The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 115

. Ver. 4.-.-TM pre8fflt bleas«lneBS of the cons8Cf'tJkd lif11: a Whil Buntlay ""1'IMlft. "They shall walk with me in whit.e: for they are worthy.'' This is Whit Sunday, and · lts very name ea.mes us back in thought to the literal and impressive manner in which the Christian Church of the early centuries was wont to interpret our t.ext when she eelebrated the Feast of Pentecost. For it was at this feast--eo the Book of the Acts tella us-chat there were reaped for Christ and his Church those famous firstfmita of the harvest of converted men, which in the ages to come Christ's ministers should gather iD. On that day there were added to the Church some three thousand souls, who were all 1traightway baptized according to St. Pater's word, " Repent, and be baptised every one of you in the name of JesUB Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." The Day of Pentecost, therefore, became a chosen day in the early Church for the reoeption by baptism of converts to the Christian faith. On that day they who had liveil heretofore in Judaism or in heathenism were clothed in white robes, and gathered in numerous throngs at the baptisteries of the churches; there, with muaic and holy psalms, and with"many elaborate symbolic ceremonies. they received the initiatory rite of the Christian Church. But the most striking feature of the day was the procession of -white-robed candidates, and that ao fastened itself on the mind of the Church, that the day which commemorated _the Feast of Pentecost came to be called, as it is amongst us still, Whit or White Sunday, Alba Dominica, or the white Lord's day. Those who were on that day baptized had been counted worthy-for they had renounced heathenism or Judaism, and had confessed Christ-to be numbered amongst the Christian fellowship. And hence they were arrayed in white garments; for was it not written, "They shall walk , • , worthy"? And it is told how not· seldom these baptized ones would ever afterwards carefully preserve their white robe as a perpetual reminder of their vow of consecration to Christ, and at the last, when they lay down to die, thEiy would have it put on once more, and in it they would be buried. But whilst it is interesting to note how the mind of the ancient Church expressed by such symbolism its understanding of this word before ns, it is more important to us to get beneath the metaphor, and to ascertain its meaning for ourselves to-day, Aud that meaning is surely this-that the consecrated Christian life is a blessed life. The white robe of the baptraed told them, no doubt, of the character and responsibilities of that life; that its character was to be holy, and that tlieir responsibility and obligation were to strive after holiness, and to be cqntent with nothing less. But in our text it is not so much responsibility and obligation that are meant, but the blessedness of the Christian life. Let us speak, therefore- !. OJ' THE WORTHINESS WHICH WINS THE WHI'l'E BOBB. The few in Bardis who are to be counted worthy are they who, unlike the rest," have not defiled their garments;,. that is, the character, which is the vestment of the soul, and which they had received, they had kept undefiled. For a new character is given to him who truly comes to Christ; he is a new creature, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth him from all sin, 'l'his la no mere doctrine of theology, but a fact in Christian experience. For the mind in which we come to Christ is in nature, though not in degree, Christ's own mind-that mind of which his atoning death was the expression; the mind that condemns sin, that trusts in the forgiving love of God, and desires above all else the love of God. Such was the mind in which Christ died, and which was the real atonement, For the :mangled flesh of the Lord and the bleeding body had no atoning power save as they declared the mind which was in him. And it was a mind that could not but be infinitely acceptable to the Father, could not but have been a full. true, sufficient atonement, oblation, and satisfaction to his heart, the Father-heart of God. And because, when- ever we come reallycto God in Christ, the movements of our minds are in this same direction, and we come clothed in this mind, though it may be but imperfectly, yet because our mind is like in nature, though not in degree. to the perfect mind of Christ when he died for us, therefore are we accepted in him, and for his sake pardoned, and made possessors of a new character-his mind-which is the garment we are to keep undefiled, and which those who are counted worthy do keep undefiled. ll. o, Ts:.11: WHITE BOBB I'lULF. It tells : L 0/ purity. .. Blessed are the pure in  a Di. 1-21.] THB REVELATION OJ!' B'l'. JOHN, Tllll DIVnm. 129