event anticipated by the ages that preceded it. This is the great event that will be looked back to by all coming men. It thrills the heavens of God. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain," is the song of eternity. Christ's death fell on the universe as the pebble on the centre of a lake, widening in circles of influence on to its utmost boundary.

Secondly: His life in heaven is a life of endless duration. "I am alive for evermore." (1) His endless duration is a necessity of His nature. "I am He that liveth." There are moral intelligences, we amongst them, that may live for ever; but not by necessity of nature. We live because the Infinite supports us; let Him withdraw His sustaining agency and we cease to breathe. Not so with Christ. His life is absolutely independent of the universe. He is the "I AM." (2) His endless duration is the glory of the good. "Amen." When Christ says "I am alive for evermore," the unfallen and redeemed universe may well exclaim, "Amen." Whatever other

friends die the great Friend lives on.

Thirdly: His life in heaven is a life of absolute dominion over the destinies of men. "I have the keys of hell (death) and of death (Hades)." He has dominion over the bodies and souls of men as well when they are separated from each other as previous to their dissolution. "He is the Lord of the dead and of the living." From His absolute dominion over the destinies of men four things may be inferred. (1) There is nothing accidental in human history. He has the key of death. No grave is opened but by His hand. (2) Departed men are still in existence. He has the key of Hades (the world of separate souls) as well as of the grave. They live therefore. (3) Death is not the introduction to a new moral kingdom. The same Lord is here as there. What is right here, therefore, is right there, and the reverse. (4) We may anticipate the day when death shall be swallowed up in victory.

DAVID THOMAS, D.D.

LONDON.

THESE words suggest two general remarks concerning Christ.

I. THAT HE REQUIRES MEN

TO RECORD THE REVELATIONS HE MAKES TO THEM. He is the Great Revealer of God to humanity, and His revelations are ever recurring and constant. And here we are taught that they are not only to be taught and studied but to be recorded. The revelations here referred to are of three classes. (1) Those which had been experienced. "The things which thou hast seen." What things John had already seen! How manifold, wonderful, significant! What man of any reflection or conscience has not seen things from God. (2) Those things which were now present. Things that were

at hand, that came within his observation and consciousness. There are eternal principles that underlie and shape all human history. These principles are as present as the air we breathe, although the majority of the race are unconscious of them. There are some which reveal themselves in vivid consciousness,―these shall be recorded, their images shall be photographed on the heart. The other class were (3) Those which were approaching. "The things which will be hereafter." With that inspiration of Him who sees the end from the beginning, the human soul may catch a glimpse of all future times. The divinely inspired genius becomes to some extent independent of all space and time,

overleaps all boundaries—geographic and chronologic. It seems to have been so with John on this occasion. In his visions the future ages of the world appeared down to the final trump of doom. John seems to have

"Dipt into the future, far as human

eye could see,

Saw the vision of the world, and all

the wonders that would be."

Now these three classes of things John had to write down, those that had unfolded themselves, those that were unfolding themselves, and those that would to the end of time. Whatever man has seen, or will see of the Divine, he is bound to record -"Write." Literature, though sadly corrupted and the source of enormous mischief, is a Divine institution. Rightly employed it is one of the grandest forces in human life. Truth orally communicated is inexpressibly important and immeasurably influential. He who speaks truth rationally, faithfully, earnestly, devoutly, touches the deepest springs in the great world of mind. What bloodless and brilliant victories the true has won in all ages! Albeit truth written

has some advantages over truth spoken, for man seems to multiply himself by the book he has written. His book is a kind of second incarnation, in which he may live and work ages after the fingers that held his pen are mouldered into dust. Thank God for books, our best companions, always ready with their counsel and their comfort. They are arks that have borne down to us, over the floods of centuries, the vital germs of departed ages. Let men write them, but let their subjects be not the trashy things of time and sensual pleasure, the visions of a wild fancy or the speculations of a reckless intellect, but the revelations that Christ has made. The text suggests another general remark concerning Christ.

II. THAT HE EXPLAINS TO MEN THE MEANING OF THE REVELATION HE MAKES ΤΟ

THEM. "The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in My right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks." There are two kinds of mystery, the knowable and unknowable. (1) The unknown of the knowable. It is con

ceivable that the whole created universe is knowable even to the intellect of finite man. Yet what the most enlightened man knows is but a fraction of what to him is still unknown-a mystery. Hence every step in the advance of an earnest enquirer is turning the mystery of to-day into an intelligible fact of to-morrow. What is mystery to one man is not so to another; and what is mystery to a man to-day is no mystery to-morrow. The other kind of mystery is (2) The unknown of the unknowable. He whom we call God is the great mystery, the absolutely unknowable-whom no man hath seen or can see. Now in the former sense the meaning of the word "mystery" is here employed.* In Christ's explanation here we have two things worth note.

First: The ideal Christian pastor. "The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches." Who the angels were is a matter of speculation. Every settled Christian community, whether religious

or not, has some leading person or persons amongst them. In these Christian congregations in Asia Minor there seems to have been some leading man. He was, no doubt, like Timothy in Ephesus-the pastor. Every true Christian minister or angel is a "star." His light is borrowed, but borrowed from the primal source -the "Sun of Righteousness." His orbit is Divine. Faithful teachers are stars that shall shine for ever (Dan. xii. 3); false teachers are wandering stars (Jude 13), or stars which fall from heaven (Rev. viii. 10; vi. 13; xii. 4).

Secondly: The ideal Christian church. "The seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches." Observe (1) Christian congregations are lights. "Candlesticks." (2) They are precious lights. They are 'golden." They throw the best kind of information upon an ignorant world. (3) They are imperfect lights. A lamp is a composite and requires constant care. No finite

power can make the sun

In order to avoid repetition when we come to deal specially with each epistle, it seems desirable to notice some circumstances common to all and some peculiar to a portion.

I. The circumstances of these letters COMMON TO ALL. What are these; what are the points on which they all seem to agree?

First: In all Christ assumes different aspects. He does not appear to all alike. He approaches each in some special character. Thus (1) To Ephesus He appears as One

"who holdeth the seven stars in His hand and who walketh among the seven golden candlesticks." (2) To Smyrna He appears as "the first and the last, who was dead and is alive." (3) To Pergamos as He of "the sharp sword with two edges." (4) To Thyatira as "the Son of God, who hath His eyes as a flame of fire." (5) To Sardis He appears as "He who hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars." (6) To Philadelphia as "He that is holy and true, and hath the key of David."