coeval with Solomon's temple. The people bore an ill name for luxury and vice. Here, at any early day, a Christian church had been established, but by whose ministry, or who was its pastor at this time, we have no information. About 100 years afterwards, it had a very eminent pastor named Melito, who, on account of his spiritual character, was called by his contemporaries 'the prophet'; who addressed an elaborate defence of Christianity to the reigning pagan emperor, Marcus Aurelius; and who was the author of a commentary or treatise upon the Apocalypse, which unfortunately has been lost.

'Having the seven Spirits of God,' which the Lord here claims for Himself, does not appear in the opening vision, but in the greeting to the churches we have had that to which it refers (14), where we have seen that these seven Spirits are a symbolical expression signifying the Holy Spirit in the unity of His personality and fulness of His manifold operations. His 'having the seven stars,' however, occurs in that vision with a large significance (41). The reason why these particular traits are introduced here is, no doubt, that this church is in an extremely low spiritual state, yet not past all hope of restoration, which can come only from the fulness of the Spirit in her Lord, in connection with faithful pastoral labor. This has been admirably expressed as follows: 'To the angel or pastor of the church and his people, sunken in spiritual deadness and torpor, the lamp of faith waning and almost extinguished in their hearts, the Lord presents Himself as one having the fulness of all spiritual gifts, able, therefore, to revive, able to recover, able to bring back from the very gates of spiritual death, those who will employ the little last remaining strength which they still retain in calling even in extremis upon Him.'

The Lord knows all the works of this church, and that, having a name to live, she is spiritually dead. For outwardly she seems to have been in a flourishing condition. The rage of persecution does not seem to have reached her. There was, as we may well believe, no lack of union or harmony among her members, and no special forms of idol

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atry or immorality that required the application of discipline. She was not troubled with heresies or false doctrines. creed seems to have been quite sound, perhaps a model of orthodoxy. Probably her members were numerous, and many of them wealthy. Hence she had a name to live, a renown for spiritual life, was regarded by her sister churches as a prosperous Christian community. There was nothing to trouble her repose; but, oh, it was the repose of spiritual death. She was a foolish virgin, asleep with no oil in her lamp (Mat. xxv. 1-13); she was an unfaithful steward, saying to herself, 'My Lord delayeth His coming' (Luke xii. 4546); her heart surcharged with sloth and luxury.

2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found thy works perfect before my God.

These first words are an imperfect translation of the original, which some render 'Become watchful.' Their full sense is, 'Wake up and watch': and being awake and vigilant, she is first to strengthen the spiritual graces which she still has, and which, while she continued asleep, were about to die; for if they too shall perish, there will be no hope, perhaps no possibility of her recovery; she will be 'twice dead, and plucked up by the roots' (Jude 12). In what follows there is a figure of speech which is just the opposite of hyperbole, i. e. a feeble expression is chosen, one so manifestly inadequate to the sense intended that it calls forth a mental reaction to supply the deficiency, as when we say of a grossly immoral person, He is no saint, which evokes the response, Very far from it. Thus, 'I have not found thy works perfect,' is evidently intended to imply that they are very far from it: and this implication is further strengthened by the additional words, 'before my God'; for as Nimrod is said to have been 'a mighty hunter before the Lord' (Gen. x. 9), to signify his exceeding might, so here the meaning is, that the works of the church are as far as possible from being perfect. A contrast is implied also between the fairness of her character before men, in that she had a name to live, and her spiritual deadness in the sight of God. Hence

she is so urgently called to wake up out of this deathly sleep, and to put herself on the watch, i. e. for her Lord's coming, and to strengthen her remaining graces. For the sparks of spiritual life which He sees in her ashes will soon be extinguished, unless she shall bestir herself to rekindle them. Thus also St. Paul strives to arouse spiritual sleepers: "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light" (Eph. v. 14).

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3 Remember, therefore, how thou hast received and heard, and keep it, and repent. If, therefore, thou dost not watch, I will come as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.

She is not left in any uncertainty as to what she must do to recover herself from her low estate; at least four things are explicitly enjoined upon her: (1) She is to 'remember how she has received and heard,' which is equivalent to received by hearing, as in the words, 'Faith cometh by hearing' (Rom. x. 17); in other words, she must recall to mind what faith and other spiritual blessings she formerly received by hearing the word read and the gospel preached, in order that she may become sensible of her loss, and of her sin in falling away. For, in this respect, her case is like that of the Ephesian church (47) whose rebukes and admonitions, therefore, she must take to herself: (2) She must 'keep,' or guard, or carefully watch over, that which she has so received, the things which remain to her, and which were ready to die, as her only hope of restoration to her former spiritual life and prosperity: (3) She must repent of her sin in falling away; not regarding it as a calamity for which she is not responsible, but as a grievous sin, for which there can be no excuse, nor palliation, and no forgiveness without sincere and deep repentance: (4) She must put herself on the watch for her Lord's coming; otherwise He will surely come upon her as a thief in the night, and she shall not know the hour of His coming; in which there is a plain allusion to the parable in which the words occur: "But this know ye, that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief was coming, he would have watched, and would not have suffered

his house to be broken through. Therefore, be ye also ready, for in an hour that ye think not the Son of Man cometh" (Mat. xxiv. 43-51). And here again we see that His coming takes place at many different times, and is not limited to that of the millennium; for He came to this church, in fulfilment of this threat, long ago (50), because, as it seems, she did not give due heed to His admonitions. With respect to such daily and hourly visitations, moreover, it has been well said: 'To spiritual sleepers the Lord as judge always comes as a thief in the night; for they have lost all perception by their spiritual senses of the threatening signs of judgment: judgments upon whole congregations, as well as upon individual souls. Even though there may be an obscure presentiment. of judgment, yet the nearness and very hour of it takes them by surprise. The hour is hidden from them in as strange a form as the coming of the thief at night.'

4 But thou hast a few names in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white [robes], for they are worthy.

The judgments upon the church in general, if she shall be found still asleep at her Lord's coming, shall not reach to the few names, or persons, who have kept themselves pure, and whom He will certainly find watching. Of these it is said that they 'have not defiled their garments,' i. e. their characters; but this, of course, must be understood comparatively, in contrast with the many who were all defiled. Garments are the well-recognized symbol of character, or the state of the soul with respect to righteousness or unrighteousness, as in the prophets: "Take away the filthy garments from him. . . Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee (Zech. iii. 4).

He hath covered me with the garments of salvation,

He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness" (Is. Ixi. 10).

And white is the color of purity and victory (35). Consequently, this promise to the remnant in Sardis, that they shall walk with their Lord in white robes,' signifies that they shall be with Him whithersoever He may go, enjoying

His perfect intimacy, as having obtained the victory over all their temptations, and been purified from all the defilements of sin. Hence they are worthy' of so great a reward. Thus we are assured that, whatever judgments He may inflict upon a church spiritually dead, He will always take good care of those in her communion who have not been engulfed in the general corruption.

5 He that overcometh, himself shall be clothed in white robes; and I will not blot his name out of the book of life; and I will confess his name before my Father and before His angels.

These white robes, as we have just seen, are the symbol of purity and victory. The book of life' frequently occurs in these visions, sometimes in the other Scriptures, and everywhere it is spoken of as containing the names of all those who shall be saved. Thus it is said that none shall enter into the New Jerusalem but 'they who are written in the Lamb's book of life' (Rev. xxi. 27). St. Paul mentions those “whose names are written in the book of life' (Phil. iv. 3). Our Lord tells His disciples to 'rejoice because their names are written in heaven' (Luke x. 20), which implies the book. In the prophets it is said: "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 the day that I do make a peculiar treasure (Mal. iii. 16-17). Thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book" (Dan. xii. 1). In fact, it appears as early as the time of Moses, in his prayer for his people after they had sinned in the matter of the golden calf: "Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold; yet now if thou wilt forgive their sinand if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written." From these and other allusions to this book, we easily gather that it is the symbol of God's perfect knowledge of His people individually and by name; that He keeps them ever in remembrance, and that they are to Him a peculiar treasure; whereby their eternal life is infallibly secured. This assurance, moreover, is emphasized with great energy