^ Our Lord is designated as the " Sun of Righteousness " by a Prophet : the sun without peer rules over the planetary system. But Christ with lips full of grace deigns to call Himself "the Bright and Morning Star " : which star solitary in office and in dignity lights up hope for the darkened world and promises and ushers in day after night. Yet is it a veritable star amid fellow stars; incomparably the Chiefest, but among ten thousand.^
* G. A. Cooke, The Progress of Eevelatioii, 169. 2 Andrew A. Bonar, D.D. : Diary and Letters. 8 Christina G. Rossetti, Tlie Face of the Deep, 540.
REVELATION xxii. i6 409
And when, refreshed, the soul once more puts on new life and
power, Oh, let Thine image, Ii)rd, alone, gild the first waking hour! Let that dear Presence rise and glow fairer than morn's first
ray, And Thy pure radiance overflow the splendour of the day.
So in the hastening evening, so in the coming morn,
When deeper slumber shall be given, and fresher life be born.
Shine out, true Light! to guide my way amid that deepening
gloom, And rise, 0 Morning Star, the first that dayspring to illume.
I cannot dread the darkness, where Thou wilt watch o'er me. Nor smile to greet the sunrise, unless Thy smile I see ; Creator, Saviour, Comforter! on Thee my soul is cast; At morn, at night, in earth, in heaven, be Thou my First and Last.i
' Eliza Scudder.
COM£.
4it
LITERATURE.
Aitken (W. H. M. H.), God's Everlasting Yea, 236.
Bannerman (J.), Sermons, 382.
Brewin (R.), Gospel Sermons, 85.
Brown (A. G.), God's Full-Orbed Gospel, 66.
Ghristlieb (T.), Memoir and Sermons, 105.
Davies (T.), Sermons and Expositions, i. 568.
Davison (W. T.), The Indwelling Spirit, 195.
Dods (M.), Footsteps in the Path of Life, 127.
Doney (C. G.), The Throne-Room of the Soul, 11.
Goodwin (H.), Parish Sermons, ii. 132.
Hackett (B.), Memorials of a Ministry, 116.
Hall (C. R.), Advent to Whitsun-Day, 69.
Jeffrey (G.), The Believer's Privilege, 269.
Jerdan (C), For the Lord's Table, 386.
Keble (J.), Sermons for the Christian Year : Miscellaneous, 209.
Kingsley (C), The Water of Life, 1. I
Macgregor (W. M.), Jesus Christ the Son of God, 264. \
Maclaren (A.), Expositions : Epistles of John to Revelation, 391. )
McNeill (J.), Regent Square Pulpit, iii. 81.
Price (A. C), Fifty Sermons, viii. 1.
Scott (C. A.), The Book of the Revelation, 336.
Stuart (E. A.), Children of God, 159.
Talmage (T. de W.), Fifty Sermons, ii. 113.
Wilberforce (B.), Steps in Spiritual Growth, 1*78.
Christian Age, xliii. 370 (L. Abbott).
Christian World Pulpit, xxi. 328 (S. A. Tipple) ; xlv. 38 (B. Wilberforce).
Church of England Pulpit, xxxvii. 101 (B. Wilberforce).
Church Pulpit Year Book, 1909, p. 34.
Expository Times, xxi. 490.
Homiletic Review, xlv. 136 (J. H. Taylor).
Literary Churchman, xxvii. (1881) 231 (J. E. Vernon).
Record of Christian Work, xxxii. (1913) 666 (G. C. Morgan).
Come.
And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And he that heareth, let him say, Come. And he that is athirst, let him come : he that will, let him take the water of life freely.— Rev. xxii. 17.
The last verses of this book of Scripture are like the final movement of some great concerto, in which we hear all the instruments of the orchestra swelling the flood of triumph. In them many voices are audible alternately. Sometimes it is the Seer who speaks, sometimes an angel, sometimes a deeper voice from the Throne, that of Christ Himself. It is often difficult, therefore, amidst these swift transitions, to tell who is the speaker ; but this much is clear, that, just before the verse from which the text is taken, our Lord has been proclaiming from the Throne His royalty and His swift coming to render to every man according to his work, and to gather His own into the heavenly city. After that solemn utterance He is silent for a moment, and there is a great hush. Then our Lord's declaration is met by a response from the Spirit and the Church. The Spirit and the Bride reply, " Come." The call is also to be taken up by every hearer. Each one is to say, " Come." Then, in answer to the cry of the Spirit, of the Church, and of the Faithful, begging Him to come, our Lord speaks again, this time to all the yearning and weary souls among mankind : " He that is athirst, let him come : he that will [that desu-es to have Jesus], let him take the water of life freely."
Thus there are two comings in this verse — the final coming of Christ to the world, and the invited coming of the world to Christ. Such a way of understanding the text, with its vivid interchange of speakers and subjects, gives a far richer meaning to it than the common interpretation which recognizes in all these " Comes " only a reference to one and the same subject — the approach of men to Jesus Christ through faith in Him.
^ The Book of the Kevelation goes out on a kind of fugue
414 COME
on the word " Come." " The Spirit and the Bride say, Come " ; the Spirit, searching the deep things of man and interpreting the unwritten yearnings of the race, saith, " Come " ; the Bride, the Church of Christ, weary yet willing to wait, willing to wait yet weary, saith, " Come." And he " that heareth and understandeth " all that is meant by the coming, saith, " Come." And all together, the Spirit, the Church, and the men who have heard, unite to plead with the man who has not found the water of life, and with tender urgency bid him " Come," and take freely, in order that having drunk from the well of salvation he may add his voice to their prayer. And the answer falls : " Behold, I come quickly." Blessed are they who, after reading " the words of the book of this prophecy," can say, " Even so, come. Lord Jesus." ^