CHAPTER III.

"AND unto the angel of the Church in Sardis write" (iii. 1). The city of Sardis was, too, in Asia Minor, but the Church in it is nowhere mentioned in Scripture but here; therefore we suppose there was such a Church, but the overreaching voice to it was to the fifth dispensation. It seems as though these almost unknown Churches were chosen as representatives, that the overreaching voice might be heard, the overreaching meaning recognised.

And mark well in these voices how the speaker presents himself under different characters. "These things saith He that hath the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars." We have said these " seven stars are the seven bishops, chief rulers or representatives of the priesthood-as Aaron and St. Peter; the One Eternal Spirit, or the seven spirits of the seven dispensations, are in the hand of God in the seven stars : "My Spirit shall not always strive with man.' (Genesis vi. 3.) Creation represents the mystery of God in His Church. "God made

two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: He made the stars also." Here is Christ, the Church, and the Priesthood duly represented. "And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness." (Gen. i. 16-18.) Great and glorious commission! To rule over the day of prosperity, and the dark night of calamity, as Noah did over the waters of the flood, as Christ did over the dark night of the powers of hell, and as the true Church must now rule over the dark night of the third vial, and divide the light from the darkness.

"God, which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble. Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars." (Job ix. 2, 5, 7.) "How, then, can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman? Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in His sight." (Job xxv. 4, 5.) "While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain." (Eccles. xii. 2; Isa. xiv. 13; Dan. viii. 10; Joel ii. 9, 10.) And it was prophesied of the house of Esau, of which we have shown Balaam to have been one, "Though thou set thy nest among

the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord" (Obad. 4); "These are wells without water" (2 Pet. ii. 17); "There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars" (Luke xxi. 25); "There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory." (1 Cor. xv. 41.) And, speaking of those who followed Balaam, St. Jude said, "These are wandering stars" (ver. 13). In the Bible all this figurative language has most definite meaning, and this glance at it will enable us to understand these 66 seven stars" in the hand of the Son of God; not the wandering stars of Christendom's broad extent, but those who "seek Him that maketh the seven stars and

Orion,"-glorious constellation! "He turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night." (Amos v. 8.)

"These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name, that thou livest, and art dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die; for I have not found thy works perfect before God." We must remember that this voice is to the Church of the fifth dispensation, after the conflict of the fourth dispensation, and after the night of the fourth vial; and it tells us to what a low estate she will have fallen before Christ shall return to

her, to restore her to honour and dignity. "When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?"

"Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white for they are worthy." God is not unmindful of our stedfastness and fidelity in the day of conflict and of blast, "for they are worthy." Christians arm yourselves to the fight, and receive the Divine commendation, "They are worthy."

"He that overcometh shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches."

"And to the angel of the Church in Philadelphia. write." Philadelphia was a city of Mysia, in Asia Minor, but there is no mention of the Church in it anywhere in the Bible; but here, therefore, the paramount voice to her must be to the sixth dispensation of the world's history. "These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth." As I have said before, Christ's spiritual presence is so completely one with his bodily presence, that it is very difficult to determine which of

the two is meant in many passages.

We have heard his voice before, "That which ye have, hold fast till I come; " and here, in the sixth Church, Christ seems to have resumed the keys of office and of government. He had committed them to Peter, but only till "the chief Shepherd should appear" (1 Epis. v. 4),-till the Shepherd and Bishop of souls should return. (ii. 25.) And here he seems to have done so; the power and government are again upon his shoulder. These insignia of office and of Government speak of the visible presence. And again, the promise is removed to those who had been faithful during the mighty conflict of the past, "Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth." This refers, no doubt, to the fiery trial of the sixth vial, for it is under the sixth seal we find the Church sealed before any other vial of wrath could be poured forth. "Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown." I think this refers to a crown of an earthly redemption. (xiv. 3, 4.) "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write