' LECTURES ON THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA MINOR. LINDSAY &, BLAKISTON'S PUBLICATIONS, . M)n Cumming'B UNIFORM EDITION. Price 75 cents per Volume, and sent by mail, free of postage, upon receipt of this amount by the Publishers. CUMMING'S APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES ; OR, LECTURES ON THE BOOK OF REVELATION. One Volume, 12mo. Cloth. CUMMING'S APOCALYPTIC SKETCHES. SECOND SERIES. One Volume, 12mo. Cloth. CUMMING'S LECTURES ON THE SEVEN CHURCHES. One Volume, 12mo. Cloth. CTTMMING'S LECTURES ON OTTR LORD'S MIRACLES. One Volume, 12mo. Cloth. CUMMING'S LECTURES ON THE PARABLES. One Volume. 12mo. Cloth. CUMBIING'S PROPHETIC STUDIES; OR, LECTURES ON THE BOOK OP DANIEL. One Volume, 12mo. Cloth. CUMMING'S MINOR WORKS, First Series, One Volume, 12mo. Cloth. This Volume contains the following : THE FINGER OF GOD, CHRIST OUR PASSOVER, THE COMFORTER. Which are all bound and sold separately. Price 38 cents. CUMMING'S MINOR WORKS, Second Series, One Volume, 12mo. Cloth. This Volume contains the following : A MESSAGE FROM GOD, THE GREAT SACRIFICE, AND CHRIST RECEIVING SINNERS. Which are also bound and sold separately. Price 38 cents. The Rev. John dimming, D.D., is now the great pulpit orator of London, as Edward Irving was some twenty years sine*. But very different is the Doctor to that strange, wonderfully eloquent, but erratic man. There could not by possibility be a greater contrast. The one all fire, enthusiasm, and semi- madness; the other a man of chastened energy and convincing calmness. The one like a meteor, flashing across a troubled sky, and then vanishing suddenly in the darkness ; the other like a silver star, shining serenely, and illuminating our pathway with its steady ray. He is looked upon as the great champion of Protestantism in its purest form. His great work on the " Apocalypse," upon which his high reputation as a writer rests, having i- ready reached its fifteenth edition in England, while his " Lectures on the Miracles," and those on " Daniel," have passed through six editions of 1000 copies each, and his " Lectures on the Parables" ; through four editions, all within a comparatively short time. LECTURES ON THE SEYEN CHURCHES OF ASIA MINOR. BY THE REV. JOHN GUMMING, D.D. MINISTER OF THE SCOTCH NATIONAL CHURCH, AUTHOR OP LECTURES ON THE MIRACLES, PARABLES, DANIEL, ETC. ETC. " He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches." REV. iii. 22. v/J- PHILADELPHIA: LINDSAY AND BLAKISTON. 1854. TO THE EIGHT HONOURABLE tttal -r; THE COUNTESS OF DTJCIE. DEAR MADAM: My respect for your Ladyship will plead my best apology for dedicating to you these Lectures on the Seven Churches of Asia. You permitted me to associate your name with a previous work, and I am sure I have your forgiveness for again connecting so esteemed and respected a name with this volume. Aware of the practical character of your mind, and of your deeper sympathy with acknowledged evangelical truth and personal religion than with any interpretation, however valuable, or even with the study of unfulfilled prophecy, however obligatory, I seize the opportunity of dedicating to your Ladyship these Lectures, as a sincere, and it is hoped not unsuccessful attempt to show, that if the Apocalypse has solemn and mysterious depths which i* 5 6 DEDICATION. none can sound, but which all should study, it also presents unsealed springs of living water for the refreshment and direction of all that have ears to hear. Not a few of these Lectures you heard delivered from the pulpit: I hope their interest has not escaped by their being committed to the press. To your Ladyship and to your noble husband the schools and charities and missions of my Church are deeply in- debted. I can only thus publicly thank you, and pray that on you and yours that blessing may rest which makes poor men's homes happy, and without which noble homes can never know what true happiness is. I have the honour to be Your Ladyship's most Faithful and obliged Servant, THE AUTHOR. ADVERTISEMENT. THE present volume contains a practical view of the precious epistles addressed by Jesus the High Priest, who walks amid the golden candlesticks, to the Seven Churches of Asia. In these, as in all the Epistles of the New Testament, the local is made the pedestal on which shines afar the brightness of Catholic Christianity. The special Church is addressed as the representative of the whole Church. " He that hath ears to hear," appended to each epistle, is evidence of this. The Author hopes and prays that these Lectures may be even more useful in print, to such as may be pleased to read them, than they were as addressed from the pulpit to those who heard them. CONTENTS. LECTURE I. PAQB THE SEER ...Rev.i. 9-11 13 LECTURE II. JOHN IN PATMOS .Ecu. i. 9 29 LECTURE ILL THE EVERLASTING HIGH-PRIEST Rev. i. 12-18 44 LECTURE IV. THE SEVEN STABS AND SEVEN CANDLESTICKS Rev. i. 20. 69 LECTURE V. THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS HER EXCELLENCY Rev. ii. 1-3 77 LECTURE VI. FIRST LOVE LOST Rev. ii. 4. 94 LECTURE VII. THE DIVINE PRESCRIPTION Rev. ii. 6, 6 Ill LECTURE VIIL THE BATTLE OF LIFE Rev. ii. 7 125 9 10 CONTENTS. LECTURE IX. PAGE THE SOLDIERS or CHRIST Rev.ii.l 142 LECTURE X. TRIALS Rev. ii. 8, 9 163 LECTURE XI. CHRISTIAN COURAGE Rev. ii. 10 176 LECTURE XII. CHRISTIAN FAITHFULNESS Rev. ii. 10 193 LECTURE XIII. THE PROMISE Rev. ii. 11 211 LECTURE XIV. THE FAITHFUL MABTYR Rev. ii. 12, 18 228 LECTURE XV. UNFAITHFULNESS Rev. ii. 14, 15 243 LECTURE XVI. THE HIDDEN MANNA AND WHITE STONE Rev. ii. 17 258 LECTURE XVII. CHRISTIAN GRACES Rev. ii. 18, 19 271 LECTURE XVIII. CONSUMPTION o* BABYLON Rev. ii. 20 285 LECTURE XIX. THE BLOOD OF SAINTS IN ROME { jfcj' XYJJ? 24 } 306 CONTENTS. 11 > > ' . ^*H 'm LECTURE XX. PAQI SPIRITUAL DEATH Rev. iii. 1 332 LECTURE XXI. INSTANT DUTIES Rev. iii. 2 347 LECTURE XXIL THE WALK IN WHITE Rev. iii. 4..... 860 LECTURE XXIII. TRUE HONOUR AND RENOWN... Rev. Ui.5 373 LECTURE XXIV. THE KEY OF DAVID AND THE OPEN DOOR .Rev. in. 1, 8 386 LECTURE XXV. HOLD FAST Rev. iii. 11 398 LECTURE XXVI. GLORIOUS PROMISES ~....Rev. iii. 9, 10, 12, 13 409 LECTURE XXVII. POWER OVER THE NATIONS AND THE MORNING STAR Rev. ii. 26-29 423 LECTURE XXVIII. ENTHUSIASM Rev. iii. 14-16 434 LECTURE XXIX. DIVINE COUNSEL Rev. iii. 17, 18 448 LECTURE XXX. SOVEREIGN LOVE Rev. iii. 19 462 - 12 CONTENTS. LECTURE XXXT. UM CHASTISEMENT .Kev. ill. 19 471 LECTURE XXXII. THE APPEAL or LOVE ...................................... Rev. iii. 20 ........ 485 LECTURE COMMUNION ..................................................... Rev. iii. 20 ........ 600 LECTURE XXXIV. THE IMPORTANCE or THE INDIVIDUAL ................ Rev. iii. 21 .......... 514 LECTURE XXXV. THE LAST APPEAL ......................................... Rev. iii. 22 ...... 526 LECTUKES ON THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. LECTURE I. THE SEER. " I John, who also am your brother, and companion in" tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great roice, as of a trum- pet, 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." RET. i. 9-1 IT is my intention to lay before you plain and interesting sketches of sacred duties and responsibilities, as far as these can be gathered from the addresses of our Lord to the seven Churches of Asia. These addresses have little to do with what may gratify the taste of the cultivated, or please the imagination and excite the fancy of the intellectual ; but if defective in these claims to popular sympathy, they are calculated to do- much good to those who seek to know their duties and to understand how they shall best fulfil them, and to be made acquainted with their respon- sibilities as members of the visible Church, and living amid the means and ordinances of grace. Profit is not always set in plea- sure. If, therefore, you expect in my expositions of these Epistles to the seven Churches of Asia any flights or excursions calculated to gratify the curious, you will be disappointed ; but if you expect and pray that I may be able to submit to you new in. SER. 2 13 14 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. and fresher views of great obligations, lofty responsibilities, and to imprint upon your hearts a deeper sense of gratitude, then, 1 trust, you will not be disappointed I believe that the Spirit of God will bless what I say, to your good and to his glory. The epistles to these churches are really addressed to the Ca- tholic or Universal Church they are not prescriptions for a century, but for all succeeding ages duties not for a province, but duties for the world ; encouragements, promises, and precious truths, which, like the Author of all, are the same in the first and in the last century, and operative in all latitudes, in all lon- gitudes, in all climes ; fitted to man for yesterday, to-day, and for ever. In this my preliminary lecture, I intend to submit, what I trust will not be altogether unprofitable, some facts in the biography and character of him who is here named as the author of the Apocalypse. I have not done so before : I wish that every stage of our progress, in examining God's holy word, may be from light to light ; that all that is to be learned of God, his ways, and people, may be learned by us. I will therefore endeavour, as God may enable me, to fhrow some light upon the interesting biography of John, as far as that biography is unfolded to us, first in inspired, and next in eccle- siastical history. I need scarcely state, that all we read of John in the Bible is extremely meager. It is the unique and beautiful characteristic of the Bible, that the human fades away before the divine; the Apostle is lost in the splendour of the Apostle's Lord ; John is made to decrease, that the Saviour of John may increase more and more. It must surely strike every reader of the Bible, how completely and consistently throughout, the human is made subordinate to the divine ; so that the apostle, and the angel, and the evangelist, and the prophet, shine in a glory not their own, but borrowed from Him whose glories they were commissioned to reflect, and from whose Spirit they derived all their inspiration and their guidance. Faj: be it from me this evening to preach John as if he were the Saviour. We are told that we are to follow the apostles, but with limitations " as far as they followed Christ." The great example is Jesus ; sub- ordinate ones, in their place useful and beautiful ones, are the apor-tles and evangelists who preached him. Let us therefore THE SEER. 15 try if we can gather any thing that will instruct, and cheer, and help us in studying, as far as the Bible discovers it to us, the biography of John. It seems probable that he was born in Bethsaida, a small fish- ing village, and the same village of which Peter and Andrew and Philip were natives. There is something not accidental in this. Not a great metropolis was the birthplace of Christ the Lord ; and little hamlets, and obscure villages and fishing-towns were the birthplaces of those who were likest him, who were chosen by him, and whose names shall be heard while Christianity en- dures, and Christ is loved and known. This seems to be, in this respect, in keeping with all God's procedure : " He hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the mighty ; and things that are not to bring to naught the things that are." It seems that the Father of John was a fisherman ; his brother was James, his mother Salome. There is reason to believe that these were pious persons, and that in consistency with this they brought up John in the nurture and admonition of the Lord God of Israel. The name they gave him, John, which he himself here claims, " I John, who am your brother," is, literally translated, " the favour of God," or " favoured of God :" and when they gave that name, I doubt not they did so not without attaching any meaning to it ; they gave it as the expression of the higher good they desired, or of the conviction they felt that John was a bless- ing given them from God ; and probably from the first they an- ticipated that his life would show that his name was the symbol of reality and substance, and that he would indeed be favoured of God. In this world, names are mere empty sounds ; in the Bible, they are realities. We live very much in the realm of fiction ; the Bible speaks, and its true heroes act, in the realms of reality and truth. It appears that the employment of John, in common with his brothers, was that of a fisherman on the banks of the lake Gennesaret ; one can well conceive that such an employment is calculated, from the dangers to which it is al- ways exposed, to remind perpetually of Providence. All was obscure, and humble, and lowly, in the origin of John ; his parents fishermen, his birthplace a lowly village, and his own employment that of his parents. Nor is all this without in- 16 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. structive lessons to us and the church at large. It teaches us what we learn on every page of the Bible, that " not many great, not many mighty, not many noble are called ;" a passage, how- ever, I may here observe, some times misconstrued ; for it is quoted as if it taught that God does not call many great and noble to the knowledge and enjoyment of the gospel of Jesus j but this is not its direct lesson ; the apostle is speaking, not of converts to Christianity, but of ministers of the gospel, when he says that " God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to con- found the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound things which are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and thing which are not, to bring to naught things that are ; that no flesh should glory in his presence." When he says that not many of such great ones are " called," he means, not called to be ministers of the gospel, or preachers of the truth. Who knows but, in the obscure lanes and alleys of this great metropolis, where the only visitor of love is the pioneer of the ragged schools, and the only other is a visitor of law, the policeman, there may be concealed, in subterranean depths into which few except those I have re- ferred to, find their way or would follow in damp lanes and wretched dwellings some yet undeveloped John, or Peter, or Paul ; and we of this congregation may be the instruments, by the agency of our schools, of bringing forth from its concealment at least some bright and precious gem, that shall have engraven on it the name, and reflect on earth and throughout eternity the lustre of Him who loved us and redeemed us by his blood ! One day, John the fisherman, the son of Zebedee, heard a voice by the banks of the Jordan, which roused, interested, and enlisted him it was the voice of John the Baptist, who is thus described by the evangelist himself: " There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that light, but he was sent to bear witness of that light." The seer saw this John baptizing, and heard him con- fessing that " he was not the Christ, but that His shoe's latchet he was unworthy to loose." But he heard from him a still more touching and beautiful cry, "Behold the Lamb of God, that THE SEER. 17 taketh away the sins of the world." Two disciples heard the Baptist on this occasion, as we are informed in John's Gospel, (chap. i. 37,) and followed Jesus : one of these two was no doubt the evangelist himself; and in so doing they give us a beautiful and instructive example. John and Andrew heard the Baptist preach, but they did not follow the Baptist they "followed Jesus." It should be so with us ; we ought to hear the minister preach, but we must rise above the minister, and rest only on the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world. It is a very interesting fact, too, that as John was converted by hearing Christ preached as the Lamb, so John is the Evangelist who, whether in his gospel or in the Apocalypse, brings forward Christ most frequently as the Lamb "Behold the Lamb of God I" and again in the Apocalypse he represents him as a " Lamb seated on his throne ;" as if the first view of Christ pre- sented to his mind were the view that was permanently before him in all its touching beauty and glory, and evermore most in- teresting to his heart. John was not made an apostle as soon as he was converted ; he was left to show his consistency as a pri- vate Christian first ; and, having illustrated and adorned the humbler office by his life, he was chosen to be a disciple, and subsequently to be an apostle ; he acted the Christian well, and then was admitted to the ministry ; he showed the consistency of the humble believer, and then he was consecrated to the dignity of the disciple of the Lord. John and James were in their boat, on the shores of their native lake, or sea as it is called, mending their nets, when Jesus passed by and said, " Follow me ;" and the record is, " straight- way they left their nets, and followed Jesus." There was power in those words; they awakened echoes in the heart of the apostle ; and he bore witness to Christ's truth, as not in word only but also in power. He became from that moment, we read, a disciple of Jesus, but he was not yet raised to be an apostle of Jesus. The distinction is this : the disciples were simply listeners to the teaching, and imitators of the example of Jesus ; and it was only after they had served the apprenticeship of dis- ciples, (if I may use the word,) that they were raised to the dignity of the apostleship. 2* 18 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. We next find the appointment, or designation, or ordination of John, recorded in the Gospel of Mark, where we have these words : " And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would, and they came unto him. And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out devils. And Simon he surnamed Peter ; and James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James, he sur- named them Boanerges, which is, " sons of thunder." It seems a rather remarkable fact, that the most momentous scenes in the history of God's intercourse with man have taken place upon mountain-tops. The ark rested upon the loftiest pinnacle of Ararat ; the trial of Abraham's faith took place upon the heights of Moriah ; the law was given from Sinai ; the blessing was at- tached to Gerizzim, and the curse Jo Mount Ebal; the temple was raised on Mount Zion ; Jesus preached from a mountain as his favourite pulpit ; he consecrated the apostles upon a mountain- top ; he himself was crucified on a mountain ; he rose to the skies from Mount Olivet : and thus, the most remarkable events in the history of the past all took place upon mountain-tops. Whether it is that those who were more immediately concerned were raised above the din and stir of the world below, and brought, as it were, into more silent and complete communion with God or whether it was a symbolical act, we know not. Certainly there is something elevating and ennobling when one stands upon a mountain-top, and, lifted above all the bustle and stir of the world below, sees God's great earth beneath, and God's over-arching sky above ; and forms, as it were, some conception of the grandeur and magnificence of Him who is enthroned upon the riches of the universe. We read in this account of the con- secration of the apostles, that John and James were called Boa- nerges, the translation of which is given, viz., " the sons of thunder." We have been accustomed to view John as character- ized by mildness and love exclusively ; and we cannot well con- ceive, at first sight, why he was called by a name " the son of thunder" that seems the very antithesis of his character j and yet it may be that it was not nature that made the spirit of John so beautiful and calm, but the grace of God that so subdued and THE SEER. 19 softened it. We read that on one occasion John showed a spirit incompatible with the spirit of the Christian : he himself states, " Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name ; and we for- bade him, because he followeth not with us." Here was developed the spirit of the most exclusive sectarianism ; " He does not take our form, he does not wear our name, or pronounce our Shib- boleth, or conform to our ecclesiastical regime ; we cannot excuse his doing the greatest good, because he does not do it in our way." This is the spirit of a bigot, and the very air and odour of the inquisitor. Yet such a spirit was in John : grace extir- pated it, but originally it was there. But this last was not the only occasion on which John exhibited a spirit equally unchristian. It was he who said, " Wilt thou that we command fire from heaven to consume them, as Elias did ?" Here was a budding Hildebrand in the college of the apostles. Popery is not a thing peculiar to Trent or to the Tiber ; it is no exotic, it is indigenous to human nature. The corrupt heart is its congenial soil. It is not a stock that needs to be nurtured with care, and that will perish if left alone ; it is a weed, that grows and flourishes spontaneously in human nature ; and human nature, on which we sometimes hear so eloquent panegyrics, if left to itself, would develop all the sectarianism of the first incident I have shown, and break out into the proscription and the angry persecution indicated in the second. We conclude, therefore, that while there may be much that was excellent and beautiful in the constitutional character of John, he was indebted rather to grace than to nature for all by which he is characterized and most remembered in the Chris- tian church. Nor did John himself Ever fail to recollect the passion he had shown, and the rashness with which he had spoken ; for it is he who thus writes, and writes from the depths of his own experience, " If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us ; but if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. One feature we find peculiar to the character of John one which he assumes for himself, and a very beautiful one it is " the disciple whom Jesus loved." He calls himself by this name throughout the Gospel ; and in this he exhibits a trait very diffe- 20 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. rent from either of those to which I have just alluded. He does not say, "the disciple that loved the Lord," for there might have been there an assumption of distinction or merit, and su- periority to the rest; but he says, "the disciple whom Jesus loved," thus showing that it was the grace of Jesus, not the merit of John, that was prominent in his holy and enlightened mind. But his character makes it evident, that whoever is loved of God, and feels that it is so, is just the man that will love God most ardently and enthusiastically in return. John showed this ; he seems to have felt most deeply the love that Christ bore to him, and he seems to have responded most heartily in love to Jesus in return a love alike human and divine ; for we find him lingering near the cross to the very last, and, by the appoint- ment of Jesus, taking charge of a mother who felt all the bitter- ness of one who had lost her nearest and her dearest son. Throughout all the writings of John, he gives evidence of his in- tense love, and adoration, and study of Jesus. His Gospel abounds with proofs of watching most minutely every trait and feature, and drinking in every word, of Jesus. We are told that he was the disciple who learned upon Jesus' bosom ; and he seems to have been the disciple that drank deepest into the spirit, and un- veiled the greatest portion of the inner experience of his Lord, in the precious Gospel of which he is the author. Nor can we fail to notice this in the marked contrast observable between his Gospel and those of the other evangelists. In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we have all the miracles of Jesus re- corded ; in the Gospel of John we have fewer of the miracles, and vastly more of tHe discourses and the prayers of Jesus. The three first evangelists seem, if I may so speak, to have been dazzled by the splendour of the presence of omnipotent power ; the last evangelist seems to have been riveted by the manifestation of disinterested love, ^nd by the beauty, the condescension, the wisdom, and other heavenly graces, of which Jesus was the em- bodiment. The first seems to have recorded that which struck their senses with the greatest awe ; the last seems to have re corded that which touched his heart with the most responsiv6 love. John was one of the three special friends that Jesus seems to have been most frequently with. It appears that Jesus had, j. THE SEER. 21 if I may use the word and use it with, the profoundest reverence hia private friendship, for he was the human as truly as the divine. Certainly it appears upon the face of the narrative, that John and James and Peter were specially selected by Jesus to be his more immediate friends to whom he showed more love, but for whom he did not suffer more. One of them is called " the disciple whom Jesus loved " and the three are seen in more pri- vate and personal intercourse with the Lord, and they appear prominent in almost every great event in the history of the Saviour. These three Peter, James, and John are seen upon the mount of transfiguration, where they obtained a view and in- sight into the heavenly state, which Christ graciously vouchsafed to them alone, to be an earnest or prelibation of that glory for which they were candidates ; and we may notice that, lest they should be too elated by the splendour of the scene they witnessed upon Tabor, these same three are introduced to the sorrowful and painful spectacle which they beheld in Grethsemane ; and so true was the sacred penman to his duties and responsibilities, that John, who writes the narrative, records his and their shame, by stating that Jesus came and found them sleeping, and mildly and gently rebuked them for it. We find, too, John present with Jesus before Caiphas and Pilate and Herod. We find him following his Lord to Calvary, and weeping amid the spectators of that awful and yet glorious tragedy. John alone has preserved the last words that were uttered by the Lord of glory those me- morable ones "It is finished." At the resurrection, John makes his appearance again. We read that Mary ran to " Peter and John," selecting those two as what I may call the favoured disciples and told them that the body of Jesus was wanting; she said this with sorrow and with lamentation, not knowing that Christ was to rise from the dead ; and when they heard the news, their conduct developed a rather interesting trait. " Peter there- fore went forth, and that other disciple," i. e. John, "to the sepulchre ; so they ran both together, and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre ?' thus teaching us that Peter was an old man, and John a youth, and full of elas- ticity and vigour; Peter the most rash and enthusiastic, and therefore running as fast as he could, and yet John outstripping 22 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. him in the holy race, because younger, to see what had hecome of their beloved Lord. But when they arrived at the tomb, the old man's boldness contrasts with the young man's timidity, for while John drew back, as afraid, Peter went in first and alone. Indeed, we may observe that Simon Peter, wherever his physical strength was sufficient to be the vehicle of his inner enthusiasm, was always first. It is added, " Then went in also that other dis- ciple which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw and believed." I doubt not that John did not think that Christ was stolen by thieves, as some seemed to imagine, and the women then thought, but " believed" that he had " risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept." After the resurrection, we find Jesus appearing specially to John and Peter; and John interposing to correct the false tradition that began to circulate respecting his own future destiny upon earth. " Peter, seeing John, saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do ? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee ? Follow thou me. Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die ; yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die ; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee ?" In all these transactions, John refrains from mentioning his own name ; he arrogates no glory ; there is not even the aspect of egotism in his Gospel. He is willing that he should be the unknown dis- ciple, if his Master may be made thereby more fully and clearly known. We learn from this passage, too, that tradition is very often not true ; and that it is not, therefore, to be relied upon as the rule of faith, or an infallible, or even useful, exponent of it. After this, John seems to disappear from the stage of the sacred narrative, with very few exceptions, and to remain at Je- rusalem ; where, according to ancient history, he continued for fifteen years, ministering to the wants of Mary and the neces- sities of the Christians there. We next find Peter and John raising up a lame man at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, " who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked an alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him, with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold M THE SEER. 23 have I none, but such as I have give I thee ; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." Afterward we read that, when they were accused of doing wrong, Peter and John awed even their accusers by their boldness ; for, " When they saw the boldness of Peter and John, they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus." You will notice one very remarkable trait in the character of these two apostles. Throughout five or six chapters we find Peter and John together, but Peter always the eloquent spokesman, John always the silent witness for the truth ; and willing that Peter should have all the 6dat of the orator, if such were worth having and that he should shine simply as an example and proof to mankind not by the excellence of his speech, but by the. quiet beauty of his life that he had been with Jesus, and had been transformed into his likeness. How interesting and instructive is this fact ! John had no envy or jealousy of Peter : he felt that Peter had the gift of speech, and that he had it not ; he was contented to be dumb because it was for the glory of God, just as Peter rejoiced to preach because it was, not more, but equally so. What should ministers of the gospel learn from this ? Let him that has great gifts be thankful, and use them ; let him who has fewer, be not jealous or envious, but submissive; and let both recollect that they are responsible, not for what they have not, but for what they have ; and that what they have is not their own, but a talent given them from the great Master, to be restored to him with increase. The next occasion on which John appears, is at the synod, con- vention, convocation, or general assembly of the Church at Je- rusalem. We read, in Acts, of the presence of certain of the apostles on that occasion, but John's name is not mentioned; and we only discover that John was present by an allusion of Paul in the Epistle to the Galatians : " When James, Peter, and John perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right-hand of fellowship." After this the name of John disappears from the sacred page, except in his own writings ; he mentions it only in the introduc- tion to the Apocalypse, on which I am now commenting; and, as the scripture begins with God in Genesis, it ends with Christ in 24 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. the Apocalypse, and so fulfils the dying cry of the martyr of old ; " None but Jesus." After the destruction of Jerusalem, about the end, as is sup- posed, of Nero's reign, i. e. A. D. 66, Paul and Peter suffered martyrdom ; but John was spared, and was the only apostle, we have reason to suppose, who survived the destruction of Jeru- salem. "We are told in ecclesiastical, not inspired history, that after this he went to Ephesus, one of the most celebrated cities of Asia Minor, to the Church of which he was the amanuensis of one of the epistles on which I am commenting, and laboured round about that place with great zeal and energy and self- sacrifice ; and it is believed that it was here that he composed, or rather revised, his Gospel, which was written while the errors of the Ebeonites a sect that denied the deity of Christ were abounding, and with special reference to the confutation of those errors. Uninspired history records some particulars respecting the character of John, partly, no doubt, true, and partly apo- cryphal. It is recorded that he repeatedly drank cups of poison, and was not harmed ; thereby fulfilling the promise of the Lord, "If ye shall drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt you." Another statement contained in one of the Fathers is, that he pulled down the temple of Diana with his own hand. This is evidently a coarse version of a great moral occurrence ; it was the preaching of John, the wielding of " weapons not carnal, but mighty through God," that caused the downfall of that temple, and the destruction of thousands of others, of which a pagan writer testifies when he says that this religion spread throughout the Roman world, and wherever it prevailed the temples of the gods were utterly deserted. When John was at Ephesus, his two most intimate companions were Ignatius and Polycarp. They were personal friends and acquaintances of John, and there are frequent allusions in the writings of the Fathers to the fact that these two had conversed with John, and seen him in the flesh. Ignatius was thrown to the wild beasts at Rome and destroyed, saying, with his dying breath, " I am the seed-corn that must thus be ground to powder, that it may rise again into a harvest of glory." And Polycarp, who is supposed to have been one of the angels of the Churches THE SEER. 25 whom John addresses, at the age of maty-two was burned amid the flames for refusing to worship the image of the emperor, or to regard that image as worthy of religious honour. There is a curious incident, whether true or not I cannot say, alluded to by more than one of the Fathers, that John was in the habit of amusing himself, when very old, with a partridge which he had tamed. One day, it is related, a huntsman, who was a professor of the gospel, came to John with his bow and arrows on his shoulder, and laughed at so great and venerable a man finding amusement in such a manner. John replied by asking the huntsman why he did not always keep his bow bent; and the answer was, because the string would be weakened, and the bow lose its elasticity. John answered, " That explains the reason of my amusing myself 'here ; the bow must not always be on the stretch the string must not be always under its severest tension." We read that just before his departure, John went into the congregation or assembly of the Christian Church at Ephesus, supported by two young men who had been converted to the knowledge of the gospel, and being unable to preach to the audience, or to address them so as to be heard, he was just able to give his dying testimony in these words : " Little children, love one another." These were the last words that John uttered upon earth the short but emphatic sermon that he preached with his dying breath. It is evident that John wrote the Apocalypse in Patmos, and to that point I will turn your attention next evening. There is no doubt that John wrote the Apocalypse. Disputes were intro- duced into the Church upon this subject at a very late period of the Christian era, about the third or fourth century, when some of the doctrines contained in it came to be disputed j but all an- cient testimony is unanimous on this point, that John, the evan- gelist and author of the three epistles that bear his name, wrote the Apocalypse, and that he did so by the inspiration of the Spirit of God. Irenaeus, whose name means, as you are aware, 11 the Peaceful," and whose writings are full of exhortations to forbearance and love and peace, was born A. D. 107, or, as is supposed by others, A. D. 97, which would be one year after the date of the Apocalypse itself, has these words : "I can tell the 3 26 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. place in which the venerable Polycarp sat and taught, and his going out and his coming in, and the manner of his life, and the form of his presence, and the discourses that he made to the people, and how he related his conversations with John and others who had seen the Lord Jesus, and how he related the say- ings of John, and what he had heard from him concerning the Lord, his miracles and doctrine all which he related according to the scriptures." There are expressions common to the Gospel and the Apoca- lypse which bear out the assertion that John was the author of this book, even if we had not the evidence we have, and the ex- press declaration of John himself to that effect. For instance, in the Apocalypse we have such expressions as " the Word of God," i.e. Christ; in the Gospel, "In the beginning was the Word." In the Apocalypse, Christ is frequently represented under the figure of a Lamb ; in the Gospel we read, " Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world !" In the Apoca- lypse, "He that is faithful, he that is true;" in the Gospel, Christ is called " the Truth," " full of Truth ;" and in the Epistle again, " He that is true ;" and other peculiarities of expression that indicate the same authorship in the one as in the other. In the Apocalypse we are told, " They also that pierced him shall wail because of him," and John is the only evangelist who refers specially to the fulfilment of that prophecy in his Gospel " They shall look on him whom they have pierced." All these are little points that indicate that both the writings are the production of the same pen. We have one witness in primitive days to the fact of St. John being the author of the Apocalypse, namely, Justin Martyr, who was born in the year 105, and who wrote a dialogue with Trypho the Jew, about A. B. 140 ; he says, " A man whose name was John, one of the apostles of Christ, in the Re- velation that was made to him." I quote these simply as spe- cimens of proof, and not full evidence, which might easily be given, that John was the author of the Apocalypse. And now, in concluding this short and necessarily imperfect sketch of the biography of one who introduces himself in the commencement of this book as its author, let me add, that the very meagerness of the biography which I have laid before you A THE SEER. 27 is evidence of that great truth which pervades all scripture, that the apostles were contented to be nothing, that Christ might be all. They cared not how brief their biography was, if Christ's was so full. They cared not that their names should be lost in silence, if the name of Jesus should only multiply its echoes "from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth." Let us imitate their example ; let us pray that we may imbibe their spirit, that there may be less in our hearts of human am- bition, that there may be more, in all we say and do, of desire that Christ may be all and in all. Let me notice, in the next place, that we have here the clearest disclosure of the most mysterious truths being made to that apostle who was characterised by the greatest love. Truth is only mighty when it is associated with love. Truth uttered by the lips of one whose heart is in the gall of bitterness may exasperate, but it will rarely sanctify; but when truth is the weapon, and love is the hand that wields it -when the truth is spoken not for victory, but from love to him that is ignorant of it then it is mighty in- deed. And so does Christ honour that love that he says, " If any man love me he shall be loved of my Father, and we will come in unto him, and make our abode with him." The pen of love wrote the Apocalypse ; the heart of love will best decipher the Apocalypse. Love to God, and love to all that name the name of Christ, is one great means of being admitted into the secret place of the Most High, and receiving the knowledge that is denied to others. In the next place, let me notice that John, through all his writings, dwells most prominently of all the evangelists and writers of the New Testament, on the Deity of our blessed Lord. His Gospel seems written especially to illustrate it ; his Apoca- lypse is pervaded by frequent allusions to it. The Gospel of St. Matthew was chiefly to demonstrate the humanity of Jesus; the Gospel of St. John seems to have been written especially to un- fold the Deity of Jesus ; and thus the four Gospels together, like the whole Bible itself, present a perfect Apocalypse of the cha- racter of the Son of God. Let me add one feature more. Whoever was evangelist, the Spirit was the Teacher ; whatever was the form or the size of the 28 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. trumpet, it was the breath of God that sounded through it. All the peculiarities of Matthew, of Mark, of Luke, of John, of Peter, and of Paul, are retained, and may be traced and con- trasted in reading their works, and yet they all spoke and wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Some have said, that if the Bible had been written as a beautiful essay, it would have been far more satisfactory to the minds of the educated, and no less instructive to the unenlightened. I think not. It would have been a dull book and a dry book ; it would have made a far feebler impression upon the hearts of the bulk of mankind. But by using men of every cast and turn of mind and thought, and pouring through these, as channels, the truth of God by not destroying John, but inspiring him ; by not extinguishing Peter, but speaking through him we have God's truth in all the various idiosyncrasies of men in all the formulas of human speech ; the same in nature, and distinguished by manifestation only ; so that there is no peculiarity of taste, of temperament or talent or character, that will not find something in the word of God suited to it, and calculated to instruct the soul of him that reads it. Let us bless God for the Bible, then, as it is. Be assured, that the more you study it, the more you will love it ; and they that know that book best will have the deepest and most indelible im- pression that God is its Author, and truth is its matter, and eternal joy its issue. LECTURE II. p. JOHN IN PATHOS. " I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ." REV. i. 9. I MUST in this lecture continue the introductory remarks which I made last Lord's-day evening, on the peculiar position of him who was selected by the Spirit of God to be the seer of things that were, and the inspired prophet of things that were to come. On looking at the words which I have read, and at the era in which these words were recorded, I see two great kingdoms coming into collision, then prominent upon the stage of the world, and destined to throw up in that collision remarkable and start- ling aspects. The one kingdom was then in almost its meridian power, splendour, influence, and greatness; the last of the Cassars, named Domitian, was its head. The other kingdom, in contrast to this, was then almost in its cradle ; the last of the apostles, John, was its preacher, and its Sovereign was in the skies, and on the throne of his glory. These two kingdoms were present to the mind of John throughout this remarkable prophecy. The one had all the powers of Caesar at its back the other felt em- bosomed in the promises of Christ. John was banished to Patmos for this crime " the testimony of Jesus and the confession of his name." We are assured by contemporaneous writers, as well as records that have survived the age in which the Apocalypse was written, that to preach a religion new to the Roman empire was a crime branded by the name and chargeable with the guilt of sedition ; and those who were thus guilty of preaching a new religion were sent to solitary and deserted places of banishment under the scepter of Cassar. Among the rest John was banished to the isle of Patmos, where 3* 29 30 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. he was obliged, at the age of ninety, to work in the mines and quarries for the profit of Caesar, and as a punishment for the crime of which he was denounced as guilty. At this period John must have reached the age of ninety ; and to be condemned to labour in the mines, or to excavate in the quarries of Patmos, under a heathen taskmaster, at such an age, was surely no slight punish- ment ; and if John had not been sustained by bright hopes that spanned the chasm that lay between him and his home if he had not had within him compensatory joys which Caesar could not give, and which all the cruelty of Caesar cut not crush he had perished in the midst of his punishment, and, humanly speaking, the bright visions of the Apocalypse had been reserved for another seer to reflect on the church and on the world. In order to give you some idea of Patmos, now called Patimo or Patmosa, I have borrowed two or three descriptions of it ; one of the most interesting is that given by the Rev. Hardwell Home, in his " Landscape Illustrations of the Bible," a work containing sketches of the principal places alluded to in the scriptures ; he says : " Patmos, now called Patimo or Patmosa, is a small island in the Egean Sea, between twenty-five and thirty miles in cir- cumference. Its aspect is forbidding and cheerless, and the shores are in most places steep and precipitate. The Romans used this barren spot as a place of exile ; hither the Apostle John was sent for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus ; and here he wrote the Apocalypse or Revelation which bears his name." This, I believe, is a mistake ; the Apocalypse was written after he had escaped from, or was permitted to leave, the isle of Patmos. It is not known how long his banishment con- tinued ; but it is generally supposed that he was released upon the death of Domitian, which happened A. D. 96, when he retired to Ephesus. The acropolis or citadel of ancient Patmos was discovered in February, 18 17, by the Rev. Mr. Whittington, on the summit of a hill which rises precisely on the narrow isthmus that unites the two divisions of the island, and separates the principal harbour from Port Merica. After some research he discovered very considerable remains of a large fortress. This rock or hill is not so lofty as that on which the modern town and monastery are built ; but its singular situation between two ports render it JOHN IN PATMOS. 31 even more commanding. These remains lie on the northern side of the hill, and from the nature of the ground, the fortress must have formed an irregular triangle. The wall appears to have been seven feet thick, and the towers measure fourteen feet in front. The surface of the soil in its neighbourhood is much heaped with piles of ruins, and the whole area is thickly strewn with fragments of ancient pottery. This island is described by Mr. Emerson (who visited it a few years since) as having every appearance of being of volcanic origin, and consisting of a rugged rock, with a sprinkling of soil, and a slight covering of verdure, which, with the sterility of the earth and the baking heat of the sun, is so crisp as almost to crumble in the hand. Here are very numerous churches, many of which are opened only on the anniversary festival of the saints to whom they are respectively dedicated. The modern town of Patmos, which is the only one on the island, and the monastery of St. John, crown the summit of the hill, about three-quarters of an hour's walk from the seashore, and which commands a very extensive prospect over the surrounding islands. The mo- nastery consists of a number of towers and bastions, having much more the air of a military than a monastic edifice. It is said to have been erected by St. Christodoulos, in honour of the Apostle John, and under the auspices of the Byzantine emperor, Alexis Comnenes, in the year 1117, in order to serve at once as a resi- dence for the brethren of St. John, and as a protection to the inhabitants against the incursions of pirates. It now contains accommodation for a numerous society of monks, who are under the protection of the bishop of Samos. By the special permis- sion of the Grand Mufti of Constantinople, they enjoy the rare privilege of a bell to summon the brethren to their devotions, while all the other religious foundations in the East the mo- nastery on Mount Athos not excepted are forced to convene their inmates to prayers by the striking a hammer against a crooked bar of iron. This much-envied privilege of the monks at Patmos is ascribed to the high veneration in which the Turks are said to hold the memory of St. John. Like most of the other Greek churches, the church belonging to the monastery is gaudy, without either taste or elegance. But the vestibule and the in- 32 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. terior are painted with semi-Chinese heads of Christ and the apostles, and the Parragia, or Virgin Mary, appears in every corner. The library of the monks contains a few printed books, chiefly the works of the Greek fathers, and also a considerable number of manuscripts, which seem to have been assorted and preserved with care. The hermitage of St. John lies about mid- way between the beach and the convent; it is approached by a rugged pathway, one side of which encloses, or rather is formed by the sacred cave in which the evangelist wrote his Revelation. Before the erection, according to Mr. Emerson, it must have been rather an exposed situation, as it is pierced but a very slight way into the rock ; and as the monks carry on a very pro- fitable traffic by disposing of pieces of the stone for the cure of diseases, a great portion of the present excavation may be attri- buted to their industry. Two chinks in the rock above are pointed out as apertures through which St. John received the divine communications. They are deemed to be incomparably sacred, and in point of sanctity are second only to the holy se- pulchre at Jerusalem. The inhabitants of Patmos are about 4000 in number, and their appearance is perfectly consonant to the barren aspect of the island : the men being clothed in dirty cotton rags, and the women (who are handsome) being literally bundles of filth ! Such is the description of Patmos, the scene of the exile of St. John, as it has been given by modern travellers. The present inhabitants of Patmos seem to have some perception at least of the claims of Christianity; but in the days of St. John it is supposed there was not a single Christian in the isle to associate with him, or to fulfil the condition of the promise, " Where two or three are met together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." But one rejoices to know, that when there is no visible assembly of the saints of God, there is a chancel the holiest one in the universe the chancel of a regenerated heart in which Christ delights to dwell, and which he consecrates by his presence, and from which he receives the acceptable worship while he pours down his benediction on the worshipper ; teaching us that wheresoever there is a Christian there Christ is. In the dark and dreary crypts in which the martyrs have pined, in the JOHN IN PATMOS. 33 MannneTtine prison at Rome in which the apostles are said to have been imprisoned, in dens and caves of the earth, on barren moors, upon the ocean's bosom wheresoever there is a child of God, there the Lord of glory delights to be present, to comfort, to strengthen, and to sustain him. John, placed in this isle, you may easily conceive, must have had, during and after his toils, many interesting reflections. Let me suppose that he looked, in the first place, around him; he there saw on every side a desert isle, the type of a world that sin had polluted by its touch, and yet the norm of a world that he who came to redeem it shall retrieve and remake. In that barren isle John could hear the echoes of that voice which said, " Be- hold, I make alHhings new," and could see reflected in it, by the eye of unfainting hope and firm faith, all the splendours and glories of the New-Jerusalem ; and the recollection that he had a franchise that admitted him to be a citizen of the Jerusalem above, compensated him for the pain and punishment felt in being an exile from the cities and the sway of the sceptre of the rulers of this world. Are any of you oppressed and broken down by a thraldom that is only exceeded by the drudgery of John in the mines of Patmos ? in John you have a companion in tribulation. There are subterranean mines in London, cellars below shops, which have been described to me, in which the young men many of them my countrymen are doomed, not by Domitian, who had some mercy in his composition, but by mammon, who has none, or by his slaves, who perhaps call themselves Chris- tians to drudge and toil and die. If I address any such tlrs evening, I say, use the means of amelioration if they are within your reach, and wherever there is a Christian you will have one that sympathizes with you ; but when that amelioration cannot be, try and draw into that subterranean scene of drudgery and toil bright visions of that better city in which there shall be no sin, and therefore no sorrow, but where all are free, and holy, and happy forever. We can easily believe that John not only looked around him, but that he also took a retrospect of the past. Situated in Pat- mos, he may have recollected sixty years before, when Jesus rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and took his seat at his 34 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. Father's right hand. John recollected that touching scene when he rose from the Mount of Olives, and a cloud received him out of sight ; and he may have recollected the voice that came from the cloud, " Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye here gazing up into heaven ? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." John also recollected the prophecy of our Lord, recorded in Matthew xxiv., and he saw that prophecy in all the terrible results of its performance to the very letter. John had seen the Roman eagle spread its wings where the cherubim were ; he had beheld the firebrands of Caesar's soldiers blazing amid the carved work of the sanctuary of God ; he had viewed the slaughter of the Jews so great that the streets ran with their blood ; and he had seen the refugees who escaped from Jerusalem dispersed and scattered through every land evidences to heaven and earth of the faithfulness of the promises and the reality of the threats of God. John, too, had seen the arch raised by Vespasian to commemorate the destruction of the Jews, and the remains of which are to be seen to this day, on which is repre- sented the shewbread and the seven candlesticks. He had seen also the coins that were struck, some of which are still preserved in the collections of numismatologists, on which Judah is repre- sented seated under a palm-tree, weeping, with these words written beneath : " Sudea Capta" struck to commemorate the destruction of Jerusalem. And thus the very wrecks of Jeru- salem reveal the record, " Thy word is truth ;" and the paeans and shouts of victory raised by Caesar's soldiers announced that Jesus was the Messiah. All this John had witnessed, but from the midst of it he saw issuing a new and glorious power, despised by the great and the wise of mankind, which was destined to transform the world by its touch, to prevail against the craft of Satan, against the wiles of statesmen, against the wisdom of philosophy, against the policy of princes, against the power of Roman eloquence, and not to rest in its progress till the king- doms of this world shall have become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ. John saw this mighty principle the Gospel of Truth prevailing in various lands, erecting churches in Thessa- lonica, in Berea, in Athens, in Derbe, in Antioch, in Jerusalem, JOHN IN PATMOS. 35 in Syria, in Galatia, in Ephesus; leavening all classes with its principles, and snatching trophies from Caesar's household, and the vine that was sown in Jerusalem beginning to twine its tendrils around the sceptre and add new beauty and new glory to the diadem of all the Caesars. John saw that " mustard-tree," a sapling that was destined to grow and spread till it over- shadowed the whole earth ; and that spring from the Rock wLich was to prove a mighty stream, and to go forth and water every region of the world, till it merged in the everlasting and glorious main. John saw, too, what he must have regarded with great grief, intermingling tares of error and of superstition blending with Christian truth; heathen ceremonies grafted upon the sim- plicity of Christian worship; the humble fishermen of Galilee hoping to be the lords, and labouring to become the despots of the world ; dark shadows settling on that clear horizon ; weeds bursting into vitality and mingling with that auspicious field ; a small cloud, " like a man's hand/' spreading and expanding till it threatened to cover the whole canopy of heaven ; and the seed of that upas-tree sown, under whose baneful influence all have perished that have placed themselves beneath it, and the con- sumption and destruction of which has been the desire and the prayer of, as it has been the promise given to, all the people of God. Thus then John looked upon the past, and he saw the fulfil- ment of God's threatenings in the destruction of Jerusalem. He looked around at the present, and saw the spread of the gospel of Jesus ; he looked into the future, and saw looming into view that dark superstition which Paul described when he said, " The mystery of iniquity doth already work." After having thus then looked at the position of John, and at what one may suppose to have been John's views and feelings, let me explain what is meant by the phraseology here employed, " I teas in the Spirit on the Lord's day." I conceive that this means simply, " I was under the influence and special direction of the Spirit of God." Thus in the Gospel of Mark we read of one " who had an un- clean spirit ;" but in the original it is " in an unclean spirit," plainly showing that the expression " in an unclean spirit" is equivalent to being under the influence of an unclean spirit ; and 36 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. the parallel expression in the Apocalypse, " I was in the Spirit," plainly signifies, " I was under the influence of the Holy Spirit of God." I do not think, therefore, that such explanations as have been given by some commentators are correct, that John was in a trance, or an ecstasy, however well meant these expositions may be. As far as the word ecstasy means " being out of self," it rnay be properly used, for John was in the Spirit, and, in that sense, not in himself; he was under the special inspiration and guidance of the Spirit of God. Scenes too bright to be borne by man, prospects of grandeur and beauty which man could not foresee, shadows which man dared not forebode, were all to be un- folded and made conspicuous to the mind of John, and it needed that supernatural unction to enable and prepare him to behold and bear supernatural scenes. John was " in the Spirit" on a spe- cial day " on the Lord's day." I wish to allude to this circum- stance particularly, because it is evidence of a great truth that some are disposed to deny, that the Sabbath was observed by apostolic precept and apostolic example, not upon the seventh but upon the first day of the week. The word occurs in several pas- sages of the New Testament. The change began as early as the day of Pentecost, when we read that the apostles were met together " on the first day of the week," and the Spirit of God was poured out upon them. We find it mentioned that the dis- ciples met together on the first day of the week " to break bread," i. e. to communicate. Again, we have Paul incidentally telling the Corinthians to lay aside, or make their collections for the poor on " the first day of the week," language which implies that it was a well known day, disputed by none, but observed and hallowed by all. So we read here in the very commencement of the Apocalypse, " I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day," mean- ing that day which was consecrated to the worship and service especially of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is alleged, however, that the fourth commandment makes the seventh day obligatory. I answer, it makes obligatory two things, the moral part, or a seventh portion of our time ; the ceremonial part, or a recurring seventh day on which to hallow that seventh portion of time. What is moral is permanent as the stars; what is ceremonial is changeable as the clouds that pass over them. The moral part JOHN IN PATMOS. 37 of that commandment may be observed in every country, age, and clime ; the ceremonial part cannot be observed precisely at the same moment in every part of the globe. For instance, our Sunday here is not Sunday at the antipodes. The farther east you go the earlier the day begins ; so that persons who are not noting very carefully the chronology, and making allowance for change of longitude, will in sailing from the antipodes lose a day, or miscalculate the days of the week. It is plain, therefore, that if the seventh day was obligatory, that day which was the seventh to the Jew could not be that period which would be the seventh day to the inhabitant of the other side of the globe. But the kingdom of God is not meat, nor drink, nor ceremony, but right- eousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." The moral part of the commandment therefore, requiring a seventh portion of our time, is obligatory everywhere ; the ceremonial part is to be fixed by apostolic precedent, or by the exact and indisputable prescription of God. We find that immediately after the resur- rection of Jesus, converts from the Jewish religion observed both the Saturday and the Sunday, though the Gentile converts una- nimously observed only the first day of the week. Let me quote from the earliest Christian writers one or two short illus- trations of this. I do not quote the Fathers as a Tractarian would quote them, as if they formed part of our rule of faith, or as if their expositions of the Bible were equal to those even of a Matthew Henry, a Scott, a Barnes, or any other intelligent commentator. The fact is, we can quote from the Fathers sen- timents and explanations contradictory of each other. As ex- positors of the Scripture they are excedingly imperfect ; as wit- nesses of facts their testimony is most invaluable. We care not whether it be Julian the Apostate, or Porphyry, or Justin Martyr that witnesses to a fact ; we accept the fact on competent testi- mony. We reject for several reasons their expositions of the Scripture. Justin Martyr, who wrote forty years after John, but who was born before John died, makes the following remark : " On the day called Sunday all Christians meet together for re- ligious worship." (Apology, c. ix. 17.) The word apology, I may add, is used in an ecclesiastical sense, and means a defence ; thus Watson's Apology does not mean that the Bible needs a 38 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. modern apology, but simply a defence or vindication. So Justin Martyr, in vindicating the Christians to the emperor, gives an account of their principles and ceremonies. Another of the five apostolic Fathers says, " We observed the eighth day with glad- ness," i. e, the first day of the week, on which Jesus rose from the dead. Another Father, who wrote about one hundred years after the death of John, says, " "We celebrate Sunday as a joyful day, and on that day we think it wrong to fast or to kneel in prayer : we always stand in prayer on the Lord's day." And Ignatius, who, as I told you last Lord's-day evening, was the friend and disciple of John, thus writes, "Let every one who loves Christ keep holy the Lord's day." These are evidences, then, that this day was, by the example of our Lord, and by the precedent of the apostles, acquiesced in as the Christian Sabbath, and from that day to this has been revered and treated as such. There is far more involved in the hallowing of the Sabbath than many are disposed to allow. The enemies of the Christian faith have failed to extirpate Christianity from the world. They have signally failed to invalidate the claims of the Bible to be a com- munication from God ; they therefore try now to degrade and blot out and expunge the Sabbath from the veneration of saints and from the fear of sinners. They do so, not by fagot and flame, which, thanks be to God, in our free land, they cannot em- ploy ; nor yet by argument, and logic, and fact, which, thanks to the same God for the reason he has given us, they cannot success- fully employ ; they labour to extinguish the Sabbath by other and more seductive means by the railway, the steamboat, the tea gardens, the various scenes of folly, and dissipation, and amuse- ment, and profit in the neighbourhood of a great metropolis. It is a painful fact that more people leave London on Sunday morning by the rail and the steamboat than meet together in all the churches and chapels that are in it. Sad it is that God in his providence should have given us such instruments of rapid communication, and instead of making the additional time they leave us a reason for hallowing his Sabbath, we turn them into reasons for greater desecration of it. It was not Voltaire alone that deluged Paris with atheism, but the extinction of its Sabbaths before he was born. It was not Frederic the Great that destroyed . JOHN IN PATMOS. 39 Christianity in Vienna, but it was the desecration of its Sabbaths before he was placed upon his throne. Get the Sabbath embo- somed in the hearts of a Christian people, and there is a gua- rantee and pledge stronger than acts of parliament can confer, that Christianity will bloom and flourish in their land. It is a well known law, too, that man must have a statedly re- turning respite from labour. It has been found and proved by some distinguished naturalist, that a horse worked seven days a week, year after year, will not do so much work, nor live so long, as a horse worked only six days in a week. And it has been proved with equal satisfaction that a man with mind and body ceaselessly on the stretch, will not only not long enjoy health, but will soon be the inmate of a premature grave. This is not fancy, but fact, the result of extensive experiment and induction. The heathens felt that they must have periods of relaxation, and therefore they had their holidays dedicated to their gods. The atheists of France could not do without a Sabbath, and therefore they had decades, or a period at the end of ten days instead of seven. It is wrought into the very constitution of humanity that man must have an alternation of toil and rest before he can do the greatest work and enjoy the greatest happiness. If this be so, (and we cannot deny it,) that man must have a respite, the question is, How shall that respite best be regulated, so that man shall enjoy health and strength upon the one hand, and that season of rest not be abused or perverted by man's wickedness on the other hand. Take away the restraints of the Christian Sab- bath, and we shall have the Saturnalia of the heathen, or the abominations of the continent of Europe; but retain all the sanctifying influences and wise restraints of the Christian Sabbath, and we shall then have man refreshed by the change of subject, his mind turned from the cares of business to the hopes, the prospects, the joys, the truths of the gospel ; and it will be found that long life is the accompaniment of righteousness, and that they who " seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness shall have all other things added unto them." I tpeak thus of the Sabbath, because it is more assailed at this moment, probably, than any one institution of society. One delights to see that efforts have been made to interest the very humblest ranks in its 40 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. maintenance, and that a peasant girl has lately written a very forcible defence of the Sabbath. Greater efforts have been made at various times to sap the foundations of the Sabbath than directly and ostensibly to destroy the claims of Christianity, or the obligation of baptism and the Lord's supper. The Puseyite longs for the Maypole and the Book of Sports as soon as the morning service is over; the Roman Catholic desires to see the playhouse open when mass is finished ; the skeptic hopes for the extinction of the Sabbath, because it reasons in his conscience of righteousness, and temperance, and judgment to come ; the debauchee votes for the cessation of the Sabbath, in order that he may have full swing for all the passions of his depraved heart without a solitary check ; and the covetous man prefers to have the post-office open and the shutters of his shop window down, that he may buy and sell, and get gain, though the result will be, that he will fail probably in the earthly aim he has in view, and will lose his own soul in seeking to be rich at the expense of the commands and requirements of God. John being thus in the Spirit on the Lord's day, heard the voice as of a trumpet behind him. This allusion is fraught with useful and instructive ideas to every one that studies it. When the morning service of the temple at Jerusalem was about to be- gin, a trumpet announced the fact ; when the year of jubilee commenced, the silver trumpet announced it too ; and the sound of a trumpet was the impressive introduction to a great truth, or to a glorious scene, at all times : when God made his appearance on Mount Sinai, his presence was ushered in by the sound of a trumpet; whatever public proclamation was made among the Jews was made by the sound of a trumpet. Thus we learn that the sound of a trumpet announcing the appearance of Christ, was indirect evidence that Christ was God ; and secondly, we learn that the sounding of a trumpet preceding the scenes of this book, is evidence that it was intended for public perusal, not for private and individual instruction only. The voice said to John, " Write." This is an answer to those who say Christ never commanded any portion of Scripture to be written ; here is one portion expressly commanded by him to be written. There is nothing for which we ought to be more thankful to God than JOHN IN PATMOS. 41 this, that the Bible is a written book. If the Bible had been left to tradition, we should have lost the truth long ago. Truth, left to the corrupting influence of human tradition, would have been perverted into some monstrous and extravagant legend. What John was to write was to be addressed to seven churches. Why this number? There were more churches in Asia than seven. This number was probably chosen because seven is re- garded in Scripture as a perfect number. Thus the seven days constitute one week j the seven prismatic colours constitute the pure white light; seven sounds, or notes, constitute the perfect scale in music ; seven spiritual beings the one Holy Spirit ; the seven churches represent the one catholic or universal church. Some have suggested that these seven churches are to be regarded as chronologically distinguished ; Ephesus the first, denoting the state of the church during the first few centuries, and Laodicea the last, representing the state of the church just previous to the Millennium. I do not see that there is any foundation for this view. I think the addresses to the seven churches are applicable to every age, and that John writes them just as Paul writes to the Romans, or the Corinthians, or the Philippians; and we are to gather from these addresses not prophetic intimations of what shall be, but practical instruction to all the people of Christ, of every name and denomination throughout the world, for their progressive improvement in holiness, and their present joy and peace in prospect of the glory of God. I have so far explained in these prefatory remarks the circum- stances of John, and the origin of the addresses to the seven churches of Asia. Let me conclude this portion of my subject by this simple request reverence the Christian Sabbath be thankful for such a respite, amid the din and turmoil of the world hail it as an augury of the millennial rest, the " Sabba- tismos" that remains for the people of God. I believe that when the apostle says, " There remaineth therefore a rest," or literally translated, " a Sabbath-keeping for the people of God," he refers to the seventh millenary of the world. Clinton, the ablest chro- nologist of modern times, has proved, I think to demonstration, that the seventh thousand year of the world begins in A. D. 1862 ; and no less remarkable it is, that all the great prophetic epochs 4* .. * A 42 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. terminate about that era, so that the sixth thousand year of the world closes, and the seventh thousand, which the church looks forward to as her rest her Sabbath, begins, in the course of some fifteen or sixteen years. This Sabbath that we now enjoy, is an augury and anticipation of that; it is the hour of sun- shine, in which we are to gather heavenly manna ; it is the day when we feel what we otherwise know that we are freemen, whom Christ makes free; when we can shut our minds to the din, and rise above the toils of the world. Be assured that the best way to make the Sabbath respected by our statesmen and legis- lators, is to make it seen that it is loved, and cherished, and re- verenced, by ourselves. If all Christians would only reverence the Sabbath, and show, in all respects and under all circumstances, their thankfulness for it, we may depend upon it we should not need however valuable they might be in their place acts of parliament, or the countenance of Caesar, to enforce it. It rests with the Christian church, whether the Sabbath shall be ex- punged from the days of England, or revered for years to come, as it has been for years past, as the pearl of days, and valued as the princess of the week. Do I address any in affliction ? It was in tribulation, we are told, that John beheld the visions of glory and of beauty that are recorded in this book. It is through tears of sorrow that the eye has often seen most brightly the Lord of glory ; and when the great High-Priest of the church walks on his ceaseless watch amid the candlesticks, where, think you, does he hear the tones of the deepest adoration ? where does he see the radiance of the greatest sanctity ? It is not among the rich, that sip the full cup, or among the sensual, that eat and drink, and are merry ; it is where some poor man sleeps, the hard ground for his pillow, the blue firmament for his curtain ; or where some sick one lies upon the bed of languishing, or some weeping one sheds the tear upon the green turf that covers the remains of the loved and the near one. Through much tribulation we must enter into the kingdom of God. It is as brethren and companions in tribulation, that we shall see the brightest visions of God, and of his Christ. Let me ask you, in the next place, to seek the Spirit of God, to lead you into all truth. It was " in the Spirit" that John had JOHN IN PATMOS. 43 the Apocalypse revealed to him : it is " by the Spirit" alone, that we can understand it. The knowledge of the original language may be valuable acquaintance with philological criticism may be useful but a higher acquirement still is to have the Spirit of God ; and if we ask the help and guidance of that Spirit, God has promised to bestow it. Let us, then, pray to God to give us that Holy Spirit, by which we may be enabled to love his Word, to venerate his Sabbath, to live to his praise; and that when time shall be no more, we may be heirs of the kingdom of God, and shine like stars in the firmament, for ever and ever. LECTURE III. THE EVERLASTING HIGH-PRIEST. " And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks ; 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. 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 ; and his voice as the sound of many waters. 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 in his strength. 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 : I am he that liveth, and was dead j and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen ; and have the keys of hell and of death." REV. i. 12-18. THERE cannot be a doubt, that he who is thus described, in language so solemn, and yet so picturesque, is the Lord Jesus Christ. Nor can there be a doubt that the Being here delineated is also God ; for the very acts and features peculiar to Deity are predicated and asserted of the Lord Jesus. Does Christ " walk in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks ?" God said, (Lev. xxvi. 12,) " I will walk among you." So our Lord pro- mised in another place, "Where two or three are met together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Again, he says, " I am he that liveth, and was dead ; and, behold, I am alive (or the living one) for evermore" language clearly descriptive of Jehovah. In order to show the unity that subsists in these portraits of Deity, between the revelations of the New Testament and the Re- velations of the Old, we may read a somewhat similar description of Deity, presented to us in the Prophet Daniel, chap. vii. 9 : " And I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool : his throne was like the fiery 44 THE EVERLASTING HIGH-PRIEST. 45 flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him ; thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the judgment was set, and the books were opened." And so in chap. x. 5 : "I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz" the " golden girdle about his breast" " his body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude." There is no doubt that this was the Lord Jesus Christ who appeared to Daniel, as in all the other anthropomorphic epiphanies of the Old Testament, as well as to John, and that both these prophecies relate to the glory of the same Being, and the progress of the same gospel. The first epithet by which Christ is here distinguished, is " the Son of Man." This name is rarely given by the evangelists to the Saviour ; but is almost always assumed by the Saviour him- self, as best descriptive of his lowly condition. The phrase " Son of Man," is used according to the Hebrew idiom, to denote a state of special infirmity, humiliation, and suffering. Thus, in the Psalms it is said, "Put not your trust in princes," i. e. the highest of the land ; " nor in" what is contrasted with them, " the son of man," i. e. the meanest or the poorest of the land. We have thus, in this picture of Jesus in the midst of his celestial grandeur as the Son of Man, new evidence that his humilitation is not lost in his glory that the cross is still resplendent amid the vision of the throne that the name that was pronounced in Bethlehem, in Gethsemane, and on Calvary, is audible in the songs of the blest ; and thus the " Lamb as if he had been slain," is the sublimest, as it is the central feature of that glory which is yet to be revealed. The next description of him is, " He was clothed with a gar- ment down to the feet." This garment is unquestionably, from the minute description of it given in the book of Exodus, the robe that was worn by the high-priest, who is said to have been robed with it for sacredness, and for beauty, and for glory ; and thus the sacredness of the priest and the dignity of the king are 46 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. superadded to the humanity of the Son of Man, whatever can indicate humanity and deity is revealed, in short, in order to constitute the full portrait of the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of glory. It is added, there was a girdle about his loins. This is best explained by referring to the use of the word in other parts of the Scriptures ; thus, Job xxi. 18 : " He girdeth his loins with a girdle." Again, God is said to " loose the girdle of kings ;" i. e. to reduce them to weakness; and when an ancient Jew, or Greek, or a Roman, who wore the long robe, called the toga, was about to engage in some manual labour, " he girded up his loins," to use the Scripture language, or fastened the flowing skirts of his raiment by a girdle round his waist. We thus infer from the picture under which Jesus is represented, that he is not only clothed with sacredness, and radiant with glory, but girded with strength and might, omnipotent to save. We read next, that " his head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow." The white or hoary head is always regarded in Scripture as synonymous with authority, reverence, and even beauty. Thus, Lev. xix. 32 : " Thou shalt rise up be- fore the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man." Thus, Prov. xvi. 13 : "The hoary head is a crown of glory;" and so venerable is age in the mind of Deity, that God himself is re- presented to us as the Ancient of days; and in Scripture, the cutting off of the hair signified the loss of honour, of authority, dominion, and power ; and hence, then, we gather from this hieroglyphic portrait of Jesus, as having "hair like wool, and white as the snow," that grandeur, authority, honour, and power, in their highest excellency, exclusively belong to him. He is then described as having " eyes like flame." Fire is the most penetrating thing we know ; it pierces and reduces all things : and eyes like flames of fire must imply the omniscience of Christ. His eye can reach all distances rise to all heights descend to all depths and enter all concealment. There is not a thought in our hearts, but lo ! he knows it altogether. It is his own assumed and just prerogative, " I am he that searcheth the hearts, and trieth the reins of the children of men." And what a solemn truth is this, that there is not a thought that flits with light- THE EVERLASTING HIGH-PRIEST. 47 ning speed across a single mind in this assembly, that is not as clearly seen by God, and registered above, as I am at this mo- ment seen and heard by you. " Search my heart, God, and try my throughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Again, it is stated that his feet were as brass. This has also its meaning. Brass is used in Scripture to denote strength, en- durance. Thus we read, " gates of brass/' i. e. gates of great strength, and not easily to be broken open. Hence his feet being like brass implies that his enemies should be trodden down that no obstacles should arrest him that no difficulties should make him weary that he is able to execute in his power the purposes of mercy and of love which he has formed toward his own. It is said that his feet, which were like brass, glowed like molten brass, " as if they burned in a furnace." This may denote the tribulations through which he would have to pass the trials which he would have to endure partly perhaps in his body, the church the scenes of opposition through which he would have to pass, before his ransomed church would be lifted from her ruin, and reinstated in that glory, and dignity, and greatness which he had prepared for her before the foundation of the world. It is next said, " His voice was as the sound of many waters," or, as the parallel passage in Daniel describes it, " His voice was as the voice of a great multitude." The apostle Paul thus describes the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, when he says, "Whose voice then shook the earth ; but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven." And this voice, which is like the sound of a mighty multitude, or like the roar of the restless waves, is that very voice which Christ himself describes when he says, " The hour is coming and now is, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of Man, and shall come forth ; they that have done evil, to the resurrection of dam- nation ; and they that have done good, to the resurrection of life." This voice gathers volume and impetus every day; it is reflected in increasing echoes from every land ; it mingles with the din of great cities, and asserts for itself supremacy and awe. It crosses unspent the sands of the desert; it sounds amid the noise of the 48 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. sea-waves and the tumults of the people ; and one day this voice, which was so " still and small" in Bethlehem, shall be heard through the universe, and the universe shall respond, "like the voice of a mighty multitude," saying, " Salvation and honour and glory and blessing unto God: Hallelujah, the Lord God 6mnipotent reigneth." " Out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword." We are at no loss about determining the meaning of this figure, for it is said that the word of God is " quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword." And again, " the word of God is the sword of the Spirit ;" and this teaches us that the secret of his victories shall not be " the sword of Caesar, but the sword of the Spirit." Christ's kingdom shall be established over all the earth, not by the influence of diplomacy, or by the conquests of arms, but by the force of truth, the persuasiveness of love, the power of the Spirit of God. " His face did shine as the sun in his strength." John saw the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, and the very words which are here used to describe Christ in his apocalyptic glory, are almost the identical words employed by him to describe the Lord Jesus Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration. So Paul describes him when he saw him on his way to Damascus, as surrounded with a light above the brightness of the sun ; and he is described here not as the sun rising in the morning and struggling with mists, nor as the sun enveloped in clouds and almost eclipsed, but as the Sun of righteousness, shining in his meridian splen- dour, or " in his strength." Such is the vision that John saw. "When he beheld it, it is said, " he fell at his feet as dead." There is an intensity in the celestial glory which organs of flesh and blood cannot now bear. The eye of the mole cannot endure the light of the sun ; and so the eye of flesh and blood cannot at present endure the vision of the glory of the Lord. It was the same vision that Isaiah saw and describes in chap. vi. of his Prophecy, where we read, that he beheld the glory of the Lord, and when he beheld it he fell at his feet, saying, " Wo is me ! for I am a man of unclean lips ; and mine eyes have seen the Lord of hosts." " This said Isaiah," says the evangelist, " when he saw his glory, and spake THE EVERLASTING HIGH-PRIEST. 49 of him." Arc we prepared to behold him? "Every eye," we are told, " shall see him." There is not an eye that looks on me this night that shall not look upon the Lord of glory ; and there is not an eye to whom that sight shall not be the twilight that ends in everlasting day, or the twilight that descends into ever- lasting night. It depends upon what you are now what shall be the impression that the first look of your Lord shall leave upon you. When John fell at his feet as dead, it is said that he that appeared to him laid his right hand upon him. The right hand is frequently referred to in Scripture. Thus the Psalmist speaks of it in Psalm Ixiii. 8 : " Thy right hand upheld me." The right hand was also used in blessing any person. Thus Jacob laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, and blessed him. The right hand was also used in designating any person to an office ; and thus John, by Christ's right hand being laid upon him, was designated to the office of a prophet, and consecrated to be the preacher of what he saw to all generations of the church. And when he laid his right hand upon him, it is said he added, " Fear not." This is equivalent to what he said to his disciples when he walked upon the sea " Be not afraid : it is I." Fear not, John, it is I, on whose bosom you have frequently leaned ; " it is I," John, whom you beheld hanging on the ac- cursed tree who gave Mary in charge to thee, and bade thee behold a mother whose last accents rang upon your ear like a death-knell, and yet to the ears of angels as the first notes of the paean of future victory " It is finished." " It is I," with whom you walked and conversed in Palestine : " be not afraid :" the glory with which I am surrounded now has not dimmed my per- ceptions, nor deadened my sympathies, nor lessened my love ; for thou art still the disciple " whom I love." " Be not afraid : it is I." He adds the reasons especially why he should not be afraid. He says, " I am the first and the last ;" all events are known to me ; all that shall occur, from the last cry upon the cross to the first accents from the throne, " I make all things new," is before me under my cognizance subject to my power. Nothing can be before me, and therefore there is nothing that I do not know ; 50 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. nothing can be behind me, and therefore there is nothing which I am unable to control. I am the first of all wisdom, and the last : in me is all knowledge, all fulness, all power ; and there- fore " be not afraid." I will make the least things to be great, the weakest things to be strong, and the poorest things to be rich. " Fear not," John ; though I was crucified in weakness, I have been raised in power, and " all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." " I am he that liveth and was dead ;" or, as it ought to be rendered, in order to distinguish it from the words that follow immediately after, " am alive for evermore" " I am the living one." This is the assumption of the attribute of Je- hovah. The meaning of the word Jehovah is, "I am that I am ;" i. e. the self-existent God. And when Jesus says here, " I am he that liveth," or, as it should be literally translated, " I am the living one," it is an assumption of deity. Either John was deceived, and Christ deceived him, or Christ is very God, the Lord of glory. There is no medium, I have always felt, between treating our Lord as an impostor and worshipping him as God. There is no- thing intermediate. Socinianism is gross and flagrant incon- sistency. If Christ were not God, he deceived the apostles, or the apostles have deceived us. But we know that he is God : we cannot let go this truth. He is man to sympathize with your tenderest, your deepest sorrows God to sustain you when all their billows flow over you. If Christ were not God, he never could have been my Saviour. Fallen as I am, marred, and weakened, and shorn of its pristine magnificence as my soul is; yet, even in its ruins, I believe that soul to be the greatest thing in the uni- verse, except God himself; and I would not trust my soul to the care of an angel, or to the keeping of an archangel : I will take charge of it myself, if I cannot find a God to take charge of it for me. But I know that Christ is God over all, blessed for evermore : I know in whom I have believed, and that he is able able as he is willing to keep that soul which I have com- mitted unto him against that day. He says, " I am the living one." Paul also said, " I live ;" but lest that word should seem to trench on the prerogatives of deity, he corrected himself, and added, " yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." But when Jesus THE EVERLASTING HIGH-PRIEST. 51 said, " I live," it needed no correction, because it asserts the attribute that rightfully belongs to him. He describes himself in his word as the Fountain of all life. So the beloved John, the Seer of Patmos, in the epistles that he wrote to the Chris- tians, says, " That which was from the beginning, which we have seen and our hands have handled of the word of life." The most wonderful thing on earth is life. That worm that creeps along the wayside is a more wonderful arid impressive evidence of power, than the steam-ship that ploughs the main, or the rail- way train at its mightiest speed, or the most magnificent combi- nation of machinery that the genius of man has yet devised. Life is the most wonderful thing, and it is just that thing which man has the least control over which he cannot continue as long as he pleases ; it is that power, the reins, and length and limits of which God holds in his own hand. Man has tried to mimic it : God only can create it. Some foolish physiologists lately pre- tended that they had discovered a process by which they could make life, and dreamed that by galvanism they could create liv- ing creatures. They imagined a vain thing. God alone is the Fountain of life ; and he not only makes it, but he alone can sustain it. And who knows what wonders of life there are beneath, as well as what mysteries of life there are above ? The microscope has shown us myriads of living creatures the eye can- not see : there are probably infinite gradations below, as there are infinite gradations above. Man is the connecting link between the highest animal and the lowest angel. We have the angelic life in our souls, we have the animal life in our bodies, and both from Christ. The life that is in a child of grace, the life that is in the insect that floats in the sunbeam, or in the eagle that spreads his pinions on the wind the life that is in an angel, or that which is in a babe the life of the soul the life which is eternal, has its origin, its maintenance, its limits in Christ. We cannot present any satisfactory solution of the phenomena of life ; and when our solution seems satisfactory, it is not its truth, but our ignorance, that makes it appear so. When the physiologist describes the working of the mechanism of the human frame, he says, " This muscle moves because it is pulled by that, and that other muscle moves because it is awakened by 52 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. that nerve." But if you ask him why all this continues, he will tell you, " Because the heart beats." But if you ask why the heart beats, the physiologist is dumb ; he cannot go any farther. The only answer is the Christian one what a peasant believes, and a philosopher cannot comprehend God moves the heart. And there is not a heart beating in this assembly which the touch of God does not every second compress and dilate. And if this be so, how frightful is the position of that man who lives in rebellion against the will and commands of him who has only to withhold his finger, and the heart that is now full of life shall become cold and silent in the grave ! Our existence is a constant reciprocation of life and death. The beat of the heart is life, the pause between is death. When the heart pauses, it silently puts up this question to the great Author of life : " Shall I go on ?" and God says, " Go on." "We get the lease renewed, not every year, not every month, not every week, not every day, but every second : we have no freehold, nor have we a leasehold of life ; we have the sovereign renewal of life each second. Were God to say to tby heart, " Be still," thy spirit would instantly escape from the ruin. Would it be where the soul of Lazarus is, in Abraham's bosom, or where the soul of the rich man pines, lifting up itself in hell, being in torments ? He adds, I am he also " that was dead." This is a paradox. I am the living one, and yet I am he that was dead. There is no real contradiction ; the life died, the Lord of glory was crucified : God in our nature suffered. Why ? Because he took our place, and this was the penalty that we had incurred. He died because our sins were laid upon him ; he died with nothing in him worthy of death, that we might live who have nothing in us worthy of life. Our sins made him die, his righteousness alone can make us live. He died, not because he had done what was evil, but because our sins were laid upon him ; and we shall be admitted into heaven and live forever, not because we have done what is good, but because his righteousness was laid upon us. You cannot have too strong a grasp of this truth that you are saved from first to last by nothing in you, nothing by you, no- thing of you; but by the finished righteousness of the Lord of glory, the living one that died, the just for the unjust. THE EVERLASTING HIGH-PRIEST. 53 And " I am alive," he adds, " for evermore." This is distinct from the first " live ;" he says, " I am the living one," i. e. Deity. "I died;" here is evidence of his humanity: "I am alive for evermore ;" here is his resurrection-life, and the evidence that deity in humanity triumphed, and that the grave having re- ceived what it thought a victim, felt it had embraced its con- queror. He entered our grave apparently its victim ; he rose really its vanquisher. " He is alive for evermore ;" " the first- fruits of them that sleep ;" for if we believe that Jesus died, as he is here stated to have done, and rose again, even so them that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him ; and if we were recon- ciled to God by the death of Christ, much more, being recon- ciled, we shall be saved by his life. And thus in these few words we have an ep'itome of the everlasting gospel. The living one, for none else has life, that is, God in our nature died, be- cause " without shedding of blood there is no remission of sins ;" God in our nature is, too, the risen and the living one, for " he ever liveth to make intercession for us." And thus in these words we have an epitome of the gospel. He adds, "I have the keys of hell and of death." The word here rendered " hell" is not Gehenna ; in this is confusion in our translation. There is the word Hades, which means literally the invisible world, and there is the word Gehenna, which means the place of the damned. And so it is stated after- ward in this book : " death and hell (Od.va.Toq xa} a&y?) were cast into Gehenna." "What?" you say, "is there a middle state ?" I answer, No : there is no purgatory ; but when the Spirit of God speaks -of the soul as severed from the body, without specifying whether that soul is in happiness or wo, he states " it is in Hades." It is not a third place, but a third con- dition ; it is not the soul united to the body, that is one con- dition ; it is not the soul united to its resurrection body, that will be its condition on the resurrection day; but it is the soul in a state of happines or a state of wo, according to the character in which it. died, neither in its old nor in its new body, without its being expressed whether it is in the one or in the other. When our Lord therefoi'e says, "I have the keys of hell and of death," it is as if he said, " I have the key that unlocks the grave, and 5* 54 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. out of which the buried dust shall rise instinct with a life that shall never die; and I have the key that unlocks the world of spirits, and shall bring the soul either from its fiery bed in hell, or from its beatific throne in heaven, to be united to a risen body, to be rewarded in eternity according to the deeds done in the body. To have the key means, to have authority, power, jurisdiction; and I may state here, that if Peter received the keys that are here specified as a special grant from the Lord, it is quite plain that Peter surrendered them again ; or, at all events, that the keys which Peter received were different from the keys which are assigned to him by his pretended successors, and which are here described. It is quite plain that the popes, Peter's so-called suc- cessors, try to use not Peter's keys, which admitted the Gentiles into the kingdom of God, but they assume to "wield the keys of the Lord of glory ; for they pretend that they can open the gates of the world of spirits, shut the gates of hell, and unfold the gates of heaven, when, where, and to whom they please. Ac- cording to their own showing, therefore, the keys they pretend to wear are not the keys of Peter, but the keys of Christ thus blasphemously assumed in derogation of his glory, and to the destruction of the souls of thousands. Now having seen this hieroglyphic portrait of Jesus, the Lord of glory, representing under symbols great and glorious features, which eye hath not seen and cannot now see, and which ear hath not heard and cannot now hear, let me sum up the whole of this portrait by stating that it is the great design of the Lord in this vision which he unfolded to John, as the drapery clearly shows, to exhibit himself as the High-Priest of his Church. The Apocalypse begins with Christ as a priest and ends with Christ as a king. It begins with Christ as a priest, making atonement for the sins of his people, and it ends with Christ as a king, with many crowns upon his head. We shall see the beauty and the importance of opening this book with the picture of the Lord Jesus Christ as our priest, if we remember that among the ancient Jews their priest was the grand centre, under God, of their hope and their happiness. The rock could give them water, the -skies could give them manna, the pillar of fire could give them light, the cloud could THE EVERLASTING HIGH-PRIEST. 55 give them shade ; but their High-Priest alone could intimate to them the forgiveness of sm. In the Epistle to the Hebrews, which was addressed, as its name implies, to the Jews, how constantly does Paul bring this truth forward. Thus, chap. iii. 1, "the Apostle and High-Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;" chap. iv. 11, "We have not an High-Priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities." Again, chap. vi. 20, " Jesus Christ, .... an High-Priest for ever, after the order of Melchi- sedec;" chap. vii. 26, "Such an High-Priest became us, who needeth not daily, as those high-priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's : for this he did once, when he offered up himself." This book, and each epistle to each of the seven churches, on which I shall address you by-and-by, begins with some feature of Christ as the High-Priest ; every address is introduced by a feature taken from this grand apo- calypse with which the book opens, showing us that Christ the High-Priest was the glorious manifestation that was prominent before the seer ; and the reason is, no doubt, because the priestly office of Christ is that which is most replete with comfort ; his prophetic office is full of light, his kingly office is full of power, his priestly office is rich in consolation, in joy, and in peace. Let me show this by briefly describing what were the three great offices of the high-priest. The first was, to make atonement for his people, once a year especially, and regularly making atone- ment twice a day with the sacrifice of a lamb. The second was intercession, when the high-priest went into the holy place, and made intercession for the people ; and the third was blessing, when the high-priest came out of the holy place and blessed the people. To all these Christ the High-Priest, set before us in this picture, completely corresponds. As the high-priest divested himself of his glorious robes, and made atonement for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people outside the holy place, (and without shedding of blood there is no remission,) so Christ laid aside his glory, and suffered without the camp, and made a perfect atonement for the sins of all that believe ; so perfect, that no contribution of ours can add to its efficacy, nor any lapse of years waste its excellence. Whole worlds may rest upon it, and more worlds still might be saved by it; a sacrifice so complete that 56 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. there is forgiveness through it for the greatest sin, and acceptance in it for the guiltiest criminal. "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin." Secondly, the high-priest when he had made the offering went into the holy place, and there, bearing on his bosom the names of the twelve tribes, he interceded for the people of Israel. So Christ has done. Where is Christ now ? He is in the true holy place the holy place not made with hands making inter- cession for the people. Notice, too, how instructive this is : when the high-priest of the Jews was in the holy place he entered alone ; not the highest Levite or the most honourable priest dared enter with him. He was alone amid the awful glory that shone between the cherubim, pleading and interceding for the people. So Christ alone intercedes for us. We would not thank an angel for the offers of his intercession ; we need not the Virgin Mary's prayers, nor would either be allowed. We have one who ever liveth and maketh intercession for us ; we know that it is an in- sult to an angel and a dishonour to that angel's God to presume that any one but the high-priest himself might enter into that holy place and make intercession for us. While the high-priest was thus in the holy place interceding for the people, there was no propitiatory sacrifice going on without. As soon as the sacri- fice was finished, the high-priest went into the holy place, and while he was interceding no sacrifice could be offered. If Christ be now in the true holy place, interceding for his people, there can be no propitiation going forward on earth ; the idea, there- fore, that there is any thing propitiatory in the Lord's supper, or that it is " a sacrifice for the sins of the living and the dead," is inconsistent with the office of Christ and blasphemous in the sight of God ; and may well be termed " a blasphemous fable and dangerous deceit." This intercession of the high-priest is to us just as important as his atonement. Christ's atonement opened the doors of heaven Christ's intercession keeps them open : Christ's sacrifice gives us a right to heaven Christ's intercession makes us fit for entrance into it. The cry of ever-watchful Satan is, " Cut is down ;" the interceding cry of the everlasting Intercessor is, " Spare it yet another year." Our safety is our dependence on this intercession. " Simon, Simon, Satan hath THE EVERLASTING HIGH-PRIEST. 57 desired to have thee, that he may sift tiiee as wheat" there is thy danger ; " but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not" there thy safety is. Wherever you have a minister that preaches the everlasting gospel, you have that minister as the fruit of the intercession of Christ. If men could only feel this more, they would think less of other things. Mere succession from the apostles, historical and lineal, is an absurdity which is not, arid cannot be, and has been broken and interrupted a hundred times. The name, the form, the ceremony are nothing. It matters not whether a patron presented you, or the people elected you ; that is nothing. It matters little whether you read your sermons, or preach them without reading ; it is nothing. If you preach the gospel, and preach it in its fulness, and live the evidence of its power, your mission is from above. Such a minister is the direct gift of our blessed High-Priest interceding for us ; for " when he ascended up on high, ... he gave some, apostles; and some, teachers and pastors ; and some, evangelists ; for the edifying of the church : till we all come in the unity of the faith unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." Our perseverance rests upon the intercession of Christ. He says, " Father, I will that those whom thou hast given me be with me." " Who is he that condemneth ? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who also maketh intercession for us." The last inquiry I would notice is, the high-priest having first made atonement upon the brazen altar without the temple and Christ died upon Calvary, without the camp having, secondly, gone into the holy place, and burned incense upon the golden altar, and made intercession for the children of Israel and Christ is now doing that same thing what the people of Israel were doing while the high-priest was thus within the holy place pleading for them. They waited outside with trembling or hope- ful certainly anxious hearts till he should come out of the holy place, and pronounce upon the people that blessing which is recorded in the Book of Numbers : " The Lord bless thee, and keep thee : the Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee : the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace." When the high-priest had finished his 58 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. intercession in the holy place, he came forth before the congre- gation, who waited outside, arrayed in the garments suited to this part of his functions, and thus blessed the people. The Lord of glory has not yet come forth from his holy place ; earnests and foretastes of the blessing are granted and experienced here, but a day conies with the speed, and it will arrive with all the splendour, of the lightning, when our High-Priest shall come forth from his holy place, and standing in some lofty height in the creation of God, shall wave his consecrating hand over Na- ture's length and breadth, and then shall be fulfilled that psalm, "God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us. The earth shall yield her increase : all the people shall praise him; and God, even our own God, shall bless us." And just as the Israelites waited for their high-priest to come out of the holy place and pronounce the blessing on them, so all true followers of the Lamb are patiently waiting for the coming of Christ. They have seen him and believed in him as their sacrifice ; they lean on him and they look to him as their inter- cessor before the throne; and they hope for his coming forth when the time of intercession shall close, to pronounce a bene- diction, not in word, but in power, which shall descend to crea- tion's heart, and run to the circumference of the universe, and the whole world shall bask in paradise its close, as it shone with paradise, its commencement. A Christian's retrospect is on the cross; his present attitude look- ing to the holy place, and leaning on the interceding High-Priest; his hope is the anticipation of that day when Christ shall come forth and pronounce the benediction which is to make all the earth and the world, and all them that dwell in it, happy. This earth needs but his blessing, and it shall then bloom like the rose ; it waits for the touch of his consecrating footsteps, and its every desert shall smile. I believe that our earth is not to be cast away; it is not a worn-out thing. The devil shall not have it ; the last fire shall not extinguish it. I believe it is Christ's by purchase, and it shall be restored to its primeval beauty, and shall constitute that holy place of which it is said, "I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it." LECTURE IV. THE SEVEN STARS AND SEVEN CANDLESTICKS. " 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." REV. i. 20. IT must be obvious that the form of expression used by the seer in this passage is elliptical ; it is common to the prophetic writers, and when properly weighed, can lead to no misconception of their meaning, or of the nature of the statement that is placed before us. The word " are 1 ' is evidently equivalent to " signify :" " the seven stars" signify or represent "seven angels;" " the se- ven candlesticks are," i. e. signify or represent " seven churches." This use of " is" and " are" for represents and represent (or what is all but equivalent to it) occurs above thirty-seven times in ana- logous portions of Scripture: such, for instance, as "seven good kine are seven years;" and again, "these dry bones," in the valley of vision, " are the whole house of Israel ;" and in thirty-six out of the thirty-seven times, the Church of Rome interprets the phrase as we do, explaining the word "are" to mean "signify;" but in the thirty-seventh instance, and in that alone, which occurs in the history of the institution of the coinrnunion, and in which the words are, " this is my body," she lays aside the process which she has pursued in the interpretation of all the thirty-six passages I have referred to, and adopts a new interpretation, the issue of which is the most monstrous of all monstrous dogmas held by that communion, viz. Transubstantiation. Now, surely, you need nothing more to convince you how ut- terly false her interpretation is than this, that she is afraid to carry it out. She contrives to change her interpretation just where her interests or her previous infallible decisions are concerned. Wher- 59 60 THE SEVEN STARS AND SEVEN CANDLESTICKS. ever her infallible decrees are not touched, she interprets as com- mon sense would surely lead us to interpret ; but wherever the decisions which she has come to by her councils and in her tra- ditions go against what is the plain and obvious meaning of the passage, she lays aside the whole plan that she has pursued in in- terpreting the rest of the word of God, and puts upon the passage the aid of which she insists on at all hazards a new, unnatural, and unjustifiable interpretation. Instead of bringing her theology to God's word, to be settled and controlled by it, she brings God's word so her synods, popes, and decrees, to be controlled, and shaped, and formed by them. Here is just the broad distinction between the principle of Protestantism, as held by all Christians, and the principle of Romanism, held by true Romanists and by pretending Protestants, who are really papists. We believe that all creeds, however plausible or popular, must be tested by this word ; and if they are found inconsistent with it, they must be repudiated, whatever be the consequence : and all truths, however unpopular they may be, that can be substantiated here, must be clung to in life, and cherished in death, and borne with us to the judgment-seat of God. The " angels" (who are here represented by the seven stars) I do not discuss controversially; plainly, these angels are minis- ters of some kind, the whole context shows that they are so. Whether they were bishops, or presbyters, or deacons, or apostles or evangelists, or what they were in ecclesiastical degree, is the least thing ; that they were ministers of the gospel is plainly and distinctly intimated in the passage. Milman, who has written a history of Christianity, has stated that the angel here corresponds to the Jewish official, who was a sort of secretary or writer in the synagogue, but not possessed of any official superiority to the rest of his brethren; on the contrary, he was subject to and controlled by them. The Independents say that the angel was an Inde- pendent minister ; the Scottish Church would assert that he must have been something like the moderator of the General Assembly; the Church of England says he must have been a bishop or an archbishop. My impression is, that perhaps he was none of the three. I do not think the moderator of the General Assembly is very much like the Apocalyptic Angel ; and I really suspect, what THE SEVEN STARS AND SEVEN CANDLESTICKS. 61 I hope is without offence, that neither the Bishop of London, nor of Exeter, nor any other bishop on the bench, is very like him ; and I doubt whether the Independent minister would in all re- spects correspond to him. Without looking at the angel in the light of the Church of England, or the Church of Scotland, or any other church, we shall view him simply as he is here revealed to us as a minister preaching the gospel, and making known to the churches the unsearchable riches of Christ. This name, as applied to the minis- ters of the gospel, seems to me to be an extremely beautiful one. The word "angel" we have retained in our translation of the Greek word affskos, but we need not have done so, for the apostle Paul uses this very word, and we translate it " a messenger." The proper meaning of the word a^sAcc is messenger : we use the technical or special term angel, but we might just as correctly use the word messenger. Thus we read in the Old Testament, " He maketh his angels" (or messengers) "a flame of fire;" and in Hebrews, " Let all his angels (or messengers) " worship him." And this is the strict and literal sense of the epithet here bestowed upon the ministers of the gospel. The gospel is the message the ministers of the gospel and the evangelists are the messengers. The gospel itself is, literally, " the message of good news;" and the evangelists are simply the messengers of good news; and hence Paul, in addressing the churches to whom his Epistles were written, says, "Ye received me as an angel of God." Now, if you un- derstood angel there in its special or limited sense, you would mis- apprehend the meaning of the apostle. I do not believe it means that they received him as they would have received an angel, but that they received him as the messenger of God, making known the glad truths that God had commissioned him to preach. You will see, then, that if the term messenger be used as a word descriptive of the minister of the gospel, his great mission is simply to make known the message. The angel or messenger is not one that rules, but one that speaks ; it is less action and more utterance that is to characterize him. In the language of an ancient writer, he is to use non verbera, scd verba "not stripes, but words;" his office is to be pastoral, rather than sove- reign ; he is to be the humble messenger, not the imperial 62 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. dictator. And the great beauty of his character will be, not the eloquence or the power, but the faithfulness, with which he de- livers his message; and hence, says the apostle, we require in such ambassadors that " they be found faithful." Earnest they will be, if Christians ; eloquent they may be, if God has given them that gift ; faithful they must be, to have any claim to be angels or messengers of Grod at all. The next symbol used in this place to represent the ministers of Christ is, "stars." These angels or messengers are repre- sented under the sign or symbol of stars. Now, what is the use of the stars, as far, at least, as we are concerned ? Their relative usefulness to us is measured only by their power of giving light. What the nature or the contents of Jupiter, Mars, or Saturn, or the moon, or the sun may be what their atmosphere may be what their density, or distance, or size, or shape, or population may be are questions for astronomers to dispute about ; but to the mariner on the ocean's bosom, or to the traveller in a dark and stormy night, the value of the star consist not in what is in it, but in what it sends down that quiet and beautiful light that leads them to their home. It is just so with the ministers of the gospel. I care far less what the succession may be to which they pretend what the commission may be of which they boast; or even what their talents may be, or what ecclesiastical preference they have these are matters for synods, and bishops, and con- ventions to discuss ; but as the best star is that which shines the brightest in the sky, and casts down the clearest light upon our pathway, so, we may depend upon it, be he Episcopalian, or Presbyterian, or Independent, or whatever you like to call him, lie will, in the long run, be felt and seen to be the best minister who sheds upon our path the clearest light, and leads us most directly to the Lamb. These stars, in the next place, have not their light originally and inherently in themselves. All the planets derive their light from the sun. There is no evidence that Jupiter, for instance, has any self-derived luminous power around him, which he trans- mits to us ; but there is conclusive evidence that whatever light comes from evening or morning star, comes from it only in pro- portion to what it receives from the sun, the great centre of the THE SEVEN STARS AND SEVEN CANDLESTICKS. 63 sjstem. In other words, the light of the stars is a borrowed, not an original light ; and the light that we receive from them is the reflection of what they receive from the sun. Does not this give us some idea of what a Christian's life should be, and still more what a minister's preaching should be ? We do not want from the minister the light of science, except so far as it may serve to clear away obstructions from the truth. We do not want the light of philosophy, or of any thing else that is con- nected with the knowledge, or contained in the encyclopedias, of man ; but what we need in the house of God is light from the sun ; and the minister's sermon should be a mirror to reflect that light, and the minister a star to transmit that light ; so that if you come to the house of God and hear discussions about endless genealogies, and anile fables, and the beauty of science, and the glories of astronomy, and the discoveries of chemistry all good and beautiful in their place and nothing besides ; then you come to a wandering star a star that may mislead you, like an ignis fatuus, to the depths of perdition ; but not to a star placed by the Sun of righteousness in its socket, to reflect upon a world that lieth in darkness, the light of that unsetting Orb, who will soon ascend his meridian with healing in his wings. In the next place, we may note that stars shine only in the night-time. This is an important point. When the sun rises above the horizon, the stars are instantly put out; not one of them is visible. It is only when the sun has sunk below the margin of our horizon, that the stars begin to twinkle in their orbits, in order to supply by their dim and distant rays the ab- sence, for a season, of that glorious luminary. The ministers of the gospel are only here until the Sun of righteousness shall shine from his meridian throne. At present that Sun is but just above the horizon, and only a portion of his beams is visible ; his rays at present are horizontal, and hence the best church and the holiest Christian have each very long shadows; but a day comes when he shall rise to his meridian throne, and be vertical forever when there shall be one everlasting and glorious noon when there shall be no shadow, but all perfect light. And in the effulgence of that light the stars that have twinkful in ten thousand pulpits shall be quenched, and we shall no more teach 64 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. every one his neighbour, saying, "Know the Lord;" for allsball know him, from the least even unto the greatest. Now, there is darkness, therefore there are ordinances tJien, there shall be no night, and therefore no ordinances. Now, the ministers of the *gospel are needed to reflect the sunlight then, the reflector shall not be required, for we shall bask in the full blaze of that bright Original, which shall put out the sun, and moon, and stars, for "they have no need of the sun, nor of the moon, for the glory of God and of the Lamb doth lighten it." To show you that as the stars are only for the night, so minis- ters^ are only for this dispensation, I refer you to what the apostle says in Eph. iv. 11 : "He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things." Then, after his ascension, " He gave some, apostles ; and some, prophets; and some evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers." For what purpose ? " For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." Now, how long ? (I wish you specially to notice this) how long are ministers to continue ? " Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a per- fect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." There will be no such thing as perfect unity in the church till the perfect Source of unity is in the midst of it. It is the want of Christ that makes a divided church; and therefore were there more Christianity, there would be less di- vision in the church; if Christ's presence were more fully real- ized, there would be greater unity in the midst of it. But the moment that there is perfect unity and perfect conformity to the stature of Christ, then the ministers of the gospel will be done away; their functions will have expired. All then will be priests, all will " know even as they are known." This suggests a very useful advice guard against what I have called wandering stars. Often the one that twinkles most bril- liantly is not the one that you are to trust most implicitly; a meteor has a momentary splendour equal to that of many stars. Trust God alone implicitly ; pin not your faith to a lawn sleeve, nor to a silk sleeve, or you will speedily find your mistake; bring all preaching to the Law and to the Testimony. " How read- THE SEVEN STARS AND SEVEN CANDLESTICKS. 65 est thou ?" " Have ye not read ?" " Is it not written ?" " Thus saith the Lord." Many persons have made it a complaint against Christianity that there have been, what there are, bad ministers. I reply boldly to that objection, If there were no bad ministers, Christianity would be untrue. You say, how can that be ? Be- cause it is expressly predicted that such ministers would be in the church ; for what does the apostle say ? There shall come among you grievous wolves, false apostles, and shall deceive many; and some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, and teaching for doctrines the command- ments of men. And the prophet tells us that tke prophets shall prophesy falsely. And what shall the people do ? Instead of opening their Bibles, and testing the preacher's doctrine, they will " love to have it so." My dear friends, do not be misled. I believe this great truth ought to be taught at the present day, viz. that a truly Christian and converted people and, alas ! all com- municants are not so do know what the gospel is, and they ought not to listen to what is not the gospel; no prestige of circumstance, no pretence of sect, no attachment to party, no admiration of talent should induce you to place yourselves and your children under a minister who can neither teach them, nor instruct them, nor com- fort them. Prefer the vessel that is dear to you, but touch not the vessel that contains poison, instead of living water, which alone can refresh and comfort you. Let expediency kindle its light let policy light its taper let literature shine with its glow- worm ray let science present its dusky light none of these must supersede the sun, or be received for one moment as substitutes for its glorious light. On the other hand, let ministers of the gospel see that they radiate all the light : let them take care lest they become prisms and not stars ; for if the light be split into parts, we have not pure light; we have yellow, and blue, and green, and it will only mislead and bewilder. Let every minister of the gospel see then that he does not always dwell upon one truth on election, for instance, which is one ray of light, and a very bright one, but only one. If you preach only election, you are like the prism, giving only portions of the light, and not the whole light ; a part of the gospel, not the whole gospel : or if a minister overstate man's free will, that is, unduly magnify man's 6 66 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. responsibility, he is giving only another rainbow colour, not the pure light a portion only of the true light. Let him present the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man, Christ as our righteousness, the law as our standard, justification by Christ alone, and sanctification by the Spirit alone; God the Father electing Love, God the Son redeeming Love, God the Spirit sanctifying Love; the Bible without a clasp the cross without a screen the way to heaven without an obstruction, and he will then be a true star, reflecting the pure light of that Sun which shall soon culminate on his glorious throne, and in whose clear light we shall all see clearly. This beautiful figure employed by the seer in the Apocalypse is in perfect harmony with similiar figures used in his personal ministry by our blessed Lord. Thus he said to his disciples, " Ye are the lights of the world." Were I speaking to a skeptic, I would say, " Here you see an apparently poor, despised, homeless, houseless, penniless wanderer, standing in Palestine, with the sha- dow of that most glorious temple falling beside him, and the associa- tions of a thousand years rushing rapidly past him ; on the one side, Greece, with all its philosophy, and its schools, and its mag- nificent literature, and its glorious statuary, and its matchless painting ; and on the other side, Rome, with its soldiers that knew not what fear was, and its orators, and its historians, and its poets ; and in the midst of all this, you hear one with no beauty that man could appreciate, telling a few fishermen of Galilee, ' Ye are the lights of the world.' Either he that said so must have been a maniac, or he must have been God. There could be no medium ; no man in the exercise of his sober judgement would have dared to give utterance to such an expression but He who saw what light is, and was himself the light, and made his apostles the stars and the radiators of that light, and saw from afar that day when it would envelope all creation. He said truly and successive ge- nerations rise from their tombs to attest it ' Ye are the lights of the world.' " You philosophers, you scientific men, you universi- ties of Greece, you orators, you poets, you statesmen you are but the meteors, the ignesfatui of the world; you fishermen of Galilee, because you are lightened with the true light, "you are the lights of the world." Kings do but darken, philosophers do but pervert, THE SEVEN STARS AND SEVEN CANDLESTICKS. 67 poets do but betray; Christians, -wherever they are, and they alone, radiate that light. Let ,us pray that we may simply radiate the light of Christ upon the world that, whether we preach, or whe- ther we teach, or whether we live in the world, we may not let our prejudices or passions make the impression that shall live longest, behind us. Let the light of Christ alone leave its impress upon the world through which we have passed. What is the great truth which that light reveals ? If there be one truth or aphorism that it reveals more vividly than another it is this, " Sinners ruined by nature, restored by grace." Let this light shine on every English mountain-top let it sparkle upon every deck that sails or sleeps on the bosom of the deep let it shine with awful lustre on the Vatican let it be resplendent on the tomb of the false prophet. Wherever the crucifix or the crescent are, God grant that this light shining from a thousand stars may reveal this great truth, " We are ruined by nature we can be restored only by Christ." But these stars, the outline features of which I have endeavoured to detail, are said to be placed in a distinct and peculiar position. We read, " the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand ;" and the apostle, in describing the appearance of our Lord, says, that he saw him having " seven stars in his right hand," i. e. in the form of a circlet, or coronet ; and this teaches us that the ministers of the gospel are in Christ's right hand. This hieroglyph is elo- quent with comfort, as well as with intimations of duty. The ministers of the gospel are in Christ's right hand, and therefore they are safe. This is their protection in the world in the per- formance of the severest and most unpopular duty which they have to discharge. Wherever their position sends them, their whole hope of protection is in this they are in Christ's right hand. It is very easy for us, living in a land of civil and religious liberty, to say so; but it needs, indeed, to be realized by those who have to " war with wild beasts," like the apostle, and to preach to the reluctant and rebellious heathen, or to the evasive and sophistical Jew, the unsearchable riches of Christ. All ministers of the gospel, down to the humblest city mission- ary, depend for safety solely on this fact that they are in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing is more easily destroyed 68 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. than ministerial character. An innuendo detracts from a minis- ter's influence; the idle calumny of idle busy-bodies may injure a minister's usefulness. Let him ever recollect, and let those who would injure him also recollect, that this is his protection he is " in Christ's right hand." But this is not only the protection of the ministers of the gospel it is also their strength and their suf- ficiency. " Who," says an apostle, " is sufficient for these things ?" The answer is Our sufficiency is of God, and the spring and foun- tain of that sufficiency is the right hand of the Lord Jesus Christ. This teaches us, too, that the ministers of the gospel are the iiistru- ments of Christ. It is the right hand that wields the sword and flings the dart ; and the ministers of the gospel are in his right hand in token that they are at his bidding, and that they are to be wielded by him. This great truth should settle many disputes. You may have the-votes of the people, or the voice of the crown you may be appointed by the patron, or elected by the worship- per ; consecrated by the bishop, or ordained by the presbytery ; and yet lack the glory, and beauty, and perfection of a true minis- ter. These are external things matters on which each may have his preference ; but here is the true place and the source of the ap- pointment of the minister of the gospel in the right hand of the Lord Jesus Christ. If he occupies this place, all the rest is cir- cumstantial ; this is essential and indispensable. And lastly, these seven stars are said to be in Christ's right hand to denote their perfect equality. You are aware that the discipline held by the Church of Scotland, as well as by several bodies that have seceded from her is, that all ministers are perfectly equal that the church is governed by the presbytery and that they are all presbyters. We are sometimes charged with having no bishops j we have in the Church of Scotland some twelve or thirteen hundred bishops. The fact is, we are all bishops in Scotland, like those of Ephesus; but so much are we the creatures of circumstance, that we think there can- not be a bishop unless he has very many thousands a-year. I believe the time is coming when some bishops, at least, must do with less. I am certain that a time is near when nothing but a thorough reformation of abuses can save the most pre- cious institutions that we have j and it is a friend, not a foe, that THE SEVEN STARS AND SEVEN CANDLESTICKS. 69 says so. I am no revolutionist : I have no sympathy with those who would destroy; but of this I am thoroughly convinced that we live in a new age, when new tests, and new analyses, and new ordeals are demanded. An educated people, a thinking people, a searching people are rising on every side ; and they that possess power will have to wield it in love, and they that hug abuses that are dear to them, will find they sit upon a volcano which may ex- plode at a moment's notice. I ought, however, to correct or explain what I have said. I do not mean that it is wrong for bishops or any other men to be wealthy; I think there is a great deal of unjust prejudice on this subject. Some people say ministers ought not to be rich; perhaps it is best for them that they should not be so; but it is quite plain that if wealth be sin in a minister, it cannot be less so in a layman. If a minister is likely to abuse his money, a lawyer, or physician, or merchant is not less likely to abuse his, and therefore the dan- ger is quite as great in a layman having it as in a minister having it ; and when it is urged that the first ministers of the gospel had nothing, I must reply, The first Christians brought their all, and laid it at the ministers' feet ; so that when we speak of what is wrong in the one direction, we may also speak of what is wrong in the opposite. The pulpit, like Him who inspires it, must have no respect of persons. God grant that this may long be so ! The next symbol to which I refer in this passage is, "The seven golden candlesticks are seven churches." "The seven stars," we have seen, " are the seven angels ;" " the seven golden candlesticks are the seven churches." The church is here represented by a candlestick. This is not a figure which I adopt, but a figure that is sanctioned and adopted by the Holy Spirit of God. Now, what is the great object of a candlestick ? To hold a light. It matters not how exquisite the chasing of the silver may be, or how pre- cious the gold of which it is made : you may prefer a candlestick of a particular material, or of a peculiar form ; but it is plain that if you have received, on some dark winter evening, a letter from some dear, but distant relative, of whom you are anxious to hear all that is good and happy, you would prefer to a golden candlestick without a candle upon it, a wooden one, with a bright and clear light upon it. So it is with a church : some of you would prefer 70 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. the Church of England, which I will call, if you please, the golden candlestick ; but I am sure that you would prefer, if you are Christians indeed, the humblest Methodist meeting-house, with the light of Life perpetually shining in it, to the most magnificent cathedral, with an archbishop in its pulpit, who neither is, nor has light. In the next place, we judge of the excellence of a candlestick by its fitness for the object to which it is destined. We do not say that is the best candlestick which is made of gold or silver. It may be made of gold, but incapable of standing on the table alone ; or it may have no place in which a candle may be firmly placed : it cannot then answer your purpose ; or it may not hold the light high enough for you to see by it. What you require is the one that stands steadiest, remains firmest, holds the light highest, and grasps that light the most firmly. In other words, we judge of the thing by the completeness with which it answers the end for which that thing was made. So must we judge of a church. That is the best church that does best the church's duty that is the best pulpit, whatever it be made of, that holds the most faithful minister that is the best minister, who gives you the greatest light, interests your mind the most deeply, touches your heart the most powerfully, and conveys knowledge most truly. You judge of the minister by the completeness with which he does his work; and if men would carry this common-sense criterion into the church, as they do carry it into the shop, the counting-house, the place of business, I am quite sure there would be less Puseyism, and still less Popery found in the visible church. And this leads us to another very important truth. Our Lord said, " Men do not light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but they put it on a candlestick, and it gives light to the whole house." Now when the rites and ceremonies of the church are so multiplied that they darken or conceal the light of the church, it is lighting a candle, and putting it under a bushel when the prayer offered by the minister, or in the ritual or the liturgy, is so eloquent in language that it attracts the attention to its words, instead of the heart to its meaning, this is placing the candle under a bushel when the place of worship is so intricate in the furniture with which it is adorned, that the people think only of the work, and think THE SEVEN STARS AND SEVEN CANDLESTICKS. 71 nothing of the object for which it was intended, then the candle- stick is put under a bushel or when the building is so construct- ed that the possibility of the people hearing or seeing the minister, is sacrificed to the necessity of making the whole Roman, or Gothic or Norman, or in any other style of architecture and when the practical use of a church is made subordinate to its decorations, then the candle is put under a bushel. Or when the Bible is written in Latin, or in Greek, and presented to the people un- translated or when the print is so small, and the paper so bad, that, however cheap its price, the people can make no use of it, then the candle is put under a bushel. The grand and noble law of the Christian economy is, " Every thing done for edification;" and in proportion as it fails to con- duce to edification, the candle is concealed by the bushel that is placed above it ; but when every thing the preaching of the minister, the liturgy, the worship, the singing, the praying, are looked upon as means to an end, and every thing is subordinated to the edification of the people then, I say, every thing is in its place, and all is as it should be. I do not mean to teach, by any thing I have said, that churches should be ugly or bald. So much has this been the case in some churches, and so much was it the case in this church before it was repaired, altered, and enlarged, that to sit in the Scotch church was said by some to be " equivalent to doing penance in the Roman." This is by no means my preference. If our houses are made taste- ful and convenient, surely the house of God ought to be so too. There should be nothing symbolic in it this is the essence of Popery but every thing in it conducive to the object for which it was designed, and to the edification if those that hear; this is scriptural and Protestant Christianity. The light by which the candle in the ancient temple was lighted was taken from the flame that was originally kindled from heaven the light that lights the minister must be from the Fountain of Light the light that he gives us, as I have shown you, must be from the sun alone. Again, the candle in the ancient temple was fed by holy oil, and oil which it was alike a crime blasphemy to attempt to imitate. The unction that the minister of the gospel should 72 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. have, is the unction of the Holy One. If the minister's light is the reflection of Christ, his light and life ought to be fed by the Holy Spirit of God. And what is true of the minister is no less true of the people; their light should be from the sun ; their holiness, their love, their grace, from the Spirit of God. And just in proportion as a nation has faithful ministers, and holy people, and devoted Christians, and increasing numbers of them, in the same proportion will that nation be peaceful, and prosperous, and happy. We have much evidence of this fact : it is where. Christianity has had the greatest influence, that the people have risen to the highest pitch in all that elevates, ennobles, and adorns a nation. And it will be found^that where Christianity has perished, there literature, and poetry, and arts, and legislation have perished too. Science, in the hands of Infidelity, becomes mere materialism ; poetry, in the power of Infidelity, degenerates into sensualism ; and nations without Chris- tianity become poor, and miserable, and blind, and wretched indeed. Even where Christianity, when it is predominant, is not valued by literary men, you will notice that they dare say little against it. It is only the wretched, paltry Sunday news- papers, that come out, like the moles and the bats, in the darkness of the night, to do mischief, and retire on the approach of day, that can afford to point their foolish jests at the gospel, and make jokes at the expense of the Bible. The first and ablest papers, magazines, and reviews, whatever be their defi- ciencies in many Christian elements, and even Christian expres- sion and they are, many of them, deficient in these yet will not, ay, and dare not, directly attack the gospel, or seek to undermine that blessed Book, which has for its author God, and for its end the salvation of the chiefest of sinners. The light of the gospel is the light of the world ; and in proportion as that sun shall rise higher above the horizon, all literature, all science, all philosophy, all poetry, will become consecrated, and pure, and holy also. Let me notice one other feature in the Jewish economy. The candlestick was put in the place where the priests were, and only in that place. It had seven branches, but only one stem. In the gospel church here delineated there are seven stems, THE SEVEN STARS AND SEVEN CANDLESTICKS. 73 and each stem has seven branches. The great lesson to be taught was, that in the Jewish church, Christianity was confined to a place, or a nation that the light was placed where alone it could burn, in holy, consecrated ground. Beyond, all was darkness, and blankness, and coldness; but in the Christian dispensation all ground is holy. Never forget that in the Christian dispensation there is no holy place like that of the ancient temple, or that in which the candlestick stood; but that all ground is holy. And this reminds me of what is the secret of the introduction, in the Diocese of Exeter, of stone altars, and oratories, and crucifixes. All this is designed to introduce the thin edge of the wedge, which has been blessed by Pius IX., and with which he hopes to rend our Protestant country into a thousand pieces. I allude to these matters, because faithfulness requires that I should do so. What was called an " oratory" was erected in a domestic establishment, with an altar in it, and a cross upon the altar, with other para- phernalia of Rome ; and bishop and clergy coincided that it was proper that there should be such a place in every house, for family worship. I deny this; the kitchen floor, the dining-room floor, the drawing-room carpet, are all holy ground, if holy hearts bow their knees upon them. When my Lord allied himself to a por- tion of the dust, he consecrated every acre by that act; he requires only holy hearts to pray and holy tongues to confess, and all the earth on which there is such worship is holy ground; and to attempt to make a vital distinction, and especially to attempt to carry such a distinction into our domestic worship, is to throw back Christianity into Judaism, and Protestantism itself into Popery. However beau- tiful churches and temples may be, they are not the body ; the true church is made up of living stones; and this reminds me of a passage which I wish you specially to notice ; it is in Luke xxi. 5 : " And as some" (i. e. the apostles) "spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said, As for these things which ye behold, the days will come in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." When the disciples went into the temple, what was it that first caught their eye? Just that which captivated the man and the Jew the man praising the seen, and despising the unseen; the Jew admir- 7 74 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. , ing the splendid material worship, caring little about the spiritual the temple appearing to them so great, simply because their minds and hearts were so little ; but if the apostles saw something and such as I have described, in the temple to admire, we read that our Lord found something in it to admire also. Christ, the Lord of glory, found in the temple an object that attracted his notice; and the disciples also found an object which attracted theirs. We have seen what the apostles saw and wondered at the glorious architecture, the lofty pillars, and clustering capitals, and beautiful ornaments these were that charmed and captivated them. But what did Christ see ? Read the beginning of the chapter, and you will find there what caught his eye. Jesus looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the trea- sury. And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. And he said, " Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all : for all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God : but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had." The disciples saw the splendid stones Christ saw nothing there but that humble, despised, and holy widow. And what did he see in her ? He saw in that widow's soul a sanctuary more glori- ous than the temple of Jerusalem ; and in that widow's offering a sacrifice more precious than a thousand rams, and bulls, and goats; and in that woman a living stone more splendid and enduring than all the clustering columns, and vast arches, and fretted ceilings of the temple of Jerusalem ; so truly does moral excel material glory. The Jew, the disciple, the man, saw nothing but splendid architecture ; the Lord Jesus was blind and indifferent to it all, and saw nothing but a poor widow cast- ing her mites into the treasury. It is not the consecrated stone, but the holy chancel of the holy heart of the living stone; based upon the true foundation, the head Corner-stone. And wherever that widow cast in her mite and worshipped, there Christ could see a holy temple and holy ground. We see in the next place in this candlestick many branches, forming one candlestick; denoting, that in the Christian church there should be unity of doctrine, but, it may be, diversity of THE SEVEN STARS AND SEVEN CANDLESTICKS. 75 discipline ; unity of principle, variety of devolopment. But I hasten to urge one or two inferences. First, we see what the normal and radical idea of the church of Christ is. It is just wherever Christ is. We have Christ walking in the midst of these candlesticks, given as the great idea of what constitutes the essential element of the true church of Christ. " Wheresoever two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." And this doctrine is the rule now, just as much as it was then : wherever Christ is walking, that is, is present, in the midst of the golden candlesticks the place may be a prison: the number may be two the cathe- dral beautiful but it is a true church. A large audience is delightful, but the church is not confined to a numerous congre- gation. "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." They need not meet at Loretto, or at Compostella, or at Rome, or in the oratory at Exeter; where- soever they are met in the name of Christ, to read his word, and do his will, and lean upon his intercession and sacrifice, and pray for his blessing, and celebrate his praise, there you have the es- sence of a church. Secondly, you have here the unity of the true church Christ in the midst of the candlesticks one light from the holy altar kindling them one oil, the unction of the Holy One, feeding them one Lord and High-Priest walking in the midst of them. Union to Christ is the essence of unity, and in the absence of this, all else is but the semblance and the form. We have next the purity of the church. Discipline may be useful, but the great source of its unity is its realizing the presence, and hearing the voice of the Lord Jesus walking in the midst of it. Here, too, we have the safety of the true church not mul- titude, or rank, or wealth, but Christ himself in the midst of it. And, finally, you see here the glory of the true church Christ, the light of the world, walking in the midst of it. May Christ walk in the midst of us ! may he make this congregation a candlestick indeed ! and may he make me, and all the minis- ters who speak to you from this place, stars in his right hand ! May it be your prayer in your homes, the aspiration of your 76 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. hearts, that Christ would be present here; and then, whether it be rich or poor, learned or ignorant, we have a presence that is a substitute for all, when all these are gone ; and which su- persedes by its splendour and its glory all, when all these are present; and which will never fail us nor forsake us, until the light of this dusky twilight is lost in the noonday splendour of the millennial morn, when there shall be neither stars nor candlesticks, but the great and overflowing sea of overwhelm- ing light, and in that clear light all will see Christ, and each other, clearly. LECTURE V. THE CHURCH OP EPHESUS HER EXCELLENCY. " Unto the aagel 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 ; 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 : and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted." RET. ii. 1-3. IT must be apparent to the most casual reader of the whole beautiful address to the church of Ephesus, that it naturally divides itself into three sections; the first section" containing an eulo- gium or panegyric upon the excellence that was seen by Christ in the Ephesian church; the second section containing his rebuke, in which he points out the sins and deficiencies by which that church was stained ; and the third recording the beautiful promise, " To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life." In this lecture, in reliance on the grace and Spirit of God, who has promised to teach speaker and hearer "all the truth," I will direct your attention to the first division; viz. the excellence which the great Chief Bishop of the Church saw, and approved, and ap- plauded in the Ephesian church. Last Lord's-day evening I showed you why ministers are called stars. They are placed in the firmament a place conspicuous and eminent ; they are simply and solely for the purpose of illuminating the darkness of the night in the absence of the sun. The minister who does not shine, and whose sermons do not reflect light, is a minister whom men may have made, but whom Grod has not consecrated. I showed you, in the next place, that churches are likened to candlesticks, be- cause they are constituted for the purpose of holding up the light; and I put it to the common sense of every man to determine what 7* 77 78 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. is the best church. One would prefer a candlestick of gold, ex- quisitely chased, of great weight, and great value ; but if a letter conies from a dear and distant relative, and it reaches us in the darkness of the night, and our hearts beat with anxiety to peruse it, we shall prefer a bright light upon a wooden candlestick, to no light at all upon a gold or silver one. By all means prefer the golden candlestick, but insist that there shall be light in it. Some of you may think the Church of England the golden candlestick, and the Church of Scotland the wooden one, if you like ; others may think, as some do think, that it is no candlestick at all; but you are to judge of it, not by what men say, but by the light that it distributes ; and, depend upon it, that the church that gives the most light is the church that does its mission best; and whether it be gold, or silver, or lead, or wood, or stone, this is the material thing this the essential thing that it shall hold forth a light to our feet, and a lamp to our path. I noticed next this beautiful fact, that the Lord walks in the midst of the candlesticks; in other words, that "wheresoever two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." I have often referred you to that passage ; it contains the essence of a church ; it is the root and pith of a church; all else, in my humble judgment be it Independency, Presbytery, or Episcopacy is more or less human and convenient developments of the one great essential element of a church; viz. Christ in the midst of two or three met in hi? name, it matters not where. Man makes much of place, and attaches great vene- ration to places; God attaches none. That man is destitute of taste who does not admire the noble cathedral, that seems to be the very stone of the earth bursting upward into blossom, and sending its new and sacred fragrance, like holy aspirations, to the skies ; but that man is destitute of Christianity, who says there is no church outside it. I showed you, too, a very striking instance in illustration of this, namely, in the Gospel of St.Luke, where we read that when our Lord and his disciples met in the beautiful temple that was raised by Herod, they looked around them in that temple, and the disciples saw one thing, the Lord of glory saw another thing. Both the Master and his disciples, both Christ and the apostles, admired and applauded something, and each the THE CHURCH OF EPHESCTS HER EXCELLENCY. 79 thing that each thought most beautiful. What did the disciples think most beautiful ? They said, " Behold what manner of stones these are ! what exquisite architecture ! what a triumph of genius ! what a glorious edifice ! Look, Master, and see what a beautiful temple we and our fathers have worshipped in I" That was the object of their admiration. But what did Jesus take no- tice of? He said, "These stones are but chiselled dust; not one stone shall be left upon another. They seem so great to you, because you are so little. I see a more sublime spectacle by far a poor widow woman coming in, casting in a mite into the trea- sury." Jesus was so charmed with the glory of that moral spec- tacle, that he was blind to the splendours of the architectural one. The disciples admired the dead stones piled by the hand of the architect; the disciples' Lord admired only the widow casting a mite into the treasury. The former were dead stones the latter was a living stone. The former were beautiful apparently the latter was beautiful indeed ; and the contrast teaches us, that it is the moral that lights up the physical, not the physical that can add any lustre to the moral. I now pass to the substance of the epistle addressed to the church at Ephesus. You will notice that Christ introduced him- self in each of these epistles to the seven churches with some of those attributes in which he was disclosed in the opening chapter. We have one of these attributes in the preface to each epistle that one of the Lord's sublime attributes being selected which is most appropriate to the peculiar moral and spiritual state of the community which is addressed. In order that we may know something of the origin and history of the church of Ephesus, let us turn to those passages of Scrip- ture which give us an account of it. We have, first, the histo- rical account of the church of Ephesus in the Acts of the Apostles ; secondly, an apostle's epistle to the church of Ephesus, called the Epistle to the Ephesians; and thirdly ; the autograph letter of Christ himself to that church this epistle in the first person sent by our Lord himself. I turn, first of all, to Acts xix., where we find a sketch in brief of the introduction of the gospel at Ephesus. We there read that Paul, having passed through the upper coast, came to Ephesus, 80 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. and he found there certain disciples who had escaped from their own country and fled to Ephesus. We read in verse 6, that they " spake with tongues, and prophesied, after that the Holy Ghost came upon them by the laying on of the hands of Paul ; and all the men were about twelve." We next find (verse 8) the apostle going into the synagogue of the Jews preaching always first to the Jews, and next to the Gentiles thus setting us an example of missionary order and action ; the Jew first, and then the Gen- tile ; and I believe that God will bless that order. Let the one be done, and let not the other be left undone. We find next (verse 9) that the only chapel which the apostle first officiated in at Ephesus was a school-master's school : " He went daily and disputed in the school of one Tyrannus" a portion of apostolic conduct which I am surprised that those who are the uncompromising advocates of what is called apostolic succession do not imitate. The apostles preached anywhere and everywhere ; the great question with them was, " Are there ears to hear, and hearts to be converted?" And if they saw that there were both, there they preached the unsearchable riches of Christ. Sure I am, that we shall not reach the full perfection of true apostolic succession, till we witness bishops and archbishops lending new lustre to their lawn, and new dignity to their position, by standing in Smithfield, or Paul's Cross, Farringdon Market, and Covent Garden, and preaching as good Bishop Latimer and Bishop Ridley did, and a greater bishop than either, St. Paul did; and a greater than all- the Lord of glory did the everlasting gospel of the grace of Christ to all that will wait and listen. The apostle, it is said, " disputed." I wish you to notice the language here, " He disputed and persuaded." Many persons are extremely op- posed to controversy. If by controversy you understand calling nicknames, losing one's temper, attributing to an opponent what he repudiates and disclaims, such controversy is alike unchristian and worthless, if not mischievous; but I understand by contro- versy, speaking the truth, but speaking it in love ; strong argu- ments couched in persuasive and affectionate terms. Tender, in our address to the man, bold and unsparing in our denunciation of his errors ; denouncing the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, and yet loving, and trying to save the souls of the Nicolaitanes this is THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS HER EXCELLENCY. 81 controversy, and such is the controversy that is scriptural. Cer- tain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, who took upon themselves to call the name of Jesus over evil spirits having been convinced of their error, and " having brought their books, burned them before all men ; and they counted the price of the books, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver." I refer to this text because the use made of it proves that popes are not infallible in their in- terpretation of Scripture. The predecessor of the present pope was Gregory XVI. This Gregory wrote a Latin letter to all the Roman Catholic bishops of Christendom : in this letter he says that when the apostle Paul preached at Ephesus, the magicians brought their books, and the apostle took their books and burned them ; and thus he proves the propriety of an Index Expurgato- rius, i. e. a list drawn up by the popes of Home, in which they blackball every book that does not please them, or pick out certain sentences which they denounce as heretical in books which, on the whole, they approve. It has occasionally happened, through the blessing of God, that the very extracts which they have marked as heretical, and put in the Index, have caught the eyes of priests, and been blessed to the enlightening of their minds, and the sav- ing of their souls. Gregory XVI. then brings this text to prove that bishops may burn books they disapprove, or put them in the Index : but, in fact, the apostles did not take the books and burn them ; and to quote the apostles as doing so, is to misquote Scrip- ture; for it is plainly said that he magicians themselves brought the books and burned them. If popes be infallible in enunciating doctrine, certainly they are not infallible in quoting texts to prove it. " When the word of God mightily grew and prevailed," and afterward one Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines for Diana, saw that his occupation was in danger, he called toge- ther the workmen, and said, " Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth," &c., addressing them in the most plausible and artful manner. Wherever God has a work, Satan always gets up a counter-work ; wherever, in a congregation, God's truth is pre- vailing, there is sure to spring up in it something that will damage or dilute it. You never hear of there being genuine coin circulat- ing in the realm, without forged coin instantly following it ; and the forged coin is the evidence of the prior existence of the ge- 82 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. nuine. This Demetrius was an avaricious, shrewd, and worldly silversmith. He gilded over his avarice with religion, aud pre- tended to be zealous for the faith, while he was enthusiastic for the filling of his pocket : he was one of those men who make god- liness to be gain, and with words the most plausible, (for no man wants eloquence when he is thoroughly sincere in seeking the object which he pleads for,) I would say, the most eloquent lan- guage, for it was admirably adapted to the craftsmen's love of money, and their liking for superstition he told them, "You see we get our living by making these shrines" that was the ava- ricious appeal " and in the next place, who knows not that the great goddess Diana is admired all over the world ? and if this Paul is suffered to go on preaching this new doctrine, her worship will be neglected, her shrines will not be wanted, and our trade will be ruined. This will never do ; we must put it down at all hazards." This touched their superstition. This explains much of the persecution that has existed in the world. A man who loves the truth, aud desires only its spread, will never persecute, either to maintain or promote it ; but one who has some selfish and sinister end to advance who uses re- gion merely as the plausible cover under which he hopes to pro- mote it with greater success is always ready, if needs be, to per- secute, in order to help himself. And yet, what a blunder per- secution is ! It failed signally at Ephesus, as it has failed every- where ; for we read that the result of the conflict was the esta- blishment of a church, the largest of the seven, and the utter dis- comfiture of Demetrius and his craftsmen, his goddess, and all her shrines. Persecution never built up the truth it never pull- ed down a lie; and wherever the secular arm is called in, in order to put down truth or to build up a lie, it fails in its attempt, and parts with its strength. All the the legislation in the world can- not permanently build up a lie : all the inquisitors in the world are not able to burn out God's truth. God is the guardian of the truth ; and it will rise from its sorest struggles, radiant with more terrible beauty, and give augury of surer triumph. After these scenes had passed away, the apostle called together (chap, xx.) the elders of the Ephesian church; for at verse 17 we read, " And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS HER EXCELLENCY. 83 elders of the church." It is right to mention that the word elders is the translation of the word xpspfiurlpous, the presbyters of the church ; and in verse 28, the apostle says to these presbyters, " Take heed to yourselves, and to the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers," (ixHrxoxouz j) that is the only word that I know in the whole of our admirable translation of the Bible, in which a royal hand and party influence is understood to be traced. James VI. oY Scotland was on the Scottish throne the most zealous of all zealous Presbyterians ; but when he cross- ed the Tweed, like many of his countrymen in the present day, he became the most zealous of all zealous Episcopalians ; so still, ultra-Tractarians are generally converts from Presbytery or In- dependency, or the sons of those who remain so. So afraid was James lest there should be any thing against the favourite policy of his adoption, that he induced the translators, it is said, to render the word ZxiffxoKot, usually translated bishops, into " overseers ;" because he felt that those who are plainly called presbyters in one verse, are as plainly called bishops in another verse ; and if the words were exactly and literally translated, people might say, "Bishops and presbyters are the same thing; and bishops should preach, should have flocks under their charge, and do the work of ministers," and thus his favourite polity might suffer. The word was therefore rendered " overseer" in this place, while it is translated bishop in every other part of the New Testament. I only wish the word " bishop" had not been retained at all, and that the word " overseer," or " superintendent," had been used instead ; it would more directly have expressed what is the office of a bishop not a man to " overlook" his work, but a man to " oversee" it ; not to neglect it, but to superintend it. Perhaps this shows that whoever be the angel of the church at Ephesus, he was not a bishop in the modern sense of the word, because there were many bishops, with many flocks. The apostle says so : "Whom the Holy G-host hath made bishops" or over- seers j and therefore it appears to me that the angel may be either the representative of the whole, or may have been what we call the moderator, or presiding minister; but at all events the address is plainly not to the minister, as such, but to the whole Christian church, properly and strictly so called. It has been said by an- 84 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. cicnt writers that Timothy was the first bishop of Ephesus, and they have argued from these words, " I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine." I, for one, entertain no objection to that form of church government. I believe that the earliest form of ecclesiastical polity after the apostles' days, was a very modified episcopacy; but such an episcopacy as we have probably no specimen of now among the churches. To give you an instance of an ancient bishop, I would name Cyprian, Bi- shop of Carthage. When you hear of a bishop you think of one who has ten or twenty thousand a year, living in great splendour, with two or three hundred presbyters under him, and a seat in the legislature. Cyprian had very few presbyters under him ; his whole diocese was within four walls of a chapel or meeting-house ; and these few presbyters he sent abroad to preach the gospel of Christ. Such an episcopacy is extremely beautiful ; and would, if it were preserved, be eminently effective. I do not quarrel with existing developments, or the munificent support of modern epis- copacy : I only wish to show that the earliest form of ecclesiastical polity was something like what Archbishop Leighton wished to see a very reduced episcopacy, and so like presbytery as to be scarcely distinguishable from it. The angel of the church of Ephesus is thus addressed as the representative of the whole church, as may be seen from the body of the epistle; it is the church that Christ rebukes, and exhorts, through him " I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, &c. ; to him that overcometh," (whosoever he be,) " will I give to eat of the tree of life;" plainly implying that the address is meant for the laity, not for the cler- gy only. The next question that arises is, What was this church ? Plainly it was not a company exclusively of elect, or justified persons: this is the true, the inner, the spiritual church ; but it was, I appre- hend, a mixed body; and if we keep the distinction betwen these two things clearly before us, we shall avoid many misapprehensions into which persons fall : it is baptism that constitutes admission into the outward and visible church it is regeneration that con- stitutes admission into the true and spiritual church. The first is made up of the whole company of them who profess the gospel, THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS HER EXCELLENCY. 85 represented as tares and wheat, good and bad fishes; those that are Israelites indeed, and those that are Israelites only in name ; those that are chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, that they should be holy, and without blemish before him in love; and those who profess, but feel not the power of the truth : so that we have reason to believe, from the parables and other por- tions of Scripture, that in this dispensation there will be no such thing as a perfectly pure communion-table, church, or congregation, either local or national, or catholic and universal. In speaking with a goldsmith one day, he showed me what is called virgin gold, and said it is utterly worthless in one sense, while it is most pre- cious in another ; it cannot be used in its pure state for manufac- ture there must be an alloy in it to make it work ; it must be eighteen or twenty carats fine, it cannot be twenty-four, i. e. some sort of alloy must be mixed with it. Visible churches, like or- dinary gold, are some ten, some twelve, some eighteen carats fine; the pure church is the pure unalloyed gold, and has currency only in the realms of glory : in this world the church has an alloy ; there is a mixture of mere professors with true believers; nothing absolutely pure is here, and I believe, so impure are we, and we live in so impure a world, that there needs to be a mixture in order to exist at all. But a day comes, when all the base metal shall be destroyed, and the pure gold shall come out beautiful, and un- mixed, and holy; and its currency shall be where there is no need nor toleration of alloy where is nothing to defile or destroy. But this church, while thus a mixed body, was yet perfectly distinct from the world : it had its own place of meeting, its own rites, its own laws, its preaching of the gospel, its sacraments of baptism and the Lord's supper, and several outward signs and forms by which its numbers were known to the world. Our Lord left the church but one grand characteristic badge : one church said it should be a tonsure on the head; another church said it should be a crucifix ; another, something else : Christ left us no such badge ; he said Christians should have a badge, but not such as these " By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." Reciprocal, mutual love, is the apostolic characteristic of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. The author of this epistle is Christ himself. The church of 86 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. Ephesus is the party addressed, the writer of the letter is the Lord Jesus Christ. That church might have expected a missive of judgment, and lo ! it is a missive of mercy, a letter of love, the autograph of her Head, her Lord, and Saviour. He says to John, " Write; be my amanuensis; mingle with it no sentiment of your own, but convey my words as they fall from my lips, to the church at Ephesus :" tradition might be distorted ; oral com- munications might be mistaken ; but this is a letter to be read in the light of the nineteenth, as well as to be studied amid the persecutions of the first century. He pronounces first a panegyric upon what was good in this church : he says, " I know thy works." Christ is God : omni- science is his glorious prerogative and attribute : he only can say, " I know thy works ;" " he had eyes like a flame of fire." He did not need that any man should tell him what was in man ; "his eyes behold the works, his eyelids try the thoughts of the children of men ;" " all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." Only think, that there is not one beating heart in this assembly, upon which the eye of Christ is not as distinctly riveted, as if that heart were the only one in the whole universe of God. In other words, each individual in this assembly may say at this moment, " There is not a thought in my heart, but, lo ! Lord, thou knowest it altogether." What is the thought that is now uppermost ? I doubt not many a one is feeling at this moment that, while I am speaking, his thoughts are wandering to the ends of the earth. Some have their bodies here, and their hearts in their counting-house ; others, looking to me, and listening to my words, have their fancies roaming here, there, and everywhere ; some thinking so little about the purpose for which they have come here, that they are now wondering, and calculating, while I speak, whether they shall obtain that little payment to-morrow, or get through that little difficulty next year. What a pity that it is so ! not only what a sin, but what a pity that it is so ! My dear friends, you ought to determine that nothing that belongs to the counting-house, the trade, the business, the profession, shall trespass on this holy day, to disturb its quiet, or to mar your communion with God. Get into the holy habit of sequestering Sabbath from the rest of the days, and THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS HEK EXCELLENCY. 87 you will soon find that the habit will become, by the blessing of God, like a second nature. Let us ever recollect this solemn truth, that Christ's eye is upon each one of us. There is no such thing as a divine " absenteeism " there is no such thing as a suspension, even for a moment, of the penetrating and piercing omniscience of God. That deed that you did in secret sounds like the seven thunders in God's ear ; that thought which flashed through your soul with the speed of the lightning's wing, left its shadow before God, and in his records it is written what it was, and what its character is. But, blessed be his name, his omniscience does not occupy itself with looking only at our sins, but it delights also to take cognizance of our virtues which he himself has created. That prayer that is scarcely expressed by the lips, but that leaps secretly from the heart, Christ hears. That sympathy within, for which you have no expression without, Christ sees. That pity which you felt for a poor one whom you could not help, Christ has noted as true charity. That mite which you cast into the treasury with your left hand, your right hand scarcely know- ing what your left hand did, Christ has seen. There is not a silent tear that is shed over sin and sorrow, nor a secret thought or prayer that is breathed for its extinction, that does not rise with greater speed than an angel's wing, and soar higher than an archangel's flight, and reach the bosom, and lie recorded by the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be his name ! when he sees what is sin in his people, he notes it io forgive it ; when he detects what is excellence, he notes it to record, to canonize, and to remember it. " Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another : and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance 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." How beautiful is this ! Believer, how consolatory is this ! the act that the world misconstrues, the word that the world mis- represents, you have a judge that sees actually as it is. Hopes too bright for this world, and sympathies with what is too lofty or too pure for the crowd to comprehend, Christ sees. What the world denounces as your sin, Christ records, it may be, as your excel- 88 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. lence : there is not a holy thought that is cherished, or a cup of cold water that is given in his name, which he does not appreciate. Child of God ! " I know thy works ;" I know the difficulties with which you have to contend, I know the obstructions which you have to overcome ; I know the motives from which they spring, I know the end for which you do them ; and if the world's eulo- giuni shall not be pronounced upon you, you have an eulogium in reversion, that will be music indeed, when the world's shout will be silent forever. If this be true of their deeds, it is true of be- lievers themselves. Wherever there is a child of God, there rests upon him the eye of his blessed Lord. Let him be in the deepest coal-pit of Northumberland, or upon the loftiest crag of the Py- renees in. some subterranean crypt or secret catacomb in the region where the sun never shines, or in some desert scorched by his burning rays let him be shut up in the cells of the Inquisi- tion, or, like the Waldenses of old, amid the ravines of the Cottian Alps wheresoever the sword of persecution may drive him, or the wave of prosperity may lift him, the believer is seen, and overshadowed, and protected by his Lord, and kept as carefully as if he were the only jewel in the universe, and his Master's name impressed and engraven upon it. " Happy are the people that are in such a case ! happy is that man whose God is the Lord !'' But let us inquire if this be our privilege if this inspection be our joy if it be true that Christ knows our thoughts, our feelings, our works what are those works of ours that he knows ? You complain, that I so often ask you to give, and to give so much, and so often, for various objects ; just ask yourself what, you have given and done for Christ what your works are ! If Christ be looking on, if he see and record all you have spent in follies, in luxuries, in amusements, and all you have done for the spread of the gospel, how will it stand ? I believe that the time shortens, and the shadows of approaching night, when no man can work, come and creep over the world, and indicate that the sun is setting, but setting only to rise again in greater, even in noon-day splendour; therefore, I believe that now or never is the time for missionary effort. We ask you, then, in assisting missionary effort, to give not only your superfluities, which is all you have given hitherto, but to make sacrifices j what you have yet done for the cause of THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS HER EXCELLENCY. 89 Christ has been the frieze, the ornament of your life, not the pillar, the capital of it. Never was there a time when the whole world was so open to missionary effort as at this day ; and never was the time so near realization when this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached to every nation, and then shall the end come. France and Spain are both at this moment open to our Bibles Greece and Turkey are at length accessible to our missionaries. It has ceased to be a crime for a perverted Christian to come back to Christianity; it has ceased in Turkey to be an offence to preach the gospel to Mohammedans. I told you on a previous evening that the sultan has so completely relaxed his laws, that he has given permission to the Jews to raise a temple in the midst of Jerusa- lem, and they are now collecting funds to build one, which they say shall eclipse the first and second, both in glory and magnifi- cence. At this moment Asia, and Assyria, and India beyond the Indus, farther than the Macedonian phalanxes of Alexander ever penetrated, are inviting us. The mountains of India may be trodden by missionaries' feet; China has cast down her fortresses; Egypt and Abyssinia have opened their gates ; there is not a spot in the wide world where the missionaries of the gospel may not preach ; from every spot there comes, heard by the ear of God, and by the ear of the true Christian, the piercing cry, " Come over and help us;" the great sea is coming on, to cover all with its waves take the opportunity of beneficence while you can, before you are over- whelmed ; the night is at hand work while it is called to-day ; the candle is nearly burned to the socket make use of the little light that remains ; the shades of evening are gathering round us ply the work of the gospel ere the sun sets, and there be no more opportunity for action. But our blessed Lord says, " I know," not only " thy works," but "thy labour." It seems to me that "labour" specially refers to the minister, " works" to the people, because it is the very word applied by Paul to ministers : " Know those that labour among you, and are over you," those that labour in the word and doctrine ;" and if this refer to ministers of the gospel, what does it teach us ? that the ministry of the gospel is not non-resident, but that it is what the apostle has here called a "labour." If any pride themselves on having apostolic succession, let them see to 8* 90 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. it that they have also apostolic doctrine, and apostolic labour. Here are the labours of an apostle : " Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journey ings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilder- ness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren ; in wea- riness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness." Apostolic light, and apostolic love, are the things we should transfer to ourselves, and by the grace of God imitate and copy. But the great Head of the church adds, "I know, not only thy works, and thy labour, but I know also thy patience." Patience is a virtue which, in the present day, we have much need of. " Wait patiently for God." Impatience is one of the characteris- tics of the day : it shows itself in prayerlessness ; in feelings pre- judicial to ourselves, and not beneficial to others : in a constant fear that every thing will go to wreck if we do not interpose ; in a strong selfish feeling, that if we do not put in our hand, and bear our part, God will not be served, and his cause will not be sus- tained. Our Lord saw all that was coming on the earth, and yet what perfect self-possession ! what quiet ! what complete patience ! Let us imitate his example. "Fret not thyself because of evil doers. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him." And in order to exhibit and display this, realize, if you can, two or three things. He that is impatient with events which man cannot reverse is impatient with God ; he that quarrels with things as they are, quarrels, as it were, with God. God is in all, over- ruling what is evil, sanctifying what is true. Let us stand to our post, and wait patiently till he come and relieve : thus we read in Scripture of the " patience of the saints." Yet patience does not imply indolence, for it says, "thy labour and thy patience." Is it not the fact that the man who is most self-possessed is just the man who is capable of the mightiest enterprise ? How strong an illustration of this in the natural world was Columbus ! When all scientific men were laughing at him, and declaring there was no such western continent as he supposed, Columbus never lost his temper, nor his energy and patience, and his persistency was THE CHURCH OF EPIIESUS HER EXCELLENCY. 91 crowned with success. Take an instance from Scripture. What quietness of spirit, what endurance, what strength of character, what energy of action do we find in Joshua ! It is the men who are always impatient, always in a hurry, who do nothing ; it is the men that are quiet and self-possessed that rest and repose upon the Rock of ages, that are capable of the greatest feats, and are characterized by the most glorious triumphs. But there are three practical or historical illustrations and evi- dences given of this church's labour and patience : " thou hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured." The first characteristic of these works is, that this church had tried them which say they are apostles. We learn that even in the apostles' days there were false apostles, false brethren, deceitful workers ; and if, in the sunshine of the apostles' days, there were bad men and false apostles, are we to be surprised that there are such in the present day ? As I have already said, if there were no false and bad ministers, it would be to me a proof that the Bible was not true ; and when, therefore, you hear any persons quoting bad ministers, as some are very apt to do when they want to get rid of Christianity, as a reason for rejecting the Bible, tell him that the reason which he urges for rejecting the gospel is just one of the reasons why you accept it. The Scripture says that such ministers should creep into the church ; and were such wanting, it would be evidence that the Bible is not true. There ought to be discipline in every church. I think it is wrong that a person whose conduct is openly profane, whose life is bad, whose character is equivocal, and who has not repented of his sins, should be ad- mitted to the communion-table. That is the reason why in the Scottish church there are tokens distributed to each, that at every communion-table each person may come to the minister and elders, and receive a token that, as far as they can judge, his life is con- sistent, his doctrine pure, his walk becoming a believer. But how did they try them ? I doubt whether it was by an ecclesiastical court ; I believe the trial was mainly by the word of God. And this trial is exactly what the apostle speaks of when he says, " Try the spirits, whether they be of God;" and again, when Paul says, " Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you, let him be anathema," *. e. separate him from 92 THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. you have nothing to do with him. And this shows us that a Christian people may read the Bible ; that they may understand the Bible ; and that they are good judges whether it be bread or poison with which the minister feeds them. I have received a note, complaining of a remark which I made on this passage. It is said, " Why, according to you, you en- courage the people to sit as critics upon what you say;" and in this note the text is cited, " Receive the sincere milk of the word ;" and the inference is added, that you ought therefore to receive what the minister says, and not judge at all. But does not the verse show that if it be any thing but milk, you are not to take it. I have no fear that there will be too much of this ; my fear is rather lest you should be too dead, too apathetic, too indolent. I rejoice to stir up opposition it is the best thing in the world. Better have men disputing with you, and controverting what you say, than seated like stones or pieces of clay, coming to God's house as a form, and leaving it just as they entered it, with in- creased responsibilities, but no blessing. " Thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and hast rejected them." No official rank, no intellectual power, must be taken as a substitute for the gospel. The instance of the patience of the church is, " Thou hast borne reproach, opposition, calumny, conflict of every sort, and had patience;" and then it is added also, "thou hast laboured for my name's sake, and hast not fainted." Mark the purity of these labours. Thou hast laboured, not for popular edat, not for money, not to prop up an old sect or pull down a new one, not to strengthen one party or weaken another, but " for my name's sake," in obedience to my will, and for my glory. Whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, ye have done all for my glory, leaning on my intercession, strengthened with my might, out of love to me, in testimony of your attachment to me; thus you have laboured for my name's sake. Let us next notice the persistency of this labour : " Thou hast laboured, and Jtast not fainted." A great fault of modern labour is, that it begins with the blaze of a rocket, and is extinguished with its speed also; it is a rare thing to find in the church a man who will begin a good work, and will quietly cleave and adhere to what he has begun. I think we Scottish Christians excel in THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS HER EXCELLENCY. 93 that point our English and Irish brethren. The Irish are the most ignitable, the English the most matter-of-fact, the Scotch the most logical and persistent. When I said I wanted money for pur schools, the first five-pound note I received was from an Irish Christian ; his heart leaped to its right place, as an Irishman's always does, when a right appeal on right grounds is made to it. The gospel seems to require greater force and energy in order to reach a Scotchman's heart ; but when it is reached, touched, and transformed, it abides steadfast as the needle to the pole, and is the most persistent " labouring and fainting not/' It was thus that the apostles triumphed ; they laboured and fainted not. It was thus that the Reformers triumphed ; they laboured and fainted not. It was thus that Whitfield, and Wesley, and Oberlin, and Boos, and Elliott, and Williams, and others, of whom the world was not worthy, laboured and fainted not. Such is Christ's eulogium on this church : such were its works, its labour, its patience, its excellence. Were the Lord of the church to visit us now, could he say to us, " Ye have done what ye could ?" I fear not. Much we have done, perhaps, but not yet what we ought. Learn to make sacrifices ; learn to be charac- terized by such virtues as will show that the gospel has made you to difier from others; to be distinguished by the excellencies of the Ephesian church, without its faults. And if there be fair and precious fruit in the midst of us, Christ's breath has given it all its fragrance Christ's smile has given it all its beauty. If we have done aught that is good if we have made great sacrifices if we have laboured and have not fainted " not unto us, O Lord, but to thy name be the praise and glory." Our sins should hum- ble us, for they are our own ; and our virtues should humble us, for they are not our own. Our sins should bring us to God, that they may be forgiven ; our virtues should bring us to God, that he may be glorified. <* ** LECTURE VI. FIRST LOVE LOST. "Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love." REV. ii. 4. EVERY verdict pronounced on the Ephesian church previous to the fourth verse of this chapter, has been almost unmingled encomium. " I know," i. e. I fully appreciate " thy works, thy labours, thy patience ; I appreciate, too, your sympathy with truth, your hatred of error ; how thou canst not bear them which are evil : I fully appreciate your desire for a pure, evangelical, apostolic ministry thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and hast found them liars : I know quite well how thou hast borne reproach for my sake ; how thou hast despised the sneer on the one side, the scoff on the other, and the laugh from behind, and the reproach from before. I know, too, thy patience, how much thou hast patiently endured, and I know the purity of it all it has been for my name's sake ; and I know the per- severance that has characterised it all thou hast laboured, and hast not fainted." But after this beautiful encomium pronounced upon the Ephesian church pronounced by Him who knew the inmost motives of the heart, as well as knew the external com- portment of every officer and person he is constrained to say he has somewhat against her; but how kind if I might, without irreverence, use the expression how courteous, the rebuke that is here appended ! " Notwithstanding" I wish it were not so I wish that faithfulness would suffer me to be silent I wish that I could pass by without noticing the flaw by which all is injured, marred, and will be, if not corrected, ruined; but I cannot I have somewhat against thee ; and here it is painful it is to pro- nounce it, but truth requires it, love necessitates it, " thou hast 94 FIRST LOVE LOST. . 95 left thy first love :" the- beautiful morning of the Ephesian Church, that rose in splendour and in glory, rich with brilliant promise, was overclouded before noon ; the gold, so pure, became alloyed the fine gold became changed the wine was mixed with water; and for glory, there must be inscribed on many of its works that seemed most beautiful to the eye, and most promising to him who knew not the source from which they came, " Icha- bod, Ichabod, the glory is departed." Strange it is that there should be so much to applaud, and, so soon after, so much to cen- sure and to condemn. Yet, is not this one of the evidences that this epistle came from the same source from which all the epistles in the New Testament came ? There is scarcely an apostolic Church that .did not begin, soon after it was founded, to err and wander from the truth. The Corinthian Church was no sooner established by apostolic preaching, and built up by apostolic hands, than its members learned to say, one, I am of Paul ; and another, I am of Cephas; and I of Apollos; and I of Christ. " Are ye not," said the Apostle, " carnal ?" And again, scarcely had the Apostle left the Galatians than they began to swerve, even from the foundation itself, justification by faith in the right- eousnes of Christ ; and the Thessalonians were no sooner left than they introduced strange and extravagant views of prophecy, sup- posing Christ to be actually present in the midst of them, and believing in " Lo here, and lo there," instead of patiently waiting for the coming of the Lord. Now what does this teach us? That if divisions existed in the apostolic Church, then divisions existing in the Protestant Churches now do not prove that these Churches have ceased to be true ones. Our divisions may dis- grace us, but, blessed be God, they do not unchurch us. The Corinthians, the Galatians, and the Thessalonians, had divisions, but these did not invalidate their claim to be true Churches ; and therefore it cannot be justly laid to our charge that because we are divided in discipline we are therefore separated from Christ, and because we do not see eye to eye in things non-essential, we do not see eye to eye in things essential, eternal, vital. But let me notice, that not only did divisions take place among apostolic Churches, but no less strange, perhaps no sooner was the last of the Apostles removed his spirit to the white-robed throng, 96 THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS. his body to the dust, in patient hope of the resurrection of the dead than divisions sprung up in every part of the Christian world, among the Christian Churches. You are told by certain divines that the Nicene Church, i. e. the Church of the first 300 years before the Council of Nice, is the grand model of a Chris- tian Church. Blessed be God that we have no such reverence for any such model. Augustine, the most evangelical and excel- lent of all the Fathers, states that before his day there were no less than eighty-eight sects into which the whole Christian Church was divided. Now we have not eighty-eight sects in the present day : we have many, perhaps too many, at least our enemies say so, but certainly not eighty-eight ; and if the names of some of our sects are pronounced strange and uncouth by those who hate Protestant Christianity, surely some of the names of the early sects are not less so; there were the Patripassions, the Sabella- rians, the Pelagians, the Marcionites, names at least as uncouth as Independents, Presbyterians, Episcopalians. But is it true that there is a Church upon earth without divisions ? The Church that has most divisions, is the Church that is beginning, probably, to be most alive : the Church where there are fewest divisions may not be the Church that approximates most closely to millen- nial purity, but a Church that has the peace of the grave and its corruption too. But even in that communion which glories so much in her unity there are divisions : there are divisions in the bosom of the lloman Church. You are told, and told repeatedly by the advocates of that Church, " Here all is peace ;" and the moment that you leave the jarring and conflicting sects of Pro- testantism, and come into what they call the Catholic, what we call the Romish Church, there all is peace. Have you not read of Dominicans, Franciscans, Cistercians, Benedictines, Jesuits? what are these but denominations and conflicting divisions of the Roman Catholic Church ? And therefore instead of it being true that we have divisions, and that they have none, we may fairly say that they have divisions more numerous than we have ; and divisions, let me say, upon far more vital points, only that we have the liberty and avail ourselves of it of each man wor- shipping under his own vine and his own fig-tree ; in other words, accepting the form and polity which he prefers ; while in that t FIRST LOVE LOST. 97 Church, however they may quarrel, they are all kept together by a force and pressure ab extra, being bound together by certain well-known and irresistible restraints. If we refer to another party, Roman Catholic in principle, but not in name the Tractarians they are divided into three sects already the Newmanites, who hold that the true faith is the development of seeds sown in the Apostles' days, that have shot up into a glorious tree, in the days of the Council of Trent : and next the Wardites, who have formed an imaginary, theoretical, transcendental Church, to which they say all others must be conformed : and lastly there are the Puseyites, who say that the Nicene Church is the great model of a Christian Church, and that perfection consists in the nearest approximation to it. Thus, then, I have shown that there were divisions in the apostolic Churches, divisions in the Nicene Church, divisions in the Romish Church, and that there are divisions among those who have made divisions in order to escape division ; and so that those who profess to do what is not to be done till the Lord of the harvest comes and does it for himself, namely, to separate the wheat from the tares in the visible Church, have only added to divisions and splits already existing. The Lord has somewhat against the best Church upon earth ; there is no such thing as a pure visible Church, and such will not be till the millennium. Christ's Church has its members in every section of the visible Church ; a holy and unalloyed communion will be, for it is the grand hope of the Church, but it will not yet be. Our Lord may say of every Church the best, the purest, the most apos- tolic, the most evangelical "I have somewhat against thee;" and the most serious element in that somewhat he expresses in the text I have read "thou hast left thy first love." It is very remarkable, that whilst this Church was abounding in all outward efforts to extend and promote the Gospel, she should still be in a dying state in reference to that which was the spring of all Christian love. She had tried them which said they were apostles; she had laboured, she had borne, she had had patience, she had not fainted but while all this was going on, her love was dying. The machinery moved under the influence of the original impulse, but the great moving power within was 9 98 THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS. losing its force every moment. The bark of the tree stood fair and beautiful to the eye, but the pith was mouldering, the life was nearly gone the works were going on as before, donations and subscriptions given, prayers offered, the Sabbath kept, the church attended, but the first love had lost its fervour, and was parting with its force, and becoming colder every day. The out- ward body of a Church was there, the inward spirit was dying ; the altar stood, but the glory was almost quenched upon it ; she had a pure creed, she had a cold heart ; she had light in the head, but she was losing, and had lost, rapidly, love in the heart. And this evidence of such departure, and death of love, we have strikingly exemplified in the language used by the prophet Mala- chi ; when he shows that wherever there is a fading, dying love, there all works become weariness, all duties a burden. In Mala- cM, ch. i., God speaks thus to a people just iu the condition of the Ephesian Church " Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar ; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee ? In that ye say, The table of the Lord is contemptible. And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil ? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil ? offer it now unto thy governor ; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person ? saith the Lord of hosts. Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought ? Neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand." " Ye said also, What a weariness is it !" All duties become weariness the moment that love to the Lord of the duty becomes cold. "And ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts ; and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick ; thus ye brought an offering : should I accept this at your hand ? saith the Lord." Thus the prophet shows that love had grown cold in his day ; and the charge of the Lord of the prophets here is, that while all these works were carried on, and carried on with vigour, the love that should make them delightful was all but gone. You who are the children of God, (known to him, and why not known to yourselves ?) know well that when first your eyes were opened, and you were made to see what you yourselves were, and what Christ is, what the law demanded what Christ has done, what you had lost, and what FIRST LOVE LOST. 99 he has recovered for you how ardent was your gratitude ! how enthusiastic your love ! You thought no sacrifice too severe no burden too heavy no toil too hard for Christ's sake, in order to manifest to turn the love that you bore him ; but is it not true that much of this has faded away ? that that burning enthusiasm which was kindled when you first beheld the sun and came into contact with his beams, is now smouldering while the smoke rather than the bright flame indicates that it is not altogether quenched ? I ask of you a very solemn personal question Is this evidence that you are dying dying in a sense in which the body does not departing from Christ passing into the Aphelion ceasing to be what you hoped you were, the children of God ? It is a very delicate ground ; yet I answer, you may not have the ardent and enthusiastic love of your first conversion, and still you may be more a Christian now, and more like Christ than you were then. Passion may have lost its enthusiasm by settling down into a fixed, riveted, powerful principle ; it may be that by the progress of grace, and by the development of Christian character, what was passion at our first conversion, may be prin- ciple, permanent and enduring, now. The first burst of enthu- siasm may have passed away the feeling that was partly animal, partly spiritual, may have very much abated ; but what you have lost in fervour you may have gained in force what might be misconstrued as decay, may be only greater depth ; there may be less noise, because the stream, instead of being broad and sparkling in the sun, has become narrowed into a deeper channel, and rolls in greater silence, but with a flood of mightier majesty, to the main. It may not be, then, that because you do not feel as when you were young, or as when you were first converted, that either your love to Christ, or your sympathy with his cause, or your attach- ment to his truth, has faded from your heart in the least degree. This, I say, is delicate ground, and one requires to tread it very carefully; though I think we never should forget that love to the Lord Jesus Christ is much more a principle than a passion. It is a principle of which it seems as if we were sometimes un- conscious. What son is there here who does not love his mother ? yet you do not carry abroad with you consciously and always so. 100 THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS. the feeling of love to your mother. But let that mother be injured let some reproach be cast upon her let her be in suf- fering, and then that which lay nestling in the heart, apparently a dead principle, collects its mighty energies, and gathers up its glorious sympathies, and that son's heart beats, and that son's strength is put forth in a strenuous effort to mitigate a mother's suffering. It maybe thus with your love to Christ j what was passion once fervid, enthusiastic, overwhelming may now indeed be fixed and condensed into a settled principle that would look the flame, and the fagot ; and the inquisitor, and prison, and martyrdom, in the face, and count all but loss for Christ Jesus' sake. But, notwithstanding this, there is such a thing as dying spiritually ; whether one who is indeed regenerated ever can cease to be so, it is now needless to discuss. I must preach from such words, for the Lord contemplates in this passage the possibility of such a state. We are told to beware of ^an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God." There is such a thing as loss of power, as well as loss of passion. There may be a downward career when the heart becomes heavier, and the will becomes weaker, and you are precipitated downward and down- ward till you tremble on the very brink of everlasting destruction. Read at your leisure Jer. ii. 1 9 : " Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord ; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. Israel was holiness unto the Lord, and the first-fruits of his increase : all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them, saith the Lord. Hear ye the word of the Lord, house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel : thus saith the Lord, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain ? Neither said they, Where is the Lord that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt ? And I brought you into a plentiful coun- FIRST LOVE LOST. 101 try, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made mine heritage an abomi- nation. The priests said not, Where is the Lord ? and they that handle the law knew me not : the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit. Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the Lord, and with your children's children will I plead," in all which one may see a progressive departure from what the prophet calls the love of first espousals, how beautiful it is at first, and how it may decline at last. Let me attempt to unfold some signs by which you may know if your first love is being " left." The first evidence of dying love will be less interest in divine or religious and spiritual things than you had before. These will not occupy so much of your thoughts, nor absorb so much of your heart's affections. You will be less anxious to read the last news of missionary exertion, enter- prise, and success, and more desirous to hear the last news of the last battle, or the downfall of the last capital, or the upsetting of the last throne. If your love be dying, you will be more anxious to hear of a discovery in chemistry, or of a wonderful fossil that has been dug by Dr. Buckland from the bowels of the earth, or of some new star detected by Lord Rosse's telescope, than you will be to hear of some new island in the bosom of the deep that has been rescued from heathenism, and added to the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. If your love be really a dying love, you will prefer to belong to a literary society rather than to the Bible Society, you will strive more to be a fellow of the Royal Society than to be a member of the City Mission, and you will sacrifice and suffer more, a great deal more, to be a member of Parliament, than to be the president of a ragged school. These are evidences of preponderating earthly affinities, and I fear, in many a case, of waning and decaying spiritual love. In the second place, if your love is dying and being left, there . will be less attention to private communion with God. In the first place, it is not what you are in the pulpit, or in the pew, that shows best what you really are ; it is what you are when you have shut the doors and gone into the closet, and no man can see you. A man is really what he is when alone with God ; there he knows ^ 102 THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS. there is no eye looking on which he wishes to deceive no ear listening that he wishes to captivate nobody there whose ap- plause, or patronage, or power he desires to conciliate. Just as you are when you are alone with God, that you are truly and really. When the Bible becomes to you a very dry, dull book, and you are glad when you have got the romance in its stead when prayer comes to be very weariness, so that you have no delight or pleasure in it, yours is a questionable state. We are told by a very beautiful poet, " prayer is the breath of the soul ;" breath is an indication of life, and whenever one ceases to breathe it needs no logic to convince you that the subject has ceased to live. " Prayer," he says, " is the Christian's vital breath, The Christian's native air, His watchword at the gates of death; He enters heaven with prayer." When you are alone with God, looking at self in his light, are you obliged to say what another poet from the depths of his own heart said ? "Where is the blessedness I knew When first I saw the Lord ? Where is the soul-refreshing view Of Jesus and his word ? " What peaceful hours I once enjoyed ! How sweet their memory still ! But they have left an aching void The world can never fill." Do these lines express your experience ? Perhaps they do, and yet it may be consistent with the experience of a child of God, if you can add, " for a closer walk with God ! A calm and heavenly frame, A light to shine upon the road That leads me to the Lamb ! " lleturn, holy Dove, return, Sweet messenger of rest; I hate the sin that made thee mourn, And drove thee from my breast. FIRST LOVE LOST. 103 " The dearest idol I have known, Whate'er that idol be, Help me to tear it from thy throne, And worship only thee. " So shall my walk be close with God, Calm and serene my frame, A light to shine upon the road That leads me to the Larab." Is this your spirit ? If so your love may have faded, but you are by the lamp that can rekindle it ; your hearts may have become cold, but you are near to the altar from which a live coal may be taken wherewith to touch it. Another instance of leaving our first love will be found in less love for the public worship of God and attendance in the sanc- tuary. Once you could say, " A day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness." Once you were as often in your pew as there are sabbaths in the year, and not seldom on the week evenings too ; but you began to give up the week-day service because you had no time you would lose some two and a half, or three, or four, or five per cent, if you were to attend it. Once you were the delighted listener in the house of God, but now, somehow or other, headaches always happen on a Sunday, and clouds and threatening showers are visible in the sky on that day which are invisible on dividend and other week- days ; and somehow or other, the way to the house of God has become so long that used to be so short ; and if you have a car- riage, the horses are always fatigued on Sunday, not improbably because they have been taking you from the opera at one on the Sunday morning, and from the same cause the coachman is worn out too ; and so it happens by a multitude of disagreeables that you cannot get to the house of God as you used to do. Besides, the preacher's sermon is so much more dull ; you desire to see more flowers in the minister's language, like poppies in a corn- field, which captivate the eye if they cannot feed the hungry you would like more figures of speech a few more touching and beautiful descriptions; you do not like that plain scriptural speaking. Your position is ominous ; for you do not, like new- 104 THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS. born babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby. It is worse, your state is perilous. You are called upon to return and repent, and do the first works, and seek unto God that he may revive his work in your hearts in the midst of the years. Another evidence of dying love, or of departing from the first love, is, when we begin to think the world and all that is in the world less evil than we used to think it. True, we read in a book that we would rather sometimes forget, " Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of that Father, but of the world." All this you once believed, but now you do not believe it ; you think the air of the world is not so cold, after all that it is not so uncon- genial, after all. When your spiritual life decays, you begin to regret that you have been over-righteous, over-strict, and that you may without any great risk become a little more lax, and conform a little more to the world, always determined, neverthe- less, to neutralize upon the Sunday the poison which you may have contracted in the week, and manage matters so skilfully and so adroitly that you shall not lose Christ's favour, and yet may have the applause and favour of the world. In short, you resolve to have a box in the playhouse and a pew in the Church a favourite popular actor, and a favourite popular preacher, each beautiful in his place, but either execrable if he dare to step out of it and meddle with what belongs to the province of the other. In short, you would have fiction in Covent Garden and fact at Crown Court; but, alas ! a day comes when the last act of the drama will close when what was comedy will become tragedy when the actor will be disrobed, and fiction will indeed become fact, and the realities of death, judgment, a lost soul, a rejected Saviour, a nearing eternity will remind you that the very rebukes of the preacher which gave you offence (as I know rebukes in this place have given offence on this subject) were the rebukes of a friend, who warned you in time, that you were losing your first love rapidly, losing your precious soul, and plunging into eternity without a hope, a Saviour, a God. FIRST LOVE LOST. 105 Another evidence of dying love, and one no less decisive, is latitudinarianism. When we are losing our first love, we begin to have less zeal for evangelical truth, and far greater charity, as we call it, for deadly but attractive error. We begin to think that those things which we thought in our youth, and at our first espousals, to be very dangerous heresies, are, after all, not so very bad. We come to look upon Socinianism, which is the half-way house to infidelity, as liberal Christianity; and on Puseyism, which is the half-way house to popery, as only a great strictness about forms and ceremonies; and we think the minister who propounds on Sunday evening political discussion, and makes on the week-day political speeches, after all a good evangelical min- ister ; and the bishop who imprisons a heretic, or schismatic, as he calls him, and probably would burn him, if he had the power, with others of the same stamp and sentiment, after all a good Protestant bishop ; that the matters in dispute between Protestant and Papist are altogether of no moment; and that if a man is quite sincere, it matters little whether he be Mahometan or heathen, or Socinian or Romanist, he is equally sane ; as if, for instance, a man that eats sawdust, or sand, 'or arsenic sincerely, is just as sure to live and be healthy, as a man that eats bread and drinks water sincerely. The sincerity makes us feel for the man, it does not make poison become bread, or heresy become evangelical and vital truth. The world, and politicians, and friends applaud you, as a patron of liberality ; the Lord Jesus regards you as a specimen of increasing latitudinarianism ; and while you think you are growing in good sense and real religion, you are only giving evi- dence before heaven and earth, that the last sparks of your first love are fading upon the cold altar of your soul. I do not ask you to be bigoted to a crotchet, or exclusive in your charity. God forbid ! But I feel that evangelical and vital truth must not be compromised at any price, or for any purpose. Give me these great truths, justification alone by the righteousness of Jesus, sanctification by the Spirit of Jesus alone, a rule of faith, conclusive as complete in the word of God, and in all the rest I will be as liberal as you like ; but of one jot of these central truths I can make no sacrifice. I would concede the largest pre- 106 THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS. judice that man can see I will not compromise the least vital truth that God has spoken. If I compromise the truth, it is latitudinarianism if I concede prejudice, it is liberality. May God make us liberal ! may God keep us from being latitudi- narian ! Another evidence of dying love is shown by our having less interest in missions than we used to have. You recollect that when you first felt the Gospel, like Melancthon, you imagined that you could go out and convert the whole world you deemed no sacrifice for this end too great such was your zeal, and your sympathy, and your love ; when too you first found that you were a saint, you felt that the same grace which had made you a saint had necessitated your becoming a servant. It is a great fact, and we must learn not to forget it, that he who is the greatest Chris- tian is always the greatest missionary; and I am quite satisfied, that all we have done in the missionary cause, with few excep- tions, has been to give our superfluities. No man gives charity who gives a mere surplus, or some of the loose change in his pocket. It is real charity, real evangelical liberality to Christ's cause, when a Christian stints himself that he may sustain the cause of the Gospel ; when he sacrifices something that he may promote the kingdom of God and of his Christ. I have got the least, generally, of sacrifice from the rich ; but many a poor man in this congregation, to my certain knowledge, has made noble sacrifices ; and to many a poor man, to give a pound is a greater sacrifice than for some in this congregation to give a thousand, or five thousand ; and whenever we have the grace of Christ power- fully within us, and our first love in its first fervour, then we shall count it a privilege to sacrifice ; and what seems sacrifice to some, will be felt by those whom grace constrains, the sweetest and most delightful pleasure. Another evidence of departure from our first love is greater interest in party disputes, in ecclesiastical quarrels, in controver- sies about Church and State, and less interest in the great fact that Christ's kingdom is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. I do not blame you for having your preference I do not blame you for leaving one communion, because you may do it conscientiously; but my conviction is complete, that the FIRST LOVE LOST. 107 worst ecclesiastical system upon earth, with good men to work it, must be a blessing ; and the best ecclesiastical system in the uni- verse, with bad men to work it, must only be a calamity and a curse. What is wanted is not so much new machinery, as a new spirit to rush through the old machinery. I am quite satisfied that mere outward arrangements should remain as they are ; but I will not rest, and I trust, by the grace of God, (I use scriptural language, and I use it in its scriptural sense,) we shall "give the Lord no rest," until every minister of the Gospel shall be a faithful, evangelical one, and every home shall be filled by a faithful and spiritually-minded family. We must work from the centre out- ward to the circumference, not from the circumference inward to the centre. We must labour to make men better, and all the rest will follow. Let us feel, at all events, that whenever we begin to quarrel about Church and State, about presbytery and episco- pacy, about baptism and anabaptism, we are interfering with the more important duties of ministers, and are squandering the time which we ought to occupy with more precious things. As I have told you before, I believe that all Churches, dissenting and estab- lished, are to be broken up ; and if we are within twenty-four years, as can be proved, of the seventh millenary of the world, if we are come, as the best and most pious men of the present day believe, upon the very last times, it should be our grand desire to see that we have the right love and the right life, and our loins girt ; and when we have a throne in heaven and a home beyond the stars, resting on a Saviour that has bled and died for us, and looking for a Saviour that shall come and take us to him- self, we can afford to look down from our serene place with very slight sympathy on the petty quarrels of petty m^n on petty matters. Another evidence of leaving our first love is when we make little or no progress at all. I doubt if there be such a thing as a stationary state in human experience. I think men must advance or recede. I do not believe anything is stationary upon earth. Everything moves, everything is under an impulse ; and if the impulse is not always upward, it must be downward ; though he that grows downward in humility may be growing more than he that grows upward. There is the weeping willow that grows 108 THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS. downward, as well as the oak and the fir that shoot upward ; and you must not suppose that you are ceasing to grow because you have come to discern more corruption within you because you see more of shortcoming in all that you do because you feel more of sin in every thought, and more of alloy in every action, and degeneracy in every motive. The very fact that you grow in the perception of your own lost state, is evidence that you are growing in fitness and capacity for that better state into which the Spirit of God shall introduce you. Let us ask each himself, Do I love the Lord God, not only as the best Being, but as a just and a holy God? Do I love the justice that punishes sin as well as the mercy that forgives it ? Do I feel it to be as precious a truth that God is holy, as that he is merciful ? Do I feel that his law does not exact too much, is not too strict, nor too narrow, nor too exclusive ; on the con- trary, that the law, in all its demands of infinite purity, on thought, word, and deed, is a holy, good, and righteous law ? Do I desire to be emancipated from sin as my greatest calamity ? Do I prefer holiness, not as the way to reward, but as the purest atmosphere that I can breathe ? Do I regard sin as a bitter thing as the essence of the curse as the life of the worm that dies not as the flame of the fire that is never quenched and would I rather suffer than sin ? Does Christ appear to me just the Saviour that I want ? nothing less will suit me, nothing more do I require. Can I implicitly trust in him ? Can I put as much faith in one promise of my Lord, written in this book, as I can in a 5?. Bank of England note, and believe that that promise will be as surely fulfilled in eternity, as I believe that that bank- note will bo turned into gold if I go to the banker, and ask him to do so ? Am I less selfish, less narrow-minded, less exclusive ? more liberal, more large-hearted, more gracious, more sympa- thising, more loving, more pitiful, more courteous ? Are these things in me and abounding? then I have evidence within me that my love is not extinguished, that its fire burneth as fire that has had its flame kindled from the Sun of Righteousness, and has the oil, or the unction of the Holy Spirit to sustain it, and keep it alive. If the Holy Spirit leave the heart, then it becomes cold if the Holy Spirit dwell in the heart, then there is a flame FIRST LOVE LOST. 109 in it that never can die a light that never shall be extinguished a glory that shall never become dim. Have you ever prayed this prayer, not the least precious that man can offer, "0 Lord, give me thy Holy Spirit !" I cannot be satisfied with asking for faith, grace, or repentance ; I must have the Author of them all. It would be blasphemy, were it not truth, when I say that the believer's heart is the fane the very temple, the chosen dwell- ing-place, the royal palace of the Holy Spirit of truth. Seek that Holy Spirit look not to your baptism, nor to your Church, nor to any ceremony; look above them all, and beyond them all, and say, " God, give me thy Holy Spirit, and give it me for Christ's sake." Can he refuse ? He cannot. " If ye, fathers, being evil," with all your imperfections, " know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit unto them that ask him V In order to raise your love to its greatest height, study God's love in Christ. Think of God as a giver, not as a judge as giving, never as demanding; always think of him as loving, never as condemning; hear perpetually ringing, like a sweet sound, in the very depths of your soul, " God so loved the world, that he gave his only- begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Think of that blessed Saviour who crossed a chasm that no angel's wing can fly over, and waded through a sea of sorrow that no human plumb-line can fathom, and descended to an ignominy and shame that even our imagina- tion cannot realise, for no object and for no end but that man, with the weapons of rebellion in his hand, and the feelings of hatred in his heart, might be pardoned reclaimed regene- rated accepted saved. To obtain this love, do not think so much of the love that you feel within to Christ, but rather of the love that Christ feels to you. The way for you to increase your love to Christ, is to think very little about what you have attained, but very much of the love wherewith Christ has loved you. Did I wish, for instance, to kindle in my heart revenge, and hatred, and ill-will against some particular person, I would not go into my study and say, " Now I am determined to be revenged on that person, and I will therefore try by every means to blow up the coal of revenge 10 110 THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS. within me;" for I never should succeed by any such inner intro- spection of rny heart, in raising within it a feeling of revenge. What should I do then ? I would think of the wrong that person had done me, of the crime he had perpetrated, of the evil he had inflicted on me, of the ill words he had spoken about me, and, without thinking of anything within me, but only of the outward evil that he had done to me, I should quickly feel, if capable of such passions, revenge burning within my heart, till it blazed into a flame. And so if there were any person I wished to love me, and I were to say to that person, " You shall love me," he would not do it; if I should say, "I will give you 10,000?. to-morrow, if you will love me," he would tell me, "Love is not a marketable article ;" or if I were to say to him, " I will inflict upon you imprisonment, torture, and death, if you do not love me," that person would say, "I maybe silent about you, but no torture that you can apply can make love grow in my heart, and no reward that you can offer can create affection." What then must I do ? I would go and make some great sacrifice for that person. Were it a mother, and were her child to fall into the roaring cataract, and the shrieks of her agonized affection to call me to the place, I would, at the risk of my life, plunge into the stream, and seize the perishing babe, and bring it safe to shore, and place it in its mother's bosom, and then I would say, " I have commanded you to love me, and you would not; I have threatened, and you would not; I have promised, and you would not; do you love me now?" her answer would be, " I cannot but love one who has showed such love and devotedness to me." And so we love Christ ; not because he commands us, not because he threatens us, and not because he promises, but "we love him because he first loved us." Thus, then, think more of Christ's love to you, and less of your love to him ; and if your first love has lost its fervour, it will be restored if it has lost its vigour, it will be strengthened, and if it have not all the passion that it had, it will have the fixed and riveted principle prepared for all sacrifices that may occur in the providence of God. I LECTURE VII THE DIVINE PRESCRIPTION. " Remember 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 candle- stick out of his place, except thou repent. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate." RET. ii. 5, 6. IN my first discourse I directed your attention to the eulogium pronounced upon the Church of Ephesus, as it is related in the second verse of this chapter. I showed you, first, Christ singling out the excellencies of a Church before he states and condemns her sins, in order that the eulogium pronounced upon what is good may thus be made the vehicle by which he will convey, not less pointedly, but with less obstruction, the verdict of condemna- tion upon the evil. Man's plan is to pounce upon the evil, as wasps pounce upon over-ripe fruit, and then barely to admit the good. God's plan is to pronounce upon the good, and give all the credit that can be given to it ; but in faithful words, and yet with an affectionate spirit, to reprove and denounce the evil. So our Lord tells this Church, "I know thy works;" my omniscient eye has seen them all. How delightful is this thought, that the cup of cold water given by the trembling hand of a believer, and the rich dowry that is cast into the Christian treasury by a king, are equally seen and accurately appreciated by Him who searches the hearts and tries the reins of the children of men. And "I know thy labour and thy patience," and thy faithfulness, " how thou canst not bear them which are evil," and also thy protes- tantism, "how thou hast tried them," by the law and by the testimony, "which say they are apostles," assume to be apostles, "and are not, and hast found them liars." "I have known," he says, " thou hast borne much reproach" so must Christians 111 112 THE CHURCH OF EPIIESUS. still, in proportion to their faithfulness and protestantism " and hast had patience." " Let patience have her perfect work ;" and "thy labour," he says, has been single-eyed, disinterested beautiful, holy; for thou hast laboured not for thine own eclat, aggrandizement, or renown, but " for my name's sake ;" and your labour, too, has been seconded, for thou hast not only laboured, and laboured for iny name's sake, but thou hast not fainted. So beautiful and glowing is the commendation pronounced upon the Church at Ephesus ! And then with what exquisite delicacy with what Christian courtesy, if you will allow the expression, is the condemnation introduced ! Never is rebuke so poignant as when it is pronounced by the lips of love ; never does a true Christian feel his sin to be so sinful, as when it is pointed out by him who has washed him in his own blood, and made him a priest and a king unto his God. " Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee;" and what is that somewhat? "Because thou hast left thy first love." This was my subject last Lord's-day evening. I showed you what was the evidence of a Christian departing from his first love; less delight in the Bible, less delight in prayer, less care about truth ; the idea that he that persecutes it may be a good Protestant, and he that denies it a good evangelical minister; and that every man will be saved, believe what he likes, provided he is sincere. Whenever a Christian is on the inclined plane, and beginning to go downwards from the warm sun of true love, you will see that one of his first steps is indifference to the essential and vital importance of evangelical and scriptural truth. I then said, that the next evidence of this declining love was, what is just the besetting sin of all you who are not decided in this con- gregation, trying to balance Christianity and the world ; having a seat in the church and a box in the playhouse a favourite actor in the one, and a delightful preacher in the other determined that each shall do his best in his place, but that neither shall dare uncharitably to interfere with the other; endeavouring most care- fully so to balance your conformity to the world with the peace of your conscience, that you shall keep the one shielded from compunction, and yet cherish, love, and delight in the other. Be on your guard. I believe in the perseverance of saints , but THE DIVINE PRESCRIPTION. 113 that docs not prevent me from stating broadly and distinctly, that when these symptoms begin to develop themselves, they are the signs of a fading, a departing gospel, a dying soul. Let me now turn your attention to the prescription. We have seen, first, the health in the shape of commendation ; we have seen, next, the disease and its symptoms. Let us now regard the prescription for its cure; and this prescription, let me say, is addressed, not to the Church at Ephesus only, but to you. Truth, my dear friends, is not a thing of one century that becomes a lie in the next; nor is truth something of latitude and longitude, that may be true in Rome, false in Paris, and neither the one nor the other in London. Truth is like its God the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. What was true when addressed to the Church at Ephesus, either as descriptive of its excellencies, its disease, or its cure, is just as true and as applicable in the day in which we live, and in the place in which we now sit. Do not suppose that this is a prescription for the Church at Ephesus, but not for the congregation in Crown Court. It is not so ; it is God's pre- scription for human-kind it is a leaf from the tree of life, to be laid upon the agonized and bleeding heart of humanity it is God's cure for man's sin, as precious to you as ever it was to the Angel at Ephesus, or the meanest worshipper in his congregation. This prescription is contained in these words : " Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works ; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and take away thy candlestick out of his place." Let me now very plainly lay this before you. First, there is retrospect, "remember from whence thou art fallen ;" secondly, there is repentance, " repent ;" thirdly, there is reformation, " do the first works ;" and lastly, there is a menace, a threat, that if she did not do so, her candle- stick, i. e. her visible privileges, should be removed from its place. First of all, there is a retrospect ; that retrospect is the exer- cise of memory. We are thus taught that God means every power to be wielded in his service. I do not believe that there is a single faculty in the human bosom to which Satan has any right, or which the world can command as its own monopoly. I believe that all the powers of man are meant to serve God all 10* 114 THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS. the affections of man to twine and cluster around the throne of God and all the influence of man to be baptized from on high, and dedicated to the glory of him who has redeemed us by his blood, and made us kings and priests unto our God. Man is to be the priest of the world, reflecting all the goodness that has passed before him his imagination lifting up that goodness in the most beautiful expressions, and his voice setting forth the excellencies of him who has called him out of darkness into his marvellous light. Take a retrospect of the past you who are conscious of dying love ; ask yourselves what once you were, and what you find yourselves to be now. Remember the first respon- sive emotion of love that you felt to him who snatched you like a brand from the burning. Remember the enthusiastic devotion to his cause, that distinguished you by day and was like a sunlight around you by night. "Call to remembrance," in the language of Scripture, " the former days ;" compare what you feel that you are, with what you know that you were ; compare the paradise to which grace raised you, with the cold and miserable state into which your own estrangement has plunged you the sunlit crag to which the goodness of God had lifted you, with the cold and dark valley in which your fading first love has now left you. Are you not conscious of a mighty change ? Do you feel that the transition I have described is not a sketch of the fancy, but a delineation of what you yourselves are conscious of responding to ? What is this retrospect for ? It is in order that by the exercise of it we may retrace, by God's grace, our steps. I do not mean to say that a Christian will always have the warm and enthusiatic feeling that he had " when first/' to use the language of the hymn, "he saw the Lord." This, I believe, will sober down and partake more of the strength of a principle, and less of the glow and warmth of a passion. But yet there will be a mingling of the warmth of the one with the steadiness and firm- ness of the other. I do not say that it is evidence of departing love that the first glow of your early feeling has sobered down, for what you have lost in fervour you may have gained in fixity and strength ; and when sacrifices are required, you are no less prepared joyfully and readily to make them. To illustrate what I mean, suppose a son has an ardent attachment to his parents, THE DIVINE PRESCRIPTION. 115 that attachment does not show itself by an excited and enthu- siastic feeling that plays like lightning amid his heartstrings with- out shade or suspension ; but let his parents be in jeopardy, then that son will show how he loves them, by rushing to rescue them from their danger. I alluded this morning to the touching con- duct related of Ensign Pennicuik in the recent action in India, who, on seeing his father fall, lest even the dead body of his pa- rent should be dishonoured by the foe, rushed to the spot, and perished in defending his remains. There may thus be deep and ardent affection not felt at every moment, indeed, but ready to pour forth its strong and powerful expression when the crisis comes which demands its exercise and efflux. If you, then, have departed really and indeed from your first love, are you the happier for it ? has your departure from God added to your peace ? has not a cold shadow crept over your hearts, dense in the ratio of your distance from God ? Has your weakened desire to know his blessed word made you, on the whole, more merry ? You know it has not ; you know there are thoughts within, you can neither crush nor endure, compunc- tions and undefined fears which all the opiates in the world cannot deaden. You learn by contrast that the highest Christianity is the highest happiness, and that the greatest distance from God is the nearest to bell. What is heaven ? Nearness to God union and communion with him. What is hell ? Distance from God. And just in proportion as one's first love fades, in the same proportion one ceases to be happy. Never can man know or taste the highest possible happiness, till he knows and feels the certainty of salvation. It is God's great law that it shall be so. Holiness and happiness are inse- parable. The whole Gospel is just a command to be happy, an entreaty to be happy ; and the man that knows and loves his Saviour feels free of the universe, because he has the blessed enfranchisement of the New Jerusalem. That man walks the world with an elastic footstep, who looks down with unconcern upon the field of battle, and the field of death, if needs be, looking for a more certain and a blessed and glorious resurrection. Thus, then, is memory brought to play its part in restoring us to our first love. No one can have studied the Scripture without 116 THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS. noticing how often memory is thus used. We find a beautiful instance in the book of Deuteronomy, where Moses says, " Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and sufferd thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know ; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years. Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord chasteneth thee." Memory was thus called into action in the bosom of an Israelite, that by comparing the goodness he had tasted in the past, he might feel more the responsibilities that devolved upon him in the present. So we read again : " Remember thy Creator," "Remember the Sabbath day;" and in that striking instance of the conversion of Peter, in the Gospel of Mark, we read, that when Peter began to curse and to swear, and immediately the cock crew; "then Peter called to mind the words which Jesus had said to him ;" i. e., Peter called up and collected together in his memory what Jesus had said unto him all the love he had tasted, all the benefits he had reaped, all the miracles he had seen, all the sympathy that Jesus had expressed ; and then when memory made to rush into his soul the recollections of a thousand blessings, his heart smote him with the conviction of his aggra- vated sins : thus the exercise of memory added to the compunc- tions of conscience, and made Peter go out and weep bitterly. So much, then, for the first part of my subject, the retrospect. The second prescription is repentance. " Remember from whence thou hast fallen, and repent.". What is repentance? Ask the Church of Rome, and she will tell you it is wearing a haircloth girdle, going on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, or marching in a wild crusade, or repeating a thousand paternosters with the lips, without one "our Father" in the heart. In a word, she will point to her translation of the Bible where she has rendered it, not " repentance," .but " penance." Penance is a very easy THE DIVINE PRESCRIPTION. 117 thing; repentance needs for its creation Omnipotent love. I venture to assert that I could get many a man to march a thou- sand miles with pebbles in his shoes, rather than to repent and renounce one darling lust, one cherished sin. The priest can command penance, the living God alone can create repentance. The Church of Rome, wherever the word " repentance ; ' is found in our version, renders it " do penance," except in one passage, where it is said that Christ " is exalted to give repentance;" there she has deviated from her .usual course; she dared not translate it "penance;" in this instance she has therefore ren- dered it, just as we do, " repentance." But why ? Because, as long as she renders the word " do penance," man, the poor victim of her wiles, does it because it is prescribed ; but if the Church of Rome were to render it, Christ is " exalted to (jive penance," the victim would say, " If I can get penance from Christ, why should I perform it?" It would be like a ray of the Gospel a gleam of grace ; it might lead him from the thraldom of error into the glorious liberty of the Gospel of Jesus. What is repentance,, then ? It is not a transitory outburst, but an abiding feeling; it is not exclusively tears, but tears and smiles com- bined, like a rainbow, round the human heart dew-drops and sunbeams woven together. It is not a feeling, as I have said, of first love, so much as a great principle within us. Repentance is not the momentary outburst of to-day, followed by the coldness of to-morrow ; it is that genuine sorrow for sin which has some- thing of the fervour of a passion, but more of the fixity and permanence of a holy principle. Such is repentance. I may state it more particularly to be sorrow for sin itself, and not simply for its consequences. Any one repents when he feels the consequences of his misconduct; but a believer grieves and is sorry, not because of the conse- quences only, but mainly because of the sin which he has com- mitted. Pharaoh would cry, " Take away the frogs," when they came upon him as the punishment of his sin ; but David only could pray, " Take away my sins." Judas repented when he saw the consequence of his treachery; Peter repented when he saw his sin. The one felt the effects to be intolerable, the other felt the sin to be grievous in the sight of God. Such is one great 118 THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS. mark of genuine repentance it is sorrow for sin as sin, and not merely for its consequences. Another feature of genuine repentance is sorrow on account of secret sins. One of the best and most decisive tests of, a Chris- tian's regeneration is when he can mourn when no eye can see him but God's, and no ear can hear him but God's, and pray for the forgiveness of sins which nobody in the world ever suspected, but which lodge or nestle in the inmost recesses of his heart when in one's own closet, or in the exchange, or behind the counter, or in the counting-house, or wherever the providence of God has placed you, you can grieve when that grief can find no expression without, and mourn over a sense of sin when that mourning has neither tears to display it, nor language to express it. Such sorrow for such sins is one of the strongest evidences that there is a new heart, and a repentance not to be repented of. Do not look upon what I have described as something relating to a third party. It relates to you, and therefore I ask you, have you ever thus sorrowed ? have you ever grieved over the recol- lection of a sin which the nearest and dearest friend you have never knew, nor saw, nor suspected ? Such sorrow for such sin is evidence that you feel that sin to be bitter, because you feel it to be committed against a good and gracious Father. And, blessed be God, such a feeling is the clear precursor of a voice that rings from the skies, and finds its multiplied echoes of joy in each believing heart : " My son, my daughter, be of good cheer ; thy sins be forgiven thee." In the next place, such genuine and true repentance is ever associated with the abjuration and abandonment of sin. Some persons have the idea that if you are sorry for sin to-day and plunge into it again to-morrow, you have only to be sorry for it again, and take another plunge into it the next day. That is not repentance. No man is heartily sorry that he has done anything who does not hate that thing; and no man really repents of a crime who does not heartily abjure that crime. Pharaoh repented of his sins, and returned to them again ; Saul acknowledged his persecution of David, and yet he persisted in it; but the patriarch Job said, " I have done iniquity, I will do so no more." There was in the two first a repentance to be repented of; you have in THE DIVINE PRESCRIPTION. 119 the last a repentance which leads to life eternal. I may here notice a mistake into which ministers sometimes fall, when they represent repentance as something altogether different in kind from anything of which fallen man has experience or conscious- ness in his natural state, or that we have nothing parallel to it, or at all resembling it, in our actual experience. This is a great mistake, and has often misled people. If, for instance, you have offended some kind friend if you are conscious that you have grieved and wounded one who has showered upon you a thousand benefits, and you see the sin and the ingratitude which you have committed in its true light, you are grieved and wounded to the heart that you have done it. Here you have the shadow upon earth of that repentance which is recognised in heaven. You have only to withdraw the human friend, with all his imperfec- tions, and to substitute for him your Father who is in heaven, and to recollect that against him you have committed deeper offences, and have shown toward him a yet intenser and more aggravated ingratitude ; and feeling and reflecting upon these things, it is neither enthusiasm nor folly, nor is it unnatural, that you should mourn and be in bitterness, as one that weeps and is in bitterness for the loss of his first-born. The world will con- demn you, if you do not repent of ingratitude shown to a friend on earth. Strange it is that the world's philosophers will denounce you when you speak of a broken heart and a contrite spirit for your sins, and sorrow for your transgressions, as only a sort of evangelical fanaticism or methodistic enthusiasm. The world can admit only what it can comprehend it will not admit what it knoweth not; for the world knows neither a Christian nor a Christian's experience. Let me notice that there is another shadow upon earth of that repentance which is recognised in heaven. Suppose that some person has done you a grievous wickedness, do you not require that he should own his fault before you can cordially receive him into friendship and fellowship with you ? What is this but a testimony in the experience of humanity of the necessity of your repentance being shown by confession before him against whom we have sinned ? I do not say (God forbid !) that this repentance is forgiveness of our sins ; but such genuine repentance is ever 120 THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS. associated with the forgiveness of sins on God's part, and the enjoyment of peace and fellowship with God on our part. But why, it may be asked, is repentance so necessary ? I an- swer, repentance is so necessary because it is the evidence, wherever it is felt, of the prior existence of grace in the heart ; wherever there is expressed genuine repentance, there there is the evidence of the existence of genuine love. One of God's great designs in giving a Saviour is to create in the bosom of sinners responsive and returning love. Heaven is the air and the home of love. Love is to be the governing element of the universe ; and where there is love in a family, in a congregation, in a parish, in a country, there law, and prison, and penalty will be supererogatory and unknown. Now, no sinner can come to love God without bitterly regretting that he has ever ceased to love him, or truly repent that he has offended God, unless that there has been im- planted in his heart the love of God. Repentance is just love weeping. Repentance is the result and feeling of love looking to him against whom it has sinned. Repentance is the tear that starts into the eye of love ; it is the feeling evolved in our tran- sition from a state of hatred to a state of love and acceptance be- fore God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. It is thus, then, that wherever there is expressed genuine re- pentance for sin, there must be, prior to that expression, genuine love to God; and where there is no love to be found to give weight to its tears and eloquence to its expression, it would not be the repentance which is grief that we have offended our greatest benefactor, and which is not on earth or hereafter to be repented of. The true way to experience this repentance, or, what is equi- valent to it, this love, is to study the humiliation and suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ. Looking to the Lord Jesus Christ is the way to feel what repentance is, and to know what responsive love is ; not looking to him merely as a sufferer in order to sympathise with his wrongs, as the mere sentimentalist of the world might do ; but looking to the Lord Jesus Christ as the ex- pression of God's love, suffering, dying, atoning, satisfying for us. It is God in Christ making atonement for our sins that is the key which unlocks the recesses of the soul, bows the way- THE DIVINE PRESCRIPTION. 121 ward affections, creates responsive love ; for " we love him because he first loved us." No contemplation of sin in its hatefulness can make us love God. All the interdicts that were ever pro- nounced on Sinai all the curses that were ever fulminated from Mount Ebal, may create the dread of sin or the horror of God, but never can create repentance for sin or love to God. But when we see that love against which we have sinned, which we have wounded by our ingratitude which we have forgotten and forsaken and renounced a thousand time's against which almost every thought has been rebellion, and from which every affection has been apostasy when we behold that love submitting to be wounded for our transgressions, bleeding for us, enduring the intcnsest agony for us, and for us while we were yet sinners the heart that is hardened against the thunders of Sinai is melted and subdued by the mercies of Calvary, and we love him who first loved us. When we come to love him, how does that love grieve that it ever ceased to love him ! How does that love grieve that it ever suspected his mercy ! How does that love confess among its most grievous sins that it has never loved God as it ought to have loved him ! I believe that this sin we often commit, and not the least aggravated of all. How seldom do we confess that we have had hard thoughts of God, or feel it to be our sin that we have doubted his mercy, suspected his love, and pronounced his dispensations penal when they were only paternal ! How seldom do we confess as our sin that we have not been happy when the whole Gospel was written to make us so ! that want of joy is a sin just as much as want of holiness ! The kingdom of God is composed of three elements ; two-thirds are privilege, one-third is character. " The kingdom of God is righteousness" there is character; "and peace" there is privilege; "and joy in the Holy Ghost" privilege again. We often confess that we have not the first, righteousness ; how seldom do we own it as our sin before God that we have not felt the peace that we ought- to have felt, or experienced the joy which he intended us to feel ! Repentance, then, I have said, is produced by looking to the Saviour; and in the next place, let me say, that this looking to the Saviour always leads us to come to him. " I will arise," said the prodigal son "and go" where? "to my Father." That 11 122 THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS. single expression, " my Father," was the secret of that prodigal's genuine repentance. " To the Lord our God," says the prophet, " belong mercies and forgiveness." The stream that comes from the throne of God rises to the level from which it came. God plants repentance in the heart, and that repentance rises to him again, and brings us nearer to him against whom we have sinned. Wherever, I may say, there is genuine repentance, there is also genuine confession of sin ; but as that is but the outward expres- sion of the inward feeling, I shall not dwell longer upon it, but proceed at once to the third part of my subject, on which I shall very briefly dwell " Do the first works." I have considered, first, the retrospect; secondly, the repent- ance ; and there remains to be considered, thirdly, the reforma- tion. " Do the first works." The first leads to the second, the second leads to the third ; and there are innumerable points of Scripture which show that wherever there is such a retrospect, and such repentance, there there is such a reformation of char- acter and conduct. We have a very striking instance of this recorded by the Apostle Paul when he speaks of his own conver- sion, and of the course of crime and iniquity which he had pur- sued previous to it. He says, " I verily thought that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth ;" and then he recapitulates what he did in Acts xxvi. 9 11. The retrospect of his sins leads him to repent of them ; and that re- pentance leads him ta a devotedness and consistency, an enthu- siasm and self-sacrifice which made him, if once the least of all saints, the greatest of all the Apostles. This reformation then is, to do the first works. Our end is, to do the first works ; our purpose, "I will take heed to my ways;" our precaution, "thy word have I hid in my heart that I offend not thee." Kepentance is to bewail the sins that you have committed, and not to commit the sins that you have bewailed. And the way to do the first works is to return to the first love. Wherever there is the first love, there there will be the first works. The most splendid sacrifices made without love are vain ; the most magnifi- cent bequests made to a Church or to humanity, without love, are vain. It is possible to give your body to be burned and consumed by the flame, and yet to be without love ; it is possible to give all THE DIVINE PRESCRIPTION. 123 your goods to feed the poor, and yet to be without love. But if you have this affection first, then these first works will follow and burst into bloom, like the buds around you at the approach of spring, as soon as they feel the touch of the warmth ef the ap- proaching summer. A Church without love is a dead Church, and a Church without works is a Church that fails in one of the grand functions of its mission, to be a witness to the world of what Christianity can do. A Christian Church ought to be an exhibition of heaven upon earth, a manifestation of Christ below, a witness for God in the midst of the world, so that the world looking at that Church may be able to say, " This is a specimen of what that which is called the Gospel can do ; this is a model of what Christianity can achieve." And so, strangers on the stones of the exchange, the sailor on the deck, the soldier on the battle-field; all, in short, with whom you come into contact in all your intercourse in life, will say, " That man does not say much about his Christianity when transacting his business, but there prevails in all he is and does an integrity, a singleness of eye, a simplicity of purpose, a faithfulness to his engagements, a superiority to trial, that prove he must have some fountain of peace, and comfort, and joy that we have not ; we will go and hear what he hears, learn the lessons that he has learned, and taste, if it be possible, the happiness which we see in his character." And thus such a one becomes to mankind either the salt that silently keeps society from corrup- tion, or the light shining on the hill-top, that illuminates the earth with a ray of the glory of heaven. Such is the Divine prescription ; first, the retrospect, or review, which I pray you to take, and judge what you are by the recol- lection of what you were. Secondly, if you find that you have fallen from your first and holiest impressions if you discover that your heart has become more cold, your affections more worldly, your love less ardent repent. Grieve that you have thus walked unworthy of so good and so gracious a God; seek forgiveness through the blood of sprinkling. He waits, he rejoices, he is glorified to bestow it ; and, having obtained it, go forth to the world resolved on sacrifice, on suffering, on death, if needs be, but that you will let your light so shine before men 124 THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS. that they may sec your good works, and glorify your Father in heaven. And as members of a Church, as a congregation collected together, you will testify your love by your liberality to the claims of Christ, and by your liberal response to every appeal in the missionary cause. You will make this to be clearly understood, that your Christianity is not a Sunday coat, to be put off when Monday comes ; that it is not a shibboleth, a holiday attire ; but that it is a silent, it may be, but a plastic, transforming, sanctify- ing principle, implanted by the Spirit of God, and which the world can neither crush nor conceal. LECTURE Vin. THE BATTLE OP LIFE. "He that hath an ear, lot 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." RET. ii. 7. I HAVE explained, first, the commendation of the Church at Ephesus as it is expressed in the second and third verses ; next, the censure pronounced upon it, so gently and courteously pro- nounced, " I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love;" next, the prescription, "Remember from whence thou art fallen, repent, and do the first works " I ought to have added in my last discourse some remarks on the sixth verse : " This thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes." These were a sect who held wrong principles, and indulged in still worse practices. We have here an important distinction. Our Lord thus addresses the Church of Ephesus ; " Thou hatest," not the Nicolaitanes themselves, but " the deeds" by which -they were degraded. The distinction in a Christian's mind should ever be, " love to the sinner, the most ardent he can feel ; hatred to his sins, the most unmitigated he can conceive." Our Lord so loved the sinner that he died to redeem him ; he so detested the sin that he shed his blood to expiate and cancel it. We must love the Nicolaitanes, and pray for them, and try to convince and to convert them, but all the while our familiarity with their persons must produce no sympathy with their sins ; and these we must hate not merely because they are inexpe- dient, not merely because they are unpopular, not merely because they will do damage to us in the world, but on this high and holy ground, that Christ hates them. Sympathy with 11 * (125) 126 THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS. Christ's mind is the glory of the Christian, and in proportion as we grow in grace, in the same proportion do we love what he loves and hate what he hates. We then come to the promise : " Let him that hath an ear hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches." It is not a promise to the Ephesian Church only ; " let him that hath an ear," Ephe- sian, Roman, Greek, Englishman, Scotchman, Irishman " let him tliat hath an ear" let all humanity "hear what the Spirit saith," not to one Church, but " to the Churches" of every age, country, form, denomination, and circumstance ; " To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God." Let me speak now, not of the victory, but of the conflict ; not of the laurels, but of the garments rolled in blood. The expres- sion victory sounds musical in a nation's ears ; but often it rings with terrible knell in many a widow's and an orphan's heart. Victory is sung in poet's song, lauded in the senate, shouted by the nation, as if it were an accent of jubilee ; but all the while that a nation's heart is bounding, many a widow's and orphan's heart is breaking. " To him that overcometh," the word victory implies previous conflict ; such conflict as is the invariable mark of our pre- sent state. If we are the people of God, Christianity declares that it is so. Whether we like it or not, we are made soldiers the mo- ment that we become Christians. The whole earth becomes a battle-field the moment that the whole heart becomes the seat of the grace and spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who, it may be asked, are the forces who are engaged in this field ? On the one side, Satan, and the beast, and the false prophet, and all that are assimilated to their character or infected by their principles. On the other side, the Lord Jesus Christ, and they that bear his name that glory in his cross who are baptized with his baptism and regenerated by his Spirit. These are the two hosts ; they are correlatives ; one or other must be supreme ; there can be no peace or compromise between them - } and as long as the world has Satan in the midst of it its usurper, and as long as the Church of Christ has the Lord of Glory in the midst of it its Captain, so long there will be conflict. The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable ; and until the whole earth is filled with THE BATTLE OF LIFE. 127 the purity of truth, it will not repose in the quiet, and be covered with the prevalence of Christian peace. And remember as long as this dispensation remains conflict, battle, struggle is its char- acteristic ; and if there be any man in this assembly who does not know what it is to battle with iniquity without who does not know what it is to struggle with temptation, and evil, and wickedness within that gives too unequivocal proof that he is not the soldier of Christ, he is on Satan's side, and Satan will leave him unmolested as long as he makes no effort to cease to be his victim. Only when he begins to enlist himself beneath the banner of his Lord will Satan make the attack upon him. In the next place, the theatre of this conflict is the world in which we live. There is no conflict in heaven, because storms and discord and evil passions cannot enter there. There is no conflict in hell, for all there is defeat desperation despair. But earth, which lies between the two, not yet covered with the sun- shine of the one, nor, blessed be God, yet consigned to the gloom and bitterness of the other, is the great battle-field on which Satan wars with Christ, and the hosts of heaven are arrayed againt the hosts of hell. The prize is your soul my soul. "What is the thing of greatest price, The whole crefition round ? That which was lost in paradise That which in Christ is found. " The soul of man Jehovah's breath It keeps two worlds in strife ; Hell works beneath its work of death, Heaven stoops to give it life. "And is this treasure borne below In earthly vessels frail? Can none its utmost value know Till flesh and spirit fail? " Then let us gather round the Cross, That knowledge to obtain ; Not by the soul's eternal loss, But everlasting gain." This is the prize ; this the subject of the conflict. Having seen the two parties, let us next examine the weapons 128 THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS. wielded on the one side by Satan and by them that are his ; and next, the weapons wielded on the other side, that is, by Christ and them that are his. First, let me look at the weapons wielded by Satan and his forces. The first weapon that Satan wields is deception. " He is a liar," says the Apostle, "and the father of it." He seduced Eve from her loyalty, Adam from his allegiance, humanity from its God, by the skilful use of a lie : " Hath God said that ye shall surely die ?" And so he uses this weapon still. He teaches one there is no God that a God is the dream of bigots, the bug- bear of enthusiasts. He teaches another that the Bible is a book of exquisite poetry, beautiful history, and excellent morality; useful to keep the vulgar in awe, but not fit for superior minds or noble understandings ; and as for Satan, (for Satan will suffer this,) he is a figure of speech, a pretence, a myth ; and a new heart is the dream of an enthusiast, and the requirement of fanatical methodism. He will teach others that the world is a glorious place, money the greatest good, and to get rich in the shortest time and by any means, if the means are only mighty and rapid, is the way to enjoy the greatest happiness; that a man has reached the culminating point of the happiness of which he is capable, when he can sit down, amid all the profits he has reaped, in his country-seat and amid his fertile fields, and say, " Soul, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry, for thou hast much goods laid up for many years;" not knowing that a voice may be on its journey from the throne, " This night thy soul shall be required of thee." Others, again, whose hearts are touched, whose consciences are stirred, and who begin to think that it will not do to live in sin, and yet that they must not com- mit themselves to Christianity those men who are afraid of their infidelity lest it should fail them, and who are frightened at Christianity lest it should annoy them who dare not embrace the Gospel lest they should lose the sweets of sin, and dare not continue in sin lest they should lose the quiet of their con- sciences those men who are struggling between antagonistic principles, and powers, and prospects Satan meets and wields the weapon that succeeded so splendidly in the case of Felix, and THE BATTLE OF LIFE. 129 succeeds so well still " Put it off to a convenient season ; and when you have got rid of this trouble, and got over that difficulty, or earned this little money, and met that little liability, then you will turn to Christianity and cordially embrace it." This is one of Satan's most popular specifics ; but, like all quack medicines, it promises health, it acts as poison. Another lie that Satan uses, when the conscience wakes at last to a sense of its misery when it is stirred to its depths by the fears of hell, the declarations of Scripture, the appeals of the preacher, and life is closing and death approaching " You have heretofore put off and off, saying there is time enough ; now, I tell you, it is too late. The blood of the Lamb has lost its efficacy; the mercy of God is exhausted, and there is none for you;" and he endeavours to plunge into despair the dying man whom, when a living and a healthy man, he kept upon the giddy heights and pinnacles of presumption. Thus he tempts to presume at one time, and to despair at another. All these are lies. There is no convenient season but the pre- sent ; there is no presumption that is not peril and crime ; and there can be no room for despair while life lasts. If the present should be the eleventh hour if the last sound of the twelfth were ringing in your hearing the exhibition of Christ, and him crucified, accepted in the cordiality of your hearts, is instant par- don and eternal peace. Another weapon by which Satan strives to conquer in this con- flict is temptation. Satan goes about, says the Apostle, " seeking whom he may devour." He is called elsewhere " the prince of this world." Satan, you may depend upon it, knows a vast deal more about you and me than either of us is disposed to admit. He knows every man's weak point the very spot from which he can assail him with the most certain and speedy success. He has all the archangel's wisdom, all the cunning of the fiend, and in addition, he has the tact and the experience of six thousand years. The wonder is not that so many fall before his power, but that any, except by the grace of God, are able to resist him. Some ill-informed persons he seduces as the tempter to reject Christianity, teaching them that it is the mark of a noble and a free mind to despise the Gospel, and of a superstitious mind to accept it. Others again he so fascinates with the splendour, the 130 THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS. pomp, and the vanities of the world, that these supersede and render altogether unimportant in their estimate the things of God, of the soul, and of eternity. Others again he draws into amuse- ments which are perfectly innocent in their place, but in which he involves them so deeply, that the amusement, innocent in itself, becomes, from its absorbing nature, alike sinful and fatal. We ought never to forget that it is not so much by things which are positively sinful that men perish, as by the excessive love of that which is positively lawful. It was the marrying of a wife in one place, the purchase of oxen in another, the buying of a field in a third things all lawful in themselves that induced the men in the parable to reject the invitation to the marriage-supper. So Satan succeeds, by leading Christian men, and Christian ministers, to be so charmed and delighted with things in their own place perfectly lawful, that these monopolize and exhaust all their attention and sympathies, and the weighty things of eter- nity are superseded. Thus, with one man literature assumes the claims of religion, science takes the place of the Bible with a second, teetotalism usurps the place of Christianity with a third, hydropathy becomes the business of a life, instead of the cure of a disease in a fourth ; and men talk incessantly about these things as if they were the main things; and, judging from the conver- sation of some, we should suppose there was no such thing as a Bible, a Gospel, or Saviour in the world. In the Ephesian Church his method of attack was not declared hostility to the Gospel, or the 'Suggestion of what was positively evil, but by insinuating to that Church, Your love is far too fer- vent, it is too high, it is beyond the boiling-point; let it cool down a little ; take my standard, which is reasonable ; God's is too high ; take things in moderation ; your works are too many, you will ruin your health; you are over-religious, just come down a little ; be moderate, take it easily and coolly, and do not indulge in that excessive zeal which the world justly calls fanaticism. And as for your being enjoined to repent, God knows no repent- ance is necessary ; you have very little to repent of; and as for doing the first works, the last are better than the first. And then you have one excellency, you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitancs; and very often men's hatred of something that somebody else THE BATTLE OF LIFE. 131 does is made to cover the sin that is so dear to and so much cherished by themselves. Another weapon that Satan uses in this conflict is human instrumentality. These instruments are some of them professedly his, and others of them unconsciously his. He gets a footing even in the pulpit of the sanctuary itself, and corrupts the minister ; so that if he does not preach what is actually wrong, he leads him to leave out what is unpopular, unfashionable, or unpalatable. He gains a footing likewise in the school, in the academy, in the university, where, if he does not teach what is morally wrong, he exhausts secular learning of that which is its only corrective, the knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus. He works the press, the most powerful weapon he can wield j he deals out gilded aphorisms to catch the vulgar, and popular plausibili- ties that form the staple of the cheap newspapers ; and on the Sunday he despatches with incessant energy and zeal the most corrupting and pestilential lessons over the length and breadth of the land. He thus works the press for his own purposes. What are Proudhon, and Barbes, and Blanqui, but his priests ? "What are Socialist halls but his meeting-houses ? What are the profane publications that pollute the land but the public efforts of Satan, expressly to destroy souls ? It is thus that Satan works by human instrumentality. In the fourth place, Satan corrupts and perverts what is good, and thus acts against the Gospel. In this conflict, namely, in the corruption and perversion of that which is good, Satan is most powerful. For instance, the Church of the Jews was founded amid miracles, taught by prophets, patronised by God; that Church Satan turned into an apostasy ; it crucified the Lord of glory, and tried to extinguish that truth it was raised to maintain. So the Christian Church had no sooner started in the world, glorious with Apostolic light, spreading on the right hand and on the left, than Satan sowed the seeds of heresy, till the prediction that an Apostle gave to the Thessalonians came to be practically developed at Rome ; and the cartoon sketched so graphically in the Epistle to the Thessalonians came to be filled up with that overshadowing despotism, which murdered the saints, enslaved the world, and domineered over the kings of the whole earth j 132 THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS. which elevated a woman to the place of Christ exalted the works of the creature till they became a mighty mountain, and made the merits of Jesus dwindle down into a perpetually dimin- ishing perspective. I may add, too, that Satan not only has cor- rupted the Christian Church, but that he is corrupting at the present moment various sections of the Protestant Church. Need I refer to the deadly superstition that is at this moment eating like a canker-worm not a few members of the Church of this land ? Need I refer to the Oxford Tracts issued by those who have been their most bold and able advocates ? Satan no sooner beheld the dawning glories of Protestant Christianity, and felt the tide of battle rolling irresistibly against him, than he spiked the guns of those on the Lord's side in one direction, and turned them round in another direction, and levelled them against the very citadel they were intended to defend ! There is another weapon that Satan uses, and has long nsed with great success persecution. Pagan persecution was the earliest instance of the use of that weapon, when man murdered man, in order to mend his conscience or to save his soul. The next use of this weapon was papal persecution, when the priest, under the pretence of defending the Gospel of Jesus, burned his fellow because he differed from him, till the flames of persecution rose from the Valleys of Piedmont, and amid the recesses of the Cottian Alps, and from Smithfield, and from Paris, revealing the darkness of the system that lighted those fires, and, by contrast, the beauty and the glory of those principles for which the martyrs suffered. I had thought that Satan had at last discovered that persecution was a great blunder, and during many hundred years had laid aside the weapon as an obsolete and worthless one ; for surely he must have found out what we are convinced of, that persecution never built up a good cause, and never yet pulled down a bad one. But he is not weary of it ; it flourished in the Inquisition in Spain it has found an exponent in the diocese of Exeter; and whether persecution is wielded by Hildebrand, bishop of Rome, or by Henry, bishop of Exeter, it is the same Satanic weapon, unsanctioned by God, repudiated in the Gospel, denounced with all the anathemas of the word of God. Christi- anity-repudiates persecution; it scorns the bribe of the treasury; THE BATTLE OF LIFE. 133 it rejects the bayonet of the soldier ; it seeks to triumph by truth; and if it cannot triumph by truth, it will lie down as a martyr, and wait for brighter and for better times. The last weapon that Satan wields to which I shall allude is a favourite one, and a very eifective one it is that of divisions, disputes, and quarrels among the people of God. And what evidences the Satanic nature of the weapon is this simple fact, that Christian fights with Christian with intenser antipathy than Christian fights with infidel, or Protestant with Romanist. It is a very painful fact, but a very true one, that the more microscopic the difference is the mightier becomes the quarrel ; so much so, that if you find two Christians of different denominations quarrel- ling very bitterly, you may always calculate that the subject of the quarrel is some minute and microscopic point which neither of them clearly understands. Combatants get angry in proportion as they fail to comprehend each other. Wherever Satan sees a Church promising to grow in prosperity, in purity, and in power, he casts in the firebrand of contention, throws down some apple of discord, and makes those who ought to be rivals only in renown, but brethren in arms, fight and quarrel with each other, weaken their strength by divisions, injure their hearts by unhallowed passions, until the Church that has survived the flames of a Nero and the persecutions of a Hildebrand, pines and dwindles into a weak and insignificant thing by the fever of its own unsanctified and unhallowed passions. Having looked then at one side and noticed its weapons, let us look at the other side, and see what weapons are employed there. Christ might have crushed Satan many hundred years ago, and he might crush all his followers, by the simple fiat of his word or the touch of his omnipotent hand. But he has not done so. It is plainly to his glory that he should not do so. There is power in heaven to crush all opposition, but that power is not yet wielded, or he might confine Satan to his own place, and human passions he might suffer to smoulder in the bosom of him who is their victim, without allowing them to burst forth and kindle contentions among the people or in the sanctuary of God. But he does not do this. He restrains and regulates the wrath of 12 134 THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS. man, but he does not bury it. Chains are prepared, but not yet applied to Satan, for the last day, when he shall be chained a thousand years, and cast with them that are his into the lake of fire. Now each weapon wielded on the one side is the counter- part of that which is wielded on the other. The first and great weapon used by Christ is truth. Satan works by a lie, Christ prevails by the truth. His truth scatters the delusion of the world dissipates the dreain of the carnal heart breaks down the presumption of the ignorant illuminates the despair of the desponding, and the maxim so often proclaimed by all parties is more and more felt to be right : " Great is truth, and it will prevail." Truth may be silent in its action, but it is sure of ultimate success. It falls with all the silence of the dew, but it penetrates also like the dew till the earth is saturated with its precious influence. In the second place, Christ works by and wields the weapon of motives and suggestions. I have said that Satan uses tempta- tions, so Christ employs motives and suggestions. Christ speaks to us as reasonable men, saying " Judge whether these things are so." Christianity will stand the test of the severest logic, the ordeal of the hottest crucible ; and when Christ employs such motives and suggestions he sets before us the wrecks recorded in the past as beacons to warn us from danger, and points to the hopes of the future as rewards to encourage our exertions in his cause. He plants motives in the heart, and hangs out glorious hopes to animate the soul; he appeals to our understanding, and convinces us by the plainest and most cogent reasons that Chris- tianity is true, that the Gospel is the power of God, that the hopes of heaven are based upon immutable truth. In the third place, Christ uses instruments also. Some of these instruments are angels coming from their starry thrones to minister to them that are the heirs of salvation. Other instru- ments are faithful ministers preaching the everlasting Gospel. Others, and not less effective ones, are Sabbath-school teachers, tract distributors, Bible colporteurs, missionary societies, at home and abroad, and the press when it comes to be wielded for the glory of God, the advancement of truth, and the salvation of souls. And no man whose eyes are open to the wonderful events which THE BATTLE OF LIFE. 135 have taken place during the last fifty years can doubt that Satan, if he gains ground in some places, is losing his footing day by day in other places where he was formerly supreme ; and that instruments which once acted against the progress of truth, now facilitate the onward march of the everlasting Gospel. Christ also uses providential arrangement. I am one of those who believe that there is no chance. I believe this to be literally true, that there is not a hair which falls from an old man's head, nor a tear from a babe's eye, that is not under the surveillance of Him who wields the mightiest and controls the weakest things. I believe, that providential arrangements of every kind are wea- pons wielded by the hand of Christ; in order to promote his own wise and gracious purposes. I ask you, has not the sick-bed on which you have lain, and wept, and sorrowed, been sanctified to you ? Has not the departure of the near and dear led you to fill the chasm left behind with him who is better than father and mother, and sister, and brother, and son, and daughter? Have not the events of Providence so acted upon you that your own will has been crossed and your own purposes reversed ; so much so, that you have found a Saviour where you went to seek only a fortune ? More than one Saul sets out to persecute, and returns to preach and pray. No one fact occurs in Providence which has not its mission. There is no one change in your house, in your shop, in your counting-house, in your trade, in your profession, which is not giving to you an impulse, it may be, lasting as hea- ven and precious as salvation itself. Thus Jesus works, and, in the language of the Apostle, " makes all things," not some things, but " all things, work together for good/' beneficent, and holy purposes. Another weapon that Christ wields is meekness. I believe that one of the sublimest prescriptions in the Gospel is, " Over- come evil with good." Did you ever try this prescription? If you have tried it, you know that the victory is certain without, and the comfort within is beyond the power of language to ex- press. " Overcome evil with good" is God's way. When Adam sinned, God overcame Adam's sin by preaching to him the Gospel. And when some one sins against you, or offends you by his con- duct, overcome the evil that is in him by the counter-manifesta- 186 THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS. tion of beneficence and good. Thus Christ overcame the world. Thus weakness overcomes might, meekness overcomes violence, long-suffering overcomes wrath; and the things that men pro- nounce weak are found to be mighty, and the things that men pro- nounce to be mighty are found to be weak ; " For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty, through God, to the pulling down of strongholds" of the man of sin. Christ wars and overcomes by the Spirit of truth. The Holy Spirit is given to the believer, first, as the Spirit of truth ; next, as the Spirit of comfort; and lastly, as the Spirit of victory. Our safety in peril, our stability in trial, our progress, our con- sistency, our consolation, our greatest victories, our most rapid progress, are " not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts." And now, having noticed the two parties, Satan, and them that are his, Christ, and them that are his, let me state that the issue of this conflict is absolutely certain. Let us all recollect, (for this is our comfort,) that the issue of this strife is not problematical. Satan shall be chained a thousand years, during which the Church shall enjoy peace and uninterrupted tranquillity; and after these thousand years have closed, and he has made his last and dying struggle to overthrow the saints of the Most High, he, and those whom he has deceived and made the victims of his wiles, shall be cast into the lake that burneth with fire for ever and ever : " And the kingdoms of this world," it is written by one to whom all was revealed, " shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ." Then this earth, which has so long been a battle- field which has been torn and rent by a thousand conflicts which now groans in agony, waiting and longing to be delivered, shall also be the scene of victory ; it shall no more be unclean or common in the estimate of men ; the curse that is on it shall be reversed and read backwards, and the great High Priest shall come out from his holy place, spread his hands over its length and its breadth, and shall pronounce upon it a blessing which shall descend to creation's depth, and rise up to creation's heights, and the whole earth shall put off its ashen robes, and put on its Easter garments, and become the beauty, the joy, and the glory of the universe of God. Every object, in that day, shall shine with Deity; every event shall be the chariot of his mercies; all THE BATTLE OF LIFE. 137 places shall be holy, for God's hallowing touch shall be upon its length and upon its breadth, and the Lord shall bless it, and all shall be blessed in him. I have thus looked at the conflict upon the wide world. It is possible to be interested in such a conflict as one is interested in the conflict with the Sikhs or with the Afghans, and yet to have no personal feeling of sympathy or interest in it. Let me, there- fore, narrow the field of contest, and let me show you before I close, that besides this great conflict which overspreads the earth, there is one going on in another and a smaller field ; but a field more precious to me, and to each of you, than all the world and all its treasures besides. Each Christian's bosom is the stage of a contest. Satan has a footing in a saint just as truly as he has in the sinner whom he has made his victim. If there be no conflict in your bosom, then the great antagonisic principle of truth has not come into contact with the previous dominant antagonism of error : it is evidenced that you are not a Christian. But the man who is struggling to crash the evil that is in him who is crying out in the agony of his heart, " Who shall deliver me from the body of this death ?" who can say, " I feel a law in my members warring against the law of my spirit, but thanks be to God, who," in the hottest conflict, and after the hardest struggle, " giveth me the victory" that man, and such as he, is the child of God. Now we are told that there are three great enemies with whom the individual Christian has to grapple in this narrow field : these are the world, the flesh, and the devil, and with each of these foes he has to wage war. Let me look very briefly at the first the world. What is the difference between sin in a Christian and sin in a worldling ? It is simply this, that sin lives in a Chris- tian, while a worldling lives in sin. There is briefly the difference sin lives in a Christian, but a Christian lives not in sin ; sin lives in a worldling, and the worldling lives in sin. The differ- ence between them is what I have pointed out before to you, it is this : the distinction between sin in a Christian's heart and in an unconverted man's heart is just the distinction between poison in the body of a man and poison in the body of a rattlesnake. Poison in a man's body is felt to be an irritating, destructive, dis- 11* 138 THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS. organizing clement, which gives him no rest till he has got wholly rid of it ; but poison in a rattlesnake is part of its nature, which helps it to defend itself from its foes, and to obtain its prey. So in a worldly man, sin is a favourite and a dear lodger ; in a Chris- tian man, sin is a hated intruder. In a worldling sin overcomes the man, in a Christian the man overcomes the sin, and that through the strength of Jesus Christ who giveth him the victory. What then do I mean by the world ? I do not mean those ex- quisite flowers that come unasked and beautify the opening year, nor its flowing streams, its sequestered glens, its lofty mountains these are not the elements of the world. We mean that of which the Apostle tells us, that all that is in the world, " the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world;" and again, "The friendship of the world is enmity to God j" " Whosoever is the friend of the world is the enemy of God." " If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." Now how does the Christian conquer the world ? Not by personal and mechanical separation from the world, by seeking a footing in a distant shore or looking for a home in some desert land ; but, on the contrary, by remaining in the world at the post where God has placed him, and there, in God's strength, beating back the world, so that the world can- not overcome him. Superstition says, Overcome the world by running to a convent; Christianity says, Remain in the world, and yet be not of the world. Superstition says, Cast off the evidence that you are Christ's, put down your shield, sheath your sword, run and seek shelter in order that you may not be destroyed by the world. Christianity says, You are a sentinel, the great Captain of the faith has placed you there, there you must stand, taking the whole armour of God, and, having done all, stand. You are to contend with and overcome the smiles of the world, resolved not to be seduced by them ; you are to contend with tho frowns of the world, resolved not to be put down by them. You are to be patient in suffering, thankful in prosperity, Christian in all things, so shall your least and your loftiest struggles be crowned with success, while you are making your lowly and protracted pilgrimage from earth to immortality so in the world you over- come the world, and are not of the world. Let me give you an THE BATTLE OF LIFE. 139 illustration from the Apostle Paul, to show how a Christian man, wherever he is, will always keep this one object predominant. Do not too many Christians now, when they go across to the Con- tinent, leave all their Christianity on this side the Channel, and indulge in all the pomps, the vanities, and the amusements of a dissipated capital ? Many that go to Athens or to Kome, or to other illustrious cities, think only of their splendid architecture, the beautiful paintings, the exquisite sculpture, and act as if thej had forgotten that they had been baptized into the visible Church, and some of them called into the true and living Church of the Lamb. Let us look, by way of contrast, at the conduct of the Apostle Paul one who was in the world and overcame it; he visited the most illustrious capital on the earth that capital which was called the Eye of Greece, the University of the World, whose fanes were unrivalled for their beauty, whose academy was the retreat of wisdom ; by the banks of whose Ilissus a Socrates, a Plato, a Xenophon, and the most illustrious of mankind daily and hourly trod. The Apostle had taste, genius, education, talent; he had, to use the modern phrase, "aesthetieal culture," just as much as any of those who have claimed a monopoly of it. But when he went to Athens, he saw none of its splendours ; he was captivated by nothing of its beauty, he turned his back upon its temples, and its schools, and its lofty halls, and its glorious monuments, and he saw in that clear light which came down from heaven, but one painful and terrible spectacle a city wholly given to idolatry; its moral ruin overpowered in his mind all its artistic magnificence. Here was one who was in the world, and a victor over it. This Paul, too, we read, went to Rome ; and when there, I have no doubt he paused in the senate, if peradventure he might hear the echoes of that eloquence which thrilled and captivated the world. He climbed the lofty Capitol, that he might look around him on that glorious panorama of all that was splendid, and beautiful, and mighty. He saw the fasces those awful symbols of de- parted justice ; he could admire the graceful pillar, and look with reverence on the patriot's tomb, and with delight on the cluster- ing columns ; but these occupied little of his time or attention. His daily walks, we read, were not where history has shed its 140 THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS. splendours, but in the haunts of the hated Hebrew, amid the abodes of the wretched and miserable slave, by the pallet of the sick and the bed of the dying, among the victims of oppression and tyranny, of poverty and want. He held it to be his greatest glory, not that he had pleaded before princes, but that he had preached the Gospel to paupers ; not that he had paced the illus- trious forum, but that he had illuminated with the bright beams of the Gospel the souls of the dying, and taught the outcasts of humanity that they had sympathies in a human heart, consolation in Christ, and a home in heaven. What a noble instance of one who had taste, and sacrificed it ; who had aesthetic sympathy, and put it down ; who could admire the beautiful, applaud the glo- rious, be charmed with the grand; but live and die, and labour and suffer, only to save souls ! We, too, must be crucified to the world we must thus over- come the world; some things in it we must repudiate, other things we must subordinate, many more things in it we must sacrifice. Conflict is the characteristic of this dispensation ; our carnal taste would prefer the beautiful knoll in which we could lie down, and muse, and meditate; but Christ, by the voice of his Gospel, or by the dispensations of his providence, keeps us still on the march. We should prefer, no doubt, to pass to heaven in an easy chair, or in a finely-hung chariot ; but, blessed be God, he does not allow us to do so. He opens the grassy seat, on which we sit down in indolent repose, to receive the dead dust of the near and the dear; or he enters the place which we had called our home, and of which we had declared in our folly, "Here we will rest and be happy for ever," and makes the flowers that are brightest in it fade, and the sounds that were music to become discord, and a voice pierce the inmost depths of our heart, saying to us, " Arise ! this is not our rest ; there remaineth a rest for the people of God." We have a battle to fight : the " Battle of Life" is the name of a Christian's mission. To restrain appetites, to purify our affections, to sanctify our na- tures, to direct the eye of our ambition to a throne beyond the stars, to invigorate the intellect and transform and elevate our hearts, to save the soul this is the great object of the Gospel. We are here as soldiers ; to serve Christ is our mission, to over- THE BATTLE OF LIFE. 141 come the world is our duty; the reward, promised to this Church, is, " To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God." My dear friends, arc you on the Lord's side ? Have you taken your place ? I trust that many a Christian in this assembly can say, " Lord Jesus, I have been often beaten in the battle of life; I have often fainted and given way; I have often fallen be- fore the foe : but oh, my Lord, thou knowest that my heart cleaves to thee ; thou knowest my resolve that thy side shall be my side, thy God my God, thy people my people ; thou knowest that it is my prayer that I may know thee more, that I may love thee more, that I may serve thee better; and in thy strength, my Lord and my God, I will arise from the depression I have suffered, and the discredit I have brought upon thee ; I will redeem the time, by thy grace, and I will endeavour to compensate, as far as compen- sation can be made below, by the splendour of my victories, for the defects and deficiencies^ and worldliness and sinfulness, of the days that are past." He that can say so, and say so not with feigned lips but from the depths of his heart, has a principle within him which is mighty in power, and the spring of which shall not cease till grace is lost in glory, and struggle in everlast- ing victory. LECTURE IX. THE SOLDIEKS OF CHRIST. " 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." REV. ii. 7. WHEN I addressed you from these words last Lord's-day evening, I showed that the word "overcome" implies by its very nature a previous battle. I endeavoured to describe what I con- ceived to be, indeed, the " Battle of Life," by referring to the powers that are engaged in the conflict, and the weapons which they respectively wield. I stated that on the one side, whatever may be their names, ranked under one banner are all the followers of Satan, all that sympathise with him, and reject and repudiate like him the Lord Jesus Christ. On the other side are arrayed all who belong to Christ, whose characteristics as his soldiers I am about to describe. Christ might crush Satan by the stroke of his omnipotence, but he does not do so ; he suffers him occa- sionally to prevail, but only as preparatory to his final and utter overthrow. I showed you that Satan, and they that are on his side, use such weapons as deception Satan is " a liar," we are told, " and the father of it ;" temptation he has access to our hearts ; I believe he has a longer tether and greater power than our philosophers are disposed to admit ; he is " the Prince of this world ;" he is not omnipotent, but he goes about with ceaseless activity, "as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour;" at the same time I believe he has the archangel's wisdom and the archangel's power, both inspired and strengthened by the demon's depravity and wickedness ; and therefore we war " not with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers and spiritual wick- (142) THE SOLDIERS OF CHRIST. 143 edness in high places." I do not think we can account for the fearful crimes that occasionally stain our history, or the gigantic criminals that sometimes appear in our calendars, except by sup- posing the action of diabolic power. Another Satanic weapon is wicked instruments; a fourth is the corruption of what is good. i Hypocrisy is virtue depraved, or vice putting on the external appearance and form of virtue ; Popery is Christ's truth per- verted the stones that were intended for a holy temple built into an unholy one. Satan employs persecution also. This was a favourite weapon during the first three centuries, and afterwards during the mediaeval ages, towards the dawn of the Reformation ; and perhaps before this dispensation closes it will be wielded once more, especially when that sifting time arrives which will test who are Christ's that overcome, and who are Satan's that are overcome. In contrast with this, Christ and his people use their weapons ; the first of these I stated to be truth. Christ will triumph in the world, not by the force of omnipotence that would be the nearest approach to persecution ; nor will he triumph by policy that would be stealing a leaf from the book of Satan; but by truth. Christianity repudiates the bribe of the treasury and the bayonet of the soldier ; it will triumph by the use of truth, or it will lie down and die a martyr. Another of Christ's weapons is meekness, patience, forbearance, overcoming evil with good, " heaping coals of fire," to avenge the wrong of the wrong- doer ; another is the preaching of the Gospel by human instru- mentality; and lastly, the most powerful weapon of all, if weapon it may be called the Holy Spirit of God. The victory is " not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts." The man who is overcome in this battle will feel it as the gnawing worm that never dies, that the defeat was wickedly and wilfully incurred ; and the man who overcomes in this contest will feel, and sing in songs of triumph what he feels, through the ages of eternity, that the victory was " not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts." I come now to answer the question which may be asked, Who are those that overcome ? in other words, to endeavour to delineate Christ's soldiers. I will describe them first of all negatively. There are certain parties of wljpm it may be positively stated that 144 THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS. they are not fighting under Christ's banner : an atheist, for in- stance, cannot be said either to act under the banner or to over- come by using the weapons of the Christian warfare. He regards Revelation as an imposture the Bible as a cunningly devised fable the hope of immortality as a maniac's dream the soul and a judgment seat as mere human fancies; it cannot be said, therefore, that he is enlisted under Christ's banner, or that he can hope to overcome : he is avowedly on the opposite side. Nor can it be said, in the second place, that the Romanist, or any who sympathise with him, and bear the mark of the beast in their hand or on their forehead, is fighting under the conquering banner of Christ. The very name given in Scripture to the power for which the Romanist seeks to achieve the victory is Antichrist, one who is allied to and fighting on the other side. With him the Church is a Saviour, the merits of saints and the sacrifices of priests are his hope ; the essence of his worship is idolatry the foundation of his trust is falsehood the hope of his happiness is purgatory at the best, not heaven and everlasting glory through the grace of Christ Jesus. In the third place, I may state that those who are Christ's soldiers who overcome are not all nominally churchmen ; whether English or Scotch, Episcopalian or Presbyterian, it is possible to be owned by the state and to be disowned by Christ ; it is quite possible to be under the lustre of our beloved Queen Victoria's crown, and yet to be a stranger to the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is quite pos- sible to be sustained by acts of parliament, and yet not to be canonized by the acts of Apostles; to be a churchman higher than the highest steeple, and yet not to have the affections which cluster around the throne of glory, and find their nutriment in the bosom of God. Not, therefore, all churchmen are Christ's soldiers and overcome. But let me deal even-handed justice; not all dissenters are necessarily under the banner of Christ, and therefore overcome. There may be great zeal for the sect, there may be none for Christ. Hatred to a particular church is not necessarily love to the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember that it is perfectly possible to hate the endowments of the state, and yet to cleave to all the sins and the evil practices of the guiltiest sinner. It is not, therefore, true that eve^y dissenter any more than every THE SOLDIERS OF CHRIST. 145 churchman is saved. It is not absolutely and infallibly true that all dissenters are Christ's soldiers, any more than that all church- men are so. It is seasonable to say so. Let me add, too, that not all archbishops, and bishops, and ministers, are necessarily on Christ's side. Many a man has professed to be moved by the Spirit of God to take upon him the work of the ministry, who has only been moved by the prospect of a rich benefice, or by the hope of a position in society. Many a man glories in the apostolical succession who has never learned, and cannot, there- fore, preach the elements of apostolic doctrine. It is quite pos- sible to be an archbishop and yet not to be a Christian : men may be, in any communion, the priests and the ministers of the Lord by profession, and yet not be the children of God. Souls pass to the depths of ruin from the pulpit as well as from the pew. The loftier the pinnacle on which the minister stands, the more terrible the catastrophe into which his wickedness or criminality, or his unfaithfulness may plunge him. Not all learned men, or rich men, or noblemen, are necessarily upon Christ's side. It is possible to wear a coronet and yet not have any lot or part in the cross of Christ : it is possible to have sprung from an ancient and illustrious lineage, and yet not be the sons of God. There are noblemen in eternal perdition just as well as plebeians : there are emperors and kings and prime ministers there just as well as peasants and mechanics. Nay, God's word tells us and when we use its words, we speak not uncharitably, but faithfully, " not many noble, not many mighty, not many great are called." If you ask for evidence of it, the answer is, that the great majority of our congregations they that sustain our missionary societies, {hat support our Bible societies, that contribute to the mainte- nance of the ministry are the masses of the people ; though we thank God that in the present day many who are noble are step- ping down from their dignity in which they isolated themselves of old, and are coming into the midst of the people ; and these nobles such as the Duke of Buccleugh, Duke of Argyle, Lord Ashley, Lord Kinnaird, Lord Roden, Lord Ducie, and others, are gathering round them the sympathy and affection of a devoted and loyal people. Never is greatness so secure as when it is allied to goodness; and never are noblemen so noble indeed, as 13 146 THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS. when they lend all they are and -all they have to the maintenance of that cause which had a cross and carpenter's son for its com- mencement, but has a throne of glory and the Prince of the kings of the earth for its blessed and certain issue. Not all the baptized are Christ's soldiers and fighting under his banner. What terrible deception prevails among thousands in this one respect ! How many tell you in the prison where their crimes have placed them, that they have been regenerated and renewed because they have been baptized ! In the face of fact they assert so in the face of the word of God they assert so ; for we are told there that a man may be a " Jew outwardly," but not a " Jew indeed." " Circumcision," we are warned, " is not of the letter, but of the spirit." I believe that there are two great fatal errors on this point; and here you will see where all the essence of Popery lies. What does the Roman Catholic church daily and hourly do ? It declares that the bread upon the altar is indeed the literal flesh and blood, soul and divinity, of the Lord Jesus Christ ; in other words, that the priest offers up Christ bodily. What does the Tractarian divine do ? He just does with Baptism what the Roman Catholic has done with the Lord's Supper. He says practically that the water is turned into the Holy Spirit of God. The Romanist says the Eucharist is turned into the body and blood, soul and divinity of Christ. The Tractarian says, by implication at least, the water in the baptismal font is turned into the Holy Spirit. The Romanist wishes to change the bread into Christ as the foundation of his righteous- ness; the Tractarian wishes to change the water into the Spirit of God as the foundation of his regeneration. But is it the fact that the one- is thus justified or the other thus sanctified ? Ask the chaplains of our goals ask the keepers and turnkeys of our prisons ; and they will tell you that those goals and bridewells are crowded by men who have been sprinkled by baptism, as well as those who have not been baptized ; those who think they have received this rite from the true succession, and those that never dreamed of it; giving clear and irresistible evidence that you may be baptized in any form that the genius of man can devise, but unless the Spirit of God change the heart, you have but a name to live by, whilst you are dead. The great cause, I believe, THE SOLDIERS OF CHRIST. 147 of the error on the subject of baptism has arisen from a gross misconception of the real state of man. Man, by the fall, as I have often said before, has not merely come under a slight aber- ration from his original state : if the fall in paradise were simply a blow that stunned humanity, then, certainly, I do not see why a little water sprinkled upon his brow should not revive, resusci- tate, and restore, and enable him to walk with God again, as Adam walked with him in paradise ; but if the statement of God'a word be true, that it is not a mere stun that has come upon humanity, but that man is dead in trespasses and sins, then I appeal to your common sense for an answer to my query, Who can raise the dead? None but that voice which shall ring through the graves of the dead, and echo in the homes of the living, and raise the dead and change the living, can quicken man's dead soul, and give a new heart, and restore us to God, to holiness, and to happiness. Not, therefore, all the baptized are Christ's soldiers and gain this victory : and, in the next place", let me add, not every communicant is enlisted under Christ's banner. There are worthy and there are unworthy communi- cants ; there are those who come, in the language of Augustine, and drink that wine with their lips and eat that bread with their teeth, but never receive the blessing nor the benefit of the pur- chase of the cross of Christ. You may depend on it that there has not been since Christ instituted the Lord's Supper a pure communion-table, nor will there be while it lasts ; and therefore, if, instead of getting agitated and plunging into all sorts of extravagances in oi'der to find the pure Church, you would pray, each for himself, that the Spirit of God would renew your own hearts, the pure Church would be far more quickly hastened than by the process that many now pursue. Not all communicants, then, are the people of God ; because there are unworthy as well as worthy communicants. In short, not all that seem outwardly the children of God are so really. It is perfectly possible to attend religious meetings in the month of May, in Exeter Hall, to read and support religious newspapers, and yet not be Chris- tians ; it is perfectly possible to contribute largely to the spread of the Gospel and the maintenance of its machinery, and to do it from false motives and for impure and unhallowed ends : in one 148 THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS. word, to have a name to live by and yet to be dead to have the Torra of godliness without its power to be eulogized by man as the very perfection of Christianity, and yet to be denounced in heaven as an alien and a stranger to tire cross, and an ally of Satan, and an enemy of Christ. I have thus, then, shown you the negative signs those who are not under Christ's banner, and who therefore cannot be said to overcome; let me now endeavour to show you, in the next place, the positive signs of those who do overcome, and who therefore obtain a right to the tree of life. I quote two texts extremely expressive on this point; they are from the Epistles of John : " \Vhosoever is born of God overcometh the world ; and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." And again he says in another place, " Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God ?" You must have noticed, in reading the Epistles of John written by the same hand that wrote the Apocalypse, and inspired by the same Holy Spirit, that the victory over the world, the victory over sin and Satan, is to be achieved mainly, if not wholly, through the instrumentality of faith. That man, therefore, who has true and lively faith in God who has trust and confidence in Christ Jesus who receives His word and rests upon it who leans upon His sacrifice who obeys His commandments who anticipates His future glory he has the victory that overcometh the world. You may ask, perhaps, In what respect does faith enable us to overcome the world ? I answer, it is thus : " Faith reveals to us things which are invisible to sense ; for the eye, and the ear, and the touch come in contact only with things material and above the horizon by which our world is bounded ; but faith sees beyond the horizon; its eye penetrates the ever-involving clouds, and beholds in the midst of the battle, God its Father, Christ its Saviour, the Holy Spirit its Sanctifier ; and it becomes so real to a Christian, that this faith is to him " the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." And so it enables him to overcome the world. Again, faith is thus an element of victory, because it shows to the Christian greater .excellences in his Lord, and in the Gospel which that Lord has revealed than in all the world besides. THE SOLDIERS OF CHRIST. 149 When sense loses friends, and money, and estates, it sits down and weeps, and despairs or commits suicide. When faith loses the world, or money, or friends, or home, it then begins to sing the paean of victory, which shall be perpetuated in the realms of glory, and which was begun by Christ when he was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. Here now is 'faith, which is the victory that overcometh the world. " Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vine ; though the labour of the olive shall fail, and the field shall yield no meat; though the flocks shall be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls ;" a Stoic would say, " I will neither feel nor mourn ;" the Epicurean would say, " I will make the best of it, and try to get something else as a substitute for what I have lost;" humanity would sit down, and wring its hands, and despond; but Chris- tianity spreads her wings, and lifts her heart, and says what the inspiration of her God alone, and faith in that God, can help her to sing, " yet will I rejoice in the Lord, and glory in the God of rny salvation." And this faith is the victory that overcomes the world. Faith is to the soul what the telescope is to the eye ; it brings things that are remote to be as though they were near. Hence, when there is true faith in the Christian's heart, it en- ables him to see that God is not a distant God, but a near God ; that Christ is not a distant Saviour, but a near Saviour ; that the Holy Ghost is not a distant Sanctifier, but a Sanctifier within him; that things which are distant to his sense are near as they are dear to a Christian's neart. And thus faith enables him, looking upon eternity as near, to tread down time as insignificant in comparison. But there is another characteristic of faith, that accounts for its being the victory that overcomes the world. Faith has been called by old divines " the appropriating grace." It is that grace which receives and appropriates to itself all that God has made known ; and if it does so, it needs no great calculation to show you that such faith must overcome the world. Faith sees God as my Father Christ as my Saviour the Spirit as my Sanctifier heaven as my home eternity as my hope ; Christ's strength as mine to sustain me Christ's wisdom as mine to guide me Christ's heart as mine to sympathise with me Christ's wing as 13 150 THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS. mine to shelter me; and thus faith becomes the victory that overcomes the world. Again, faith triumphs in difficulties ; the greater the difficulty, the more faith triumphs. It is the law of sense, that the greater the difficulty the more it desponds ; it is the law of faith, that the greater the difficulty the more manfully it meets it. Thus, for instance, sense says, " My sins are like the crimson in their dye, and like the purple in their hue, and I have therefore no hope of heaven." Faith replies, "Though your sins be like crimson, they shall be as wool ; and though they be as purple, they shall be as white as snow." Sense says, " Heaven is far away, and I do not know the road, and shall stumble in the way, or I shall miss the path, and I shall never get to heaven." Faith answers, in the tones her Master taught her, " I am the way, the truth, and the life ; him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." God says, " Sarah shall have a son ;" sense burSts into laughter at the absurdity of it ; faith believes the promise, and Abraham becomes the father of all them that believe. Sense says, "We do not know what to do;" but faith says, " Our eyes are toward God;" and God answers from the skies, what faith returns in echoes of triumph, " Stand still, and see the salvation of God." Thus it is, then, that faith is the victory that overcomes the world. I would only state to you, that if you wish to see the idea of which I have given you the merest outline worked out with great power, great splendour of imagery, great depth of thought, let me ask you to read Archdeacon Hare's " Victory of Faith." It is a work full of rich and beautiful thought. Some things there are in it, perhaps, about which we may differ, but it is, in the main, admirably calculated to edify and instruct. He and Trench, and others, constitute a new type or class of divines who are appearing in the Church of England. I hope they will not lean too much, as it is feared some do, towards Germany, as the divines on the other side lean too far towards Home. Per- haps it is God's design that they shall balance each other, and that the result shall be the old evangelical truth proclaimed by a Latiiner, preached and riveted by a Cranmer, and, blessed be God, found in all denominations of true Christians at this mo- THE SOLDIERS OF CHRIST. 151 ruent, and so a revival greater than ever has been since the blessed Reformation. I need not quote to you instances of those who by faith have overcome the world. Abel is one of the earliest specimens. Cain, personating sense, presented on the altar the loveliest flowers, and thought that, from their fragrance and their beauty, these would be the best sacrifice. Faith, in Abel, conscious of its sins, took a lamb and shed its blood, because it trusted in the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world. Enoch overcame the world, for he walked with God amidst the opposi- tion of the world. Noah overcame the world, for he believed God when the world laughed at his predictions, and built the ark whilst the world uttered its sneers, overcoming the world by faith. Abraham overcame the world, when he left his own land and went forth not knowing whither he was going, only knowing this, that God had prepared for him a city in the skies, whose builder and maker is God. Moses overcame the world when he refused to be called a monarch's son, and despised the riches which w<5uld accrue from being connected with a monarch's prime minister, preferring, nobly preferring, affliction with the people of God, rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin that were but for a season. But let me explain one or two more of the features of the soldiers of Christ. First, we are told in Scripture, that those who belong to Christ and overcome the world are they who are "chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world." If you ask me to explain the doctrine of election I answer, I cannot; if you ask me to harmonize it with man's responsibility I can- not. I read this, and I cannot dispute it "chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world;" not because God foreknew they would be holy, but in order that they might be holy. And again : " Elect according to the foreknowledge of God, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth." Only suffer me to say, that election in the Bible and election in our Scotch confession of faith seem to me very differently stated, though, no doubt, they mean the same thing. The one is hard, dry, and metaphysical, almost rationalistic the other always accompanied with great practical truths, and solemn responsibilities and duties ; 152 THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS. the one man's planting, the other God's inspiring. Those, then, that overcome the world are chosen in Christ before the founda- tion of the world ; and, secondly, they who are on Christ's side, and overcome the world, are " purchased by Christ." You are not your own ; you are redeemed with the precious blood of a Lamb without blemish and without spot. What a solemn truth is this ! We are not our own. Man says, " I can do what I like with my own." You have just one thing that is your own, and that one thing is your sin. Your souls are not your own, for God says, " All souls are mine." Your life is not your own, you can- not fix the day when you will give it up, and no human being fixed the day when that life was bestowed. I have often thought that when man is awake he feels that his life is his own ; but when you lie down and fall asleep, does it not seem to you as if you had let go your grasp of life as if your life were then loose, as it were ? When you retire to bed in the evening, it seems the foretaste of death then you let go life, and it remains with God whether your heart shall beat in eternity or beat in time the next day. We are not our own. Your money is not your own ; the image and the superscription of Christ is on it all. Your influ- ence is not your own. We are stewards, not proprietors ; we have not even a lease of anything ; we are tenants from year to year, from month to month, from day to day. We have no lease of life, still less a freehold ; we have no inherent property in any- thing we possess. God puts his hand into the midst of them, but (blessed be his name !) it is a Father's hand, and takes the lamb from the midst of your family into his own bosom ; he commands the hurricane to enter your shop or your counting-house, and sweeps from you, because he has other uses for it, all you have accumulated. God sends his angel, who breathes upon you as he passes, and you are laid upon a sick-bed. Nothing is our own ; all is God's ; the responsibility only is ours of consecrating it to his glory, or desecrating it to the service of sin, of Satan, and of the world. Again, those who are on Christ's side and fighting under his banner, and who have overcome the world, are those who have fled to him and sought acceptance from him through his precious blood. A Christian is one running from himself, and seeking THE SOLDIERS OF CHRIST. 153 refuge in Jesus who rests upon the cross who believes in Jesus who has confidence in the Bible, and expects, through that confidence in him, forgiveness of sin, holiness, happiness, and joy. What a blessed truth is that, that God is our Father ! I sometimes wish I could invent a few new words, in order to express more fully and forcibly my ideas. I am perfectly sure of this, that much of our sermons fail in their purpose, just because the words in which we express our ideas are so common that they roll off like dew-drops from the green leaf, without leaving the least lasting impression behind. The words we employ are so common, so hackneyed, that we fail to perceive the expressiveness and beauty of the meaning. Let us try to realise this thought, that God is our Father, loving us infinitely more than we ever can*or shall love him. It is worthy of observation, that all affections grow intenser in their descent, not in their ascent ; a father loves his child far more strongly than that child loves its father. Now, God is the great Father he is our Father; and that Father would do for us infinitely more than you fathers, being evil, would do for your children. He himself tells you, " If ye, being evil," with all your sins, with all your imper- fections, with all your passions, with all your prejudices, "will give good gifts to your children," because you love them, " how much more will your Father who is in heaven give " what ? not faith, not grace, not glory, but Deity himself, " the Holy Spirit, unto them that ask him ?" What a precious truth is this ! May we realise it, make it our own, and live upon it; and so our life will be the blessed life. And in the next place, they that are Christ's soldiers, and conquer in his strength, are those that cleave to Christ's word. I look upon this as a most important test in the present day; it may be that articles are good, that confessions of faith are good, that liturgies are expedient; this may be; but it is quite certain that no articles, nor creed, nor confession, nor liturgy is fit to be the rule of faith. God's word alone is our directory. Whatever is within the boards of the Bible is obligatory upon you and me, as if God bowed the heavens and spoke at this moment. What- ever is outside the boards of the Bible, however popular, however plausible, however eloquent, you may receive or you may reject 154 THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS. as you please, it does not touch your responsibility to God, or your hopes of everlasting happiness. The Christian takes God's word as his infallible directory, as his lamp from the throne shining in a dark place. He receives it not as a dogrna for dis- cussion, as a theory for dispute, as a problem for solution, but as a truth for hearty reception. Hence, it has always seemed to me the essence of folly, to hear a man open the Bible, and say, God says this, and now I will prove it to you. What is the use of proving what God has said ? We prove propositions that are human : we accept truths that are divine. We may elucidate or explain, by comparing Scripture with Scripture, but to say, This is my text, and I will now prove it, is to bring a glow-worm to add to the splendours of the meridian sun, the conjectures of man to strengthen the testimony of God. Hence, those that are Christ's soldiers, and fight under his banner, cleave close to his word, and evermore appeal to it in all those disputes in which one good man says this, and another good man says that. The old Scotch Covenanter's request on hearing a theological contro- versy, " Rax me the Bible," was truly Protestant. If the con- troverted dogma be not there, it is no concern of ours : if it be there, bow before it as an order from the Most High, and fear not the silly charge of bibliolatry. And the last feature I will notice of those who are Christ's soldiers is, they love the Saviour with all their heart ; and when there is love in the heart, there is always light in the head, and direction to the feet, because they that love Christ need no diagram of duty, no human directory, no binding law, for love is the fulfilment of the law. Those who are thus fighting under Christ's banner are some in Europe, some in Asia, some in Africa, some in America, some in Australia; some are on the Equator in burning sands and parched deserts, or amid the frozen ledges of Iceland, or in the regions of perpetual snow ; colour and clime have nothing to do with God's relationship to us, or our relation- ship to him. Some are in palaces, some in huts, some in cata- combs, some in prisons, some in subterranean mines; some are upon the steppes of Tartary, and some on the mountains of Swit- zerland ; some, like Abel, were neither circumcised nor baptized ; some, like David, were circumcised but not baptized ; some, like THE SOLDIERS OF CHRIST. 155 Paul, were both circumcised and baptized ; and some, like Luther, baptized, but not circumcised; and some, with no baptism of man, but with the consecration of the Spirit of God. Such are sure of the victory. Christ intercedes for them ; the Spirit intercedes within them ; angels minister to them ; all things work for their good ; circumstances may vary their con- dition, but they cannot rend their union and communion with their Lord. Sodom blazes behind them, but Jerusalem shines before them from afar, and all the thunders and the voices and the cries of dissolving dynasties and crumbling thrones are but the settling, not the overturning of the foundation, on which they stand secure as beneath the shadow of the omnipotence of God. Now, those who are on Christ's side and thus overcome, shall, it is said, be admitted to the tree of life. This tree I have de- scribed in previous lectures,* and I need not, therefore, repeat anything I have said. I merely add this, that that tree which was lost in Paradise the first, shall be replanted and bloom for ever in Paradise the second. The meaning of the promise is, that they who believe in Jesus and overcome the world through his blood, shall partake of and inherit unceasing, everlasting life. It denotes the perpetuity of this life, " they shall live for ever and ever." No wintry cloud shall overshadow them, no earth- quake or hurricane shall uproot them, no lightning shall blast, and no tornado shall scathe them. The source of their life is beyond the reach of mutability or change. It denotes, too, nutri- ment. Man is a creature; the highest angel in heaven is a creature; he has no inward, inherent, aboriginal spring of life; and therefore the statement, that believers shall eat of the tree of life, denotes that in heaven their life shall be, what it was on earth, a derived life, not original and inherent. It may also de- note that all believers shall gather round that central object and form one happy, holy, and inseparable group for ever. And the promise "/ will give unto him that overcometh to eat of the Tree of Life," is evidence that it is not of merit, but by grace. And now let me notioe, in closing my remarks upon the address * See Apocalyptic Sketches, second series. 156 THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS. to the Ephesian Church, that the promise is here distinct from the rest of the epistle : It is said, " To him that overcometh," which shows that the Church itself would not overcome. He first states the excellences of the Church, he then mentions its defi- ciencies, and he says to her " that unless she repents he will remove her candlestick out of its place," t. e, he will cause her existence as a Church to cease. In order to show how this pre- diction has been fulfilled, I will read you a short account of the history and present state of that Church. " EPHESUS. This celebrated city, anciently the metropolis of Proconsular Asia or Ionia, now called Natolia, was situated about forty miles south-east of Smyrna, and five miles from the .ZEgean Sea, on the sides and at the foot of a range of mountains over- looking a fine plain, watered and fertilized by the river Cayster. It was considered a maritime city, and is said to have been built by Androclus, the son of Codrus, king of Athens, as early as the time of David. It henceforth occupied a distinguished place among the twelve confederated Ionian cities of Asia Minor. From the remotest period, Ephesus was celebrated for a temple of Diana, hence called the Ephesian goddess. " The inhabitants of Ephesus were distinguished more by their voluptuousness and their traffic, than by their taste for learning or philosophy. They are also said to have been addicted to sor- cery and such like arts. What were called the ' Ephesian letters' appear to have been magical symbols inscribed on the crown, girdle, and feet of the statue of Diana, in the great temple ; and it was believed that whoever pronounced them had forthwith all that he desired. In the Apostolic times, Ephesus was in its glory, and its streets resounded with the shouts, ' Great is Diana of the Ephesians !' (Acts xix. 2834.) When St. Paul visited the city, and a tumult in consequence arose, the town-clerk, or principal magistrate, made the following speech : ' Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter ? Seeing, then, that these things cannot be spoken against, ye ought to be quiet, and do nothing rashly. For ye have brought hither these men, who THE SOLDIERS OF CHRIST. 157 are neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddess.' The tradition here referred to, that the image -of Diana originally fell from heaven, has induced some to conjecture that it might have contained an aerolite or atmospheric stone ; but the pretence was by no means peculiar to Ephesus. The Palla- dium of Troy, and the image of Minerva, were said to have dropped from the clouds, and the sacred shield of the Romans was given in a similar manner in the reign of Numa Pompilius. This imposture, zealously propagated by the mythological priests, that the statues at the shrines of which they ministered were the gifts of the celestial divinities, was early introduced into the Christian Church, when it became infected by the leaven of superstition, and the legends of the monkish writers of commu- nications from the Virgin and the Apostles are not behind those which they imitated in pretensions to the miraculous. A similar origin to that of the Ephesian Diana has been claimed for the shrine of our Lady of Loretto, in Italy; and Pope John I. inarched out of the city of Rome in solemn procession to receive a picture of the Virgin, which was devoutly believed to have been suspended in the air over the city for a considerable time. " St. Paul resided at Ephesus for three years, and founded a Church (Acts xx. 31), which was sound in doctrine, and upright in discipline and practice during his life ; but after the martyr- dom of the Apostle, the Ephesian Church declined, and its bishop was solemnly warned to ' repent and do the first works.' Trophimus, an eminent disciple of St. Paul, who accompanied him on many of his journeys, was a native of Ephesus j and it is conjectured that Tychicus, the bearer of the Epistle to the Church, and of that to the Colossians, was so likewise. In A. D. 57, the Apostle, sailing from Assos to Tyre, appointed the elders and presbyters of the Ephesian Church to meet him at Miletus, at which port he intended to touch, not having time to visit their city. This interview was of an affecting nature, and evinces the strong attachment which his residence among them had produced. He told them on that occasion, that they would see his face no more that after his departure, grievous wolves would enter in among the flock ; and he anxiously exhorted those who had the oversight thereof, to feed the Church of God. (Acts xx. 28.) 14 158 THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS. " Irenaeus and Eusebius relate a tradition, that St. John wrote his three Epistles at Ephesus, between the commencement of the Jewish war and the final subjugation of Palestine, when he first arrived and took up his residence in the city. Some of the Fa- thers affirm, that the beloved disciple was accompanied into Asia Minor by the Virgin Mary, who resided at Ephesus, where she is said to have been buried. In A. D. 142, Justin Martyr visited Ephesus, and held on that occasion his celebrated conversation on Christianity with Trypho, who is mentioned by Eusebius as the most eminent Jew of his time. At the close of the second century, we find Polycrates, the bishop of Ephesus, engaged in a controversy respecting the observance of Easter, which threat- ened the extinction of all kindly feeling between the parties. " The celebrated story of the Seven Sleepers, related by Gibbon, is connected with Ephesus. During the furious persecution of the Christians carried on by the Emperor Decius, seven noble Ephesian youths concealed themselves in a cave in the neighbour- hood of the city, where they were immured by the tyrant. ' They immediately fell into a deep slumber,' says Gibbon, { which was miraculously prolonged, without injuring the powers of life, during a period of one hundred and eighty-seven years. This popular tale, which Mohammed might have learned when he drove his camels to the fairs of Syria, is introduced as a Divine relation into the Koran. The story of the Seven Sleepers has been adopted and adorned by the nations from Bengal to Africa, who profess the Mohammedan religion, and some vestiges of a similar tradition have been discovered in the remote extremities of Scandinavia.' " In A. D. 431, the heads of the Church, in obedience to the imperial mandate, repaired to Ephesus, and deposed Nestorius, the bishop of Constantinople. The prelate was degraded from his ecclesiastical dignities, and confined in a monastery. At the commencement of the sixth century, Ephesus, like other Asiatic Churches, had lost almost every trace of its ' first love,' and the streams of Divine truth circulated by St. Paul, St. John, and Polycarp, became gradually corrupted by error and superstition. ' At this era,' says Mr. Milner, ' the number of monks multiplied prodigiously in the East, invited to inaction and repose by its THE SOLDIERS OF CHRIST. 159 warm climate and sunny skies ; and the myrtle-crowned valleys of Asia Minor were crowded with fanatics, eager to arrive at spiritual perfection by the constant practice of bodily ease. The north, with its snows and mountains, had indeed its monasteries, but the greatest hive was in the East, where the balmy breezes and ever-ripening fruits ministered to sensual gratification. The religious flocked to the plains of Syria to dream away existence, and the beautiful valleys of Greece and Anatolia swarmed with a race whose pretensions to piety were laziness and superstition.' " In 1764, when Ephesus was visited by Dr. Chandler, l its population consisted of a few Greek peasants, living in extreme wretchedness, dependence, and insensibility ; the representatives of an illustrious people, and inhabiting the wreck of their great- ness, some, the substructure of the glorious edifices which they raised}\some beneath the vaults of the stadium, once the crowded scene of their diversions. We heard the partridge call in the area of the theatre and of the stadium. The glorious pomp of its heathen worship is no longer remembered ; and Christianity, which was there nursed by Apostles and fostered by general councils, until it increased to fulness of stature, barely lingers on in an existence hardly visible. On approaching it from the wretched village of Aiasaluch, a few scattered fragments of antiquity occur ; and on the hill above, some traces of the former walls, and a solitary watch-tower, mark the extent of the city. u At some distance are the remains of the theatre in which Demetrius raised the tumult against St. Paul ; but of the once famous temple of Diana not a stone is seen, except perhaps a few arches on the morass, which are conjectured to have supported it. 'A more thorough change/ says Mr. Emerson, ' can scarcely be conceived, than that which has actually occurred at Ephesus. Once the seat of active commerce, the very sea has shrunk from its solitary shores; its streets, once populous with the devotees of Diana, are now ploughed over by the Ottoman serf, or browsed by the sheep of the peasant. It was early the stronghold of Christianity, and stands at the head of the Apostolic Churches of Asia. It seems that there, as St. Paul says, ' the word of God grew mightily and prevailed/ Not a single Christian now dwells within it; its mouldering arches and dilapidated walls merely 160 THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS. whisper the tale of its glory; and it required the acumen of the geographer, and the active scrutiny of the exploring traveller, to form a probable conjecture as to the actual site of the first wonder of the world. " The same writer continues to observe : ' The present state of Ephesus affords a striking illustration of the accomplishment of prophecy. Ephesus is the first of the Apocalyptic Churches ad- dressed by the Evangelist in the name of Jesus Christ; his charge against her is a declension in religious fervour (Rev. ii. 4), and his threat in consequence (Rev. ii. 5), a total extinction of her ecclesiastical brightness. After a protracted struggle with the sword of Rome and the sophisms of the Gnostics, Ephesus at last gave way. " The incipient indifference censured by the warning voice of the Prophet increased to a total forgetfulncss, till at length the threatenings of the Apocalypse were fulfilled, and Ephesus sunk with the general overthrow of the Greek empire in the fourteenth century. " The plough has passed over the city ; and when visited, in March 1826, by the Rev. Messrs. Hartley and Arundell, green corn was growing in all directions amidst the forsaken ruins; and one solitary individual only was found who bore the name of Christ, instead of its once flourishing Church. Where once assembled thousands exclaimed, " Great is Diana of the Ephe- sians !" now the eagle yells, and the jackal moans. The soil of the plain on which the ruins of Ephesus lie appears rich : in the summer of 1835, when visited by Mr. Addison, it was covered with a rank burnt-up vegetation. 'This place/ he states, 'is a dreary uncultivated spot ; a few corn-fields were scattered along the site of the ancient city, which is marked by some large masses of the shapeless ruins and stone walls.' " What does all this teach us ? That the Gospel in the midst of a city is the strength, the glory, and the stability of it. The moment that her love left the Church of Ephesus, her ships left her harbours, her soldiers deserted her standard, her ancient and illustrious buildings crumbled into ruins, and Ephesus alone, therefore, is a standing evidence that it is the church of God, in THE SOLDIERS OF CHRIST. 161 Old England's heart, that is the secret of the splendour of the diadem that is around the Queen of England's brow. It is Christianity among the people that is the grand secret of all our prosperity and greatness. It is not protectionism, it is not free trade, that is the substance of our commerce, the glory and the secret of our agricultural prosperity ; it is the Gospel alone ; and he who becomes a Christian himself and seeks to spread what he feels among those that are around him, does more to advance our country in its loyalty, in its integrity, in its strength, in its riches, in its commerce, in its manufactures, in its agriculture, than all the eloquent speeches made the one way or the other within the walls of parliament. It is by righteousness that a nation stands ; it is by sin that it descends to its tomb. I have confidence in the Gospel, and confidence in that alone ; and I believe, that when the hurricane swept over Europe, and kings were bowed before it as the grass before the breeze when the earthquake heaved, and convulsed great empires, and shattered strong and ancient thrones, it was not the guns that were concealed behind the walls of our great public buildings, nor those bayonets that bristled in the sun, nor those noble bands that crowded our streets and were ready when specially summoned specially to act, that saved us ; but it was that our people had within them, as a body, indirectly and directly, that love to God which is the secret of true and lasting loyalty. As Ephesus lost her commerce when she lost her Christianity, so London will lose hers if ever she lose living reli- gion in the midst of her. There is already too little Christianity, and too much room for more; instead of Christian churches quartering with each other, and Christian ministers setting them- selves in opposition to each other, all ought to labour as one. We want double the number of churches and chapels of every de- scription ; and I wish we could bring into them, not visitors from other communions and chapels, but men who are heathens and know 'not what Christ and his Gospel are. Let us feel that churches will stand in the present day, not by the excellence of their ecclesiastical polity, nor by the patronage of the state, nor by the endowment of the queen, nor by the votes of the people ; but by their allegiance to Christ, by their adherence to duty, by their sufferings for truth. Our churches are secured, not by the 14* 162 THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS. splendour of their liturgies, nor by the eloquence of their preachers, or the multitude, or the grandeur, or the nobility of those that visit them ; but only by their faithfulness to God, their sacrifices for his cause, their sympathies with his people. Men may talk about the succession, but I feel that this will be found the frailest reed in the universe when the ordeal conies ; for the time draws near when men will see that that is the best Church and the most apostolic Church that has the most apostolic charity that that is the best minister who preaches divine ser- mons and lives a divine life and that is the best congregation which does most for the spread of the Gospel which it has first tasted in all its sweetness and realized in all its power. LECTURE X. TRIALS. " And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write ; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive ; 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." REV. ii. 8, 9. THE great Head and Bishop of the Churches here introduces himself in a character, and clothed with attributes, suited to the condition of the Church to which he directs the Epistle. In his address to the Church at Ephesus, he introduces himself as " ho that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, and walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks ;" and it will be found that this preface to the Epistle is in harmony with the statements contained in the body of it. In this, the Epistle to the Church of Smyrna, or rather to the angel, the bishop, or archbishop, or presbyter the presiding minister or officer of that Church, and through him to the whole body of the faithful constituting that congregation or Church, the great Author introduces himself as " the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive again." No one can fail to see that there is an obvious contradiction, if looked at in the light of human reason, in such an assumption as " the first and the last." It strikes you at once that no one can be the first and yet be the last ; if he be the one, you argue, he cannot be the other. This is perfectly true of man, because all that can be predicated of man comes within the range of sense or the realm of understanding ; but when we come to speak of God, it will be found that what are contradictions when applied to the creature, are great and glorious harmonies when heard respecting Him who filleth all in all with the majesty of his glory. (163) 164 THE CHURCH OF SMYRNA. This reminds me of an objection frequently urged against the doctrines of the Gospel, by persons of a sceptic or infidel turn of mind. They say, " We cannot believe the doctrine of the Trinity, because," they allege, " we cannot comprehend it." No doubt, you cannot comprehend it. Your inference from these premises would be logical were that inference from things within the cognisance of our senses ; but it is an inference from premises beyond the cognisance of our senses, and therefore as rash as it is irreverent and wrong. You say, you will not believe what you cannot comprehend. Are you aware that you cannot look above, beneath, around, within, without stumbling upon a thousand things that you cannot comprehend ? For instance, you believe that there is such a being as a God ; you will not accept the Christian's God ; but still no man is such a fool, such an arrant fool, as to pretend to believe that there is no God. Any creed is possible; no creed is impossible. You admit, then, there is a God ; you must feel that if there be a God, he is omnipresent, eternal, omniscient. Now, you say the doctrine of the -trinity is incomprehensible, therefore you reject it; will you allow me to follow up your reasoning with reasoning perfectly parallel ? The doctrine of omnipresence, the doctrine of eternity, is just as incomprehensible as the doctrine of the trinity, and therefore you are bound to deny that there is such a being as an omnipresent or eternal God. Let me ask you, if I address any such, How much do you com- prehend of eternity ? You can understand quite clearly a being that lives a thousand years, ten thousand years, or a being that lives ten thousand times ten thousand years ; but what do you comprehend of this, that when millennia have rolled on millennia, and cycles have accumulated on cycles, that being is no nearer the end and no farther from the beginning, than when you first began to think about the subject? You cannot comprehend one atom of eternity. Again, what do you comprehend of omnipresence ? You can understand that a person is here you can comprehend the idea of a person who is there ; but what comprehension have you of a Being who is here, and there, and everywhere? whose shining footprints are the planets whose circumference is nowhere TRIALS. 165 whose centre is everywhere ? what do you comprehend of him ? Nothing. Then, if you allege, that because you cannot compre- hend trinity in unity because you cannot comprehend how Christ can be the First and yet be the Last, be Alpha and yet be Omega, be God and yet be man, be impassible and yet a sufferer, be immortal and yet die, be the prince of life and yet the victim of death, be the sovereign of the universe and yet be the tenant of a grave, if you cannot comprehend all this by your own admission, do not argue, that because you cannot comprehend the attributes of Deity as these are revealed in the Bible, that there- fore you will not believe in them, or in Him whose they are. If men will not believe what they cannot comprehend, they will have to believe only what they taste, and see, and touch, and smell, and nothing more ; they will have to live merely as ani- mals they will cease to believe that they are spiritual in their life, and immortal in their destiny. But revelation is first proved to be from God, and then what revelation clearly asserts, it becomes the creature implicitly to accept; and then whether we can comprehend trinity in unity, or not, whether we can comprehend how Christ can be the first and yet be the last at the same time, or not, God has spoken all objections must instantly come to an end. Our Lord, there- fore, introduces himself here as the first. He that saw the stars shoot into their spheres, suns bud and begin their burning course he that saw the universe in its cradle, and will see its funeral he who was the first before all he who is the last behind all condescends thus to write to a Church, and to say to her, " I know thy tribulation and thy poverty, and also thy wealth." In one word, Christ here introduces himself as the everlasting one. The ephemeral insect of a day, and the Alps that have stood upon their foundations from the creation of the world the stars that looked upon Adam and Eve in paradise, and upon thrones and dynasties that were erected yesterday are all equally short-lived, when compared with Him who is the First and the Last, who was dead and is alive. He is both God and man : man to suffer, because suffering was our doom ; God to satisfy, because without such satisfaction there could be no salva- tion. It is here stated, "He was dead:" "without shedding of 166 THE CHURCH OF SMYRNA. blood there is no remission of sins." He died that we might live. What a truth ! The Lord of glory, the Living One, came down from that throne around which angel and archangel soar, and sing, and worship perpetually; and without any reason but my ruin without any object except the salvation of disloyal, rebellious, guilty criminals, he followed us to our grave, clasped us to his bosom, and will not leave us till the meanest inhabitant of earth is made the magnificent heir of a crown of glory. Oh, the height and depth, the breadth and length, of the love of God in Christ Jesus ! But he died ; and if he had not died, we should have never lived. But he also lived, and is alive for ever- more; if he had not lived, our death had never ceased. He was dead, and is alive. Christ's death rendered our salvation possi- ble Christ's life makes that salvation actual. He applies from his throne what he purchased on his cross. If Christ had never died, our sin had never been forgiven ; if Christ had not risen, his purchase had never been applied. Easter Sunday is as pre- cious as Good Friday. His resurrection from the tomb is as vital and essential an article in a Christian's creed as his agony and bloody sweat, and his agonizing cry in his last moments, " It is finished," when he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. We have in Christ a complete Saviour a living Saviour, who was dead, and is alive, and livetfe for evermore to make intercession for us. Such is the preface to this Epistle. Let us next examine the body of this Epistle. It is an autograph of Christ ; it is an epistle that he himself hath sealed and sent to a portion of the Church universal. He says, " 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." "I know thy tribulation." The world knows it not. The world has no experience of or sympathy with a Christian's tribu- lation ; the world cannot comprehend it ; it cannot appreciate or understand the inward consolation he experiences under it. A Christian suffering is a mystery to the world, and a Christian rejoicing is no less so. A Christian grieves at what the world cares nothing for, and rejoices at what the world can see no hap- piness in. The world knoweth us not, as it knew him not : but JLI TRIALS. 167 Christ says, " I know thy tribulation :" and how does he know it ? Not as a spy, nor as an inquisitor, but as one who bows from the heavens to express and to make real and felt in our hearts his sympathy and fellow-suffering with us. " I know thy tribu- lation." But how does he know it ? He knows it inasmuch as he permits or directly sends our tribulation. Do you ever think of this, that there is no tribulation that can come to a Christian, let it be a headache or a heartache let it be fever, consumption, and decay let it be the departure of a babe or the death of a parent let it be the loss of property or the desertion of friends no tribulation can touch a Christian, that Christ sends not for high, holy, wise, and beneficent purposes. Now what a bright view of tribulation docs this give to a Christian ? That tribula- tion which comes like the hurricane, or falls upon you like the crushing weight of the avalanche, has been in the bosom of Christ, and has been inspired by the love, and is commissioned by the hand of Christ, before it touches you. There is no chance in this world. All things, good and bad, prosperous and adverse, have their commission or their permission, at all events their control, direction, and overruling issue, in Him who is the First and the Last, who was dead for our sins, and alive again for our justification. But he not only knows our tribulation, but he knows also the necessity of it. Is any Christian afflicted ? There is what the Apostle beautifully calls " a needs be." Whatever be the affliction its nature, weight, bitterness, poignancy and each man knows his own heart's bitterness most thoroughly it would not be there if it was not just as necessary for thee, my brother, as that Christ should die and rise again. Thus, affliction, what- ever it be, however poignant, however bitter, however inexplicable it may appear, or however strange it may seem to you, is needful for you ; it is just as necessary that that man should lose his pro- perty, or that woman should lose her child, or that that home should be stripped and made desolate, for that man or that woman's salvation, as that Christ should come down from a throne of glory and die upon the cross to make atonement for your sins. It is no accident that has interposed to disturb the harmony of the universe. It is a link, and an essential link, in that chain which lifts you from your ruin, and leaves you not till it lays you 168 THE CHURCH OF SMYRNA. amid the splendours of the beatific vision, where there shall be no more sorrow or suffering, but all things become new, and there shall be no more death nor crying nor pain. You do not com- plain of submitting to a painful surgical operation, if that opera- tion is pronounced by medical skill to be needful. Why then should you murmur or repine when you are visited with sore affliction or tribulation, when that tribulation is necessary, not for the safety of a limb, but for the salvation of a soul ; not for tem- poral ease, but for everlasting joy? On the cup that is bitterest, on the blow that is severest, on the shock that is most appalling, there is written, and the eye of faith can read it through its tears, " it needs be," and if there were no needs be, depend upon it you would never have felt it. But Christ knows not only the necessity of it, but he knows also the prcciotisness of it, and the value of it to him who is visited by it. He knows your tribulation not only as it is neces- sary, but he knows it also in order to comfort you under it. Affliction is to a Christian quite a different thing from what it is to a man of the world : every man in this assembly who is not a child of God, or who has not clear and satisfactory evidence for believing that he is so, must believe that his affliction is penal. But every man who knows he is a child of God, and is indeed so, is satisfied that his affliction, whatever it be, is paternal. The difference is tremendous. Paternal affliction is the chastisement of royal sons whom a Father is preparing for a glorious throne : penal affliction is the visitation of a judge descending upon a criminal driven to his doom, the first drops of that ocean of wrath into whieh they shall be plunged, or into which rather they are plunging themselves to suffer and die for ever. A believer's tribulation, therefore, whatever it may be, is chastisement; and that very chastisement which he feels so poignant is eloquent with precious lessons. " If ye were without chastisement, you would not be sons." " What son is he whom the Father chasteneth not ?" It is in the sunshine of prosperity that we see least of God; it is in the midst of tribulation, in the darkness of the densest night, that the pillar of fire marches in our van, and brightens the darkness with the presence of Him who was dead and is alive, who is the first and the last, the beginning and 4he TRIALS. 169 end. The daylight has one sun, but night has a thousand suns : prosperity has some comforts, when it is the prosperity of a Christian ; but adversity, when it is the adversity of a child of God, has joys and hopes and comforts that shine like the very canopy of the city of God. Christ not only knows our tribulation to comfort us under it, but he knows also the perils of it " I know thy tribulation ;" I know its needs be; I know the comfort that you require under it ; I know also the perils that accompany it. There are perils in adversity, just as there are perils in prosperity. One knows not in which there are most. It is therefore a very beautiful prayer of the wise man, " Give me not poverty, lest I should steal ; give me not riches, lest I should be proud and forget God." Give me neither the trials of the one nor the temptations of the other; but, if it please thee, "feed me with food convenient for me." When our Lord was tried and tempted, Satan came to him, and showed him the kingdoms of the world and all their glory, and offered to make him lord over all, if he would only fall down and worship him. It is when we are in prosperity that Satan bids us " worship our own net and burn incense to our own drag." It is when we are in adversity that Satan says to us, " If you will only do a dis- honest thing if you will only try that trick if you will only have recourse to that equivocal and evasive conduct, then you will get rich, and increase in goods." That is the trial of adver- sity. That man, however, who can repel the tempter, and say, " Get thee behind me," who can say with the prophet of old, " Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat ; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and ther% shall be no herd in the stalls; yet will I rejoice in the Lord, and glory in the God of my salvation," he feels that God is with him, and thus it matters little who may be against him. But Christ knows our tribulation also, expressly in order to sympathise with it. I need not tell you that when there is no hope of escape, the only consolation in the midst of imprisonment and trial and affliction is sympathy from one who truly feels for us and feels with us. There is nothing more softening in the 170 THE CHURCH OF SMYRNA. experience of humanity than to have one that will respond in sympathy to us to have one heart that will reflect our suffering and our sorrow, and enable us to feel that, however intense our agony may be, it is an agony that is not with us alone, but that there is a responsive sympathy in the bosom of others that are near us. Let me speak to the humblest, poorest, meanest tenant of a cellar in this assembly this night, if that poor, humble, afflicted one be a child of God, and tell him there is an electric chain between his heart and the heart of Him that sits upon the throne, the First and the Last ; and between that poor afflicted one's heart, and the heart of Him who is the Alpha and Omega, there is a chord which vibrates with a ceaseless and perpetual sympathy, so that " we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin/' one who " in all our affliction," to use the language of the prophet, " was afflicted." There is not a stroke that smites a son which has not its echo in the skies there is not a sorrow or reproach that falls upon a Christian which has not its rebound beside the throne. There is no such thing as a solitary Christian. Kings may despise him ; great men, rich men, celebrated men, may forsake him ; but angels encamp about him, God's eye is upon him in the height and in the depth, Christ's heart sympathises with him : he is not alone, for the Saviour says, " I am with thee." Such then is the practical view to be taken of the Lord's address to the Church of Smyrna, " I know thy tribulation." Tribulation is as necessary for a Church as it is for an individual. Tribulation that contributes to the sanctification of the one, con- tributes to the progress in holiness of the other. It reveals Bonuses that are otherwise concealed, and makes righteousness spring in the desert, and brings us into contact with Him in whom dwelleth all the fulness of God, and who ever liveth to intercede for and to sympathise with us. As addressed to the angel of the Church of Smyrna, this lan- guage must have been specially consolatory. It has been sup- posed that Polycarp, who was the immediate friend of John, was at this time the angel, or bishop, or presiding minister of the Church at Smyrna, and that this language was addressed to him .* TRIALS. 171 in the first instance, and through him to the Church of which he was the exponent, in order to comfort him in the midst of a tribulation, persecution, and affliction which that Church was called upon to endure. In order to show that it was so, I will read an extract explanatory of the treatment received by Polycarp, who was at that time, as I have said, the minister or bishop of the Church to whom these words of consolation are addressed : " Polycarp, on hearing that the persecutors of the Christian name were in pursuit of him, and that escape was all but impos- sible, said, ' The will of the Lord be done/ On being arrested, Irenseus relates that he prayed ardently in the midst of his ene- mies, and so full was he of the grace of God, that he could not cease speaking for two hours, during which time he made earnest petitions for all whom he had ever known, small and great, noble and vulgar, and of the whole Church of Christ throughout the world. Upon being brought before the tribunal, the proconsul, respecting his dignities (for he was a Bishop of the Church) and his advanced age (for he was more than eighty), and desirous to save him, urged him, saying, l Swear, and I will release thee. Reproach Christ.' Polycarp answered : ' Eighty and six years have I served him, and he hath never wronged me ; and how can I blaspheme my King who hath saved me ?' The proconsul, judging his efforts unavailing, sent the herald to proclaim in the midst of the assembly, ' Polycarp hath professed himself a Chris- tian.' At that hated name, the multitude, both of Gentiles and Jews, unanimously shouted that he should be burned alive. The business was executed with all possible speed, for the people im- mediately gathered fuel from the workshops and baths, in which employment the Jews distinguished themselves with their usual malice," a remarkable fulfilment of the prophecy in the text, that those who said " they were Jews and were not," (" all were not Israel who were of Israel,") should, as " the synagogue of Satan," take an active part in the persecutions of the Christian Church during this period. " As soon as the fire was prepared, Polycarp stripped off his clothes and loosed his girdle ; but when they were about to fasten him to the stake, he said, ' Let me re- main as I am, for He who giveth me strength to sustain the fire, ivill enable me also, without your securing me with nails, to re- 172 THE CHURCH OF SMYRNA. main unmoved in the fire.' Upon which they bound him, with- out nailing him; and he, putting his hands behind him, and being bound as a distinguished ram selected from the great flock, a burnt offering acceptable to God Almighty, said, ' Father of thy beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, through whom we have attained the knowledge of thee, God of angels, principalities, and of all creation, and of all the just who live in thy sight, I bless thee that thou hast counted me worthy of this day and of this hour, to receive my portion in the number of the martyrs in the cup of Christ, for the resurrection to eternal life, both of soul and body; among whom may I be presented before thee this day as a sacrifice well savoured and acceptable, which thou, the faith- ful and true God, hast prepared, promised beforehand, and ful- filled accordingly. Wherefore, I praise thee for all these things ; I bless thee, I glorify thee, by the eternal High Priest, Jesus Christ, thy well-beloved Son, through whom, with him in the Holy Scriptures, be glory to thee, both now and for ever." J " Polycarp was apprehended by Herod, under Philip, the Trallian Pontifex, Statius-Quadratus being Proconsul, but Jesus Christ reigning for ever; to whom be glory, honour, majesty, an eternal throne, from age to age." I quote this to show you the treatment received by the first minister of the Church of Smyrna, as a specimen of the tribula- tion which the Church had to pass through in its transit to im- mortality and glory. After having given, then, some sketch of the tribulations of the Church of Smyrna, and shown that her cross was no painted toy, but a real crucifixion, and that through tbat cross she had to pass to her crown, we are informed next of her poverty. " I know thy tribulation, and thy poverty." The poor are perpe- tually with us ; it is an ordinance of God, " the poor shall never cease out of the land." The day will never come when all shall be equal, when all shall be rich, or all shall be poor. There are inequalities in nature; there must be inequalities in provi- dence. But poverty is no shame : we read of our blessed Lord, that " though rich, for our sakes he became poor, that we through TRIALS. JJ3 his poverty might bo made rich." Rags are no disgrace ; lawn is, in itself, no honour. The poor are not to infer they are for- saken of God because they are poor ; the rich are not to suppose they are accepted of God because they are rich ; nor are you to conclude that he alone is the liberal man who gives the pounds, and that he has no liberality who gives only the pence. There may be large liberality in the heart, when the hand has no means of expressing it; and there may be apparent liberality in the hand, when there is narrowness and poverty indeed in the heart within. God judges of liberality, not by the gift in the hand, but by the grace in the heart; not by what a man can do, but by what a man is truly willing to do. The mite which is the exponent of a gracious heart, rises like incense to the skies, acceptable through Jesus Christ ; the thousand which is the mere exponent of vanity and thirst for gcldt, is hateful in the sight of God, and unprofitable in the experience of man. While it was said of this Church, she was indeed poor, " but/' in another sense, it is added, " thou art rich." In what sense was she rich ? In that sense in which the Apostles were "poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing all things." There is a wealth which, in the sight of God, is poverty ; and there is a poverty which, in the sight of God, is inestimable riches. Kiches that God looks at are such as these, " the riches of goodness" " the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" " the riches of his grace" " the riches of glory" " the riches of his inheritance in the saints ;" " He is the heir of all things ;" " in him all fulness dwells." These are the riches which, I trust, many a child of God who draws near to a communion-table knows to be his those riches which outweigh the wealth of a Croesus the riches which are unsearchable which the world knows not which it can neither appreciate nor comprehend. The wealth which the world knows is that which can be expressed in the cash-book, or carried in the pocket; but the wealth that the Christian has that transcends in beauty, in preciousness, in glory, all the riches of the world are the riches with which the poorest is unspeakably wealthy, and without which the richest man is poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked indeed is 15* 174. THE CHURCH OF SMYRNA. "unsearchable riches." The riches of this world, even when they are greatest, are but clay ; they are thorns which prick the head that lies upon a pillow of down ; the root of many evils, the cause of innumerable troubles : but the riches which Christ has to bestow, which are freely offered to the poorest by the hand that distributes them, are riches that satisfy the soul that are accompanied with no thorns, but bear fragrant, beautiful, and amaranthine blossoms, and that end, not in perishable dignity, but in a crown of glory that fadeth not away. These riches are truly useful at that hour when a man's heart is faint, when in the agony of his soul he asks the question, " What must I do to be saved ?" What can then comfort him ? Not all the money that the richest can give him ; the only com- fort ever will be, as it has ever been found to be, the riches of pardoning mercy and forgiving love. And when we come to lie down on that last pillow on which your head and mine must lie, it will not be the least mitigation of nature's agony, nor the least brightening of the soul's hope, that you recollect you have been a rich man or a great man; but this will be joy this will be peace this will be substantial comfort that you have an interest in Him who has unsearchable riches to bestow now, and who has riches beyond tongue to express or heart to conceive to give us, when this frail earthly tabernacle is reduced to its ruins, and this inner soul, this immortal inhabitant, enters into an inheritance that cannot be moved, and a glory that cannot fade away. Seek, above all, these riches ; pray that, if poor in purse, you may be rich in soul ; pray that, if you have only a crumb of bread upon your table, you may have a glorious estate in rever- sion ; pray that, if in the estimate of the world you are amongst the poor, in the judgment of Him who is the First and the Last you may be rich, because enriched with the unsearchable riches of the Lord Jesus Christ. Of all men, the most pitiable are those who have full purses and empty hearts who have all that this world can give them, and know not how to use, and sanctify, and lay it out for the glory of God, and for the good, the present comfort, and the future prosperity of souls. Let me ask you, Are you among the poor in spirit, whether you be rich or poor TRIALS. 175 on earth? are you among the rich indeed, whether you be poor or rich in the estimate of Caesar? I trust that many are so, poor in spirit, but rich in faith, heirs of the kingdom of God. " Thus the night shall be filled with music, And the cares that infest the day Shall fold their tents like the Arabs, And as silently steal away." LECTURE XL CHRISTIAN COURAGE. "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 tribula- tion ten days." REV. ii. 10. I EXPLAINED in a previous lecture the glorious attribute assumed by Jesus as exclusively his own, " I aia the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega, which was dead and is alive again, and liveth for evermore." I explained also the omniscience displayed in that allusion, "I know thy works, and I know thy tribulation, and I know thy poverty." The one may be misrepre- sented by the world, the other may be misapprehended, and the last may be despised ; but I know them, applauding what is pure in the one, what is beautiful in the second, what is holy in the third ; and it is a light matter that man should .condemn, if it be the fact that your Lord applauds. He then shows that while this was poverty, physically speaking, it was wealth spiritually and truly. There may be unsearchable riches where there is very great outward poverty. Our Lord says so. One church boasted she was rich ; He told her she was poor. This church was hum- bled because she was poor; He shows her that she was unspeak- ably rich. And he says, " I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not." Jew is plainly used in the sense of Christian, as in the following instances : ' He is not a Jew which is one outwardly :" " All are not Israelites who are of Israel." And this book is constructed, as it were, upon a Judaic stage. The apocalyptic scenery is borrowed from the temple, and the national Jew is introduced as the type and symbol of the true and scriptural Christian. And therefore, when it is said " blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are (176) CHRISTIAN COURAGE. 177 not." He means, the reproach cast upon thee by those who pretend to he Christians and who are really not so. They reproach thee for thy poverty; they speak of thee as if thou wert not a Christian ; " but if you be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you, for the Spirit of God resteth upon you." This is a very precious consolation to every Christian, that the spot selected by the Holy Spirit of God specially to rest on, is the head of a reproached and misrepresented believer : " The Spirit of Christ and of glory resteth upon you." We are here again reminded of that lesson I have endeavoured to teach from the beginning, that the visible Church is a mixed Church : of the ten virgins, five were foolish ; of the seed cast into the ground, there were tares grew up as well as wheat; among the fishes in the net there were bad as well as good ones : and if you join no church until you have found a pure one, you will live in sin against God, and you will die without communion with the visible Church at all. There was a Judas among the twelve Apostles; and there never has been an era in the visible Church of Christ in which much of it has not been corrupt : half of it is the smallest proportion, and the fear is that the majority have too frequently been so. Christ's flock is still a little flock ; and the multitude that follow Antichrist is still a great multitude. The Antichrist is enthroned upon many waters tongues, and kin- dreds, and people. Let us, my dear friends, select the Church we believe to be the best, when selection, in the providence of God, is placed in our power ; but if we are in the midst of a communion not radi- cally corrupt nor essentially off the foundation, let us labour rather to purify, exalt, and reform it, than to destroy and reduce it to ruins. You cannot be too much of a reformer; you cannot be too little of a revolutionist. Let us keep the machinery that we have, if it be not altogether unscriptural ; and if holy men work bad machinery, it will accomplish brilliant results ; but if bad men work the noblest machinery, it will produce no blessing to the world or to the Church at large. The characteristic of a bad tradesman is that he is constantly blaming his tools. I believe that if we thought more of individual holy life to make churches holy, and less of corporate laws and mechanical distinctions, we 178 THE CHURCH OP SMYRNA. should make greater progress in purity and in conformity to the image of God. Let us be satisfied that the fault is not in the flute, but in the player ; not in the bow, but in the finger that touches it; not in the instrument, but in the hand that strikes it ; not in the machinery, but in the power that is thrown into the midst of it. I proceed now to unfold Christ's beautiful prescription, which constitutes the substance of my address this evening, " Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer." It is taken at once for granted that suffering was before that Church ; and it is before us. It is well that our eyes are blinded to the scenes of our future experience, lest, gazing upon the awful events that may emerge in the providence of God, we should cease to toil, and become paralysed by fear and alarm. But, whatever be the scenes of the future, as these shall appear upon the world's stage, this we know, that in the case of that home that is now brightest, and of that heart that is now happiest, there are days coming that will try the one and shadow the other. For the great law of the Christian dispensation is, "In the world ye shall have tribulation ;" but the great comfort of the Christian is, " but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." The path that leads to glory is a path not strewn with roses, but planted with many a thorn; "through much tribulation we must enter into the kingdom of God :" and therefore, instead of affliction being the evidence that God hates you, it is the strongest earthly evidence that G6*d loves you. The man that I pity, is not the man who pines with sickness, or "feels the pang of pinching poverty;" nor the man who has lost the loved and the near and the dear; nor the man who has had the accumulation of years of industry swept away by the hurricane which was as unexpected as he thinks it was undeserved : such an one is in the midst of that chastisement which even in its sorest agony points to the foun- tain from which it springs : " What son is he whom the Father chasteneth not ?" But if there be any whose past has always been irradiated with sunshine, whose present is lighted with brilliant temporal hopes, in whose home sick-beds and tears and losses are exiles and strangers, I pity that man, I pray for him ; I would say to him, " Pray for thyself; the token that God is CHRISTIAN COURAGE. 179 thine, and that thou art his, is not yet upon thce ; for if thou art? a son, ' what son is he whom the Father chastcneth not ? and if ye be without chastisement, then are ye bastards, and not sons.' " Paul says too, in another place, illustrating the same truth, that no man should be moved by his afflictions, for all are appointed thereto. The path that leads to the crown is now, as it was eighteen centuries ago, alongside of the cross. There shall be no baptismal flood of glory, of blessedness and peace, unless first we have tasted of the cup of tribulation and sorrow and distress; but whatever be your tribulation now, or whatever tribulation you and I may anticipate in years to come (and we know not what lies before us in the year that now rolls onward to its close), let us remember that we may fed it, that we may weep over it, that we may battle with it, but we may not fear it. " Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer." Carry with thee, then, believer, this blessed prescription inscribed upon a leaf from the tree of life, put into thy hand by the great Physician of souls, "Fear none of those things/' the worst of them the heaviest of them the most painful and bitter of them : " fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer " in the remainder of thy life or in the course of the providence of God. How beautiful, too, is this prescription ! Christ does not say, " Be Stoicks, and do not feel them ;" nor does he say, " Be Epi- cureans, and plunge into despair when they overwhelm you ;" but he says, "Be Christians; feel, but do not fear them." The tenderest hearts often feel most keenly ; the bravest hearts often beat with the intensest sympathy. Not to weep would be not to be human ; to weep till we despair, would be to cease to be Christians ; but to " weep as though we wept not, to rejoice as though we rejoiced not, and to use the world as not abusing it" this is the character of a believer this is the experience of a child of God. " Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer." But, perhaps, you ask, and you ask naturally, What things are these ? I will give you a catalogue of them a catalogue which has been composed by infinite wisdom, and each pang of which has passed through the heart of one who was acquainted with suffering, like his blessed Master, and now reigns with that 180 THE CHURCH OF SMYRNA. Master before the throne of God and of the Lamb. Paul says, in Rom. viii., " Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?'' and then he gives us the list of those things which we are not to fear. " Shall tribulation," that is one ; " or distress," the second ; "or," thirdly, "persecution;" "or," fourthly, " famine ;" "or," fifthly, "nakedness; or," sixthly, "peril; or," seventhly, "sword?" then in ver. 38, or "death," or "life," or "angels and principalities," or " powers," or " things present," or " things to come," or " height," or " depth," or " any other creature ?" " Fear none of those things which any of you may be called upon to suffer." Each of these things is a dark cloud with a blessing in its bosom, and if we are the people of God, (for it is only to the people of God that this prescription is addressed,) we are called upon to feel them for humanity must feel them but not to fear them, for Christianity teaches us to triumph over them. Let me call your attention to the first of the list. " Fear not one of those things which thou shalt suffer " The first is tribulation. The word tribulation is the translation of the Greek Otityg, which strictly means pressure ; it is applied to the winepress, and denotes that the Christian is placed under strong and overwhelming pressure of danger, or affliction, which, while it brings rebellion from the world, draws confidence and praise from the child of God. The worldling, when crushed, either blasphemes the idol which it recognises as the author of the affliction, or it despairs and commits suicide, and rushes unsummoned and unready into the presence of its Maker. But the child of God, when the pressure is heaviest upon him, is like the aromatic plant of which we read, the severer the pressure, the more fragrance it emits. The greater glory is given to his God the greater the pressure to which the Christian is subjected. To the one it is the savour of death, to the other it is the savour of life. If it be so, believer, fear not tribulation, one of those things which thou shalt suffer. Another mentioned by the Apostle is " distress," which is the translation of the Greek word ottvozupia,, which means literally " straitness of place," and is used of a person placed in a corner, as we say, "in such narrow, pinched, and straitened circum- stances, that he can see no way of getting out on the right hand or on the left." We have a specimen of this ofsvo^upia in the CHRISTIAN COURAGE. 181 case of the children of Israel, when Pharaoh with all his chivalry was behind them, and the Red sea with its unsounded depths was before them : they were then in a corner, they were then in distress ; if they looked behind, they saw only the sword of the pursuer ; if they looked before, a watery grave. Then what were they to do ? Did Moses say, " Now fear ?" No. Did he say, Cease to feel ?" No. What then did he say ? What I would say to you and to every believer who is placed in similar circum- stances : " Stand still, and see the salvation of God." "Man's extremity is God's opportunity." Just when your trial has reached its very maximum, and the door of escape seems closed for ever, you will find an unexpected opportunity that will not only suffer you peacefully to escape, but that will contribute to the praise, the honour, and the glory of God. Thus, then, if you are placed in distress, the second in this catalogue, you learn the weakness of man, but also the omnipotence of God ; human power is laid aside and you begin to lean only on Him who alone is your strength, and in whom alone is all your deliverance. The next trouble which you may suffer as a believer is famine. This is one of God's three great scourges, "pestilence, and famine, and war." We have tasted lightly of the pestilence; it breathed on us as it swept past, and we were scarcely scathed. We have experienced little of the famine, for it appeared in the midst of us, and no sooner appeared in judgment, than it disap- peared in mercy; though strange it is that Ireland, which has so long been the drag upon the expanding energies of Britain, should be visited alike by pestilence and famine, after the outbreak of a civil war had but just been silenced in the midst of it. I cannot, my dear friends, forbear, while looking round at all the states of the world, and the desolations which have been wrought in the midst of them, wondering at the immunity which has ^een vouchsafed to the city in which we live, and to the land of which that city is the capital. If ever there was a people whose hearts should beat with responsive gratitude to God, and whose evening songs should be hymns of praise and adoring love, and who should feel that the mightiest sacrifices placed upon the altar, or cast into the treasury, are inadequate expressions of a nation's thankful- ness and a nation's love, it is the people of this great and highly 16 182 THE CHURCH OF SMYRNA. favoured land. God forbid that we should ever forget the bless- ings we have tasted, or, like a country across the water, attribute our deliverance to them that cannot deliver. Once, when travel- ling in Flanders, I read upon the walls of the Hotel de Ville, Brussels, this inscription: "A bello, et fame, et peste, bona- Maria, libera nos :" " From war, and pestilence, and famine, good Mary, deliver us." To attribute such deliverance to a creature, is to try to steal a ray from the glory of Christ ; and the neces- sary consequence is, that they who do so receive a curse into their own bosoms. If we have been delivered from war, from famine, and from pestilence, let us know that it is the heavens that have rained bread it is the rocks touched by the Divine finger that have brought forth water. It was the raven sent by God that carried bread to Elijah it was the presence and the blessing of God that made the widow's cruse of oil and barrel of meal continue while the famine lasted ; and all the experience of the past, and all the enjoyment of the present, teach us this blessed lesson " Man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Fear not, then, famine. The deliverance of the past is the augury of deliverance in the future. He that hath saved us in six troubles, in seven will not forsake us; for he has loved us, not because we were more numerous than any nation, or greater, or holier, but he has loved us in his sovereignty, and he will love us in his sovereignty still. The next evil suffered by the Church in the past, and that may be suffered by us, is "persecution." Persecution is rarely wielded now in its literal and strictly material sense. Wherever it was wielded of old, whether in the shape of the fagot, or of the inquisition, or any other form, it only, in the language of the poet, " chased the martyrs up to heaven ;" and never were such sweet moments passed by Christians, as those which were spent beneath the power of the oppressor and the persecutor. Jacob flies an exile from his home, and the whole desert becomes luminous with visions of the celestial glory; John is driven to Patmos for his piety, and there passes before him a spectacle of glory so bright that it dazzles the eye of the beholder, and so brilliant that its rays of beauty and of glory are not spent or CHRISTIAN COURAGE. 183 faded still. There is no dungeon so dark, there is no cell so deep, there is no prison wall so thick, that the Christian has not there felt the presence, and tasted the grace, and the joy, and the peace of his God. "Fear not," therefore, "tribulation," "fear not distress," " fear not famine," " fear not persecution," nor any of those things which thou shalt suffer. To fear them is to magnify their weight a hundred-fold ; to meet them in the strength, and sustained by the promises of your God, is to be more than con- queror, through him that loved you. Nor fear, in the next place, " nakedness." The martyrs of old were stripped of all their raiment, and exposed by turns to the frost and to the flame, as the whim or caprice of the persecutor was pleased to prescribe. But this they were not to fear. There is no shame in rags, there is only shame in sin ; and one wonders that the man who is not ashamed of his sins, should glory in his raiment or his splendid apparel. What is the most precious fur ? The clothing of a wild beast ! What is the most beautiful plume ? The feather of the ostrich of the desert. What is the finest silk ? The production of a worm. What is the most valuable pearl? The contents of an oyster's shell. And what is gold dug from the bowels of the earth, about which men fight and quarrel with each other ? what is it but a little yellow dust ? Yet many are so proud of these things, that it looks as if they had nothing else to be proud of. They are like the cinnamon-tree, the excellence of which is not in the inner wood, for it is worthless, but only in the bark or covering, which is of value. But pride may be greater in a beggar's heart than it is in a prince's. We know that a man may express his pride by wearing rags, just as he may express it by wearing fine linen and sumptuous apparel every day. The false prophets of old wore rough garments, and the monks walked bare- foot ; and yet both are proud in the sight of God. It is not the rags or the purple that constitute the shame, or the honour, or pride ; man is as his heart is in the sight of God. There is often great pride under a beggar's wallet ; there is often glorious humi- lity beneath a prince's purple. Let us see that our hearts are right in the sight of God, and then we shall not glory in our fine things, nor be ashamed of our mean things; we shall estimate each other, not by what we wear, but by what we are. 184 THE CHURCH OF SMYRNA. Nor arc we to fear, in the next place, " peril." What are the perils which we are not to fear ? The Apostle gives us a list of them, when he tells us, in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, " Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren." Such are the perils which may await you. Life is, to the believer, a continuous struggle. He hears at every turning, " Watch ;" he is called upon at every moment to " pray ;" he is called upon in every conflict to " take the whole armour of God ;" and thus watching, thus praying, and thus armed, we say, fear not any of those perils which thou shalt suffer. The next that is mentioned is " death ;" the most awful, the most painful, the most deprecated of all. What havoc does death leave behind him ! I believe that death is a most unnatural thing. It is not natural, that same death ; it is nature's curse, calamity, and close. Man was never made to die ; he was con- stituted immortal ; and it is only the corroding curse of sin, that cleaves to every sinew, and artery, and vein, and pulse, that brings this fair and exquisite framework, so fearfully and wonder- fully made, to be the prey of worms and the companion of the dust. Death takes the friend from his friend, the protcgge from his protector, the child from his parent, the possessor from his estate, the soul from the body; but there, in the case of a saint, it must stop it cannot take a believer's soul from a believer's God. When a Christian dies, it is not he that dies, but death that dies in his death-bed ; and that groan which seems the phy- sical evidence of a departed spirit, is, in the case of a believer, but the first sound of the marriage-bell which intimates the mar- riage festival of the Lamb, and his union and communion with God, and with the general assembly of the saints above. It is thus, then, that you have nothing to fear in death. There is not a grave that is dug deep in the cold-clay churchyard over which a Christism cannot say, " JUy Lord first lay there." " Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil ; for thou art with me." If this separation of friend CHRISTIAN COURAGE. 185 from friend, and relative from relative, is only separating them from a communion characterised by a thousand intermingling infirmities, and introducing them into endless, sorrowless, bright, and happy day, where friend shall rejoice again in friend, and child in parent, and parent in child; then we can bear the momentary severance of the passage, for the sake of the glorious interview, the blessed meeting upon that sunlit shore that lies beyond it. We are not to sorrow as those that have no hope ; " for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them which sleep in Jesus shall God bring with him." But there is something that we have more reason to fear, if we have reason to fear anything. Death is a solemn thing, but life is a more solemn thing still ; and the Apostle, therefore, in this catalogue mentions not only death, but life. When I think of the conflicts and struggles in this great city, for instance, where the competition and conflict of business is so great when I think of that surging ocean which rolls and rises, and ebbs and flows, through every thoroughfare when I think of the thousands struggling on, despairing of a shore, and feeling not a bottom, and little knowing what may be the issue I feel that if death be ever painful in a Christian's prospect, life is ten times more terrible in a Christian's experience. You know how hard it is to deal with the world and keep your integrity inviolate. Many know how difficult it is to transact the business of life, and yet to do it as in the sight of him of whom you say, " Thou God seest me." Many a bosom in this assembly is con- vulsed with conflict, and with struggle, how he shall do what his conscience bids him do at the word of God, and how he shall do what the claims of his family seem to prescribe for their provi- sion. Let us pray that we may cleave to the prescriptions of conscience, and that grace may be given you to enable you to do so. You will ever find, that if you lose a good bargain, because you love a better Lord, he who has told you that " man doth not live by bread alone," will make " Christ and a crust," as a poor woman once said, sweeter and more delightful than the sacrifice of conscience, with its tortures, and agony, and sorrow, in con- nexion with the luxuries and splendours of the world. Depend upon it, there is truth in this maxim, " Seejc first " in the 16* 186 THE CHURCH OF SMYRNA. school, in the counting-house, in the shop, in the corn-market, in the Royal Exchange, in the House of Commons, in the House of Lords " the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all other things will be added," thrown in as make-weights, which God will give to all who truly serve him. The Apostle proceeds to enumerate, among other things, "things present." Every one knows where the harbed arrow rankles, and the cup that is bitterest; and every one believes his own burden to be the heaviest. But, whatever be the present load, whatever be the poignancy of the present trial, remember that He who delivered Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, and sustained them amid the burning flame, will not forsake you ; and that He in whose strength the martyrs triumphed at the stake, and were wafted in a chariot of flame to a crown of glory, is the same God, whose strength is still made perfect in weakness, and whose grace is still sufficient for you. Nor, says the Apostle, should we fear " things to come." What they may be whether the years that come shall come dancing in sunshine, like bridesmaids to a bridal, or whether they shall approach clothed with sackcloth and covered with crape, as mourners to a funeral God only knows. Whether the coming year shall be sunshine or sadness whether hearts that are now bounding shall be breaking or whether hearts that now break shall be bound up, and find gladness for sorrow, " the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heavi- ness" God only knows. But come what may from the future, or be felt what may from the present, fear ye not; the God who has fed you all your life long is your God still ; he has been with you in six troubles, and in seven he will not forsake you : " Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer," is his own blessed prescription. To sum up all, Fear not the height of prosperity, nor the depth of adversity ; fear not the height of honour, nor the depth of shame ; fear not the pinnacle of the temple to which the devil may lift you, nor the crypt below the temple in which the tyrant may place you. Fear nothing above, nothing below, nothing around, for the whole universe is at friendship with that man CHRISTIAN COURAGE. 187 who is at friendship with the living God, and can call Him "my Father." Let me ask you, then, in concluding this summary, What is there for you to fear? Tribulation? " Through much tribula- tion we must enter into the kingdom of heaven." Hunger? He feeds us with living bread. Nakedness? He clothes us with spotless righteousness. Death ? To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Banishment ? The whole earth is the Lord's, and there is no spot to which the persecutor can drive you where the wing of your Father shall not be stretched over you Whom, then have we to fear ? We are predestined to be con- formed to the image of his Son ; we are chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. Our victory is the subject of ever- lasting decree, for we are " chosen unto salvation through sancti- fication of the Spirit and belief of the truth;" and, says the Apostle, " our light affliction which is but for a moment, worketh out for us a far more exceeding, even an eternal weight of glory;" and, he adds, " though no tribulation for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous, nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby." And the Apostle tells us what things the saints of old had to endure, and what things they overcame ; none of these therefore may we be afraid of. " And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprison- ment : they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword : they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (of whom the world was not worthy :) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise : God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." But let me endeavour to show you some reasons why. you should not fear those things with which you have to contend. First, because you are never alone. Realize this true thought a be- liever is never alone. Wherever there is a heart that beats with Divine responsive love, there there is a Saviour to feed that love, and guide the beating of that heart. In the closet, where you 188 THE CHURCH OF SMYRNA. pray in secret at the family altar, where you act as the priest of the household in the sanctuary, where you are one of a thou- sand worshippers in the deep coal-mine, or on the lofty Apen- nine peak in the tents of Mesech and the tabernacles of Kedar on the ocean's bosom in the field of battle in the cloister, and in the court Christ is with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Therefore, " fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer." In the next place, in the midst of your sufferings Christ is at hand to help you. I will read you a beautiful and touching in- stance of this in Mark vi. 45 : "And straightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side be- fore unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people. And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray. And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land. And he saw them toiling in rowing ; for the wind was contrary unto them : and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them. But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out : for they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer : it is I; be not afraid." Here you have a perfect picture of Christ and his Church ; the Church is on the bosom of the tempestuous deep, toiling and rowing the first, second, and third watches, three parts of the night, and no help comes. But what was Christ doing all the while his people were thus distressed ? He was interceding for them upon the mountain's side, where He held sweet and blessed communion with his Father and their Father, with his God and their God. And at the fourth watch, just when despair began to creep over their spirits and to paralyse their energies, He came, waving his hand over the ocean's bosom, whose waves played like babes around his holy feet, and proclaiming to his disconsolate and dejected ones, "It is I; be not afraid." He will never cease to intercede for them whom He has washed in his own blood, and whom He is preparing to be gems, that shall CHRISTIAN COURAGE. 189 sparkle the more beautifully when they have passed through the fire, in his own glorious diadem. To comfort the believer still more, and to lead him not to fear, let him recollect, that the love of Christ originates and directs all. Now, here is just the difference between a Christian man's suffering and an unconverted man's suffering. The unconverted man's suffering is penal ; the Christian's suffering is paternal. In the case of a child of God, Christ exhausted from every suffering the last element of wrath, and substituted for it the element of love. The blow that smites the Christian most severely, is in- flicted by that hand which was nailed to the accursed tree ; the cup that a Christian has to drink, even when that cup is bitterest, is filled with love in disguise, and not with wrath in the least possible degree. Whatever your affliction may be be it the loss of thy property, or the loss of thy children, or the loss of the nearest and the dearest that thou hast, not one blow reaches thee, my Christian brother, whicli has not been meted out by the wisdom and the love of Him who has taught us to kneel and say to Him, " Our Father who art in heaven." Glorious truth ! Let me then go forth with this blessed assurance, that if there light upon my head all the storms of the four points of the compass together, they are all expressions of paternal love. There is no really cross wind in a Christian's voyage to glory; whether it blow against him, or blow forward, or blow from either side, it equally wafts him to the haven of perpetual rest. Whatever be the severity of the conflict, or the force of the tempest, it can never rend him from Christ, nor induce him to let go Him, whom he has as an anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast. Recollect also that all your afflictions are designed to sanctify and fit you for heaven and for happiness. For what says the Apostle ? " Not only so, but we glory in tribulations also : for tribulation worketh patience " this is one grace " and patience, experience," that is another; '/and experience" is the parent of another grace " hope," and then this hope " maketh not ashamed." " All things," says the Apostle, " work together for good ;" mark the expressiveness of this assertion. He does not say that "some things work together for good" to a Christian, but " all things." And he says that "all things work." Every 190 THE CHURCH OF SMYRNA. thing is in action ; and there is no dispute among them, for all things " work together" in perfect harmony ; and all things have a beneficent tendency, for "all things work together for good to them that love God and are the called according to his purpose." Therefore I say to every true Church, what Christ said to the Church of Smyrna, " Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer." In order still further to enforce this, let me very briefly remind you that the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of John begins with a prescription exactly parallel to this. Our Lord says, in the first verse, " Let not your heart be troubled :" the Seer in the Apocalypse says, " Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer." It may be useful, when you have leisure, to study this chapter, to go over, seriatim, each verse of it ; and you will find that the first verse. "Let not your heart be troubled," is the text : or, in the language of this epistle, " Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer;" and that each verse in succes- sion is a reason why the Christian's heart should not be troubled. For instance, "Let not your heart be troubled." Why? "In my Father's house are many mansions." Do not think that there is any necessity for your pressing back your friend ; there is plenty of room for all that wish to enter ; not one will be excluded who does not exclude himself. " Let not your heart be troubled, as if you knew not for what I am going : I now tell you that I go to prepare a place for you. Why should you fear because I am absent ? my absence is for your good ; I am preparing a place for you, and affliction is one of my servants, which is preparing you for that place. But if you should say, We know not the way ; fear not, I am ' the way.' But if you should say, We can- not know how to walk in that way ; fear not, for I am ' the truth,' and I will guide you. But if you say, We are dead and weak, and unable to do anything; fear not, for I am ' the life,' and I will strengthen and sustain you in the way. Be not afraid, therefore, for I am the way, the truth, and the life ; no man cometh unto the Father but by me." But if you should say, " We have none of those things that we need;" yet " Fear not; be not afraid, for if ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it." But if you should say, " O Lord, we shall have no comfort ./. CHRISTIAN COURAGE. 101 in the midst of the conflict, our hearts will be so torn and our feelings so injured by the struggle through which we shall have to pass, that we shall be worn out with the ceaseless agony and conflict and trial ;" our Lord says, " Fear not ; be not afraid, for I will pray the Father, and he shall send you another Comforter." " But, Lord, we may forget these things." " Fear not ; be not afraid, for that Comforter shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance." Whatever may be your sufferings however you may be persecuted, and reproached, and calumniated, " fear not, for I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world ; let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." " Fear not." Those who have palms in their hands, and who wear the white robes they have washed and made clean in the blood of the Lamb, were all in the furnace, and have come through the same arduous struggle for Christ : we follow only in the wake of Abel, the first martyr of Enoch, and Moses, and Abraham, and Isaiah of Matthew, who was beheaded of Mark, who was dragged through the streets of Antioch till he died of Luke, who was hanged on an olive tree of Peter who was crucified, and of Paul who was murdered in the Mamniertine prison at Rome. You follow them who through faith have passed through the same Red Sea, and who now sing a nobler song than the song of Moses, being more than conquerors through Him that loved them and gave Himself for them. Fear not the prison, for no walls can intercept the communion between Christ and his own. "Fear not," says our blessed Saviour, "persecu- tion, for it cannot separate you from me, it will rather bind us the more closely together. Fear not poverty, for I will make you unspeakably rich; fear not death, for I have taken away its sting ; fear not eternity, for the Lamb is its light, and I go to prepare a place for you, and I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also." Fear nothing ; pray, watch, persevere through life ; but do not fear. To fear, is to lose strength. The joy of the Lord is the Chris- tian's strength ; sadness and gloom are the elements of a Chris- tian's weakness. Remember then whom you serve, who watches over you, from whom you may draw, and what treasure you may 192 THE CHURCH OF SMYRNA. draw from Him ; and then, whether you shall be, like the Church of Smyrna, ten days, which, prophetically, is ten years, cast into prison, or whether you shall be subjected to trials and tribulation and distress, and all God's billows and waterspouts seem to pass over you some few years hence it will matter very little what we have suffered, if we find this, that we have washed our robes in the Lamb's precious blood, and that our righteousness is the righteousness of our Lord. Our hearts shall beat in a better clime, where every beat shall be blessedness, and every pulse a wave from that ocean of joy and felicity which is around tho throne of God and of the Lamb for ever. LECTURE XII. CHRISTIAN FAITHFULNESS. " Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." RKV. ii. 10. THIS promise, as I explained on a previous evening, is made to the angel, and through him, to the people of the Church at Smyrna. I explained, in my first discourse upon this Epistle to the Church of Smyrna as a section of the Church Universal, Christ's Omniscience "I know thy works thy meanest and thy mightiest ; the cup of cold water and the precious sacrifice/' " I know," too, " thy tribulation," the path thou hast trodden, the thorns that have stung thee in it, the reproaches that have settled on thee, the conflict and the agony through which thou hast passed. And " I know," too, " thy poverty ;" thou art a poor Church ; thou hast not much wealth ; thy people belong to the humblest, not to the highest class, as does the greater part of the Church of Christ still. It is true, not only of the ministry, but also of the people ; not many mighty, not many noble, not many rich are called. What a solemn statement is this, " How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God !" Strange and terrible evidence of the disastrous eclipse under which all humanity has come, that the very thing which God's word proclaims to be the greatest drag on our career to glory is the very thing for which all hands are stretched out that they may clutch it, and which all hearts are thirsting to possess, and all men thinking the greatest and the chiefest of the gifts which heaven showei's down upon mankind. I do not believe that wealth is a real blessing ; the true blessing is within, not without ; it is not the change of the outward circumstance that 17 (193) 194 THE CHURCH OF SMYRNA. makes a man happy, or that makes the poor man really rich ; it is the change of the inward heart which makes the outward circumstances rich and more than satisfying. Man's great mis- take is, that he thinks to heal the patient by changing his bed ; God's great plan is to heal the patient's disease, and then the roughest bed will feel smooth. " I know thy poverty." But then, He adds, " thou art rich :" thou art poor in the estimate of man, thy bank-book has very little to thy credit in it ; thy estate is very easily measured ; thy purse is very light indeed ; and yet, though poor in the estimate of them who call that riches which may be grasped thus, thou art rich in the estimate of Him who counts that only to be riches which are current in heaven and which bear the stamp and the superscription of the Son of God. Even Victoria's coin is but base coin in heaven ; the only coin that is current there is that which is from heaven's mint, and stamped with Christ's superscription the unsearchable riches of Christ, the righteousness which is of God through faith, unto all and upon all them that believe. And then, He says, " Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer." Last Lord's-day evening I addressed you upon these words. " Thou shalt suffer" is written in prophecy, and will be felt in the experience of every man in this assembly. The man whose past has been sunshine without cloud whose career has been smoothness without interruption, has reason and strong reason to suspect whether it stands right between him and God or not : for does not the Bible say that chastisement is one of the tokens and badges by which God's children are distinguished ? " What son is he," says the Apostle, " whom the father chasteneth not ? if ye be without chastisement, then are ye bastards, and not sons ;" and therefore, that man who now congratulates himself that he has had a smooth and a happy course, and fine weather and fair wind, his sail stretched out and not drawn in since he started in his career, should indeed begin to look within, and to pray, if he never prayed before, " Search me, God, and know my heart, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." And, on the other hand, that man who knows what a rough way is, and what many a storm, and many a trial, and many a bereavement is who counts the years of his pil- CHRISTIAN FAITHFULNESS. 195 gritnage by the tombs he has left behind him who feels what the roughness of the hill is by the tears and toils he has spent on it, that man is under the chastisement, if a child of God, of his heavenly Father; and sweet indeed will be the home that follows so rough a journey bright indeed will be the sunshine after so inauspicious a night ; he goes forth sowing in tears, but he shall reap at the great harvest in unutterable joy. "Fear none of those things ;" do not be afraid of them, do not miscon- strue them; they are the tokens of a Father's love; they are conducting thee to a Father's home ; and I believe, that if any one in this assembly at this moment is visited with bereavement, with sickness, with loss, it was just as necessary that you, my brother, should thus suffer, in order to be saved, as it was that Christ should come from heaven and die apon the cross. The only ground of your acceptance is that most precious cross ; but a link in that chain that lifts you from the thraldom of this world to the glorious liberty of a better is just that affliction you deprecate, or that trial you would rather be rid of. " Fear none of those things;" none of them shall overwhelm you, none of them shall conquer you, for "I am with thee," says thy Father; " when thou passest through the waters they shall not overflow thee; when thou passest through the fire thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." And then He gives a charge a true and a precious charge not a charge that begins with Protestantism and ends in Popery not a charge that begins with neither Protestantism nor Popery ; but a charge full of truth a charge that should ring in the heart of every minister, nay, not in the heart of every minister only, but in the heart of every man who has a post and a commission in the world, "Be faithful unto death;" and then a glorious promise, " and I will give thee a crown of life." What is meant by faith- fulness here ? We have it explained in Matt. xxiv. 45, where our Lord says, " Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season ? Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods." We have the very same faithful- ness described in Matt. xxv. 21 : " Well done, thou good and 1?v avdotaaw ix tuv vsxpvv, the resurrection from among tne dead." And so the Apostle John says, " This is the first resurrection ;" it is literally, "This is the resurrection, the first one;" i. e. the resurrection from among the dead. And we read that, when Christ appears, he will " 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." Now I believe that when the dawn of that blessed millennium shall come, the trumpet shall sound, and there shall not be a dead brother, or a dead sister, or a dead son, or a dead dear and near one now mouldering in the tomb, but asleep in Jesus, who shall not hear and be electrified by the sound, and come forth and shine in the splendors of the resurrection morn, wearing a crown of life that fadeth not away ; and that millennium, with all its beauty and its blessedness, will be but a foretaste and prelibation, or, as it were, the mere vesti- bule or ante-room of that everlasting glory into which the people of God shall enter and abide for ever. Such is this crown of life, the first resurrection, the distinction of the saints, the glory of them that have fallen asleep in Jesus. It is not impossible, nay, it seems to me probable, that many who are now before me shall not fall asleep till they hear that royal sound. All things indicate we are rushing to it; all things show that it is rapidly coming on : worldly men cannot explain what the world is about; politicians cannot understand why all their schemes are failing, and all their diplomacy coming to naught ; they cannot understand how it is that nations seem as if some terrible spirit had started up from the depths below, and driven them to destroy each other. It is the increasing chaos that pre- cedes order; it is the disorganization that precedes a new combi- nation ; the world's sabbath is now close at hand. I have before told you that it has been clearly proved that the seventh thou- sandth year of the world will begin about A. D. 1862 ; it has already lasted nearly six thousand years, and according to the Jewish belief, the seventh thousand years will constitute the great year of Jubilee, " the rest that remaineth for the people 18* 210 THE CHURCH OF SMYRNA. of God." It is very remarkable also, if what Clinton has estab- lished be true, that the great prophetic epochs will all terminate within five or ten years of that period. It is not for man or angel to specify the year ; but we know it is for all men to be prepared ; and then, they that have a sabbath heart shall be fitted for a sab- bath rest ; and they that have a millennial love, shall enter into millennial joy. LECTURE XIII. THE PROMISE. "He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death." RET. ii. 11. THESE are the last words of the instructive epistle addressed to the Church of Smyrna. Christ begins his address by de- scribfng himself as " the First and the Last." He was before angels were, and he shall be over all and above all when nil that is now seen has passed away. He begins by stating that he knows, in the exercise of omniscience, the works of that Church, alike her deeds of mercy and her acts of beneficence. A believer does not breathe a prayer for a sufferer, or give a cup of cold water to the thirsty, that Christ does not see, and of whom he does not say, " Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." " I know," too, "thy tribulation," the persecution you have experienced, the affliction you have suffered. "I know," too, "thy poverty;" very little wealth in thy purse, and still less in thy coffers; ex- ternally thou art poor, but in a higher sense than man sees, " thou ^ art rich." Thou hast not the wealth of Caesar, but thou hast, instead, the riches of Christ ; thou art poor in the judgment of man, unspeakably rich in the estimate of the Lord. For sub- stantial happiness now and eternal joy hereafter, it matters little how poor we are in the things of time, if we are rich in faith and in grace towards God. " And I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not" those who pretend to be Christians, and who, under the covert of the Christian name, assail, malign, seduce, and pervert. But then he gives a pre- scription : " Fear none of those things ;" meet them manfully in the strength of your Redeemer; resist them, but do not fear 211 212 THE CHURCH OF SMYRNA. them. Fear paralyses effort, damps exertion, is the sure precursor of defeat. ''Let not your heart be troubled;" "Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer." " Behold, they shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried, and ye shall have tribulation ten days," ten prophetic days, or ten years. And he then gives the exhortation and the promise, " Be thou faithful unto death" faithful to the end of life faithful, if death should be the penalty of its exercise; and, being thus faithful unto death, " I will give thee a crown of life ;" it is by grace, not by merit ; there is no merit in a Christian's cross, there is nothing that deserves a crown in a Christian's sacrifices ; and therefore the last gift of Christ shall be, like the first, free ; heaven will begin as earth commenced, with a free and sovereign donative ; " I will give thee a crown of life." And then he adds, " He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches." The epistle is for all ; the instruction is for us to-day, just as much as it was for the followers of Christ at Smyrna eighteen centuries ago. Here you may see, indirectly, though I do not now dwell upon it, the evidence of the personality of the Holy Spirit, " Hear what the Spirit saith." Socinians have tried to show that the Spirit is a figure of speech ; but no one, I am. sure, can honestly, or carefully and teachably read through the New Testament, without seeing that the Holy Spirit is there assumed to be, and described as, a person. " The Spirit is vexed;" "the Spirit is grieved;" "the Spirit witnesseth;" "the Spirit saith to the Churches ;" expressions that can be predicated only of a person, and cannot be used of a figure of speech. But *here is not only personality implied, but there is also Deity; because the speaker is the same Being who gives the epistles ; and we are told that Christ, who walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, speaks to the one Church, and Christ, who is the First and the Last, speaks to the other Church ; but to each of them the Spirit speaks also ; " Hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches," teaching us that the Spirit "takes of the things of Christ, and shows them unto us." Perhaps there is an allusion here to the great fact that we can- not learn the truths of the Gospel and feel them in all their saving and their sanctifying power, unless the Holy Spirit of God shall THE PROMISE. 213 take them, and apply them, and impress them on our hearts ; and consequently the reason why so little interest is felt in the Gospel why so many hear it, and so few feel it is not that there is wanted greater light, more eloquence of speech, more force of language; but more prayer on our part, and a more abundant effusion of the Holy Spirit on God's part. If there be no Holy Spirit poured out upon God's Church, it is not because of want of liberality or willingness on God's part, for he constantly rea- sons with us, remonstrates with us, and says, " If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit unto them that ask him !" Now what is the reason why every man in this assembly, with- out one single exception, this night, has not a new heart, and is not a new creature ? Hear it, and carry this solemn conviction with you, the only reason is, that he docs not ask it. No man ever went, in the depth of his conviction, and bent, not the knee, but the heart, and raised, not the eye, but the soul unto his Father, and asked him for his Holy Spirit to change his heart, in the name and through the mediation of Christ the living way, and retired, permanently disappointed. None. If such an in- stance were produced, it would be evidence to me that God's word is not true ; for what does it say ? " Ask, and ye shall re- ceive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be -opened unto you." Let us treat God's word as an honest and bond fide book ; do not dilute this expression, and deduct so much per cent, from that; do not say, This promise is figurative, and that offer is hyperbolical; but just believe what God says no less and no more ; ask, seek, and knock where he bids you, and see if God will disappoint you. I believe, my dear friends, one great mis- take is, that we do not read God's book in the simplicity in which; God has given it. It is the plainest of all books; it is, what Howells called it, " common sense inspired." In order to under- stand this book, we do not need, as some persons seem to imagine, a new edition of the Bible, but a new spirit in the reader of the Bible : when we ask for the Holy Spirit to enable us to under- stand the Bible, we do not ask of him to emit a plainer record, or to write a new commentary on the Bible, or to alter one jot of 214 THE CHURCH OF SMYRNA. it. God's book is perfect. " The Law of the Lord is perfect;" what we want is not a change in the book, but in the reader of the book ; T^iat we require is not a new Bible, but a new heart wherewith to read the old Bible ; what we ask the Holy Spirit to do is, not to make the Bible more plain, but to remove from the eye of the reader of the Bible the blinding film, and in the clearest light of God's own truth to enable him thus to see all truth and light and love clearly. " Let him that hath ears to hear, hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches." Next comes the promise, " He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death." I have already explained to you, at great length, the meaning of the expression tl overcome." I de- scribed in a previous lecture what I called " the Battle of Life," that great conflict in which all true Christians have a share. I showed you that where there is no conflict in the heart, there is evidence that there is no grace there. To be a conflict, we know that there must be two parties : we know that by nature we are one party, fallen, sinful, ruined, tainted; and the mo- ment that grace comes into the human heart, the moment that the Holy Spirit, who is the mightier one, comes into the soul that is held by Satan, who is the mighty one, that mo- ment there is conflict ; two antagonistic powers have come into collision, and one or other must obtain the mastery. The evidence that you are Christians, is not the peacefulnesa that reigns within you, but the struggles, the agony, the conflict. Here we are militant. Hereafter we shall be triumphant. No man gives such strong evidence of being a child of God as he who can say, " I find a law in my members warring against the law of my mind, so that when I would do good, evil is present with me. O wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the body of this death ?" No man gives so little evidence of the grace of God in his heart as the man who has never known what it is to grapple with a temptation that has long too easily beset him, and in the strength of Christ to come forth more than conqueror through him that loved us. I know the question is sometimes asked, Why does Christ allow a conflict to continue which He has only to interpose his omnipotent arm instantly to terminate ? Christ might by the simple fiat of his will extinguish THE PROMISE. 215 all opposition that can be made from beneath, from around, or from above, to the advancement of his glorious kingdom, and thus, in all its beauty, its splendour, and its glory, bring in the millennial age. But He does not do so. This is enough. God has pronounced that the victory shall not be thus gained. It is most for his jjory that the conflict should continue as it is. It is his will that truth should overcome falsehood, that meekness should prevail over cruelty, that grace should root out sin, and that Satan, on the very stage on which he reaped what he thought to be his everlasting laurels, and by the very victims of his wiles, should be taught that his are not laurels wreathed around the brow of a conqueror, but fillets twined around the head of a victim preparatory to a terrible and hopeless sacrifice. What God has purposed we are sure is most for his glory, and best for our good. Let us, however, bear in mind what I have stated, that conflict in the soul is the evidence of grace, and to have no consciousness of conflict is the evidence that we are still in a state of nature. Satan does not trouble you so long as you are in " peace ;" but the instant that a ray of light breaks into the mind the instant that you begin to emerge from the thraldom of sin, and to assert the hopes and privileges of a child of God, that instant the conflict begins to which the glorious promise is made, "He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death." The manner of the conflict may vary ; the fact of the conflict always remains. Each Church has her peculiar battle ; each Church has her distinctive victory ; the phases of each con- flict may vary, the amount, the brightness and glory of the laurels may differ in degree, but the main conflict is the same, and the laurels are substantially the same also. At one time the believer is subjected to storm and assault; at another time to sapping and undermining. At one time he is burned for adhering to the truth ; at another time he is denounced as a bigot, because he maintains the truth; at another time he is tempted to believe that truth and error are the same in the sight of God. To avoid the imputation of bigotry many a true Christian has been driven to compromise the truth. To avoid the charge of latitudinarian- ism another has become a bigot. We are exposed to dangers on the right and on the left ; and we need to know that only in 216 THE CHURCH OF SMYRNA. the strength of the Great Captain of the faith we shall be able to overcome. I explained in a previous lecture that this victory is obtained by faith. " This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith;" and I think I mentioned to you a very splendid illustration of the victorious energies of Faith, in fye admirable, though not faultless work called the "Victory of Faith," by Archdeacon Hare, in which you have the " Victory of Faith " in all its degrees and varieties elucidated with great beauty, force, and clearness. This Faith has its retrospective action ; it looks to the cross, and draws gratitude and love from it; it has its prospective reference; it looks forward to the crown, and draws down new instincts, joys, and attractions from it; but whether it looks backward to the cross on which its sins are forgiven, or forward to the crown it hopes to obtain and rejoice in for ever it is in either and in every case, the victory that overcometh the world. We are told, however, that there are other elements of this victory, some of which I may here enumerate. " They overcame them by the blood of the Lamb." That blood " clcanseth from all sin ;" sin is the Christian's great foe ; and this blood destroys it, subdues it, deprives it of its sting, neutralizes its poison, sweeps away its condemnation and its influence. It is the grand element of victory, for we are told of the saints and martyrs around the throne, that " they overcame by the blood of the Lamb." Faith, as I have already stated, is another element of victory : "Whom resist, steadfast in faith." The word of God is another instrument of victory ; " taking the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." Prayer is another means of victory ; " Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation." The Christian is to be the sentinel to watch, the soldier to fight, and the priest to pray; and only when he is all three can he overcome and escape the second death. When a Christian overcomes, what does he overcome ? First, sin; he overcomes, through the blood of Christ, its condemning power; and he overcomes, by the Spirit of Christ, its polluting power: the one is destroyed by Christ's sacrifice, the other is THE PROMISE. 217 subdued by Christ's Spirit : by means of the first he becomes en- titled to heaven, which he forfeited by sin ; and by the second he is made meet for that heaven for which he is disqualified by nature ; and thus he overcomes sin, and enters into the rest that remains for the people of God. Not the least formidable enemy which the believer has to over- come is the world. And what do I mean by the world ? Not this material and mechanical economy of things : there is no sin inherent in a rosebud, or a pebble, or in the varied feathers of a bird's wing; in the beautiful stars that are above, or in flowers, those yet more beautiful stars that shine beneath there is no sin in these ; there is nothing tainted or polluted in them. It is no merit to separate from the world mechanically ; it is no sin to be in the world literally. It is possible, as I have told you, to be a monk, and yet not to be a Christian. It is possible mechani- cally to come out of the world, and morally to be in the midst of it to partake of its sins, to respond to its sympathies, and be contaminated with its deepest corruption. It has always appeared to me, that a person who runs into a convent in order to be a good Christian plays the coward. The Lord, the great Master of all, has placed the Christian at his post as a sentinel, and bids him watch, and wait, and pray, till he comes; and he who rushes from his post to find a retreat in a convent, seems to me to act the part, not of a Christian soldier, but of the dastardly coward. We are to be in the world, discharging the world's duties, not to run out of the world, in order to escape the world's responsibili- ties; Christ's prayer for his followers was, "I pray not that thou wouldest take them out of the world, but that thou wouldest keep them from the evil." Suppose that everybody had the taste and sympathy of the monk or nun, what would be the state of the world ? It could not go on. The woman who teaches her off- spring around her to know and love their Saviour is less of the world, whilst in it, than she who flies from the world to escape, as she supposes, its contamination, but really to avoid its responsi- bilities, by choosing a soft couch and an easy chair, and not a bat- tle-field on which to overcome and gain the prize. The world, then, is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life : in short, whatever dazzles the sense, seduces the heart, leads 19 218 THE CHURCH OF SMYRNA. us to forget God. And in speaking of this victory, let me re- mind you, that men are overcome, not so much by what is posi- tively sinful in the world, as by what is positively lawful. I be- lieve more lose their souls by the excessive love of what is lawful than by the forbidden love of what is sinful in itself. You recol- lect the three great excuses, an epitome of all excuses besides, made for not accepting the invitation to the marriage-feast. One said, "I have bought five yoke of oxen" a perfectly lawful purchase ; but instead of being made a reason for seeking greater grace, because there were larger possessions, it was made a rea- son for rejecting the Gospel altogether. Another said, "I have purchased a piece of ground ;" and instead of making it a reason for accepting the Gospel, and receiving strength from on high to work it, and grace from on high to make a good use of it, he made it a reason for refusing the Gospel invitation. The third said, " I have married a wife, and therefore" (I take it for granted,) "I cannot come;" as if that, instead of being a reason for new grace to sanctify the new relationship, were rather a reason for casting Christianity behind him, and plunging into all the frivolities and dissipation of the world. These three things were perfectly lawful : and yet these three lawful things were made reasons for despising and rejecting the Gospel. Are there any in this assembly so overwhelmed with the anxieties of business, that the Gospel, the Bible, and the soul are not thought of? Are there any here so occupied with the cares and the anxieties of to-morrow, that they have no time for the sacred privileges, duties, and thoughts of to-day ? Take care : the world is over- coming you ; not a sinful world, but a lawful world. It is possi- ble to perish by the excessive love of the lawful in the world, as it is to perish by the forbidden lust of what is positively sinful in the world. But they who are warned are fore-armed; they who know the enemy are prepared to meet him, and " he that over- cometh shall not be hurt of the second death." You will also have to meet and overcome afflictions. The Apostle Paul met them and overcame them. " Troubled on every side, but not distressed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken ; cast down, but not destroyed." You may also have to overcome persecution. And what is the THE PROMISE. 219 best way to overcome it ? not by persecuting in turn. When an enemy calls you by a nickname, do not retaliate ; it is the com- mencement of a fire that may blaze from earth to heaven. " Overcome evil with good." What a splendid precept is that ! Show me the like of it in the maxims of Seneca, in the philoso- phy of Epictetus, in the eloquence of Cicero, in the morals of Socrates. You cannot. This course is not only the best Chris- tianity, but it is the highest policy. You know quite well, that if, when you are persecuted, reproached, ill-treated, you retaliate, the battle becomes fiercer and fiercer, and infinite damage is done to the cause of Christ ; but when the brother who is in the right goes to the brother who is in the wrong, disarms his enmity by love, subdues his anger by kindness, soothes his inveterate hos- tility by friendship, he has " overcome evil with good j" the foe is extinguished, and they who met in bitter enmity, part in friendship, as becomes followers of their common Lord. Thus, then, we overcome evil with good, and are ranked among those who shall not be hurt of the second death. I have thus noticed both the battle and the victory that fol- lows ; I will now allude, in as brief terms as I can, to the nature of that expression by which the future punishment of the lost is characterised the second death. It is one of those themes which are too awful for frail man to speak on ; and yet it is a truth enunciated in Scripture so plainly and so frequently, that that minister of the Gospel is neither faithful to his trust, nor dutiful to his people, who shrinks from inculcating what seems to him, and may appear to you by going to the source from which he draws his light, to be the mind of the Spirit of God. This second death is described in the parallel passages which I have examined at length, in such terms as these ; II. Thess. i. 9 : " Punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord." Matt. xxv. 41 : " Depart from me, ye cursed, into ever- lasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Notice that last expression: the fire is "everlasting;" but for whom is it prepared ? it is not