tain no rebukes, there are abundant expressions of commendation and praise; which reveals a trait of the Lord's character often lost sight of, namely, that He delights to praise His people, rather than to rebuke them, whenever it can be done with safety. For we cannot understand that the members of this church were faultless (61); but they were in that state in which commendation would be more efficacious than censure, or chastisement, to strengthen their faith and perfect their piety. He resorts to severity only where He sees that praise would be misunderstood, and would do harm in all which, He sets a lovely example to parents, pastors, teachers, and masters, in the treatment of their children and people.

3. Our dear Lord knows how little strength we have, and makes provision for us according to our need. Hence the fewness of our numbers, our poverty in this world's goods, the feebleness of our means and appliances to influence the great world around us, are no reasons for discouragement, even in the greatest undertakings; for it is not by human. power or wisdom that anything is accomplished in the upbuilding of His kingdom: "Not by an army, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts (Zech. iv. 6). Not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble: but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world, that He might put to shame them that are wise, and . . the weak things of the world, that He might put to shame the things that are strong; and the base things of the world, and the things that are despised . . and the things that are not, that He might bring to nought the things that are" (1 Cor. i. 2628). It was in this faith that the pious king Asa cried unto God against the innumerable host of the Ethiopians: "Lord, there is none like thee to help between the mighty and him that hath no strength" (2 Chron. xiv. 11); and by this faith he conquered. Thus the Lord said to His few illiterate disciples: "The field is the world (Mat. xiii. 38). Go ye, therefore, and make disciples of all nations. And, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world" (xxviii. 19-20). This great truth is exemplified also in the whole

history of His church and gospel. Let us remember, then, whenever we are tempted to discouragement from such feebleness, His blessed words, 'I know thou hast little strength,' that we may be able to say with holy Paul: "When I am weak, then am I strong (2 Cor. xii. 10). I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me" (Phil. iv. 13).

4. Here again we are admonished against declension in piety (51); for this admonition is several times repeated and insisted on (88); which strongly emphasizes our proneness to such declensions and the great evil of them. The reason of this is, that they put our salvation in jeopardy; and the Lord's grace is something too costly and precious to be carelessly lost without great guilt. Hence our holding fast what we have attained is the indispensable condition of obtaining our crown. In fact, such declension is always a state bordering on final apostasy: “For it is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, and fall away, to renew them again unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to open shame" (Heb. vi. 4-6).

5. We have here prescribed the way in which we shall be kept by our Lord in every hour of temptation; shall overcome all our enemies, and be the means of the salvation of many this is, that with patient endurance we hold fast His word, and the confession of His name (64); "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation" (Rom. x. 10). The individual soul that shall continue thus faithful shall be made a pillar in the temple of God, and upon him shall be written indelibly the name of God, the name of the holy city of God, and his Lord's new name; and when the church at large shall come to have this character, all her enemies will come to worship at her feet, being made to know that she is the beloved of the Lord with an inalienable love.

XI

EPISTLE TO THE CHURCH IN LAODICEA

CHURCH III 14-22

THE LUKEWARM

This is the seventh and last of the Epistles, and it closes the first series of these revelations. It represents the church in a state of lukewarm piety, and threatens her with reprobation. But her case is not hopeless, for she is carefully instructed how to recover herself, and her rebukes are softened with gracious assurances that they proceed from the love of her Lord.

14 And unto the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.

Laodicea was situated about 10 miles from Philadelphia, and 40 from Ephesus; for all these cities were included within a parallelogram of 40 by 60 miles; so densely populous was that beautiful country before it was devastated by the Mohammedan conquests. This city, under another name, had been quite destroyed by an earthquake, and rebuilt by Antiochus Theos, one of the Seleucid successors of Alexander, who re-named it after his queen Laodice. It soon became very populous and wealthy; for when it was again destroyed by an earthquake, in the reign of Nero 35 or 40 years before this Epistle, it was entirely rebuilt more splendidly than before by the wealth of its own citizens. It is nothing now but a heap of ruins. This church was already in existence when St. Paul wrote his Epistle to the Christians at Colossæ, another city not more than 10 miles from Laodicea, wherein he says: "I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh (Col. ii. 1).

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Salute the brethren who are at Laodicea. And when this Epistle hath been read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans, and that ye also read the Epistle from Laodicea" (iv. 15–16), i. e. the one which they should obtain from that church. Hence it has been supposed that he had written a letter to the Laodiceans which is now lost; but more probably he refers to his Epistle to the Ephesians, which, there is good reason to believe, was a circular letter addressed to several churches, among which this at Laodicea may have been one.

The Lord calls Himself 'the Amen' in the sense that He is the truth itself, for this is a Hebrew word which has that signification, and it occurs where God is spoken of as 'the God of truth' (Is. lxv. 16). Here it may contain a reference also to the following: "I am the way and the truth and the life (John xvi. 6). In Him is the yea, and in Him is the amen" (1 Cor. i. 20). The faithful witness' has occurred before in the greeting to the churches (15), and here 'true' is added, for truthfulness is a consequence of faithfulness in witness-bearing. And surely it is one of the greatest things that we have the witnessing of the Lord Himself to these and all the revelations of the spiritual world upon which our salvation depends; for since He certainly does not mean to deceive, and cannot Himself be deceived, all things must be as He represents them. But in what sense does He call Himself 'the beginning of the creation of God'? Here we must bear in mind that this word has several meanings, among which are the two following, which require to be sharply discriminated: (1) the first part of anything, as the twilight hour is the beginning of the day: (2) that from which anything originates as its cause, as the sun's rising is the beginning of the day: and that it is to be taken here, not in the former, but in the latter sense, is evident from the proem of St. John's Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made" (John i. 1-3): for in no sense can the Creator of all things be a part of the creation. Christ, as to

the substance of His divine nature, is one with the Father; as to His divine personality, He is eternally 'begotten, not made, very God of very God' (72). The whole of this introduction is obviously intended to impress the conviction that what is contained in the Epistle is the truth of God which none can neglect but at their own peril.

15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot: 16 so, because thou art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of my mouth:

This is one of the most terrible rebukes in the whole Scripture; although this lukewarmness of the church is not an utter destitution of spiritual life, but rather a lack of zeal, a feeble realization of divine things, indifference to the realities of eternity; in which her sins, her obligations, the loveof God, the sacrifice of Christ, heaven and hell, make no adequate or suitable impression upon her, but she yields herself to worldly and carnal indulgences. The words, 'I would thou wert cold or hot,' are not to be taken in their literal or strongest sense, but rather as a figurative expression of the offensiveness of this state; which is still further emphasized by the loathsome image whereby the Lord threatens her with rejection and reprobation, unless she shall repent and reform. In similar strong figures, but with more particularity, her spiritual state is described in what immediately follows.

17 Because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked: 18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold purified with fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white garments, that thou mayest clothe thyself, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear, and eye-salve to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest see.

The word 'Because' here may have reference either to the preceding threat, or to the following 'counsel,' and possibly to both. In the former case, what immediately follows is to be understood as a further unfolding of 'lukewarm'; in the