REVELATION xxii. 14 383
stance of them. It is quite true that our right of access to the Tree of Life is not of works, but of grace; yet when we have been saved by grace we proceed to keep the commandments of God. This is the evidence of our salvation, and the enjoyment of it. " If a man love me, he will keep my words " — that is doing His commandments — " and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him " (John xiv. 23) — that is enjoying access to the Tree of Life.
^ Swete has some difficulty in deciding between the readings. If the Greek letters were changed in the course of transcription, he thinks it slightly more probable that " wash their robes " arose out of " do his commandments," than that the reverse occurred. But the evidence of the documents is in favour of " wash their robes " ; and in the Johannine Writings the phrase is " keep his commandments," " do " occurring only once, in 1 John v. 2. On the whole, then, he thinks, " wash their robes " may with some confidence be preferred.
1. I need not remind you, I suppose, says Maclaren, how continually this symbol of the robe is used in Scripture as an expression for moral character. This Book of the Apocalypse is saturated through and through with Jewish implications and allusions, and there can be no doubt whatever that in this metaphor of the cleansing of the robes there is an allusion to that vision which the Apocalyptic seer of the Old Covenant, the prophet Zechariah, had when he saw the high priest standing before the altar clad in foul raiment, and the word came forth, " Take away the filthy garments from him." Nor need I do more than remind you how the same metaphor is often on the lips of our Lord Him- self, notably in the story of the man who had not on the wedding garment, and in the touching and beautiful incident in the parable of the Prodigal Son, where the exuberance of the father's love bids them cast the best robe round the rags and the leanness of his long-lost boy. Nor need I remind you how St. Paul catches up the metaphor, and is continually referring to an investing and a divesting — the putting on and the putting off of the new and the old man. In this same Book of the Apocalypse, we see, gleaming all through it, the white robes of the purified soul: " They shall walk with me in white ; for they are worthy." " I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number,"
384 THE PRIVILEGES OF THE BLESSED
who had " washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."
^ All three made their way to the beautiful valley of Ivirna, where the lands of the chief Manaune were situated. The welkin rang with merry shouts of Kua tau mai Rori ! (" Eori is found ! "). The news spread all over the island the same day, so that crowds came to see this poor fellow. And a miserable skeleton he was, his skin almost black through continual exposure. A feast was made for him by the people of Ivirna, but he scarcely tasted the unaccustomed food. He was then led in procession round the island by his protector and others ; the crowning point was for him to bathe in Kongo's Sacred Fountain, in token of his being cleansed from a state of bondage and fear, and being allowed to participate freely in all the good things of the dominant tribe.^
If White was widely considered among the ancient nations as the colour of innocence and purity. On this account it was appropriate for those who were engaged in the worship of the gods, for purity was prescribed as a condition of engaging in Divine service, though usually the purity was understood in a merely ceremonial sense. All Eoman citizens wore the pure white toga on holidays and at religious ceremonies, whether or not they wore it on ordinary days ; in fact, the great majority of them did not ordinarily wear that heavy and cumbrous garment, and hence the city on festivals and holidays is called " Candida urbs," the city in white. Especially on the day of a Triumph white was the universal colour — though the soldiers, of course, wore not the toga, the garb of peace, but their full-dress military attire with all their decorations — and there can hardly be any doubt that the idea of walking in a Triumph similar to that cele- brated by a victorious Eoman general is present in the mind of the writer of the Apocalypse when he uses the words, " they shall walk with me in white." A dirty and dark- coloured toga, on the other hand, was the appropriate dress of sorrow and of guilt. Hence it was worn by mourners and by persons accused of crimes.^
2. The foul robes can be cleansed. The text does not state the method. That has already been declared. "They washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb " (vii. 14). In his Epistle, St. John has the same paradox : " The blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all sin " (1 John i. 7). St. John saw the paradox, and he saw that the paradox helped to illustrate