days of trial but would find help in this sure truth. And let us remember it likewise. --S. c. Vcl'll.17, 18.-Tlie Living OM: an E<Mtw Sunday ,ermon. "Fear not," etc. t. It is good to say words of good cheer. 'l'he cheerful word, the pleasant smile, the encouraging shake of the ha.nd,-all these e.re good and helpful. As when with ringing cheers we send our troops off to battle. 2. But it is better still to be able, along with such words of good cheer, to show reason for them, and the solid ground you have for bidding your 11rother be of good cheer, and that he has for being so. If we can cio this, how much more helpful our words are! Now, this is what our Saviour does here for St. John, and through him for all Christians always and everywhere. And if, as is possible, from the use of the expression, "the Lord's day," and St. John's naming it in close connection with our Lord's death, the day was not merely the first day of the week, but an Easter Sunday, and so especially '' the Lord's day," then all the mon, may we well consider those reasons wherefore our Lord bade his apostle and all of us "Fear not." Now, our Lord declares in these verses four great facts, every one of which says, "Fear not" to him who believes it. · I. HIS ETERNAL EXISTENCE, He says: 1. "I am the First"-the First Begotten (cf. Ps. xl.; John the Baptist's, " He was before me;" also our Lord's words, "Before Abraham was, I am;" and John i. 1, " In the beginning was the Word"). 2. " The Last." (Of. "He must reign till he bath put all enemies under his feet;" "Then cometh the end," 1 Cor. xv.) 3. " Tl,e Living. One;" equivalent to "I am he that liveth "-Jehovah. The claim is no less than this. Great, august, but intolerable if not true. But because true, it justifies our adoration and worship, and that to him every knee should bow. But it also says to us, " Fear not;" for it assures us that what he has been to his people he will be to them always (cf. homily on ver. 11), He had been everything to his disciples. "Lord, to whom shall we go?" said Peter in the name of them all: "thou hast tbe words of eternal life." Hence to lose him- was to lose all. But this Divine ,title which he claims assured them that they should not lack any good thing. What he had been to them, he would be. And so to us. II. HIS PERFECT BROTHERHOOD. He shares iu all our sorrows, even the greatest of them. "I became dead;" this is a better rendering of ver. 18, than'' I was dead." It does not say merely, '' I died," or "I was dead;'' that might be said of any saint in heaven, and will be said of all of us one day; but "I became dead "-it was his own voluntary act (cf. St. Paul: "He humbled himself, and became obedtent unto death, even the death of the cross"). Now, our Lord's declaring this fact tells no doubt: 1. Of his sacrifice and atonement. '.l'hat he was "the Lamb of God, which taketh away," etc. But I think the chief reason for its declaration here is to assert: 2. Hi,s perfect brothlfl"hood and sym- pathy with us. That he was our very Brother-Man, who has been in all points tried as we are. Hence, however low any of llll may have to go, he has been lower still. .As Baxter sings-- "Christ leads us through no darker room Than he went through before." It was as if he would say to all to whom this book should come," I know, my brethren, ·you have to bear trouble, perhaps to endure cruel death, but I know all about it; J becarue dead, I have been through it all, I have sounded the lowest depths of sorrow; .and go, my beloved ones, where you will, underneath you shall find my evel'la:;ting arms. So !"ear not." And on East-er Day tbe joy of it is that the Lord comes to us, not merely as triumpl1ant, but as One who baa suffered, and to us who are sufferiug. And the message of the day is- "As surely as I overcame, And triumphed once for you, So surely you who know my Name ehall through me tl'iumph too." III. Hrs VICTORY, "Behold, I am alive for evermore." Note that word "behold.'" It means that, in spite of all that death and hell could do, he is neverthe!P.ss alive for evern,ore. They sought to destroy him, but in vain. And the message of all this to thOIY.I tu whom it wa8 sent was, "Fear not them which kill the body, but after thas mt. 1. 1-20.] THE REVELA'TION OF ST. JOHN TTIE DIVINE. 87
have no more that they can do." Your enemies can do you no real ba.rm. And this ia bis word to us to-da.y. He points to himself, and says, "Behold" me; "I am a.lift for evermore." Therefore " Fear not." IV. HIS LORDSHIP OVER THE UNSEEl'I'. "I have the 'keys of death and of bell." The "key" nieans authority, power, possession; "death," him who had the power of death, or the state of death; "hell," the unseen world, the f,lace of departed spirits; also the forces and strength of Satan (cf. "'!'he gates of hell '). Now, Christ declares that be has authority over all this. Therefore, he having the keys : 1. The door of drath and the grave can only be opened by him. Therefore their lives were unassailable, invulnerable; unless be gave permission. "Men of the woi-Id," their persecutors, were but his "hand." 2. He can enter there when he pleaiies. If, then, any of them should be pqt to death, he would not be deharred from them Ii.or they from him (cf. "'l'ho~h I walk through the valley of the sha<l.ow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod," etc., Ps. xxiii.). Death and the unseen world are his absolute possession. 3. He can shut their gates when ke pleases. 'l'herefore death and hell have power only so long as he pleases. If he lets thrm loose for a season, he can restrain them again. And he will finally shut the door upon them for ever. "The last enemy that shall bo destroyed is death;" "He came to clestroy the works of the devil." He shall shut the gates of hell, and when he shuts, no man openeth. Therefore "Fear not." Such is the mes,age of Easter Day.-S. C.