goloni~ ~ Qhurche11 of Asia., PhiladelJ?hia is still erect_ a ,col~ in a sceµ.e of ruiDa i Ott. u. 1-29.] Ta:lll :REV-ILATION· OF ST: .JOHN Tilt· ·:OtVINE:-· 1&~
a. pleaaing exa.mple ~t the paths of honour and ~a.fety •may sometjmes be ·the sll,Ille '!. (<lb. lxiv.)•. But this grave censure,and the awfulcouseque11ces that ultimately eJijl1,1ed, lend urgency to the inquiry as to-- . , :: . .. III,. THE .SAD CHURCIJ-OONDITION 'l'1IE CENSURE lNDlOATEB, Probably it pointed:, l; To a ,i/,adcening in tho88, qualities for whi.M they had been commended. And the· p:ioral atmosph!ll"e of a plac.e like Ephesm could not but try' thei:p. very severely. Even 'l'irnothy bad to be waTI1ed against yielding to the sensuality of the place, and also. against tbal; rigorous asceticism to which temp$!ld ones, often resort as a sure defence against. auch sin. But the needs-be that· th<:re µ:inst have been for such exhort,11.tjon shows ho~ strong the stream of evil tendency was in the place, and bow difficul\ to· continuously maintain that firm stand which in the first ardours of the Christian life they had taken and for a long while been faithful to. And undoubtedly this is bow,,in our -0wn day, this leaving of our, first love shows itself. What sincere Christian heart is there thathas not once and 1igain been pierced as he ha~ remembered hpw true this· cunsure is for himself.? That sad \mt well-known hymn of the saintly Cowper,. 110b for a closer walk with God I" is but -0~e continued comment on this all tOG, common sin. And so common has it become that we now almost ex1iect that there will, be ,this slackening of zeal when the first nov-elty of discipleship has passed away. The .~~go,od- ne81l ", of imch will be, we all but assume,- " as a morning cloud and as the early dew· that goeth away." And the present all but impossible practice of personal and private p;.storal. dealing with individual 80uls lets this comlition of things go on with all tQo much facility. Bnt he who is faithful wi~h himself will mark with sorrow the decline of his own spkitual life. When he has to drag himself to drny; when prayer and worship and ,work for Christ are turned from, in heart if not in act; when there is. no longer any glow or fervour of feeling Christwards; when temptation, once resisted and spurned, 11Ow approaches and solicits, and is suffered so to do ;.,-all these, and others like them, are symptoms, sure and sad enough, that the Lord bas this against him, th~ he has left his first love. And this fact shows itself also: 2. In the altered apirit in wl1ich work is done. And this, we expect, was the gravamen of the charge as it reforreil to the Ephesian Church. We are not told that thpy had left off their works. But it was possible for them to continue and even to increaae. them, an<l. yet this censure to be deserved. For it is the motive at which• the Lord looks. Ere ever he would re~ttire the recreant Peter to his apostleship, thrice over was the question asked, " Lovest thou me? " as if the Lord would teach him and. all of 11!1 {hat love to himself is the one indispensable qu&lification of aU acceptable service. An<l, if from any one out. of a multitude of other motives--mixed, and maybe mean, mau~fold certainly, as they are sure ,to be-the works we do are done, for all acceptance ,;'l,itb Christ they .might ,as well, and sometimes better, have been left undone. You m1J,y; work and.labour, suffo~ and be patient under it, hat;e many evil things and persons, and.yet there be scarce out. shred of love to Christ in it all (cf. 1 Cor. :i,;iii.). It is well, indeed,. for us to ask ourselves not merely what we do, but why? The answer to that might lead to some strange self-r~velations, but they would be salutary too. Without doubt they would be i( they led us to listen to-- IV. CHRIST'S ENCOURAGmG CALL TO COME BACK TO HIMSELF. For he does µet.close this letter without such call, which may "he who hath ears to hear" hear indeed. In what was said on the common characteristics of these letters, .it was llOted how they all taught that all might overcome. Victory was possible to all; none need despair • ./\ud this lies in these last words of the letter. It said ~o the Church at Ephesus, "You need no longer yield to that which draws you away from me; you can resist, you can overcome, and so return to me whom you have left." Si.eh is the force of the words, '' to him that overcometh." And then, that the possible may become the actual, Christ hold.s out the prize of victory, the recompense of their return to their first love (ver, 7). '.Che promiiJe seems to point back and on. Back to tlj.e primeval Paradise from. whiol;,, ou.i: first parents and all their descendants were shut .out, lest they should eat of the tr.ell,,of life. .Now itis promised that that prohibition shall be withdrawn, the. flaming sw,or9' of the cherubim "which turned every way, to, keep the way of the- tree of, ~.." sh:i-",-.11heathed, and access granted once more. )31,U, tl;te Paradise .shall not be: ,tbJ! pr,Jmev.al. onii,. but the heavenly, f' the Paradise of my:,Qod, "-sp- the Lord.11peak., of ii-. F"J,mpre., then. t:\i,an all that has been lo1:1t shall be thei.rs if they.repiat Aild f~um, 80 Tlm RE\'"JiltA'l'ION OF ST. JOHN 'l'HE DI"\l'INE. [ctt. u. 1-29.