the simplicity that is in Christ*." *' Hear" the acl\-ice, that you may be stedfast in the faith ; and *' hear" the promise, that you may be encouraged to persevere in your warfare, till every enemy shall be put yovir under feet.]
* 2 Cor. xi. 3,
Rev. iii. 1 — 6. yind unto the angel of the church in Sardis urite; These things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars ; I know thy ivorks, that thou hast a name that thou livesf, and art dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are read}/ to die : for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and holdfast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come en thee as a thief; and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. Thou hast a fetv names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in while ; for theij are worthy. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his vame out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. He that hath an eary let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches.
IF we thought, as some do, that the epistles to the different Churches in Asia were descriptive of the state of the Church at large in successive periods of time to the end of the world, we should be ready to fix on this epistle above all others as characterizing its present state. There is much profession of reli- gion in the world, and somewhatalso of the reality; but very many, who have the form of godliness, are either wholly destitute of its power, or so inanimate as to excite suspicions that they are " dead." To such persons our Lord directed this epistle ; which con- tains,
1. Advice to the backslidden —
Many are in a state of spiritual deadness, while they are high in the estimation of their fellow-crev tures —
[It is no difficult matter to " have a name to live," If we
tiun