The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 77

know where to :find the minister of God ; his orbit-the holy ways of God"""'.""he should uever quit. (4) He should be above the world-his conversation in heaven, his citizenship there. (5) He should be _a sure guid~ for men's souls, as are the stars to the beniithted, the traveller, the manner; and, hke the star of Bethlehem, he should. ever guide men to Christ. (6) And passing from the symbols to that which is meant, we find that pastors and Churches will very much resemble each other. "Like priest, like people," is true, but so is "Like people, like priest." A minister who, though ,he should be, is yet not as an angel, nor as a star, may, by his faithlessness, dim and darken, if not destroy, the light of the lamp he was appointed to tend. A congrega- tion, a Church, a parish,-to what depths may it not fall under the influence of a prayer- less psstorl And, on the other hand, one who comes to the sacred office in all the ardour of his" first love" may, by the chill freezing atmosphere in regard to God and his cause which he finds around him, be gradually dragged down to their level, and become even as they. Ah! what would any do were it not that the Lord holds the stars in his right hand, and wa.1.keth amidst the lamps of gold ? · II. 'l'BE LAMl'S. We regard this word as every way more congruous than "candle- stick;." Candlesticks are not only a modem and mean article of furniture, but they were never used in the temple or tabernacle at all, and they suggest anything but the sacred and elevated idea that is here intended. We know that by these golden lamps the Churches aie meant. But why are they thus called ? Not with.out reaaon, we may. be sure. 1. The lamps are to give light. That is their function. They are " lit uot for themselves, but for their uses." Continually is this emblem made use of to tell of the character and conduct of Christ's people, what it is or should be. Radiant, cheering, silent, penetrating, beneficent, revealing, manifesting its source, but not itself. We see the sun, but not the rays which stream from it. So men are to see our light, but to glorify not us, but God. Such should the Churches be. 2. Their light i, not their own. The lamp must be lit and fed. In vision Zechariah saw this truth set forth when he beheld the great temple lamp, and by the side of it the two olive trees, from which, through golden pipes, the sustaining oil was continually supplied. Christ lights every one of these lamps, and if, like John the Baptist, we are a burning and shining lamp-lamp, not light; Christ is the Light-giver-and if, as he was, we are light, it is because "we are light in the Lord." And the Holy Spirit nurtures the light. That was the meaning of Zechariah's vision. "Not by might, nor by power, but by my l,pirit, saith the Lord of hosts "-such is the added explanation of the vision. Thus the light of th8118 lamps of gold is not their own; they neither impart it at the first nor sustain it afterwards. Christ and the Spirit of God are the sources of the Church's light. 3. TMir light is combined light. Each lamp has one burning light, but that one. is made up of the combined illumination of every member of the Church. Just as the cha.meter of any given Church is the resultant of the varied spiritual forces that each member supplies, so the light of its lamp is the combined effect of the light in each individual. "A Church is not to.be merely a multitude of separate points of brilliancy, but the separate points are to coalesce into one great-orbed brightness." 4. It is to be oonsecrated light. All in the ancient tabernacle and temple that was med in the immediate service of God was to be of gold. The gold showed that the service of the vessel, or instrument, or whatever it was, was for God, dedicated and due to him. And this truth the gold of which the lamps are formed sets forth. Churches are for God, for his service and glory. May all Churches heed this I III. THE LORD. What is the relation between the stars, the lamps, and the Lord? Is it not that of: 1. Owner 1 He holds the stars in his strong right hand. They are his. He walks amid the lamps of gold as amid the possessions of bis own house. 2. Pro- 'tectw 1 Who shall pluck the stars from his band, or loosen his blessed hold? Who shall tench one of those lamps to hurt or harm it whilst he walks continually in their midst? 3. &archer 1 The stars and the lamps are ever beneath his eye. He S&Yll to each one, •• I know thy works." 4, Disposer 1 We are in his hand and power, to be dealt with as he wills. Though none other but he, yet he can unloose the grasp in w~ich the stars are held, and can remove the lamp out of its place. May he forbid that tlue awful necessity should ever arise, for then the lidt of stars and lamps alike are CJU8llChed, and the blackness of darkness for ever is their portion! And: 5. All tbie {ven. 1-4) 7uJ is evermore. "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the BEVEL.A.'flOB. 9 82 THEi ;REVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE' DIVINE. [OB. II. 1...:..29! world." Not for the primitive Church alone, but for the 'Church ot all ~•is thill most sUl'ely truei To-oay may 6'18.ry faithful pastor se.y to himself, " I am my Lord's.; he holds me in his right hru'ld." And 'every Church of Christ may by faith behold hltii walking to-day-to cheer,' to bless, to restore, to uplift, to chide, to strengthen, t.o quicken, to console; to sa.ve-amid the lamps of gold.-S. C. . · · . Ver. 4.~Going back ln the ways <I God. ..Nevertheless I have ••• :first love." There is'no stage of our heavenward jourll1ly thst is so hard as that which we go over for the third time. When in the ardour of our first love we :first traversed the.t part of the' road, we went a.long vigorously, with a strong elastic step. And when we went back, though we went slowly enough at ~st, like as when the boy's ball, which lie has flung high into the air, when ceasing its upward ascent, begins to descend, that beginning is slow, but quickens every second• .And so on the backward road we quicken speed in a mournful way. But when we have finished this retrogression; and with a. ste.rtled shook discover what we have lost, but, by God's exceeding grace, resolve to recover it- hie labor hoe opus est-this is toil indeed. Our text brings before us the ease of those who have thus gone back, and whom the Lord is lovingly rousing to the resolve that they wilhegain what they have lost. Note- · ·· I. WHA.T THEY LEFT AND LOST. It was that blessed early condition of pooce e.nd joy -Godward .which the beginning of the religious life BO often witneBSel!. 11 AU :things were riew....o.:.Christ was new, the Word a new light, worship a new gift,-the woi-Id·a. new realm of beauty, shining in the brightness of its Author;· even the man himself was new to him.self. Sin was gone, and fear also was gone with it, To love was· his ail, and he loved everything. The day dawned in joy, and the thoughts of the night were songs in hts heart. Then how tender, how teR9hable I in his conscience how true I in his works how dutiful l It was the Divine childhood, as it were, of his faith, and the beauty of childhood was in it. This was his first love; and if all do not remember any precise experience of the kind, they do at least remember what so far resembled this as to leave no importaat distinction... There was fervour of feeling: a 'great out- goirig, 9f the soul towards Christ; much prayer, and that very real; hearty Berviee; delight in worship-the sabbath, the sanctuary, the sacred service; the avoiding, not sin on).y, but its occasions, the "hating of the garment spotted by the flesh;" in short,, there was a close walk with God. ·Blessed, blessed time, the primeval Paradise of the soul, the golden age, the leaving of which one might mourn, even ail our first parents mourned when they were driven forth from Eden to the thorns and briars of the wilderness ! · ' II. How IT CAME TO BE LEFT. Many are the. explanations that might be given. In 'some, absorption overmuch in business; in others, the influence of unspiritull.l 'and worldly companions: in others, intellectual· doubts, insinuated into the mind by unbelieving or sceptical books; in others, the chill moral atmosphere of the Qlurch itself; in others, some lingering, lurking lust reasserting itself; and so on -in' ever- increasirig. variety; but each one knows for ·himself how the going back was brought about. But that we m~y not make sorry those whom God has not made sorry, we woqld add the caution not to regard every fluctuation of feeling as proof of this going back. Some are for ever tormenting themselves in this way, and so kill the very love they are looking for, and in looking for it. "The complications of the heart are infinite, and we may become QOnfused in our attempts to untwist them." Men di"' at the roots of thek motives. to. see that they are the right ones, and the roots of tender plants cannot. stand BUch. rough handling. But whilst there are some who distress them- selves when theyhave no need, there are more who have great need, e.nd yet are not distressed as they should be. Let such consider- ' Ill.' WHAT COMES OF tEAVING OUR FDIST LOVE. 1. The Spirit ef God is griew,J,, Can a father see his child turn cold and sullen towards him, and not be grieved ? And in view· M such turnings back from him, must not our Lord be in a very red sense "the Man ofiorrows" still? 2. Sinful-men Me hwrdened in thei'I' sin. .'Their boast; i's. that there is' no reality in religion; that it is all a spasmodic pe.ssiug thing; that th'~ fervour of it in: the begi:tri:lipg will 100n cool down, e.nd here is another proof that there i1 nothing:iri it.. a.. The (/Aurel,, of God ia distressed. Its members had relied Upon' those w_lio have gone back, had· hoped for muuh good from them, had look(ld to - mr.11. 1-29.] THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE. 83