heart, good Lord, deliver us." Of those three acceptable offerings, one alone properly appertained to Smyrna ; her works, that is ; and even these were wrought only by aid of Divine grace. Tribulation, whether we regard it as simply equivalent to affliction, or tracing it to its root call it rather sifting, was her appointed discipline : poverty (unless voluntary) was her assigned condition. O Gracious and Bounteous Lord God, Who furnishing our offering acceptest it, blessed be Thou for ever and ever, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Nothing on earth is a substitute for performance of duty, be that duty what it may. Affliction cannot exempt us, nor great searchings of heart, nor poverty : these are conditions under which to work, not workers in our stead. " Is any among you afflicted ? let him pray," prayer being practical and promotive of practice. Yet deeds wrought in God become eminently glorious when wrought under stress of sorrow with patience and fear, with faith, hope, and charity. Such affliction will turn to gladness, such sifting and testing will certify, such poverty will enrich. My God, openest Thou to us such possibilities, profferesl Thou such vast grace and glory, and shall baptized Christians, being harnessed, turn themselves back in the day of battle ? Not so, Lord Jesus, for Thine own sake. 60 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. " If them faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small." "But thou art rich." Neither is all wealth poor, nor all poverty rich. That widow who cast two mites into the sacred treasury, by so doing became rich, but had she kept them she had remained simply "a poor widow." God then sat in the congregation of princes visibly as Judge: still He sits invisibly: yet a little while and again He will sit visibly. Now He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver : then He will acknowledge every gift He has purified and accepted. God will be no man's debtor. Then will come to light transfigured every offering in righteousness. The gold, frankincense, myrrh of wise men ; the boats and nets of fishermen ; the money of the exchanger ; the loaves and small fishes of disciples ; the ointment and alabaster box of loving women ; houses, lands ; a cup of cold water. All riches which have spread wings and flown away as eagles toward heaven, shall then reappear as treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. Is it difficult to realize the transcendent riches of poverty ? To me it should not be impossible. For once I knew a holy woman, who having given up one possession which was very dear to her, foresaw with delight the regaining it imperishable. To have known her long and intimately was a course of spiritual training : may it not turn to my condemnation. My God, wilt Thou accept, and will not we Give aught to Thee? The kept we lose, the offered we retain Or find again. Yet if our gift were lost, we well might lose All for Thy use : Well lost for Thee, Whose Love is all for us Gratuitous. " The synagogue of Satan." Evil neighbourhood ranks amongst the trials of the Church of Smyrna, all whose trials however were privileges and potential blessings. Still, when- ever evil is the appointed channel of grace, there is obviously peril involved : as St. Paul warned his Corinthian flock, " evil communications corrupt good manners." Whilst doubly lovely by contrast appears that "lily among thorns," which surmount- ing them blossoms in their despite, elsewhere we read of good grain choked and ruined by thorns which sprung up in its company. THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 61 " Lead us not into temptation " is one enjoined prayer. Yet when we fall into divers temptations we are to count it all joy, because the trying of faith worketh patience. " Blessed is the man that endureth temptation : for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him." "I know the blasphemy of them," saith the Judge; yet knowing it, He permitted His outraged Church to sojourn within hearing of that blasphemy. A comfort to all Christians who involuntarily remain exposed to so keen a trial. "Hallowed by Thy name. Deliver us from evil." " The synagogue of Satan." As then certain non-Jews called themselves Jews, and composed in fact Satan's Synagogue, so now presumably there may be non-Christians, who calling themselves Christians, are the Church of Satan. Touching which ghastly possibility it is well to pray for others as for ourselves, but to mistrust ourselves rather than others. My- self in some degree I am bound to know and am bound to judge. My permitted wanderings in prayer dishonour God's Holy Name. My indulged rebellious feelings deny His love. O Merciful Lord Jesus, cast me not out, forget not me as I have forgotten Thee. For us all, Amen. 10. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried ; and ye shall have tribulation ten days : be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. " Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer." O God our Father, Who callest us to be Thy children, give us filial fear and self-mistrustful fear ; and toward all beside courage indomitable, for our great Champion's sake, Jesus Christ. Amen. Cast down but not destroyed, chastened not slain : Thy Saints have lived that life, but how can I ? I who thro' dread of death do daily die By daily foretaste of an unfelt pain. Lo, I depart who shall not come again ; Lo, as a shadow I am flitting by ; As a leaf trembling, as a wheel I fly, While death flies faster and my flight is vain. Chastened not slain, cast down but not destroyed : If thus Thy Saints have straggled home to peac*, 62 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. Why should not I take heart to be as they ? They too pent passions in a house of clay, Fear and desire and pangs and ecstasies ; Yea, then they joyed who now are overjoyed. " Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried." Though it be the devil's doing, yet are not those saints to fear. They might be bound, but the Word of God could not be bound. Moreover their bodies might be bound, but not their souls ; these would still sit in heavenly places with Christ Jesus. Even their bodies, because temples of the Holy Ghost, would remain " Christ's freemen " while in bonds ; for where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. What then could Satan bind ? Flesh and blood which shall not inherit the kingdom of God : the outer man of spiritual per- sons who used to spend themselves in going about to do good, and who would find and recover their strength in sitting still Thus Satan wrought evil in will but good in effect. Alleluia ! " The trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, want- ing nothing." "And ye shall have tribulation ten days." It may be that even the excellent souls addressed understood not what period that cipher indicated. At any rate I assuredly understand it not. But wisdom transcends understanding; and doubtless this word is capable of instructing us, God helping an honest endeavour. There is comfort in the certainty that though the limit of any trial be hidden from me, by God that limit is prefixed and is all along well known ; the end is planned and adjusted from the beginning. As the hairs of our head, so the throbs of our agony are all numbered. Nor do "ten" seem so very many : one over, but nine remain, and so on and on j till one by one all arrive, pass by, are finished. Let us recall some Bible Tens, and fortify hope by cheerful meditation. Ten commandments compose a complete scheme of righteous* ness. Ten days even of tribulation will not be an excessive period wherein to practise their observance. David had his instrument of ten strings whereon to worship God. Our ten days of weeping may emit as sweet a harmony of prayer and praise, and as triumphant a note of victory. Ten days are as ten talents for each good and faithful servant to employ profitably. THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 63 r_ Ten days of darkness may shine to the glory of God, like ten lighted lamps of wise virgins, who with oil in their vessels go forth to meet the bridegroom. Ten days of trial should be treasured more than ten pieces of silver : holy souls take jealous heed lest one be wasted or lost. Our ten days (alas !) at their best will by taint of sinfulness show more or less like ten lepers. At least let us secure that on each of them God be thanked and worshipped. Ten days are as ten servants entrusted with ten pounds capable of multiplication. Ten days of discipline may become as Hezekiah's ten degrees on the sundial certifying recovery : only, blessed be God ! they go forward and not backward. O God, through Whose good Providence Daniel and his fellows flourished by reason of ten days' cheerful austerity; grant to us, I beseech Thee, like good will and a happy issue out of all our afflictions. For our Saviour Jesus Christ's sake, Amen. Our Lord in His own Person was " faithful unto death," thereby winning the " Crown of Life " He weareth. Shall we bemoan ourselves because He bids us do as He once did, and be made like Him as He now is? Faithful unto death. We often think of it as if it must demand a long as well as an unflinching effort ; and so indeed it may demand, but we know not whether it will. One moment may suffice, for aught we truly know to the contrary. One moment's effort : the weakest might undertake so much. Or if ever so long a strain be required, God's strength is always stronger than strong enough. Let us not despise others or ourselves for a mere instinctive dread of death ; while we observe that Christ Who by ex- perience knew the bitterness of death, here sets death as the test of man's faithfulness and limit of his endurance. [If such a meaning may be understood as included in the charge to be faithful unto death.] If we fear not, let us thank God and do valiantly. If we fear, let us thank God and take courage, offering up our fear to Him Who Himself was heard in that He feared. Great is their grace who instead of choosing their offering simply offer whatever they have ; as Jacob of old in extremity of danger took of that which came to his hand a present. The faithful alone appear thoroughly furnished to treat of faithfulness. Yet since many truths admit of being vividly set 64 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. forth by help of negatives, even unfaithfulness viewed as a sort of negation need not altogether strike us dumb, so long as we are hoping and aiming at obedience to Christ's injunction. If we cannot acquire faithfulness at once, let us patiently, humbly, anxiously, unlearn unfaithfulness. Till we can affirm truth, at least let us deny error. The resolute unlearning of unfaithfulness is in fact the practice of faithfulness. " Cease to do evil ; learn to do well," hang together. The Ten Commandments are mainly conveyed by negatives. Be faithful unto death. Christ profters thee Crown of a life that draws immortal breath : To thee He saith, yea, and He saith to me, "Be faithful unto death." To every living soul that same He saith, " Be faithful : " whatsoever else we be, Let us be faithful challenging His faith. Tho' trouble storm around us like the sea, Tho' hell surge up to scare us and to scathe, Tho' heaven and earth betake themselves to flee, " Be faithful unto death." " I will give thee." " Thou wilt not have earned, but I will give thee." O Lord, Thy gift is better than any earnings, and Thou Thyself art better than Thy gift. " Thy love is better than wine." "A crown of life." Life had appeared no small boon, and must always have been beyond fallen man's utmost deserts. But Christ's promise goes far beyond bare life, and mounts up to dignity, beauty, a garment of praise. " For the Lord God is a sun and shield : the Lord will give grace and glory : no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly." We live after a sort, but all the while we are dying. We who dying live can form no conception of what the true, full, unstricken, undying life will be. Life, though along with many pleasures and alleviations, is now a matter of pains and aches, hunger and thirst, faintness and weariness : this is the life we experience. That other life will not be such ; we realize not yet what it will be. Once in his life " Israel said, It is enough ; Joseph my son is yet alive : I will go and see him before I die." For the moment love and joy because of another's life cast out the sting though not the foresight of death. THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 65 O Lord Jesus, Who being yet alive art alive for evermore, and Who to every faithful soul art " better than ten sons," fill us with such love of Thee, and such joy in Thy joy, that for us also death in foresight may lose its sting. Amen for us all, Amen. "A crown of life." Of what fashion shall such a crown be? St. Paul speaks of an amaranthine crown, contrasting it with earth's fading crowns of victory. And later in this Book of Revelations we read of crowns of gold. We may hope to discern in celestial crowns every adornment of all possible crowns. Gracefulness of leaves, loveliness of flowers, endearment (if I may call it so) of tendrils, permanence of gold, lustre and tints of jewels. Such crowns I hope to see on heads I have venerated and loved here. Meanwhile, because our dear Lord, flower of humankind and comparable with fine gold (though fine gold sufficeth not to compare with Him), was contented on earth to be crowned with a crown of thorns ; let us be patient, contented, thankful, to wait on in hopes of a crown of life and glory. " Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart." If we be daughters of the spiritual Zion, let us obey this injunction though it send us along the way of sorrows. Our King Whom we behold is not only the wisest of Men but is Very Wisdom Incarnate. He summons us to behold Him; He waits if so be we will turn and behold Him. His Crown is a Crown of Thorns transcending any which Solomon in all his glory put on. His mother crowned Him therewith, Eve the mother of us all, Eve whose wilfulness brought in death, Eve to whom the victorious Seed was promised. And it was in the day of His espousals, when He betrothed to Himself His bride the Church, that in Will and purpose He assumed this crown, making ready to "leave His Father" and cleave unto His wife. Moreover it was in gladness of His heart that He put it on, in the eternal unbroken calm of Divine goodwill and good pleasure. Afterwards, for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the Cross, despising the shame ; and doubtless when beforehand He counted the cost, He anticipated also the ensuing joy. His Love (as it were) forgets the anguish, for joy of our new birth ; only never may our love forget it ; forget that glorious shame for our sakes against which He set His Face as a flint, that sorrow for our sakes like which there is no second sorrow. 66 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 11. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches ; He that overeometh shall not be hurt of the second death. " Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." Parallels cannot converge. If Christ the Life occupy and pervade us, death cannot annex us. Death may run alongside of us all our days, and hold out hands of invitation to seduce us, or clench fists and raise an outcry as though it could do us a mischief; but death and Christ's members tend towards different points ; and there is nothing it can really effect to harm us so long as we cleave to Christ by faith, lean on Him by hope, hold Him fast and let Him not go by love. The first death (which is but the shadow of death) is indeed ours by birthright under a curse which God has long ago turned for the elect into a blessing ; the second death, which alone is absolute, unmitigated death, has no fellowship with him that overeometh. What then is he, are we, summoned to overcome ? With- out, fightings ; within, fears. Amen, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost. Amen. 12. And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith He which hath the sharp sword with two edges; "The word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." If the powers which are His ordinance bear not the sword in vain, much less He from Whom all power is derived. On the other hand, if they are a terror not to good works but to evil, so and much more He also. " Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power ? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same." "Sharp." The sharpness guarantees nicety of operation, exactness to a hair's-breadth, no atom too much or too little affected by the stroke. " Two-edged." None can evade that sword which cuts both ways. But who is He that hath this deadly sword ? He Who was Himself wounded for our transgressions, Who died in our stead that we should not also die. " 1 have no pleasure in THE FACE Of THE DEEP. 67 the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God : wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye." O Lord Jesus, we fear Thee ; but much more, Thou enabling us, we will trust and love Thee. David, the man after God's own heart, was afraid because of the sword of the Angel of the Lord. Supreme dominion and supreme fear are with Him with Whom we have to do. We may perhaps lawfully think thus of the two edges as under one of their aspects. One cuts asunder the evil servant penally, irremediably, by decree of the Supreme and Just Judge. The other, by tenderness of the Good Physician, wounds us for our own benefit and that afterwards He may heal us. " He that sinneth before his Maker, let him fall into the hand of the physician." " Into Thy hands I commend my spirit : for Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, Thou God of truth." 13. I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is : and thou boldest fast My Name, and hast not denied My faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth. In the Authorized Version all the Seven Churches alike are addressed in these same words: "I know thy works" : whilst in the Revised Version this Church of Pergamos alone is not so addressed. Because the clause is here in one text omitted, whilst in both texts repeated throughout the corresponding passages, I here venture to pass it over. The Revised Version commences : " I know where thou dwellest ; even where Satan's throne is " thus supplying a second variation, throne for seat. "Satan's seat," more especially when designated as his throne, recalls that phase of our Master's temptation when "the devil, taking Him up into an high mountain, showed unto Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto Him, All this power will I give Thee, and the glory of them : for that is delivered unto me ; and to whomsoever I will I give it." Elsewhere we read of " principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world, spiritual wickedness in high places " ; of " the prince of the power of the air " ; of " the god of this world." A common deadly inalienable peril thus appears to en- compass the whole human race. Our enemy, further described as " a strong man armed," is no less than in some sort a prince. 68 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. Of his resources we know not the extent, of his armies we know not the number ; but his being prince of the power of the air suggests that we are as closely beset by temptation as though this formed our atmosphere, as though at each breath we drew we inhaled it. " O wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the body of this death ? " Nevertheless our fathers in the flesh have resisted unto blood, striving against sin : why should not we ? He that is on our side is greater than he that is against us : there is "a Stronger than he." "The breath of our nostrils" is "the Anointed of the Lord." "I will hope continually, and will yet praise Thee more and more. My mouth shall show forth Thy righteousness and Thy salvation all the day; for I know not the numbers thereof." "Thou boldest fast My Name, and hast not denied My faith " the hidden allegiance of the heart, the open profession of loyalty. " With the heart man believeth unto righteousness ; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." When men (and women and children too) are called to martyrdom, not to deny amounts to plenary confession. But so long as the world says, Peace, peace, then oftentimes not to confess becomes virtually a denial. O Jesus Christ, Who for love's sake desirest to confess and not to deny us before Thy Father ; grant us such love of Thee that we too for love's sake may confess and never deny Thee before men. " In those days." No momentary trial : saintly impulse not enough, saintly endurance equally essential. Here then once more patience is in requisition : patience a tedious, indomitable grace. " Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus : that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." "Antipas was My faithful martyr." Men know him not now, how he lived or how he died. God alone knows him. Enough for blessed Antipas. Hidden from the darkness of our mortal sight, Hidden in the Paradise of lovely light, THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 69 Hidden in God's Presence worshipped face to face, Hidden in the sanctuary of Christ's embrace. Up, O Wills ! to track him home among the bless'd ; Up, O Hearts ! to know him in the joy of rest ; Where no darkness more shall hide him from our sight, Where we shall be love with love and light with light, Worshipping our God together face to face, Wishless in the sanctuary of Christ's embrace. " Slain among you." The blood of Martyrs is the seed of Saints : and " if it bear fruit, well." If it bear not fruit, the dust of martyrs cannot but testify against those among whom they were slain. Whoso has seen cannot revert to be as if he had not seen : whoso has heard cannot revert to be as if he had not heard. This latter point our Lord Himself attests in His charge to the Seventy : " Into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say, Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you : notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you." So " where Satan dwelleth " turns out to have been in a city of saints from whose midst flashed forth a faithful martyr. And to-day assuredly in our own midst he dwelleth ; making his neighbourhood known by hideous temptations to foulness, cruelty, self-ruin. Here is the city and here is a cityful. But where are the saints ? and where, in will if not in deed, is the martyr ? I trust such seemly inmates abide in my neighbour's habitation. Shall not one such abide likewise in my own? Amen, God helping me. 14. But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. " A few things." Thus tenderly does our Lord speak, not breaking the bruised reed or quenching the smoking flax. Submit yourselves therefore to God. " Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you." 15. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate. 70 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. Our Lord rebukes not Pergamos because Satan dwelt there, but because Balaamites and Nicolaitanes flourished there. The one intruder they had no power to eject ; the others they could and therefore they were bound to discountenance. At which announcement should we be more scared : that Satan kept his court amongst us, or that misbelievers and misdoers infested our neighbourhood ? Very probably at the former ; but the Mind of Christ seems otherwise. " The doctrine of Balaam." Yet studying Balaam's history (see Num. xxii. 23, 24; xxxi. i 8, 16; and in addition Micah vi. 5 8, according to one view of the passage), his doctrine might to some of us have seemed his one strong point. He overflowed with knowledge, nor flinched from its eloquent exposition. Nevertheless and alas ! he showed forth his faith by his works, which works were devilish. " The devils also believe." "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh " ; and out of the abundance of his heart proceeded that counsel which put a stumblingblock before Israel. Knowledge then is not necessarily faith, neither is eloquence unction, neither is resource wisdom. my God, Who callest us to search Thy Scriptures of truth, furnish us, I beseech Thee, with faith, unction, wisdom ; with willingness to shine to Thy glory, or not to shine at all so it be always to Thy glory. Grant us the life of the righteous, and a last end like his. For His sake Who alone is righteous and is our righteousness, Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen. Balaam put an outrageous stumblingblock in men's way, barefaced idolatry with gross impurity being the result. Are there no Balaams nowadays ? We become Balaams when our influence lowers the tone of any who are aboiit us. What children are near me ? What servants ? What less educated persons ? What individuals whose inclination it is rather to follow than to lead ? I myself become a Balaam if I misuse my influence. Good Lord, deliver me. Balaam has still to face at the Day of Judgment the wretched tools who adopted his policy, the wretched victims of his accursed counsel. 1 myself must face on that Day and at that Bar all whom I have ever affected on earth, all who directly or remotely have responded to my influence for good or for evil. Good Lord, deliver us. Lord, make us all love all : tliat when we meet Even myriads of earth's myriads at Thy Bar, THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 71 We may be glad as all true lovers are Who having parted count reunion sweet. Safe gathered home around Thy blessed Feet, Come home by different roads from near or far, Whether by whirlwind or by flaming car, From pangs or sleep, safe folded round Thy seat. Oh, if our brother's blood cry out at us. How shall we meet Thee Who hast loved us all, Thee Whom we never loved, not loving him? The unloving cannot chant with Seraphim, Bear harp of gold or palm victorious, Or face the vision Beatifical. 16. Repent ; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth. Lord, shall we repent, lest Thou come quickly unto us? Thy saints are praying : Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Lord, if better may not as yet be, grant us the repentance which stayeth Thy coming ; and lead us up to that loving penitence which longeth after Thee and inviteth Thee, and to which Thou wilt not say nay. "With the sword of My mouth." This Mouth which threatens to fight against obstinate sinners is the very Mouth which heretofore loved to say, Come unto Me, Follow Me. To Christians thus it still speaketh. Under the elder Dis- pensation it spake not thus : not thus to Balaam with the living Voice of a Man our Brother, although by a miracle a rebuke was vouchsafed him. Wherefore if we Christians make ourselves like him, we make ourselves twofold more the child of hell. Our grace is fuller than was his grace, our knowledge clearer than his knowledge : he did despite to a Love that had still to be revealed ; we do despite to a Love that now and for eighteen centuries past can call heaven and earth to witness, saying, What could I have done more that I have not done ? Lord, let not Thy life, Thy death, Thy resurrection for our sakes, Thy proffered grace, Thy longsuffering to usward, rise up in the Judgment with us to condemn us. 17. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches ; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it Already we eat of " the true bread from heaven " in the Blessed Sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood. Eating 72 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. thereof we receive strength to overcome; and truly it is " hidden Manna " of virtue indiscernible by fleshly eyes and carnal hearts. Blessed are they who thus eat Bread in the Militant Kingdom of God. Afterwards, having overcome, God's faithful soldier and servant will once more eat of the hidden Manna in the peace of God's Triumphant Kingdom ; no longer to sustain a life that may die, but to satisfy a life that will live for ever. The subtlest and profoundest of men cannot explain mysteries ; the simplest person can appropriate and exult in them. On the very surface of this great promise it transpires that as Christ is life to the faithful soul now, so He will be life to the indefectible soul then. This for the present suffices ; if I am fain to know more, by overcoming I shall one day attain to full knowledge. Lord, Thou Thyself art here our Heavenly Food and sustenance, and it passeth all understanding what there Thou wilt be. Already Thou art to us Strength and Sweetness, Life and Joy, Safety and Sanctification. What wilt Thou be to us then ? Yea, Thou Thyself wilt not be changed : we shall be changed. We shall see and flow together and wonder. Amen ! Amen ! " Hidden manna." We often hide what is deepest and dearest in us, yet one friend has cognizance of it. Is it thus, Lord, that Thou too hidest Thyself, and while thus hiding revealest Thyself to Thy chosen ones ? " A white stone, and in the stone a new name written." Here (if it be lawful) I read a promise of the everlasting renewed innocence of the redeemed. For their name shall be inscribed on stone, which amongst earthly substances excels in durability ; and that stone shall be white, as lambs, doves, light, are white. And as whiteness is not a colour, but rather an absence of tints ; so innocence is not a virtue, but rather an absence of guilt. Each soul that overcometh will have its new name written on whiteness ; and new indeed will it be when our name (God grant it !) endorses innocence and not guilt. For now " if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." The names of the twelve Apostles appear on foundation stones ; the names of all faithful soldiers and servants on white stones ; all alike imperishable in the Presence of God Almighty. Nevertheless as whiteness may again be defined not as absence but rather as invisibility of colour, so these white stones THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 73 may be contemplated as white because of their proper stain- lessness, yet equally as coloured in response to that Divine Light which bathes them : even as the hueless diamond blazes with rainbow tints in answer to the sun's glory. "In the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it." The reverse of our present ex- perience ; for now the saints are they who know not their own names, however unhesitatingly they name each other. Thus Patience will not discern herself, but will identify a neighbour as Charity, who in turn will recognize not herself, but mild Patience ; and they both shall know some fellow-Christian, as Hope or Prudence or Faith ; and every one of these shall be sure of the others, only not of herself. But in the beatified life it shall be otherwise. When Christ shall call each happy, heavenly soul by name, as once He called " Mary " in an earthly garden, then each will perceive herself to be that which He calls her; and will no more question her own designation than did those primitive creatures whom the first Adam named in the inferior Paradise. " Which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it." "Thou shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name." Close, intimate, flawless as will be the com- munion of beatified saints with each other ; still closer, more intimate, perfect will be the communion between Christ and each saved soul. This is the supreme Fellowship which includes and entails the other, this is the supreme Union which the other is like unto. And so far as it is lawful to flesh and blood to meditate on matters not revealed (taking with us words, and turning to the Lord, and saying unto Him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously), may we not even reverently ponder whether, after some transcendent, supersensual fashion, Christ and His own beloved one by one may not reciprocally have a love-name known to both and endeared to each, as it were a name (I mean) expressive of what He was and is to that one soul, and what that one soul to Him. and which as regards all others will pass man's or angel's understanding ? " He that hath the bride is the Bridegroom," however the friend of the Bridegroom may stand and hear Him and rejoice greatly because of the Bridegroom's voice. " That it may please Thee to give us true repentance ; to forgive us all our ignorances ; and to endue us with the grace of Thy Holy Spirit to amend our lives according to Thy holy Word ; We beseech Thee to hear us, good Lord." 74 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. Lord, shall there ever be a secret between Thee and me ? Soul, is there not now already a secret between Me and thee ? I know thy name now, whether thou be Impenitent Sinner or Sinful Penitent. I know it now ; but none other knoweth it fully, neither dost thou thyself fully know it. Now in part thou knowest it : hereafter if thou be of those who overcome, thou shalt know even as thou art known. Lord, I pray Thee make me now what it will please Thee to call me then. Soul, canst thou drink of the cup that I drank of? Yea, Lord, Thou enabling me. Amen. 18. And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write ; These things saith the Son of God, Who hath His eyes like unto a flame of fire, and His feet are like fine brass. "The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judg- ment unto the Son." " My defence is of God, which saveth the upright in heart. God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day." " Remember not, Lord, our offences, nor the offences of our forefathers ; neither take Thou vengeance of our sins : spare us, good Lord, spare Thy people, whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy most precious Blood, and be not angry with us for ever. Spare us, good Lord." " Eyes like unto a flame of fire." Omniscience from which nothing is concealed ; unto which nothing is veiled, disguised, obscure. " Feet like fine brass." Almighty Strength and Stability, before which all other strength and steadfastness become impotence. This Who cannot err will be our Judge : This Whom none can gainsay will decree our sentence : as of old by Amos the Prophet He declared to revolted Israel : " Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel : and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. For, lo, He that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The Lord, The God of hosts, is His Name." 19. I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works ; and the last to be more than the first. Good works to begin with, and abundant good works as THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 75 time progresses ; and meanwhile charity which covers the multitude of sins, and service which cannot go unrewarded, and faith whereby it becomes possible to please God (see Heb. ii. 6), and patience by which saints put on the likeness of holy Job and of Job's most holy Redeemer ; charity which never faileth, service which beginning on earth ends not in heaven, faith which can remove mountains, patience which is of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ and which fainteth not utterly waiting for the Goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Thus even on earth are the elect arrayed in loveliness and adorned with graces. Not here are they crowned : persever- ance entitles to a crown, final perseverance attains to one. It needs profound patience, patience born of love and sustained by love, to achieve final perseverance. What is the beginning? Love. What the course? Love still. What the goal? The goal is Love on the happy hill. Is there nothing then but Love, search we sky orarth? There is nothing out of Love hath perpetual worth : All things flag but only Love, all things fail or flee ; There is nothing left but Love worthy you and me. " Thy works." As we read that the last were more than the " first, they were surely works of charity towards men and service towards God, wrought in faith and completed in patience. Such is that path of the just which shineth more and more unto the perfect day. O God of all Goodness, Who on others hast bestowed such grace that their last works excelled their first and their end was exalted above their beginning ; grant us like grace, that by as fair a path we may attain to as goodly a goal. For the sake of our Redeemer Jesus Christ. Amen. 20. Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee. because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce My servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. Pergamos and Thyatira have this in common ; both have praise of God, whilst against both He bringeth forward " a few things." Man's estimate might incline in both cases to reverse the proportion of virtues and vices ; but God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. " 1 am in a great strait : let me fall now into the hand of 76 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. the Lord ; for very great are His mercies : but let me not fall into the hand of man." " Because thou sufferest." To put up willingly with abominable sin in our midst, even while holding aloof from any such malpractice, is so far to cast in our lot with sinners. To endure it unwillingly is what Christ Himself chose as a mortal Man to do, and is what He is pleased to exact from all successive generations of His disciples. Evil knowledge need not harm us whilst involuntary ; but to court it without justi- fying cause is to court death, as Eve courted death by bye-path of knowledge. " Unto the pure all things are pure : but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure ; but even their mind and conscience is defiled." It becomes a matter of conscience what poems and novels to read, and how much of the current news of the day. A second point also Pergamos and Thyatira have in common : false teachers. Yet I observe some difference between the quality of these ; Balaam representing the pest of Pergamos, Jezebel that of Thyatira. Jezebel (see her history in the First and Second Book of Kings), if we may take Jehu's word for her character, was an abandoned woman and a witch, besides being, as the Inspired Record shows, a nursing mother of idolatry. But whatever witch she may have been, there appears about her no trace of the genuine prophetess ; any more than we infer that there was about that Thyatiran Jezebel, of whom it is expressly mentioned that she "calleth herself" a prophetess. Queen Jezebel there- fore may have rivalled or surpassed Balaam in guilt, but seems not to have been his equal in gifts. Whence a double consideration arises, if from these particular instances I am justified in generalizing. As Balaam in com- parison with Jezebel, so men in comparison with women may usually be expected to exhibit keener, tougher, more work- worthy gifts. Therefore if Jezebel the woman, going about to establish her equality with Balaam the man, poses as prophetess to his prophet, nothing is more likely than that she will have to eke out and puff up her pretensions by a whiff of imposture, conscious or unconscious imposture. [History repeats itself.] 21. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication ; and she repented not. Empty space, neutral space, is impossible ; it must be occu- pied by accumulating guilt or by repentance unto progressive amendment. THE FACE Of THE DEEP. Space is mine to-day by God's gift. Grant unto us all, I beseech Thee, O Lord, space to repent, and repentance while it is called to-day, repentance not to be repented of, repentance unto salvation. For Jesu's sake. Amen. 22. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. Any to whom space for repentance is still accorded, are still they whom God desireth to bring less into than out of great tribulation. " Turn Thou us, O good Lord, and so shall we be turned. Thou sparest when we deserve punishment, and in Thy wrath thinkest upon mercy." O Lord, seek us, O Lord, find us In Thy patient care ; Be Thy Love before, behind us, Round us, everywhere : Lest the god of this world blind us, Lest he speak us fair, Lest he forge a chain to bind us, Lest he bait a snare. Turn not from us, call to mind us, Find, embrace us, bear ; Be Thy Love before, behind us, Round us, everywhere. 23. And I will kill her children with death ; and all the churches shall know that I am He which searcheth the reins and hearts : and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. "And I will kill her children with death." Doubtless "children that are corrupters," for by his prophet E^ekiel Almighty God protested aforetime : " The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son : the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him." Yet as we read in Wisdom of " parents that killed with their own hands, souls destitute of help," so did this Jezebel make her- self a murderess whether the children here denounced were hers according to the flesh, or hers only by an execrable discipleship. " Let us also fear." All influence, my own influence, tends and cannot but tend either to preserve or to destroy. "I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth 78 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. generation of them that hate Me." "The wages of sin is death." O my God, if for our own souls' sake we forbear not, yet grant us grace for the sake of those we love to cease from sin, lest we bring upon them a curse and not a blessing. At the least and lowest for their sakes, until by the same grace we attain to do all for the sake of Jesus Christ, Whose all-availing sake I now plead with Thee. " And all the Churches shall know that I am He which search- eth the reins and hearts." "When Thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness." Even the whole Church Militant herself is an inhabitant of the world, as our Blessed Lord in His unfathomable love for souls provided : " I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil." " I am He which searcheth the reins and hearts." An awful promise even to the righteous ; an awful threat to the im- penitent wicked. First Christ searcheth all the earth to find and reclaim souls. Next He searcheth each individual soul to prove and see what manner of soul it is. He sifts, as it were, our dust to detect the least germ of latent life. He examines the will, which is our strength (reins) ; the affections, which engross our heart. The will to love Him He accepts and quickens into love : the faintest emotion of love towards Him He acknowledges and is ready to confirm and develop. He craves for our sake that we should love Him, but also He craves it for His own. He is not too lofty to ask our love, to seek for it, to desire it. He searches while there is hope : like the husbandman " who hath long patience " He waits. But what if He whose hands most of all are mighty find nothing? Lord, what canst Thou find, except Thou first furnish it ? All is of Thy bounty, and but for Thine own gifts we can have no gift for Thee. I beseech Thee give us each some good gift, and receive it back as our gift to Thee. " And I will give unto every one of you according to your works." 1 tremble at this word : but what word then would re- assure me ? This is the Voice of the Just Judge ; would I desire rather to hear the voice of an unjust judge? If justice be my destruction, could injustice be my salvation? Nay. How should injustice deliver me, if I be such as justice cannot deliver? From what do I need deliverance : from punishment? Yes, and from very much besides punishment. THE FACE OF THE DEE I'. 79 If I were saved from the punishment outside me, how save me from the punishment within ; from the fire, but how from the worm ? Rescued from all else, how rescue me from myself ? O Jesus, All Holy, All Just, All Merciful, deliver us from our perverse selves, and no other enemy can ruin us. For Thine own sake. Amen. Again. What other standard would I crave than this of work ? for work is voluntary, within my own option to do or leave undone. Otherwise St. Paul could not thus write to his beloved Roman converts concerning the powers that be : " Rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power ? do that which is good, and thou shall have praise of the same : for he is the minister of God to thee for good." What I do, I will to do : what I leave undone, I will to leave undone. Who then is it that betrayeth me : Lord, is it I ? It is I. Lord, carry me. Nay, but I grant thee strength To walk and work thy way to Heaven at length. Lord, why then am I weak ? Because I give Power to the weak, and bid the dying live. Lord, I am tired. He hath not much desired The goal, who at the starting-point is tired. Lord, dost Thou know ? I know what is in man ; What the flesh can, and what the spirit can. Lord, dost Thou care ? Yea, for thy gain or loss So much I cared, it brought Me to the Cross. Lord, I believe ; help Thou mine unbelief. Good is the word ; but rise, for life is brief. The follower is not greater than the Chief: Follow thou Me along My way of grief. 24. But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak ; I will put upon you none other burden. A variation appears in the Revised Version : " But to you I say, to the rest that are in Thyatira." The retrenchment of the word "and" (if correct) seems to convey the sense more clearly, by making the second clause of the sentence define the first instead of adding to it. Blessed simplicity, not to hold false doctrine. Blessed inexperience, which knows not depths of Satan. 8o THE FACE OF THE DEEP. From corrupt doctrine, foul knowledge, abominable experi- ence, good Lord, keep us; good Lord, deliver us. Keep rather than deliver, for deliverance brings not back innocence. Yet at the worst deliver us, that we may be Thy penitents, miracles of Thy pity. Amen. " Depths of Satan." Why dive into such depths, when deeper depths open before us ? " O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and know- ledge of God ! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! . . . For of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things : to Whom be glory for ever. Amen." We, no less than St. Paul's Ephesian converts, if " rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height ; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge." " As they speak." " Let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave. Let the lying lips be put to silence." " I will put upon you none other burden." None other than the burden Christ Himself has laid upon us, and which He elsewhere assures us is light. A great writer has told us that Love carries a burden which is no burden. " Why art thou so full of heaviness, O my soul ? . . . Why go I thus heavily, while the enemy oppresseth me? . . . Why art thou so heavy, O my soul : and why art thou so disquieted within me? O put thy trust in God." Christ's burden weighs heavily, not because of the burden's weight, but of the bearer's weakness. Blessed is he who embracing bears it. Not upon such a one laden with blessing, but upon another, his opposite, is woe pronounced : " Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his ! how long ? and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay ! " " For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Lord Jesus, I pray Thee bestow upon us that grace of strength whereby Thou didst uplift and comfort Daniel Thy saint : " O my Lord ... my sorrows are turned upon me, and I have retained no strength. . . O man greatly beloved, fear not : peace be unto thee : be strong, yea, be strong." 25. But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. Truly here are the patience, obedience, faith, of the THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 81 saints ! Latter works must go on being more than former works, thus making last works most of all. Charity must never fail, but must abide. Service must to the end fulfil what- ever it is our duty to do. Faith, though feeling compamonlcss in a faithless generation because unwitting of God's seven thousand like-minded ones, must endure. The Cross we have shouldered we must not lay down. The burnt sacrifice we have become we must continue to be though offered on a slow fire. Nor dare we say, It is finished, until Christ Himself say concerning us, It is finished ; for He has pronounced : " No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." Such is our lot. Without our own will we were born to in'ierit it, without our own will we (most of us) were baptized into it : no will of ours can undo what is done. All this, first and last, has befallen us by the Will of God. And because by His Will, therefore it becomes possible for us to endure it, to profit by it, even by wonder-working grace to rejoice and be glad in it. Once let our will be conformed unto the Divine Will, and powers and pleasures shall be added unto us. Even so, Lord God, conform our will to Thy Will, for our blessed self-sacrificing Saviour's sake. Amen. Moreover we must not so dwell on our sore need of patience as to overlook faith, or worse still to overlook love. "Till I come," saith the Word, the Truth, in whom all Divine promises are Yea and Amen. "Till I come." How long is that //// 7 We cannot compute its days, weeks, months, years. But this we know : the re- mainder of time is the extent of that ////: all eternity is the fullness of the ensuing thereafter. Is time long ? It may seem so, until it ends. Is eternity long ? It is so, for it ends not. Beloved, yield thy time to God, for He Will make eternity tliy recompense ; Give all thy substance for His Love, and be Beatified past earth's experience. Serve Him in bonds, until He set thee free ; Serve Him in dust, until He lift thee thence ; Till death he swallowed up in victory, When the great trumpet sounds to bid thee hence. Shall setting day win clay that will not set? Poor price wert thou to spend thyself for Christ, Had not His wealth thy poverty sufficed : Yet since lie makes His garden of thy clod. Water thy lily, rose, or viokt, And offer up thy sweetness unto God. r 82 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. Must we then call our burden no burden? Not so, for Christ Himself by implication admits that a burden it is. He, the Truth, requires of us the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. We are no more allowed to put sweet for bitter than bitter for sweet. " Hold fast." As one Greek whose grasping hands were hewn off, held fast the Persian vessel with his teeth ; as the pilot of one burning ship held fast the helm while the flames consumed him ; so, if we be called to any such supreme act, even so must each one of us hold fast our burden and birth- right till Christ come. And if we be of those who oftentimes in the Blessed Sacrament of His Body and Blood show forth His Death till He come, we amongst all Christians are bound and are fortified thus to lose life and save it. O Lord, Who assuredly wilt come ; in that tremendous Day suffer not our own privileges and our own words to rise up with us in the Judgment and condemn us. We dwell upon terrors of Judgment : let us also dwell on its hopes. It will have a great sound of a trumpet, and the trumpet-blast is music. It will be with clouds, and God Almighty of old set His bow in the cloud. It will bring to sight angels. It will bring back saints ; the particular saints we having loved and lost, long for. Yet, after all, these are but its minor hopes. It will bring back Christ ; our supreme Hope, or else our supreme Fear. But the hope is in Him, the fear is in ourselves. From ourselves and from our fear, good Lord, deliver us. 26. And he that overcometh, and keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations : 27. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron ; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers ; even as I received of My Father. The words to keep Christ's works unto the end suggest two branches of duty. We are constantly to imitate, and by His strength made perfect in our weakness are as it were over and over again to reproduce, His blessed works. Because He prayed, we must pray. Because He went about doing good, we must do good. Because His meat was to do the will of Him that sent Him, so must ours be. Such are His works by us and through us. THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 83 And thus must we persevere to the end, lest we be not numbered amongst those who overcome. We must also hold fast His works in us. The purifying grace of Baptism, the maturing grace of Confirmation, the sustaining grace of Holy Communion, we must hold fast. We holding fast what He bestows, He will continually bestow more and more. There is no limit to His bounties, nor can we assign a limit to our own capacity. King Joash smote thrice and stayed, whilst he might have stricken five or six valid strokes. The miraculous flow of oil stayed only when the widow's receptacles were exhausted. O foolish Soul ! to make thy count For languid falls and much forgiven, "When like a flame thou mightest mount To storm and carry heaven. A life so faint, is this to live? A goal so mean, is this a goal ? Christ love thee, remedy, forgive, Save thee, O foolish Soul. He who in overcoming himself and all things has first exercised power, he it is on whom will be conferred power over the nations. Unlike most of the rewards held out to our hope, this power appears to be punitive, destructive. Thank God, it is not ours at present ; nor at present could aught like it by any possibility befit us common sort of Christians. He whom God may call to such an office, God by His Almighty Spirit will adapt to the call, and will keep safe in responding to it. Into His hands Fatherly, merciful, perfect, let us meanwhile commend and commit all men. Nevertheless it cannot be without practical purpose that this prospect, " terrible as an army with banners," is opened to us. It brings home to our conviction that a day approaches, when, cost what it may, all the elect will be of one mind with God. Whatever He decrees they will uphold ; whatever He inflicts they will approve. Even to the tenderest mother, the Divine good pleasure will then be altogether better than seven sons or than ten sons. Whom God pities not, neither will His saints pity: whom He saves not, neither will His saints yearn to save. They who are exalted to see Him as He is, will be like Him. The punishment is greater than we can bear. God keep us from ever looking upon our beloved ones with changed eyes, or from being looked upon with changed eyes by them. 84 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. O my God, Who hast no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, preserve Thou them that are appointed to die ; and when this dying life is fulfilled, bring us of Thy mercy to the life everlasting. Through Jesus Christ our Life. Amen. " Even as I received of My Father." The extreme instance vouching for all subordinate instances. Christ, Who so long hath invited all men, saying, "Come unto Me," will at last say to those on His left hand, " Depart from Me." O Lamb of God, from the Wrath of the Lamb, deliver us. 28. And I will give him the morning star. 29. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Elsewhere our Lord declares : " I am . . . the Bright and Morning Star." Thus (if the inference be allowable) here at the outset He promises to give Himself to him that overcometh. To whom does a man give himself? To one whom he loves as himself. Such is the standard of human self-gift ; and Christ, Very Man no less than Very God, will not fall short of it. To "the friend that is as His own soul" will He give Himself; giving Himself, He will withhold nothing. We know not a millionth part of what Christ is to us, but perhaps we even less know what we are to Him. Lord, I cannot plead my love of Thee : 1 plead Thy love of me ; The shallow conduit hails the unfathomed sea. CHAPTER III. 1. And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write ; These things saith He that hath the seven Spirits of God, and ths seven stars ; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. If it be lawful to regard these " Seven Spirits of God " as that " One and the self-same Spirit," Who divideth to every man severally as He will, our Lord's preamble to the Church in Sardis corresponds with Isaiah's prophetic description of the Messiah : " The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel and Might, the Spirit of Knowledge and of the Fear of the Lord ; and shall make Him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord : and He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears." Thus He Who telleth the number of the stars and calleth them all by their names, before He pronounces judgment on even one star, deigns to proclaim and certify His own infallible insight. " I know thy works " the works of Sardis, of all Christen- dom, of the whole world. Yea, and my works indeed, O Lord, Thou knowest : it is I myself who know them not fully. "Search me, O God, and know my heart : try me, and know my thoughts : and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." " Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead." Sardis with her name to live worked after a fashion, although dea-J. Centuries before the Psalmist had placed on reco.d: "Men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself." And in our Lord's Sermon in the Plain we read : " Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you ! " Sardis doubtless in some sense did well unto herself, how- ever cruel in truth were her tender self-mercies; and thus 86 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. earned the condemnation of God with the praise of men, inas- much as that which is highly esteemed among men is abomina- tion in the sight of God. The particular works of Sardis are not enumerated, but of this we may rest assured : so far as she was a dead Church her works were infallibly dead works. Yet works they were, and of such a semblance that men said she lived : God and God only knew and testified that she was dead. And what avails man's word against God's word ? Her fair name and fame, her self-complacency, her lustre, have passed away : yea, like as a dream when one awaketh, so hath He made her image to vanish out of the city. A temporal doom has long ago overtaken her : may it not be that an eternal doom overhangs her ! Our Lord rebuked tardis in the day of grace, lest at last He should condemn her in the day of justice. As once to her, so now if need is He speaks to us, to me. In love He forewarns us all : " Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy Name? and in Thy Name have cast out devils? and in Thy Name done many wonderful works ? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you : depart from Me, ye that work iniquity." Shall the dead rise up again and praise God ? Yea, the dead also, if they will respond to the call of His grace. As avers the Father in the parable : " This my son was dead, and is alive again. ; he was lost, and is found." " Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God." 2. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die : for I have not found thy works perfect before God. "What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch." The watch- ful must watch on, the unwatchful must learn and practise watchfulness. Every one of us is either watchful or unwatchful. " Teach me, O Lord, the way of Thy statutes ; and I shall keep it unto the end." Watchfulness is no easy duty. When Elijah answered, "Thou hast asked a hard thing," he made its coming to pass depend on Elisha's own watchfulness : whence we may infer that the boon being difficult of access, that on which it de- pended was not lightly to be achieved. St. Peter, St. John, St. James, for all their love, failed in watchfulness, while their Saviour watched alone and agonized alone. My God, if watchfulness taxes the strength of Thy saints THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 87 who live unto Thee, how shall the dead in trespasses and sins renew their vigil to praise Thee with songs in the night ? Nay, hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good ? " O put thy trust in God : for I will yet thank Him, which is the help of my countenance, and my God." " Strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die." God, Whose good pleasure hath chosen " things which are not," equally of His grace calls upon the dead to strengthen what remains and is ready to die. What He commands He renders possible. " He giveth power to the faint ; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength." When Isaac asked, "Where is the lamb?" while as yet there appeared no lamb ; not Abraham himself can have understood the fullness of his own answer : " God will provide Himself a lamb." Praise be to Thee, O God, Who both didst provide a lamb for Thyself, and Thyself becamest that Lamb which Thou providedst. Praise be to Thee, forasmuch as the ram offered in Isaac's stead was caught in a thicket by his horns; not weakness, but the sign of his strength holding him fast. Even so, not through weakness, but by Thine own Will, Strength, Glory, didst Thou stoop to become fast bound in the thicket of our troubles : nor wouldst Thou by any means pass out thence except as a Lamb for a burnt offering ; even the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Alleluia ! "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." This is one sort of dead man who shall live ; together with Christ's once- dead Body shall he arise. Perhaps for us the main point of that text roots itself in the word will. None predicates of him he can nor yet he ought : he alone says, and says only, / will. He says not, I do ; for far from him be lying lips and a deceitful tongue. He says, I will : and the man who has the will to say, I will, has latent within him the power to bring to pass by God's assisting grace the purpose of that good will. His dew is as the dew of herbs, his earth shall cist out her dead. When God demanded : " Son of man, can these bones live ? " even Ezekiel could answer no more than, " O Lord God, Thou knowest." God alone, then as ever, knew what He would do. We, every one of us, must at this moment be either dead or alive. Let us put it at the worst, and postulate that we are dead : what shall we do that we may come again to our border, 88 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. and return into the land of the living? Sardis was bidden " strengthen those things which remain, that are ready to die " : whence it follows : This do, and thou shalt live. And what if gazing within we discern nothing remaining ; nothing even so far alive as to be ready to die ? We still can lift up our eyes and look without, in obedience to St. Paul's precept : " Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others." Our neighbour languishes, is weak, wavers, is ready to perish : whoso strives by prayer, or by any other conceivable agency to uphold him, shall himself be up- held ; even as Job, praying for his friends, received in his own person a blessing. " He that watereth shall be watered also himself." If the light that is in us be as darkness that may be felt, let us work and walk by the light that is without us ; until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in our hearts. O Christ, the Resurrection and the Life ; O Christ, Light of the world and of every man that cometh into the world, call Thy dead out of darkness of death into light of life. Say once again, yea, say again and again, Let there be light : and there shall be light As froth on the face of the deep, As foam on the crest of the sea, As dreams at the waking of sleep, As gourd of a day and a night, As harvest that no man shall reap, As vintage that never shall te, Is hope if it cling not aright, O my God, unto Thee. " I have i ot found thy works perfect before God " or according to the Revised Version : " I have found no works of thine fulfilled before My God." The former reading recalls our Lord's words in His Sermon on the Mount : " Be ye there- fore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect ; " a precept so lofty that mortal man can appropriate it only in aim and intention, except so far as his being Christ's member clothes him with Christ's righteousness. The latter reading suggests works left incomplete even according to the standard of human completeness; beginnings broken off short, starts without careers, wishes instead of resolves, repentances still to be repented of. We are reminded of Lot's wife, the fig-tree leafy but fruitless, the son in the Parable who answered, I go, sir, and went not. THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 89 We look out of ourselves at these and such as these. God help us to look into ourselves, lest all the while we be such as they and know it not The way to htll is paved with good intentions. 3. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. Well may He Who beyond all others loves us, for that very love's sake bid us " Remember," lest all too late we should remember. For it has been said of old that there is no bitterer pang than in misery to remember past happiness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth when the children of the kingdom being thrust out behold their birthright blessedness given to others that are better than they. " Son, remember," spake Abraham to Dives. To-day it may be that if we choose we can forget ; another day we shall not be able to choose, but must perforce remember what we have received and heard. Not through time and never through eternity can we make ourselves as though we had not received and heard. We have heard the Word of God, the witness of saints, the voice of conscience whereby God the Holy Spirit speaks within us ; these we must sooner or later remember. We have received the Life of Baptism, the Strength of Con- firmation, the Sustenance of Christ's most precious Body and Blood ; these we must sooner or later remember. Our starlings aside have been from all these, our falls from all these. These we have held fast ; or have let go. And if we have let them go, can we ever again hope to hold them fast ? Yea, saith our Judge : " Hold fast, repent." Let us go forth in the strength of the Lord God, and make mention of His righteousness only. O God Whose hand is not shortened that it cannot save, Who to him that hath no might increaseth strength, Who didst up- hold St. Peter on the waters, convert him in the high priest's palace, restore him by the Sea of Tiberias, O our God, Who hast done all for us, now do all in us. Hold us fast, that \ve may hold Thee fast. Remember now our sins, that Thou mayest move us to repentance ; and washing them away in Thy blood mayest remember them no more. Amen for Thine own sake, Lord Jesus, Amen. 90 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. Contempt and pangs and haunting fears Too late for hope, too late for ease, Too late for rising from the dead ; Too late, too late to bend my knees, Or bow my head, Or weep, or ask for tears. I lark ! . . . One I hear Who calls to me : "Give Me thy thorn and grief and scorn, Give Me thy ruin and regret. Press on thro' darkness toward the morn : One loves thee yet : Have I forgotten thee ? " Lord, Who art Thou ? Lord, is it Thou My Lord and God, Lord Jesus Christ ? How said I that I sat alone And desolate and unsufficed ? Surely a stone Would raise Thy praises now ! Once more the word is, Watch. In whatever mood, in de- pression if need be, let us watch. As sings the Psalmist : " I have watched, and am even as it were a sparrow, that sitteth alone upon the house-top. Mine enemies revile me all the day long ; and they that are mad upon me are sworn together against me. For I have eaten ashes as it were bread ; and mingled my drink with weeping; and that because of Thine indignation and wrath : for Thou hast taken me up, and cast rne down. My days are gone like a shadow ; and I am withered like grass." For this woeful complaint is still a song : even while he lies under the Divine indignation and wrath the penitent sings and makes melody in his heart to the Lord. By Whose gracious help we all may do likewise. Repentance pleases God ; and that whereby we please God cannot be to ourselves mere unmitigated grief. Nor is it any trivial matter which depends upon our watch- fulness. According as we watch, or watch not, Christ will come to save or to punish. "Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready : for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh." Shall He come to us " as a thief," Who would fain come to us as a Bridegroom ? " Yea ; in the way of Thy judgments, O Lord, have we waited THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 91 for Thee ; the desire of our soul is to Thy name, and to the remembrance of Thee. With my soul have I desired Thee in the night ; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek Thee early." " I am my Beloved's, and His desire is toward me." 4. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments ; and they shall walk with Me in white : for they are worthy. Primitive man arrayed in innocence needed no other robe. Fallen man God Himself deigned to clothe ; and the garment of fallen man may (I think) be regarded as representing such sort and degree of holiness as being possible to a sinner is therefore required of him. For God Almighty is never that ruler who demands brick in a territory of no straw. Absolute innocence on this side of the grave no soul can win back, yet holiness transcends innocence. A law, " Thou shalt not," hedged in innocence in the Garden of Eden ; but St. Paul declares that " the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temper- ance : against such there is no law." "A few names even in Sardis." Ten righteous would have preserved Sodom ; one would have sufficed to save Jerusalem. Thus we discern that Abraham's persistence of intercession yet stopped short of the bounty of God's unsolicited Goodwill. Human tenderness pleaded ten, Divine yearning craved for one. Both however bore immediate reference to temporal punishment, not apparently to eternal judgment. The " few " in Sardis safe themselves could not deliver their fellows. Their case corresponded with that set forth in Ezekiel's prophecy : " When the land sinneth against Me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out Mine hand upon it ... Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God." Psalm xlix. (Prayer-Book version) throws light on the subject : " No man may deliver his brother, nor make agreement unto God for him ; for it cost more to redeem their souls : so that he must let that alone for ever ; yea, though he live long, and see not the grave." Truly did it cost more to redeem our souls, for it cost the life of that Man Who is the Lord's Fellow ; had He lived long and not seen the grave, even He (so far as the Divine counsels have been revealed to us) must have let that alone for ever. Thus by a sort of harmony of contraries the Psalmist provides a 92 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. clue to the coming mystery of Redemption. We recognize a revelation of Divine Might where at first seemed but a state- ment of human impotence. A veiled mystery flashes through this verse; which verse of the Holy Bible may not veil a mystery ? Lord, grant us eyes to see and ears to hear And souls to love and minds to understand, And steadfast faces toward the Holy Land, And confidence of hope, and filial fear, And citizenship where Thy saints appear Before Thee heart in heart and hand in hand, And Alleluias where their chanting band As waters and as thunders fill the sphere. Lord, grant us what Thou wilt, and what Thou wilt Deny, and fold us in Thy peaceful fold : Not as the world gives, give to us Thine own : Inbuild us where Jerusalem is built With walls of jasper and with streets of gold, And Thou Thyself, Lord Christ, for Corner Stone. " A few names even in Sardis." A few in a whole city, a few out of an entire population. Shall London cast the ni st stone at Sardis ? O God, merciful and pitiful, Who hast created us all, and knowest us all, if we be children teach us to honour Thee, and if servants to fear Thee: yea, if we be ston,s teach us to celebrate Thy praise. For Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. "A few . . . which have not denied their garments." Who are these? Baptized infants, and sweet souls of any age unexperienced in mortal sin. None beside these ? Thank God, the text says not so. By His grace it may (surely) include along with all who have never defiled their garments those likewise who have not permanently defiled them. He Who has been pleased to promise that the elect human family shall be made equal to the elect angels, can if He pleases make the choir of penitents equal to that kindred choir which by comparison need no repentance. Once He vouchsafed to say touching one sinful woman : " Her sins, which are many, are forgiven ; for she loved much : but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little." "Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, Who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts." Only whilst we have time let us love much. "And they shall walk with Me in white." The precarious THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 93 purity of mortal life shall become the indefectible purity of life immortal. As the bud becomes the lily, as the dawn the day, so white robes of earth shall reappear, transfigured as robes of heaven, white as no fuller on earth can white them. Such whiteness as we now are used to can scnrcely abide un- sullied unless it also abide intact ; thus trodden snow turns to mud ; whilst snow on mountain summits endures alone, in- accessible, stainless. Even so chaste virgins choose solitude fora bower; and recluses dwell apart and unknown, like un- found pearls ; and great saints betaking themselves to heavenly places in Christ Jesus, move aloft like white sunny clouds of the sky. Nevertheless, however good for the present distress, yet from the beginning God Himself declared that it is not good for man to be alone. No trace of solitude reappears in the next life, the life that lives for ever. Whatever we know, or know not, about Heaven, this beyond possibility of doubt is certified to us ; it will contain a great multitude that no man can number, and these congregated into one body, one community of saints. Nothing will ever any more separate them ; not n : ght, for there is no night there ; not the sea, for they stand together upon that unearthly sea. Yet all this accumul tion of beatitude taken by itself could not satisfy us ; it would still be no more than a turning aside by the flocks of the companions. Christ's promise exceeds this. "They shall walk with Me." Herein is beatific love. It is stated in our text (ver. 4) that those whose earthly garments have been undefiled, are the same who will be invested with a heavenly white garment. A second point, though unstated, may (I think) be inferred : those who like Enoch have "walked with God" on earth, are the same who shall walk with Him in Heaven. Little as we know of blessed Enoch's personal history, yet the phrase "walked with God" tells us much. "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" asks the Lord by the mouth of His Prophet Amos. Enoch's will must then have been conformed to the Divine Will. Moreover, exalted as it is to "sit toge'her in heavenly places in Christ Jesus," blessed as it is to " sleep in Jesus " ; yet of Enoch we are told not that he sat, still less if possible that he slept, but that he walked. He exerted himself, he made progress, he persevered, until "God took him." Amen, for us all. " For they are worthy." Flow "worthy"? when the same 94 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. Truth and Wisdom hath said : " None is good, save One, that is, God." As Isaac received Rebekah into the tent, and himself was comforted ; as Boaz extended his protection to Ruth, and while loving and ennobling her rejoiced in her affection ; so our dear Lord enriches our poverty with His own wealth, covers our unworthiness with His own worthiness, sees in us of the travail of His Soul, and is satisfied. He, Bridegroom of souls, saith to His beloved : " With all My goods I thee endow " : His Blessedness is as of the sun which gives, and ours is as of the moon which receives. " It is more blessed to give than to receive." " I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which Thou hast showed unto Thy servant." 5. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels. 6. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Once again " he that overcometh " is the only person to win a prize. Not even Christ's work for us can be substituted for the Holy Spirit's work in us. By aid of Whose indwelling Might may every one of us watch, strengthen what languishes, remember, hold fast, repent, flee defilement. Not that these are ever easy duties, but by help of grace they become possible : were they easy, we need not be incited to overcome. And if possible to any, then are they possible to all, eveji to the most backward : for it is the same Almighty Spirit Who dwells and works in great and small, and Who many times has vouchsafed the race to the not-swift, and the battle to the not-strong. One by one let us consider these particular points of duty. Watch. As failure may betide swift and strong, so may- it betide watchers also : " Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." Still, if watchfulness may, unwatchfulness must be rife with peril. " The earth is weak, and all the inhabiters thereof: I bear up the pillars of it," came evidently to pass on that searching night of the Passion when our Lord watched alone, because the three whom He had bidden watch with Him slept. On the other hand, under the elder and less helpful dispensation, Nehemiah with his THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 95 faithful uuliercnts having prayed, set a watch day and night against their foes and prospered ; and Habakkuk in the midst of his prophecy protests: "I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what He will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved." Psalm cxxiii. furnishes us with the very words we need : " Unto Thee lift I up mine eyes, O Thou that dwellest in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress ; so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, until that He have mercy upon us." Strengthen what languishes. What desperate ruin it is by letting slip the last opportunity and extinguishing the last glimmer of light to do despite to Him Who breaks not the bruised reed nor quenches the smoking flax, Christ's own words and tears have revealed: "He beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace ! but now they are hid from thine eyes." For examples of self- retrieval we turn to Joseph of Arimathaea, who being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, at length went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the Body of Jesus, to Nico- demus, who first resorted to Jesus by night, later on spoke however feebly in His defence, and at last shared with several saints (women as well as men) the devotion and anguish of His sepulture, to St. Mark, who once hung back, but after- wards repented and went. " Hear my prayer, O Lord, and with Thine ears consider my calling : hold not Thy peace at my tears. For I am a stranger with Thee : and a sojourner, as all my fathers were. O spare me a little, that I may recover my strength : before I go hence, and be no more seen." Remember. God Who bids us remember, Himself re- members : woe were it to mankind if He remembered not. "Yea, many a time turned He His anger away, and did not stir up ;ill His wrath. For He remembered that they were but flesh ; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again." Since He spake against His rebellious children, He doth earnestly remember them still. To renegade Israel He even saith : " I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals ... I will yet plead with you." God hath indeed not forgotten to be gracious, and graciously He enjoins upon us the duty of ourselves remembering. Let us call to mind a few points which we have received and heard : "Remember the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy." "Behold, 96 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. God exalteth by His power. . . . Remember that thou magnify His work, which men behold. Every man may see it ; man may behold it afar off." " If a man live many years, and rejoice in them all ; yet let him remember the days of dark- ness; for they shall be many." "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth." St. Paul charges us " to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, It is more blessed to give than to receive." St. Jude exhorts us : " Remember ye the words which were spoken before of the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ ; how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly luss." And infinitely above even the Apostles, our Master bade them and through them bids us : " Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord." O Lord, the Better David, remember all Thine own trouble ; and for good remember us, remember me, when Thou comest into Thy Kingdom. Holdfast. Shall we fill our hands with possess : ons which are not worth holding fast? "There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt. But those riches perish by evil travail : and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand." We can carry nothing away when we die, neither the hurtful riches denounced by the Preacher, nor the thick clay denounced by the Prophet (see Hab. ii. 6). Hands preoccupied by such as these cannot grasp veritable wealth : " How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God ! " Hands emptied by showing mercy to the poor, are set free to hold fast what God will require of us ; hearts emptied of self are prepared to receive and retain all He will demand ; such blessed store as righteousness, with Job who would not let it go ; that which is good, with the Thessalonian converts ; the apostolic form of sound words, with Timothy ; our profession, and confidence, and rejoicing of hope firm unto the end, with all faithful Christians. Thus Jacob said : " I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me. . . . And He blessed him there." Yet because God Himself is to us more than all His blessings, let us rather protest with the Bride : " I found Him Whom my soul loveth : I held Him, and would not let Him go." Repent. There is no Divine promise which penitence may not claim ; no height, no depth of Divine Love secluded from penitence. All is promised to the penitent, but repentance itself is not promised to the sinner. Yet, O my God, how otherwise should sinners be half so hopeful of repentance, as THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 97 now that it depends solely on Thy Goodwill ? Thou Who biddest us repent, fulfil in us Thine own bidding. Thou Who hast declared concerning Israel : " I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely," make us such as Thou canst heal and love. Thou Who art long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance ; bring us to repentance, for none else in heaven or in earth can bring us. Thou Who holdest out to us hope, let us not be disappointed of our hope. If we be lost, Christ thereby loseth the price of His most precious Blood : suffer us to plead Christ with Thee, and to say : Who shall countervail the King's damage ? Repentance is not promised to the impenitent, but to those who serve God all that they ask aright is promised ; Christians know this, say this, build and rest on this : thus prevailingly they implore for themselves fuller, deeper, ever renewed repentance ; thus availingly they might implore it for those who for themselves implore it not. O God of all Mercy and all Comfort, God the Father Who lovest us, God the Son Who lovest us, God the Holy Spirit Who lovest us, give us for whom Christ died grace to love our neighbour as ourself, and to pray for him as for ourself. Am I my brother's keeper ? Yes. Flee defilement. St. Mark records how when our Lord "had called all the people unto Him, He said unto them, Hearken unto Me every one of you, and understand : there is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him : but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear." So emphatically are all the people, every one of them, instructed that the spiritual garment contracts defilement not from with- out but from within. Purity follows a contrary rule to many other virtues. Many are promoted by dwelling on the an- tagonistic vices ; by coming, so to say, to close quarters with these, by waging war with them face to face, war to the death. Look hard at ill-temper, for instance ; and when you attain to appreciate its contemptible aspect, you may advance to discern and fall in love with the majesty of meekness. Not so with impurity : cover and turn away the eye lest it should behold it, stop the ear lest it should admit it ; for the blessed pure in heart who shall see God, copy their Lord the Holy One Who is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and Who cannot look on iniquity. Nor does this imperative duty of shunning contami- nation from without, at all clash with our Master's warning that defilement has its sole root within : the knowledge of foulness G 98 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. welcomed, entertained, gloated over, breeds in us foulness like itself; it acts like blood poison which infused from with- out turns the man himfself, or the woman herself, to a death- struck mass of corruption. Holy courage often befits us : in this single instance holy cowardice becomes man's only available courage ; as Joseph fled, abandoning and risking all rather than do a great wickedness, and sin against God. Akin to our duty towards ourselves in this matter, is our duty towards others, especially towards the young : in their regard we may pray to be made perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect ; Who vouchsafed to shield the innocent ignorance of young Samuel, even while denouncing by his mouth abominable and crying sin. " Finally, brethren, whatsover things are true, what- soever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report ; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." " The same shall be clothed in white raiment." " Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy Name give the praise." God will clothe us who cannot clothe ourselves. Wherefore we need not inquire either for earth or for heaven, " where- withal shall we be clothed ? " for our Heavenly Father knoweth that we have need of mnny such things, and will without fail add them unto us if meanwhile we seek first His kingdom and righteousness. Whereof we enjoy already encouraging signs. As when He covered Adam and Eve after their shameful fall. Or as when under a similitude His love for Jerusalem is set forth : " I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. 1 decked thee also with orna- ments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck. And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head. Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver ; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work . . . and thou wast ex- ceeding beautiful. . . . And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty : for it was perfect through My comeliness, which 1 had put upon thee, saith the Lord God." Or as when the Father in the Parable arrays his prodigal son : " Bring forth the best robe, and put it- on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet." And how beautiful is whiteness for a garment we see illustrated on all sides : the dove "is covered with silver wings": lambs wear a white fleece; lilies and snowdrops are white, and there is a white THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 99 rose ; the swan floats in whiteness on blue waters, and over- head white clouds float across the blue sky. Snow is white, and so is a pearl ; and diamonds and light are colourless. Nevertheless whiteness is not an absence but rather a com- pendium of colour. All tints when united in a perfectly balanced harmony resolve themselves into whiteness, and consequently all tints are capable of being re-developed from whiteness. Thus colourless light paints the rainbow. And thus celestial whiteness will not restrict but may rather gratify the taste of all who wear it. At the first moment whiteness does not suggest colour : yet all colour being latent in it, we finally discern in its train every lovely hue and gradation of hues. If thus it is with one word characteristic of Heaven, how know we that it is not so with every word ? To-day we hear by the hearing of the ear. So it was in her day with the Queen of Sheba, who allured by what she heard betook herself to the Holy Land ; and when she saw King Solomon in his royalty, and saw those who served him, "Behold," said she, "the half was not told me." O Christ, our King and our Wisdom, bring us, I beseech Thee, to Thy Holy I,and which is very far off, that there pur eyes may see Thee in Thy Beauty. " King Solomon gave unto the Queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, beside that which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty." All that we see rejoices in the sunshine, All that we hear makes merry in the Spring : God grant us such a mind to be glad after our kind, And to sing His praises evermore for everything. Much that we see must vanish with the sunshine, Sweet Spring must fail and fail the choir of Spring: But Wisdom shall burn on when the lesser lights are gone, And shall sing God's praises evermore for everything. " I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life." Human life is in two sections, life terminable and life inter- minable : and if I may so express it, the Book of Life appears to be correspondingly in two volumes ; the Register of Baptism for this world, and the Register of Final Perseverance for the next. I say of Baptism because to us Christians the word of this salvation is sent, and according to it we must judge our- selves, and abide the final Judgment : whereas as St. Paul ico THE FACE OF THE DEEP. instructs us, " What have I to do to judge them also that are without ? do not ye judge them that are within ? But them that are without God judgeth." To Whose mercy in that day let us commend ourselves and every living soul. That first volume is constituted our Book of Life to the extent of promise, privilege, possibility : it depends on ourselves to realize the possibility, perpetuate the privilege, claim fulfil- ment of the promise. It is also our patent of nobility : the Name that is above every name heads the " glorious, goodly, noble " list of those who please God ; for He is not ashamed to call us brethren, He of Whom it is recorded, "Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of Me), to do Thy Will, O God." % Thy Name, O Christ, as ointment is poured forth Sweetening our names before God's Holy Face ; Luring us from the south and from the north Unto the sacred place. In Thee God's promise is Amen and Yea, What art Thou to us ? Prize of every lot, Shepherd and Door, our Life and Truth and Way : Nay, Lord, what art Thou not ? It is out of that first volume that names may be blotted : once entered in the second they become (thank God !) in- delible. Change and vicissitude are confined to this life and this world : once safe in the next world the saved are safe for ever and ever. So our Lord deigned in effect to teach us all, when answering certain Sadducees, He said : " The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage : but they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage : neither can they die any more : for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection." And further we gather hence by implication that not all shall " obtain . . . the resurrection from the dead " : all must rise ; but some will rise alive unto life, and some will rise dead unto damnation ; in accordance with Christ's explicit statement elsewhere : " The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth ; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life ; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." Let us lay to heart each allusion to God's most awful Book. David mentions it where he prophesies against our Saviour's THE FACE OF THE ])EEI>. 101 adversaries on Calvary ; whose children, crucifying the Son of God afresh, and putting Him to an open shame, are the apostate Christians of successive generations : " Let them be blotted out of the Book of the living, and not be written with the righteous." We meet with such a Book in the prophetic record of Daniel : " There shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time : and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the Book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." Malachi speaking of such a Book encourages the faithful : " Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another : and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a Book of remem- brance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His Name. And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels ; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him." St. Paul too alludes confidently to the Book in question when he writes concerning certain saints : " Clement also, and . . . other my fellow-labourers, whose names are in the Book of Life." After which words no wonder that he goes on to say : " Rejoice in the Lord alway : and again I say, Rejoice." Nor are we left in any shadow of doubt as to the standard according to which names will or will not abide in that Book. Long before any of the texts hitherto cited, we read concern- ing idolatrous Israel : "The Lord said unto Moses, Whosoe\er hath sinned against Me, him will I blot out of My Book." " I will confess his name." What is it that men confess ? Something that they are, that they have done, that they admit ; something personal, intimate : not things indifferent or alien. Even so Christ in promising to confess the name of him that overcometh, promises to confess the name of one who is His member, bone of His bone, and flesh of His flesh, one Body and one Blood with Him ; in whom He Himself has wrought the work of salvation, and by His Spirit has overcome. Of which condescending Divine goodwill, St. Paul's declara- tion is the aspiring human correlative : "I am crucified with Christ : nevertheless I live ; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me : and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me " ; from which exalted grace no Christian is excluded : 102 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. " Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus." We baptized Christians who bear the Name of Christ, and whom His Spirit indwells, are already one with Him. This union awaits not the future : it took place so many days, months, years ago ; it now is, except we be reprobate ; it will ever abide, except we fall away. Immeasurable heights of hope, unmeasured depths of fear, open to us at the word : beyond either, the height and depth of Christ's Love. " He that hath ears to hear " hears His Voice pleading with the most lost, the most rebellious : " How shall I give thee up . . . ? how shall I deliver thee . . . ? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? Mine heart is turned within Me, My repentings are kindled together/'' O Lord, wilt Thou be less to us than Adam was to his Eve ? for he prophesied : " Therefore shall a man . . . cleave unto his wife." O Lord, cleave Thou to us, or we cannot cleave to Thee. O Lord, wilt Thou require of us guilty more than Adam re- quired of his innocent Eve ? when he bade not her weakness cleave to his strength, but promised that his strength should cleave to her weakness. O Lord, cleave Thou to us, or we cannot cleave to Thee. If our Lord had willed to keep secret the mutual love of each elect soul and Himself; and so had ascended alone with it into Heaven, or gone down alone with it into Hades, or dwelt alone with it in the uttermost parts of the sea, great and marvellous had been the condescension. How far greater, how transcendently marvellous, when He promises to confess the names of His faithful followers before His Father and before His angels. Before His Father, Whose equal He is as touch- ing His Godhead, and Whose inferior He willed to become as touching His Manhood : before His own most noble creatures the angels, than whom He willed once to be made a little lower for us men and for our salvation. In Him we hope, in ourselves we fear. Christ's words are clear as to our personal power to decide our own doom : " Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven." "Whosoever shall confess Me before men, him shall the Son of Man also confess before the angels of God : but he that denieth Me before men, shall be denied before the angels of God." THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 103 Is it worse shame and ruin to be denied before God, or before angels? Surely and beyond comparison, before God. Yet Christ forewarns us of both contingent horrors : from both then there is some help to be derived against that deadliest of all our enemies, self. Perhaps the utter inherent disproportion between the Infinite Creator and the finite creature might seem to some perverse minds to blunt the sting of rejection before God. But that our elect fellow-creatures should behold us weighed and found wanting, exhibits no colour of propriety : they stood, we might have stood ; they overcame, we might have overcome. Their steadfastness confronts our falling away, and condemns us. 7. And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write ; These things saith He that is holy, He that is true, He that hath the key of David, He that openeth, and no man shutteth ; and shutteth, and no man openeth. The name of Philadelphia sets before us brotherly love and the bliss of those who love as brethren. It invites us to pause and refresh ourselves with an appropriate Psalm of David : " Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity ! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard : that went down to the skirts of his garments ; as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion : for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore." " The key of David " has doubtless mysteries and hidden meanings to unlock. Here, meanwhile, it seems to fit the words (or wards, to carry on the figure) both of this Apocalyptic text and of this Psalm of Degrees ; opening to our contemplation the grace and the corresponding blessing of unanimity, faith- fulness, stability. Graces, before they can become human graces, are primarily and transcendently Divine Virtues or Attributes. Man's graces are fruits of the Spirit : and in the human heart the Holy Spirit bears His own proper fruits, not alien or arbitrary fruits. The stability, faithfulness, unanimity, required of us, are first of all exemplified in Christ ; Who being God became also Man, and as Man received not the Spirit by measure. " He that is Holy." To His Holiness Hannah bore exultant witness : " There is none holy as the Lord : for there is none beside Thee : neither is there any Rock like our God," thus 104 THE FACE OF THE DEEP. extolling also His Immutability. Which likewise are combined by the Psalmist : " He hath commanded His covenant for ever : holy and reverend is His Name," and by Isaiah : " To whom then will ye liken Me, or shall I be equal ? saith the Holy One . . . Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary?" Habakkuk cele- brates with His Holiness His Eternity : " Art Thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One ? " And centuries later, after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour to- ward man appeared, the apostolic company (see Acts iv. 23, &c.) praised God on this wise : " Of a truth against Thy Holy Child Jesus, Whom Thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate witli the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel de- termined before to be done" because heaven and earth may pass away, but not God's Word. And Chiefest among ten thousand, our Great High Priest interceding for His own, whom having loved, He loved unto the end, vouchsafed to pray for their perpetual safeguard and indissoluble union even after the likeness of God's own Per- fection : " Holy Father, keep through Thine own Name those whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, as We are." Heaven and the elements, earth and her main features, may seem to us enduring in perpetuity ; but they are not so. God's Will alone is established for ever, and His promise it is which can never fail. Whence St. Peter deduces a lesson of personal holiness : " The Lord is not slack concerning His promise . . . The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night ; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and god'iness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat ? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless." "Who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is like Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders ? " THE FACE OF THE DEEP. 105 "He that is True." On earth, and during His mortal life, the Only Begotten of the Father had been full of grace and truth toward all men. Once, speaking to certain Jews, He designated Himself as "a Man that hath told you the truth" : while to Pontius Pilate He proclaimed : " To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth, heareth My voice." All those were open sinners. To His saints He said : " I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life . . . I tell you the truth ; it is expedient for you that I go away : for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you ; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you . . . When He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth." And praying for the same beloved disciples, and for all who should believe on Him through their word. He said : " Sanctify them through Thy truth : Thy word is truth . . . And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth." Thus " grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." Glory be to Thee, O God, in His most Holy Name. Amen. Beholding our Master, we behold Man in incomparably transcendent perfection : yet we ourselves, according to the Will and purpose of God, are designed in some sort and in miniature to become like Him. Beholding how in this life and in the next He is equally and unchangeably " the Truth " and a True," we become certified that this present life is the first stage of that future, ever-during life : strength, beauty, dignity, loveliness, delight, may be added ; but added only to what we are, never to what we are not. What we essentially are in this world, that we shall be in the other : what here we absolutely are not, we shall not be there. If there is no truth in us now, either through wilful lack of faith or