The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 94

nothing that be has made. Be wills not the death of any sinner, but rather that lie should turn and be saved-should repent and live. It was so even with the immoral person here spoken of; time was given her; but she would not use it. There was no will to repent. Therefore, for the sake of others, the time must now be shortened, and after one more trial judginent must follow. Repentance is the method of ridding one's self of a bad character, and this repentance every man can and ought to accomplish. Men are not machines or automatons, but free agents. The will is the rudder of the 10ul; it either steers the ship into the wished-for haven, or drives it on to shoals and quicksands. 3. The tramm-itted character might entail enormom evils Qn other,. In truth all evil characters must do so. "And I will kill her children with death." All have their moral offspring, children like unto themselves. The evil propagates the evil, as the good the good. "No man livetb unto himself!' Our moral children do our work, and that work is like that of Jezebel, Who knows the injury that the moral children of Jezebel did to the bishop and the Christian community of Thyatira? They encouraged licentiousness and idolatry, and committed fornication, and ate things •• sacrificed unto idols." · III. As THAT WHICH DETERMINES THE DESTDrY OJI' Jd'.ANXDID. Here mark two things. 1. The outcom6 <l/ the btid. "Behold, I will [do] cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds [her works]." The chamber of voluptuousness shall become the chamber of torture. •~ And I will kill her children with death." Those in whom she has propagated her foul character, under the cover of higher piety and deeper intelligence, shall meet with destruction. Death shall be their fate-the death of all that makes life worth having, "The wages of sin is death." "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for what- soever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.'' "I will give unto every one of you according t,o your works;" your works shall determine your doom. 2. The outcome <J/ ~ g()()d. Three great blessings are here stated as corning to such. (1) Freedom from future suffering. "But unto [to] you I say, and unto rto] the rest in [that are in] Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine [teaching], and which have not known [know not] the depths (deep things] of Satan,as they speak [say]; I will put [cast] upon yon none other burden." Whilst those whose impious Gnosticism, intolerant spirit and groBB sensuality would meet with anguish and death, all who were free from these abominations would be secure from future evil. "I will put [cast] upon you none other burden." You need not apprehend any future eviL Elsewhere we are told that "he will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on him." Another blessing is: (2) Elevation to true royalty. "But rhowbeit] that which ye have already hold fast till I come." Those who hold fast with an unrelaxing grasp all the good they had, triumphed over evil, and held on loyally to the end, shall have "power over the nations." .·What power? :Moral power-power over the minds and hearts of nations. He only is the true sovereign who governs minds and hearts. All other sovereignties are shams. The morally right has in it the highest elements of might. Right is might, and there }s none other. "He shall rule them with a rod of iron." Right is a rod of iron unbreakable and all-crushing, dashing to pieces, shivering into atoms all the kingdoms of error and wrong. He is the greatest king of his age who has the most truth and goodness in his soul; hence the "saints one day shall judge the world." Hail the period! merciful Heaven, hasten it I Another bllll!Sing is : (3) Inheritance of the highest possession. " I will give him the morning star." " :Morning star "-bright harbinger of a day whose skies shall have no cloud, whose atmosphere no storm, whose sun shall rise and set no more. Christ himself is the "Morning Star." This is the title he gives himself:" !'Jesus am the Root and Offspring of David, and the Bright and Morning Sta~ " The good man shall have Christ, and, possessing him, shall have more than the universe itself. "All things are yours," etc. Bo that out of the moral character of mankind will bloom their Paradise or Harne their hell. Therefore what we have good in ua let us not ODly " hold fast," but nourish into higher developments. Let us so culti- vate the" Divine tree" that its roots s~ll deepen, its :fibres strengthen, its branches mul- tiply, it& foliage become more magnificent,and its fruits more abundanteveryday.-D. T. Ver. 25.-0AriaWlfl. «uelknc,. "But that which ye have already hold fast till 1 eome." 'l'helle few words give us three ideas concerning Ohriatian excellence. 116 THE REVELATION 011' ST•. .JOHN THE DIVINE. [OIL ru; 1,..,...22,.