or later receive from. Ohrist IIOJlle stern reminder of its sin. " I "Will come unto thee." ·,, The iime is come that judgment must begin at the house of God:"· 2.· If the warning be unheeded, the Church will in time disappear. "I will remove thy 011.ndlestick out of•its place." Our Lord Jesus does not desire the prolonged continuance of a Church. whose love is on the decline. A cold Church does not and cannot represent Jesus in the world; it is no longer accomplishing the object for which Churches are formed, and therefore there is no re:ison why it should continue. Where Olli'. Saviour would be most gracious he will, in such a case, he most severe. Churches, as such, are judged in this life. VI. THE SAVIOUR'S PROMISE, It is made to individuals. "To him that ovet- cometh.'' It pertains to another realm, even to "the Paradise of God." 'fhe·word "paradise" means an enclosed, pa.rk-like place, with all arrangemeats for refreshment, comfort, luxury. It is first used in Scripture for the garden of Eden, in which was a tree of life. At the Fall, man was barred both from Paradise and from the tree of immortality. We read no more of it till Christ says to the dying thief, "To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise "-the word being used to denote the realm of the blessed in the invisible world. Still the tree- of life appears no more till we get it . mentioned here, as in the higher realm of everlasting life, in the Paradise of God. Th.ere it is in Christ's own keeping. The fruit of it HE will give to the victor! That is, to drop the figure, whosoever overcomes, to him, in the nobler and the :deathless realm, Christ will he the Giver and Sustainer of a life that shall never, never die.· There 'there will be no temptation to decline, for within the gates of that Paradise no tempter can ever come; and the supply of vital power shall he so rich and constant that all inward tendency to decline shall cease for ever. What a motive power is this! Earthly cities, with their witchery and glare, may be before us and around ns to-day. But beyond, beyond is the Paradise of God, with its halcyon rest, its genial clime, , its steadfast life. And oh ! let us not lose sight of the words, " I will give." The communion with Christ will he close and intimate; we shall see face to face. Here the provisions of God's love and grace are often marred through coming to 118 by suoh imperfect channels. 'But there the Lamb who is in the midst of tbe throee shall feed .them, and shall ·lead them to the fountains of the water of life I How large the promise! how attractive the vision! how glorious the reward! Surely it is wor.th while to struggle for a little here; that we may pass for ever to a realm. where· we shall struggle no more. " Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ·ye may be able to withstand iu the evil day, and having done all, to stand/' ·
Vers. 8-11.-Smyrna: words of cheer from a reigning Saviowr to a suffering Ohwrch. In some respects this letter awakens more interest in the Church to which it was addreBlled than any other of the seven. Out of the seven Churches, two only are unrebuked. Of these two, Smyrna is one. It is a poor Church, but·Jesus calls it rich. It is beset with opposition, but it has the Lord for its Advocate; and is addressed by him.in words of chee~ and of hope. Not only, however, is this Church interesting to us on-account of its high moral and spiritual standing, but also on account .of the his~ric~l details. ~hich _are preserved to us coie~ning it. The Book of ~ev~lation :was in all probability written a.bout the year A.D::uu\ Under Marcus Aurehus,. m· the year 168, there was martyred that venerable teacher of the gospel-Polycarp. When he was urged to deny Christ, he said," Eighty-six years have I served Jesus Christ; he has been a good Master to me all these years, and shall I forsake him now?" Dedl.lct- ing eighty-six years from 168, we come back to the year 82 as the time of Polyc&rp's oonversion. This being so, Polycarp would have been· a Christian· for fourteen years at the time when this letter was addressed to the Church at Smyrna. Ignatius tells us that in the year 108 he found. Polycarp the overseer of the Church there, and Tertullian says that he had been placed in that office by the Apostle John. This being the case, there can be but little doubt that this letter was sent when Pol;tcarp was in.office in the Church to which it was addressed; while there can be no reasonable questio? that he was .a prominent sharer in the sufferings whic~ afterwar~s. ~ e upon the believers there.1 · We lewe to the student the task, of showmg the strilnng 4llustra- ..tiou .this lettjlr receives fro,m the history referred to· in, the footnQte,.as al1'thHpace l See Eusebius's 'Ecclesiastical Hiatoey,' bk. iv. eh. xiv. and xv, CH. u. 1-29.J THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE. 71