Revelation 2

Revelation 2:1-7

THE CHURCH AT EPHESUS Revelation 2:1-7IN beginning this series of talks on the “Seven Churches of Asia,” we appreciate the gravity of our task. Few portions of Scripture have excited so much of speculation as the Book of Revelation, and in that Book there are no chapters in the interpretation of which speculation has run more rife than the second and third—the chapters containing the Epistles to the Seven Churches. Men who are accustomed to study the Word of God in the more ordinary way of a cold reading habit insist that these Epistles pertain only to the local churches of the places named, and have no application beyond that which related to conditions existing in them. On the other hand, there is a school of Bible students who search diligently for prophecy in the sentences that seem to a superficial reader to be only practical, and for symbols, more than half-concealed in Scripture statement. This class see more in the Epistles to the “Seven Churches” than an endeavor to meet and improve the conditions of the then-local Church. Some members of this school, while not denying the practical application of the utterances of Revelation, see symbols in almost every sentence; read into the numbers employed a peculiar and definite meaning, and find in every picture drawn by the inspired penman a profound prophecy of things to come. A position somewhat midway between the man who would be pleased if you spoke of him as a practical student of the Word, and the one who would be equally delighted if you referred to him as an interpreter of prophecy—a seer of symbols is perhaps the sound one.Unquestionably the Epistles to the Seven Churches had, and were meant to have, a practical application to the times of John, and the local conditions in these seven cities. But it is equally clear that these Epistles are prophetic every one, and compass the different eras of the present age of the Church quite as accurately as they describe the conditions existing in the Seven Churches to which they were written. When we read, as we do, over and over again the Divine admonition, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches”, until the Divine penman has put this saying before us seven times, it would seem indeed that he regarded what he was writing as of the utmost importance; that he understood both its practical bearing and the prominent part it was to play as prophecy. And so, what God highly esteemed, let not man despise. We are to give seven hours to these church studies. It were better if we gave seventy to them, and better still if to them we gave 700.In order to have the most intelligent interest in the study of the Epistles to the Ephesian Christians, it might be well first of all to think a little ofTHE CITY OF THIS CHURCH “The Church of Ephesus” means, of course, the Church located in the city of Ephesus.As John stood on Patmos and looked northeast to that coast of Asia on, or near to which, these cities were located, Ephesus would naturally be first in his thought, because removed from him by the shortest distance.Its prominence, also, in size, as a commercial center, a seat of government, learning, wealth and religion would add reasons why his first Epistle should be addressed to it.The fact that Paul had lived there for two years, working miracles, preaching the Gospel with wonderful effectiveness, turning men from their idols to the Living God, witnessing a bonfire of evil books, worth, we are told, “fifty thousand pieces of silver”, and seeing Diana, her favorite goddess brought into such disrepute that the frightened silversmiths were compelled to come to the defense of their divinity, or suffer yet greater financial losses, all of which was known to John, would give emphasis to the Church at Ephesus.But, more important still, John himself had resided there, and ministered to that people. There Apollos had been converted, and there Timothy had had his home, and, according to the authenticated tradition, suffered his martyrdom at the hand of a mob whose anger he had excited by protests against the immorality of one of their great festivals.We will not speak now of the present Ephesus, because in our further study there will be occasion to make reference to its desolation. But, pass at once to the study of the Epistles addressed to the Church located in that city.First of all let us notice thatTHE CHURCH IS “These things saith He that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; “I know thy works”.It was commended for its good works! The Church at Ephesus was in business for Christ. If the churches of that section held an annual meeting, at which reports on work were rendered, the letter from Ephesus tabulated excellent results, meetings well attended, many baptisms, grand giving! Its members would have no need to search out some philosophy of church life and labor that would excuse and half commend a statistical report that gave little evidence of anything done.Have you never heard brethren say that statistics are not the best measure of a church’s life and power, that the operations of the Spirit cannot be so tabulated; and, have you never noticed, as Charles Spurgeon says, that “those who object to such figures are often brethren whose unsatisfactory reports should somewhat humiliate them!” “I heard the report of a church the other day,” said Spurgeon, “in which the minister who was well-known to have reduced his congregation to nothing, somewhat cleverly wrote, ‘Our church is looking up.’ When questioned with regard to this statement, he replied, ‘Everybody knows that the church is on its back and it cannot do anything else but look up.’ When churches are looking up in that way their pastors generally say that statistics are very delusive things, and that you cannot tabulate the work of the Spirit and calculate the prosperity of a church by figures.The Church at Ephesus was also commended for its patient persistence.“I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou * * “Hast borne, and hast patience, and for My Name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted”. There are few traits of conduct so essential to the life and growth of a church as that of patient persistence. The church, containing any considerable number of members who know at once how to be patient, and yet how to be persistent, is necessarily a favorite with the Father. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians in that wonderful 15th chapter of the First Epistle he concluded it by saying, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord”; and when he wrote to the Colossians, he expressed his joy in beholding their order, and the stedfastness of their faith in Christ.Years ago, I listened to Fred Smith, then International Evangelist in the Y. M. C. A.

He enjoyed hunting, and one season he had secured, in some way, two beautiful bird-dogs and was keeping them in his back-yard. On the morning after he had come into their possession, he was out looking at them when he saw, coming down the alley, a mean looking bobbed-eared bull-dog.

His first inclination was to call his setters into the basement and shut them up, but on second thought he said, “That fellow’s in for a fight, and I guess it is just as well to let him understand from the first that he can’t whip these two, and there will be an end to his attempt,” and, in an instant they were at it. After many tumbles the bull-dog was worsted and went over the fence to his home. In his master’s yard he lay all day licking his sores. But the next morning, at about the same hour, he put in an appearance, evidently ready to try it over. The result was the same, only he carried away more scars than he received in the first battle. The third day witnessed a repetition of the first and second, and Mr.

Smith, who had to go away on an evangelistic tour, left home well content that his pets were safe.When, after three weeks he returned, he inquired of his wife about the dogs and learned to his astonishment that this bobbed-eared fellow had continued his visits until he eventually conquered; and now, at the sight of his appearance, the setters would run, whining, into the cellar, while the bulldog took possession of the back-yard when he pleased, monarch of all upon which he set his foot. And said Smith, “While I regretted the result, I said, ‘Here’s a lesson in persistence.

Success is its fruit!’”In this battle for supremacy in the land, the Church of God would do well to learn from the dumb brute. Christians are too easily discouraged, too often discomfited, too readily overcome and conquered.The conquerors among them have been patient men and persevering men. Think of Dr. Judson in Burma. The treatment he received from the hands of those who were supposed to support him would have discouraged a weaker soul; the treatment he received from those to whom he carried the Gospel would have utterly discomfited the average Christian; the persecutions to which he was subjected; the imprisonment, under such frightful conditions, into which he fell; the sickness with which he was smitten—few sons of God, who, before it all, would have remained patient, and against it all persistent. Add to this the circumstance that he waited for years for his first convert, and what would have been the effect upon him and for Burma—now Asia’s brightest star— had he been less steadfast! Think of Morrison’s persistence in China, waiting seven years to receive the seal of God upon his ministry; and of Livingstone’s endurance in Africa, and you will not be surprised that the one superb trait of their characters was heartily commended of Christ Jesus when He discovered it in the saints at Ephesus. Oh, for church members who continue in the faith, grounded and settled, not to be moved away from the hope of the Gospel! Christ also commended this Church for its righteous discipline.“I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not hear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars”.The discipline of the early days is gone. The question with modern churches is not, How can we weed out imposters? but, How can we work in the world? We know of no more significant illustration along this line than that furnished by a certain Quadrennial Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, whose august bishops, and prominent pastors gave valued hours to the discussion of the question as to whether the articles aimed against card-playing, theater-going and dancing should be erased from the discipline. Personally, we are inclined to think that a faithful teaching of the Word of God will more speedily effect a separation of the Church from the world than whole volumes of law would ever bring to pass. And yet, when it is an open secret that the discipline must be changed, not that the walls between the Church and the world may go up higher, but rather that they may be laid more low, then the situation is sad indeed! The very oppositions to discipline evidence the necessity of its better enforcement. The whole world knows what a grand people Dr. Gordon had in Clarendon St. Church, Boston, and how its unworldliness was the secret of its evangelistic and missionary success. But we stumbled on the secret of its unworldliness when we found in the memoirs of Baron Stowe, Gordon’s predecessor, this statement, “A church cannot prosper that connives at sin in its members, and that charity that shrinks from plain, faithful dealing with offenders is false charity and deeply injurious. A straightforward course in discipline, in accordance with the rule laid down by the Saviour, is the only one that will insure His approbation.”As degenerate Israel had to be cast away for the reconciling of the world, so apostates from the faith must be cut off if the same reconciling of the world is to be accomplished. And the church which removes its dead branches will find the living ones more fruitful in consequence. But, passing to the next point in this Epistle we find THE CHURCH “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love”.His condemnation rests against falling away from first love. Has it never occurred to you that churches are almost always passing through experiences practically identical with those of the individual? We have come to understand that Satan does not surrender his purposes against the soul when it is saved, but only increases his temptation in the hope of diminishing the fervor of the young convert’s first love, and rendering him at least an indifferent Christian. And, with not a few he succeeds, so that when years have rolled by, years in which they ought to have been growing in grace, and in the knowledge of the Word, and in power for service, they have declined instead, and must join in William Cowper’s sad refrain, “Oh for a closer walk with God, A calm and heavenly frame;A light to shine upon the roadThat leads me to the Lamb!“Where is the blessedness, I knewWhen first I saw the Lord?Where is the soul-refreshing view Of Jesus and His Word?“What peaceful hours I then enjoyed, How sweet their memory still!But they have left an aching voidThe world can never fill.“Return, O Holy Dove return, Sweet messenger of rest; I hate the sins that made Thee mournAnd drove Thee from my breast!“The dearest idol I have known Whatever that idol be;Help me to tear it from Thy throne, And worship only Thee.”As we have suggested, the experience of a church parallels that of the individual. Have you never noted that the finest fervor to be found among churches exists in the one organized but yesterday? Its membership is small, but they are soul-winners; and they are poor, but liberal givers. When a few years hence the church has grown great the proportion of those who watch for souls will be smaller, while the proportion of those who are conscious of their stewardship, smaller still. What does it mean? Falling away from first love! The secret of that declension is an open one. It is the Nicolaitanism or worldliness that works this result. In proportion as the church grows greater and takes on outward beauty, she is attractive to the world, and courted by the world. And, when the world comes in like a flood, the old love to Christ must give place to divided affections, and ere long Christ will be saying of those who once were devoted to Him, as Paul wrote of a brother who had once given great promise, “Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world”. That is why John wrote, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world”.He had learned the great truth which Satan successfully conceals from so many, namely, “If my man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him”.When He that walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks had commended the good in the Church and had condemned its declension from first love, He did yet another thing— HE THIS CHURCHHear what He has to say, “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will dome unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent”There is such a thing as repentance on the part of a church. There is such a thing as a church’s seeing its faults, coming face to face with its sins, as an individual comes face to face with his sins. I don’t know why, when a church finds itself declining in power, it should not search itself to see if there be any evil way in it. I don’t know why, when a church finds itself becoming barren, it should not conclude that something is radically wrong, and give itself to prayer and the exercise of repentance, just as the individual does. When, for instance, it comes up to the end of the year with few souls saved, why should it seek to cover up its sin by saying, “We believe more in the culture and development of character. Instead of getting in a multitude, we are trying to build up those we have,” when the very members that make such remarks know that the mightiest oaks are found in the thickest forests, that great statesmen, poets and preachers have seldom been solitary children, and the great laymen whose lives have mostly honored the cause of Christ are commonly bred in an atmosphere that is at once evangelistic and missionary? When I hear churches at prayer for more power, and yet fail to detect in their pleadings any overwhelming conviction of sin, I often think of a story told by Dr. Galusha Anderson. He said that in the winter of 1876 and ’77, when Mr. Moody was holding his meetings in the Great Tabernacle of Chicago, he became interested in the spiritual welfare of a man who was between 30 and 40 years of age, familiarly known to his companions as “George.” Dr. Anderson aided him in securing employment, but he proved faithless to his charge as a telegraph operator, and was dismissed. At a later time, when Anderson was talking with a man about his employment, the man, who had known George well, replied that he would be glad to give him a place, if only he remained sober.

Immediately George spoke in his own defense, declaring that when he was in Cleveland his companions had a bad influence upon him, and had led him astray. “If it had not been for them I would not have drunk, but now” Here the Superintendent broke in, saying, “Oh, George, have you repented? Do you really think you have? Don’t deceive yourself! You will have to get down flatter on your face than that. No man ever yet repented while continuing to excuse his sins.” And the principle laid down by that superintendent of a telegraph office applies as perfectly to the church as to the individual. When the barren church confesses her sin, and lays it before God without any excuse, she will be in a position to claim the promise, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”. The fruit of such repentance is power! Christ also gave this Church to understand that it was repentance or removal.“Repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent”.That is the parable of the barren fig tree repeated in the Epistle to the Church at Ephesus. If that Which God has planted for a Tree of Life, whose leaves are to be for healing, proves itself capable of merely casting a shade, why should it be left to cumber the ground? I often think of what Dr. A. J. Gordon said, when on one occasion he was discussing the destitution of a spiritual life in the city of Boston. “Ecclesiastical corpses lie all about us. The caskets in which they repose are lined with satin, and are decorated with solid silver handles and abundant flowers, and like other caskets they are just large enough for their occupants, with no room for strangers. These churches have died of respectability, and been embalmed in self-complacency. If, by the grace of God this church is alive (referring to the Clarendon St.) be warned to use your opportunity, or the feet of them that buried thy sisters will be at the door and carry thee out.” It would be difficult to tell today how many churches may remain great and overspreading in their proportions, yet bearing no fruit for a hungry Christ, who hold their places because some gardener of His has said, “Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: and if it bear fruit, well; and if not, then after that Thou shalt cut it down”.But we do not know that He who is the same yesterday, today and forever has not changed the conditions under which a church has any right to remain on the earth? It must be fruitful, and, if fruitless, it has its choice between reformation and removal. But, whatever the church may do, the individual Christian is always accorded an opportunity to overcome.“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God”.Dr. Joseph Parker in his “People’s Bible,” says, “ ‘Overcometh’—the word tells of battle and of victory; ‘eat’—the word tells of appetite; desire is in this word and desire satisfied; ‘the Tree of Life’ —these words are old. We met them on the first page of the Bible—’the Tree of Life’—and now that we come to the last pages again we hear the rustle of their amaranthine leaves * *. Shall we assemble around that central tree? We cannot do so until we have assembled around the Cross. The Cross is at once our Tree of Death and our Tree of Life.

The Cross is but the earthly name of yonder tree in Heaven * *. And yonder tree is but the Cross in the genial summer of the better land, bursting into leaf, blushing into blossom, struggling into fruit; and I tell you that you can never stand beneath its branches until you have touched it in its old name—the Cross! the Cross! and having done so, you shall by-and-by approach the eternal tree, and you shall eat its precious fruit, and that fruit will be all the better for having been plucked and offered by your Brother’s hand.”

Revelation 2:8-11

THE CHURCH AT SMYRNA Revelation 2:8-11IN speaking to you touching the Church at Ephesus, it was suggested as a possible explanation of its having the first place in these Epistles to the Churches, that it had been the residence of the Apostle Paul for three years, and in addition was the home of the Apostle John in the latter days of his life, and the field of his later ministry. It was also a Church of importance, and by its strength of numbers, as well as its spiritual power, was entitled to prominence. The Church at Smyrna was in the place next nearest to Patmos, and in its strength it was second to that at Ephesus. This city of Smyrna, situated at the head of a beautiful bay about forty miles northwest of Ephesus, still exists, and is a commercial center today, from which railroads radiate much after the fashion of our modern western cities. In its early days it was one of the most beautiful cities of the Orient, celebrated for its games, its library, its temples, and its sacred festivals. It is probable that Paul preached the Gospel there and founded a church while acting Pastor at Ephesus; and according to what seems an authoritative tradition, Polycarp was for a long time the Bishop of Smyrna, and suffered his martyrdom in that place, after eighty-six years of loyal service to God. His death was the earnest of the persecutions to come, for it was Smyrna, the hillside of Pagis, on which Polycarp was burned, that Diocletian reddened with the blood of more than 2, 000 martyrs in the first days of the fourth century. Such was and is the city in which was located the Church to whose Angel, or Bishop, the Spirit-guided John wrote, “These things saith the First and the Last, which was dead, and is alive;“I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.“Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death”.For the Church at Ephesus Christ has His commendations, His criticisms, and His counsels; and for the Church at Smyrna He has comfort, encouragement and a crown. COMFORT“I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them that say they are Jews”.“I know”, as Joseph Parker says, “Christ assures His people that He is intimately acquainted with every feature of their history”. It is something to know that every wound, every pang, every sorrow we endure for Christ is perfectly known to Him, who carried our sorrows and bare our sicknesses. How deep-so-ever the secrecy in which your tears are showered, the eye of Jesus is full upon you in every crisis of woe, and, when, in the bitterness of imagined solitude, you exclaim, ‘Oh that I knew where I might find Him’! He reveals Himself through the darkness of your grief and says with His own infinite tenderness, ‘I know’, ‘I know’! Is that not enough?” There is comfort in, His knowledge of one’s service. Every worker is a more effective one because of the eyes that are upon him; the eyes of his enemies spur him to strenuous endeavor, while the eyes of his friends inspire him for the most magnificent undertaking. Some of you have read Dr. Gordon’s book on “How Christ Came to Church,” the dream or vision of that good man, in which he thought he saw Jesus Christ in his church, sitting in the pew before him, with His loving, penetrating eyes full upon him; and you know how profound was the impression of that dream, and what a marked change it made in Gordon’s ministry, because it brought him face to face with the fact that the Master’s eyes were constantly upon him. It impressed the statement of this text, namely, that touching everything he did Christ could say; yea, Christ was saying, “I know! I know all about your service. I know when it is faithful; I know when it is deficient. I know when it is sincere; I know when it is shallow.

I know when it is Spirit-inspired and Spirit-guided, and I know when it is selfishly rendered. I know.”Ah, beloved, if we keep those two words in mind, they must have their effect in all our work. When Phidias was working on the statue of Diana for the Acropolis at Athens, he was perfecting her hair, bringing out with the keen edge of his chisel every line and filament, when a passer-by said, “What is the use of such painstaking with that part of the work? That statue is to go up a hundred feet high, and the back of the head will be toward the wall and nobody can see it.” To this criticism Phidias replied, “The gods will see it,” and he carved on. Beloved, when tempted to leave any work deficient, and Satan shall whisper of the deficiency, “Nobody will know,” listen, and hear the Son of God saying, “I know”. “I know thy works”. And when, with painstaking you have perfected something; some plan, some project, and the public seems unappreciative, and your heart is tempted to grow sore, listen again and be comforted by the words of the Christ, “I know thy works”.There is here, also, solace for your suffering.“I know thy * * tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan”.I recall that when a little boy and any trouble overtook me, I could bear it much more bravely after my mother knew it; and, if in the silent watches of the night, sickness was smiting, it was so much easier to endure when sure that she was awake and watching. When we come to the years of maturity, somebody else takes the mother’s place and the place of father—the sympathetic brother or sister, or more likely, the husband or wife! To these we look, and if there come tribulations, if poverty overtakes us, if somebody blasphemes our name, we are comforted after we have confided, and are assured that they know. But, to the Christian, the assurance that He— Christ knows our every tribulation, our every trial, our every temptation, should be the sweetest comfort. Henry Ward Beecher said, “What cares the child when the mother rocks it, though all storms beat without? So we, if God doth shield and tend us, shall be heedless of the tempests, and blasts of life, blow they ever so rudely.”

Christ’s knowledge of us is also the basis of the Christian’s courage. It puts him above his poverty. When John, guided by the Holy Ghost, penned these words, “I know thy * * poverty”, he was anticipating a time to come, when, through persecution, the faithful should be poverty-stricken, even as it was in the reign of Diocletian, and to a degree had been from the very first. He put into parenthesis here the uplifting sentence, (“but thou art rich”). He would take the thought from the dry crust of bread, and the cup of water, upon which the persecuted Christian had to subsist and turn it to that “inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for you”. The question of riches and poverty is not merely one of money or its equivalent. “A man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth”; the good man possesses that which is more to be prized than gold; the humblest servant of Jesus Christ, who is loyal and loving, has treasures better than silver. True riches are more a question of morals than of money, of sincerity and godliness than of silver and gold. This Church at Smyrna was poor in material wealth, but Christ declared her “rich”. Was He not right? Paradoxical as this parenthesis seems, it speaks an evident truth. The father of Jeremy Taylor was a poor barber, but was he not rich in his boy, destined to become the great preacher? The father of George Fox was a plain shoemaker, skimped in domestic necessities. Was he not rich in his son? The father of Haydn was a poor carpenter, but if you would know what wealth was in his house, ask the lovers of music! We might also mention those men who brought up, as their own boys, John Bunyan, Zwingle, Luther, Buchanan, and others; but what need? Of every Christian, and of every church, that is faithful in service, affectionate in spirit, and consistent in conduct, Christ is saying, “Thou art rich”, and by that sentence is putting him and it above all poverty. Christ’s knowledge of us prepares us against persecution.“I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not; but are the synagogue of Satan”. In this Church there were men and women who claimed to be God’s own, who pretended to special favor for the Father, but who were blasphemers and persecutors; and to those tempted to despair, on account of these evil tongues, tempted to give up hope on account of these hypocrites, Christ said, Remember! “I know”. And, only in proportion as men rise to that realization do they find it possible to act on that part of the sermon on the mount which says, “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake.“Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in Heaven: for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you”.Christ’s knowledge of us should possess us with patience.“Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death”.I have no doubt that Christ who knows the end from the beginning, knew of the persecutions that would eventually fall to His people; persecutions that would tear them, and tempt them to impatience and hopelessness. But He encourages to patience instead, by reminding them that their sufferings would be shortly at an end. It is supposed by many that the ten days here were typical of the ten years, beginning with 303 when Bibles were burned, Christian churches were utterly destroyed, Christian officers in state and army were compelled to sacrifice to the gods or forfeit their positions, and Christian worshipers might be killed by whoever took pleasure in shedding their blood. But Christ means to say, “What of it? Ten years will soon pass and your light affliction, which will be but for a moment will work out for you a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” We are quite inclined to the notion that eight frightful persecutions have already stained the pages of history with martyrs’ blood. Russia is now enacting the ninth, millions having perished under Bolshevism, and only the final tribulation remains to bring the tenth. But, this text has a present-day application. I know not what your trouble may be, but He knows. If it is a physical infirmity, He knows; if it is an affair of business, touching which the cloud that was once no larger than a man’s hand has now overspread the sky, throwing its deepest shadows across your path, He knows. If it is an affair of the home, unfaithfulness, or intemperance, or incompatibility, He knows. Whatever it is, He is saying, “Ten days and it will be over,” and when the shadows are past, the sun will shine again, and the very sorrow whose bitter dregs you have had to drink, will prepare you the better for the angel-food God has prepared for His suffering ones. Patience!

Your Master has been under the deeper shadows and the more dreadful sorrows, and coming out of it all into the open; out of disappointments, out of blasphemies, out of persecutions, out of the shadows of Gethsemane, out of the sufferings of Calvary, out of the chill of Joseph’s tomb into the sweet fellowship of the Father. He says, “Be of good cheer; I have overcome”. By My grace ye can, ye will. CROWNAh, there are compensations with Christ. For the man of tribulation, and of poverty, the man who has endured blasphemy, who has suffered imprisonment, there is compensation, provided he remains faithful. Christ has said it. “I will give thee a crown of life”.Yes, it is a crown of life; no crown of gold, no crown of diamonds. These are dead and valueless things. When I get to Heaven, I do not expect to be wearing a crown of gold, studded with precious stones, any more than I expect, while yet on earth, to do the same. If they gave me one, I should not want to wear it. Instead of casting it at Christ’s feet, I think I would fling it down to earth, in the hope that some saintly man would lay hold of it and sell it to the jeweler’s and use the results to preach the Gospel to dying men. But, the “crown of life”—that is a different thing. That is the thing that is promised. LIFE! That is a precious thing. Life, with all of its potencies, all of its possibilities, all of its opportunities! Life, with all of its service, with all of its sanctities! Ah, that is the crown I covet! I believe with Dr. John Watson that there is a science of life. “No man can afford to neglect his body or mind. He is bound to live clearly and think clearly under penalty of life-failure. But it is within his soul that he comes to his full height, for it is there he touches the unseen and has fellowship with God. Religion is the same thing to the soul that health is to the body and culture to the mind. It is life in excelsis.

The perfection and fruition of our purest and most delicate instincts, the consecration and crown of our whole being.” This is the crown Christ wants to give us. “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly”.This crown of life is Christ’s gift.“I will give unto thee a crown of life”.Oh, men and women, hungering for a higher life, a life larger in usefulness; a life sweeter in spirit; a life more saintly in conduct; a life more Christlike in character; a life that shall bless everything beneath it as the clouds do; a life that shall contribute to everything above it, as does our old mother earth. This can come from Christ alone. It is His crown of blessing. It is His best gift, and it is so great a boon that none but the very God can grant it; but He offers it. The beginnings of that boon may be today, but the end of that blessing even eternity can never fully reveal, and the condition of the crown of life is, “Be thou faithful”.But, beloved, before I finish, let us attend to the last sentence, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death”.Jesus means to say that His children shall never be spoiled of this invaluable possession of life. The first death may come, and strike down the body, but the second death shall leave unhurt the soul, or life, of the consecrated. When Christ gives us the crown of life, He puts us into possession of a talisman against the second death. When He arose from the grave, He accomplished for His own an everlasting conquest. When He arose from the tomb, He triumphed not only over it, but over that last enemy—death, who would fain have sent Him through it to hell. And the crown of life which He gives to His own is nothing other than the right to share with Him in that all-glorious victory over death, and what a victory it will be!

Revelation 2:12-13

THE CHURCH AT Revelation 2:12-13(Preached during the World War) IN the Old World great metropolitan centers are being converted into heaps of ruins, and even their sanctuaries are not escaping the ravages of war; but, are perishing rather with the cities themselves. In our own land the walless cities seem all undisturbed, and their most characteristic sign is the multitude of church spires. And yet, American cities are little more safe than are those of Europe and Western Asia. Our menace is not as yet the modern cannon, but rather our increasing immorality, born as it is of unprecedented material progress. “Here is the moral of all human tales, ’Tis but the sum rehearsed of the past, First freedom, and then glory—when that fails, Wealth, vice, corruption, pauperism at last.” If the author of this text had known New York, Cleveland, Chicago, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and other American cities, and at the same time had been speaking of the Calvary Baptist Church, New York, or Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, or of Immanuel, Chicago, or of the First, Minneapolis, or of the Auditorium Temple, Los Angeles, he would have had no occasion to change more than one word, and that would have been to supplant Pergamos by the name of the more modern and American city. The text, like all Scripture, is up to date; and the instruction and appeal like that which characterizes all inspiration is pertinent. It involves the Speech of God’s Son, The Seat of God’s Adversary, and the Stedfastness of God’s Servant. THE SPEECH OF GOD’S SON This is a part of a letter to a city pastor, and its Author is not John, but Jesus. It is a message from the glorified Man. The moment before, John had looked upon Him; now he tells us he is listening to Him. The sight was that of the glorified Man— “One like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.“His head and His hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and His eyes were as a flame of fire;“And His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and His voice as the sound of many waters.“And He had in His right hand seven stars: and out of His mouth went a sharp two edged sword: and His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength”.That is not the picture of a mortal! Nor is it the presentation of a mere immortal. Christ was more than a man! Christ was more than risen man. He was the God-man; hence the glorified Man! In the language of Campbell Morgan, “Not God indwelling man; of such there have been a multitude; not a man deified, of such there have been none except in Pagan thought; but God in man, combining in one the two natures; a perpetual enigma and mystery, baffling human thought.” And yet to be accepted as such, or the world is still without a Saviour.

His speech, therefore, is not in the highest of human wisdom; it is the expression of wisdom Divine. A message from Him, therefore, is not the most important message: it is the only important one.” “See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh * * from Heaven”.

Forget not the Father’s injunction, “Hear ye Him”!“Hushed be the noise and strife of the schools, Volume and pamphlet, sermon and speech, The lips of the wise and the prattle of fools, Let the Son of Man teach.”His speech is symbolized by a two edged sword.“These things saith He that hath the sharp sword with two edges”.How this harks back to the opening vision “Out of His mouth went a sharp two edged sword” (Revelation 1:16). It is a marvel—No, it is most natural that men writing by inspiration should speak together. Paul, addressing the Ephesian Christians and urging the whole armor of God, gives the place of climax to “the sword of the Spirit”, which, says he, is “the Word of God”. And the same Apostle, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, says of that Sword, that it is “quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword”. There is little kinship between the mouth of that minister who constantly indulges in “smooth things” and the message of the glorified Man, symbolized by the “sharp two edged sword”. The effect of the former is that of a sleeping potion; the result of the latter that of a quickening goad. The first results in spiritual death and the second in accelerated life. Quite often church members choose minister and sanctuary with these facts in mind. The man who wants to be at ease in Zion, the man who tells you that after six days of hard work, characterized by the disagreeable and the disconcerting, he wants, on the seventh to find in God’s House both creature comfort and moral consolation, will seek the man of “smooth words” e’en though the pen of inspiration has already indicted him with “prophesying deceit”. But the man who, realizing the sacrifice with which his own soul has been purchased, stands ready to throw himself into an active service, will never avoid the two-edged sword; but, in the language of Samuel of old, will be saying, “Speak, Lord; for Thy servant heareth”.The special subject of this speech is the city church.“To the angel of the Church in Pergamos write”.The “angel” of this Church was its pastor. The Son of God will speak to every minister; but that He has a special message to the metropolitan pastor is past dispute. When, some years since, the “Delineator”, asked the question, “What is the matter with the churches?” it wisely requested city pastors to answer. That is not because country churches are without their defects; nor yet because country pastors have no opinions that are worth printing, but it is because the city-center has created the greatest problems of present-day Christianity. It is interesting to read the replies appearing in that magazine at that time. Cardinal Gibbons declared that the fault was in “the falling away from church attendance,” and the remedy, “the giving to the people some spiritual gift,” some good which would be impossible for them to get elsewhere. Chas. H. Parkhurst thought that an obliteration of “the lines between the clergy and the laity,” a change at least in the conditions of church membership, and an overlooking of “doctrinal differences” would materially aid. Josiah Strong pled for a “social gospel” and an emphasis upon the social work of the church. Len Broughton advocated a better knowledge of the Scriptures and a declaration of the faith once for all delivered. Naturally Charles Aked wanted “new theology,” while Russell Conwell urged “an active religion vs. a passive one” and an “open house vs. a sexton whose chief occupation was to keep the neighborhood children off the steps on the week-days and out of the vestibule on the Sabbath.” The very variety of opinion is proof positive that even the “angels”—or pastors, —of the churches are not bringing their wisdom from the same source; and it presents rather a poor prospect for the immediate solution of our present problems. I suspect, after all, we will have to turn from the counsels of men to the Christ of God, and let Him speak: “Who has the key of the future but He?Who can unravel the knots of the skein?We have groaned and travailed and sought to be free:We have travailed in vain.“Bewildered, dejected, and prone to despair, To Him as at first do we turn and beseech Our ears are all open! Give heed to our prayer!O Son of Man, teach!”Only in the speech of this glorified Man will we ever find the solution of our city church problems. But someone says, “Why speak exclusively of the city church?” For two reasons; first, to set some limitations upon the discourse, and secondly, to present, upon this important occasion, the more important subject. The city church holds the fate of Christianity. Aye, more, the downtown church will determine success or failure for the future. That is suggested by our text. THE SEAT OF GOD’S “I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is”.It was in ancient Pergamos: it is in the middle of the modern metropolis. It is an undisputed fact that the heart of every considerable city, the world over, is being increasingly surrendered to Satan. What we call the downtown district is more and more marked by one general characteristic—it is not only the commercial mart, but the moral sink. It is not only the center to which the crowds go, but where crime flourishes. Evolution contends that as men increase in the earth they rise in morals. History demonstrates that as human contact and fellowship increases corruption results.

The final result is a deliberate adoption of a “Red Light” district, which is no more nor less than consent that immorality must characterize the city’s center; and that neither legislation, moral administration, nor police regulation can drive the grosser sins from the city’s heart. We practically draw up and sign a contract with the devil, ceding over to him the most central and crowded section of every metropolis. Without a blush, or even sense of shame, the churches retreat before this adversary; and when the devil boasts his victories, with true Teutonic astuteness we explain that we are not retreating at all, but only shortening and strengthening our battle line. And yet, Scripture and science speak together in this language, out of the heart “are the issues of life”, and the Church of God ought to know that the heart of a city will finally determine the city’s character. If surrendered, therefore, to the adversary, that he may there establish his throne, it is defeat for Christianity whether we confess it or not! The armies that are locked in deadly combat today are fighting for one thing and one thing only, and that is vantage point. They know perfectly well that location determines everything. It is none the less true in our conflict with the forces of evil. Almost without exception the Church has at some time held the very heart of every American city. I never think of the battle that wages there without wishing for Christ’s men the disposition of the Confederate soldiers of whom my revered teacher Basil Manley used to tell. He said, “One day after a most bloody battle of the Civil War, a little company of these soldiers—a miserable remnant of their regiment—were found upon a knoll, and an officer riding up asked, ‘Where is your Captain?’ One of them lifted a finger toward the prostrate form of young Poindexter, and said, ‘There he lies.’ ‘And what are you doing here?’ ‘Doing what he told us. He said this was a vantage point and for us to hold it or die.’ ‘Officer, we are doing what he said!’” The commission for the true Church of God is voiced in two of Christ’s great commands. One of these we are still striving to regard: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptising them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost”.The other is too often forgotten: “Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind”.You will not find these, in any great companies, in your city out-skirts and resident districts; but their number is multiplied at the metropolis center. We know the meaning of our commission. The church that proposes to take up an offering for foreign missions and yet forsake the dark hole in its own city is truant to its call. There is not an argument in favor of endeavor in darkest Africa that will not demand a like endeavor in darkest New York. There is not an appeal for debased India that is not equally urgent for the neglected of Chicago, or the degraded of China that does not apply to the over-looked of Cleveland, of the sin-stricken of Manchuria that is not as essential to the sin-stained of Minneapolis. For the Church of God to suppose that it can escape the unpleasant task of working with the wicked at home and the unpalatable contact with the submerged here, and condone the offense by gifts so far from home, that its dainty fingers are not stained, shows that it has missed the whole command of Christ and rejected its known commission. The satanic forces of the city’s center are at once an affront and challenge to the Church of God. It is there we find the most sensuous stage, a stage the putridity of which is conceded by all save moral perverts. It is there we find the lawless blind-pig—an institution that is, in both nature and character, as devilish as is the devil himself. It is there we discover the social slums, which is only another name for satanic slime. And if the devil can get also into the downtown “the theological skeptic” he has in the four—the sensuous stage, the lawless saloon, the social slums and the theological skeptic—the four corner-stones by which his throne is both steadied and made stable. What a challenge then! Shall the allied nations, marching against fortified strongholds, determined to take them at any cost, shame the allies of Christianity? Will the Church forget the example of the little Japanese who, when they warred against Russia, took their way to Meter Hill and added onslaught to onslaught until it was taken and Port Arthur was compelled to capitulate? When I consider the history we are making at city centers I want to hang my head for sheer shame! We have fired our little pop guns against the adversary’s gibraltars, and when they did not crumble at the touch of the wad, and all of his minions did not desert their trenches at the sound of the escape of compressed air, we have said, “His throne is safe, and his seat is established, and our only safety is in retreat.” Lest my figure should not be understood I will try to make it plain. An ordinary church, open for a small prayer meeting and for poorly attended Sunday services, located at the city center, is little more than a pop gun attack on Satan’s seat. The forces of evil hardly frown at it; they laugh rather! What we need is an adequate equipment and an adequate attempt at the downtown problem. Practically every large city in the country is now the location of some church that is costing a million and more; but sad to say it is in the best residential section, and often times is simply an expression of pride, a new manifestation of aristocracy! The million dollar house at the heart of every city, open from early morning until late at night, meeting the social demands of its immediate vicinity, preaching the Gospel of the Son of God, not twice a week, but every day in the week, and many times in a day, is the immediate demand of our times, and it is, in the judgment of some of us, the only hope for the city’s heart. Modern warfare demands modern machinery and modern methods; that the middle of the metropolis may be wrested from satanic control and presented to the crucified Christ by a conquering people. I confess to you that I stand all amazed that men give their money in large amounts to matters of lesser moment and overlook the opportunity of all opportunities—a great downtown dominating church, the devil’s dread; it ought therefore to be the Christian’s determination. Think of what Tremont Temple has meant for Boston and New England, and let the memory of Lorimer never perish from the face of the earth; but rather, multiply his endeavor to redeem New York, and redeem Chicago, and hold our lesser cities against the day of needed redemption. It is high time that men who have magnified their own private enterprises should cease to minimize the church. And it is equally important that churches that expect the assistance of great business men should plan and put into operation enterprises big enough to engage at least their respect. But I pass to the concluding phrase of our text, and suggest, as it does— THE OF GOD’S “Thou boldest fast My Name, and has not denied My faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth”.Let no man imagine that an adequate plant would give promise of redemption for the metropolis. That would provide only a center of operations, a seat of possible power. If the city is to be saved it must be by a message and by a man, rather than by any mechanical devices constructible or even conceivable. The importance of personality is universally conceded! In the last analysis a man is the center of every movement worth while, and is the solution of every important problem. But in the case of Christianity, and in the work of the Church of God, he is a man with a definite message, and that message will run along the exact lines of this text. No metropolis will ever be profoundly influenced for Christianity by a man who fails in either of the three particulars here mentioned. He must hold fast Christ’s Name! He must retain Christ’s faith! He must stand ready to know self-sacrifice. He must hold fast Christ’s Name. Christ’s Name is the storm center of modern skepticism. The downtown preacher is himself determined and his ministry is forever to be gauged by the uses to which he puts that Name. If, in keeping with the Scripture, he presents it as the One and only Name “under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” the Holy Spirit is committed to honor that ministry. If, on the other hand, he converts it into an interrogation point, and tells his auditors that we know little of Christ, that in all probability He was the son of Joseph, that His miracles are not in line with modern science, that His resurrection is not determined, that His Coming in power and glory to reign from sea to sea is a Judaistic dream adopted by modern visionaires, the Christian impress made will be no more positive in any other metropolis than it has been in San Francisco. The day we surrender the Christ of equality with God our Christianity is doomed, and our churches are without inspiration or commission.

Truly, as Henry Van Dyke, in his “The Gospel for an Age of Doubt” says, “The unveiling of the Father in Christ was, and continued to be, and still is, the Palladium of Christianity. All who have surrendered it, for whatever reason, have been dispersed and scattered: all who have defended it, in whatever method, have been held fast in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.” His Name, and that alone, is the only justification for the existence of a Church; and the exaltation of that Name over every name is the solitary condition upon which God will set that seal of the Spirit which alone insures success. He must also retain Christ’s faith. Even as the Pergamites did. “The faith of Christ” is another thing from “faith in Christ.” Faith in Christ is essential to our salvation; the faith of Christ is the basis of our teaching. These are days of demands for abbreviated creeds. Even as brilliant a man as John Watson was caught by this far-cry and in “The Mind of the Master” he suggested the following foundation for a spiritual life: “I believe in the Fatherhood of God; I believe in the words of Jesus; I believe in the clean heart. I believe in the service of love. I believe in the unworldly life. I believe in the beatitudes. I promise to trust God and follow Christ, to forgive my enemies and to seek after the righteousness of God.” But a moment’s reflection shows that one must go farther than this.

It will not do to say, “I believe in the Fatherhood of God”—you have to define what the “Fatherhood of God” is; nor yet to say, “I believe in the words of Jesus.” That commits one to the whole creed of Jesus’ teaching, and if he be intelligent, he must know that creed and instruct in that creed, and he will shortly be back to the old position of orthodoxy, namely, “The Word of God the only rule of faith and practice.” No man can read the words of Jesus without finding out that His faith accepted, he is committed to the inspiration of the Pentateuch and the authorship of Moses. His faith appropriated the Psalms are from above. His faith rejoiced in the Prophets as Divine spokesmen. His faith anticipated the Apostles and their Spirit-inspired messages. However great, therefore, our desire to avoid contention and to exhibit to the world good nature, we dare not tolerate those deadly heresies which deny the authority and integrity of God’s Word, write an interrogation point after the history of Jesus, and even dispute the wisdom of His speech. As the great Dr. Lorimer once said, “Our Lord Himself was not slow to answer His adversaries. The Apostles were polemics. The early Christians had their elaborate defenses. I question whether any assault has been checked by allowing it to continue unopposed. Truth is mighty, but it is not mighty when it skulks. Never has it prevailed, and never can it prevail until it bravely meets the enemy face to face.” That battle fought, truth is more than conqueror, and the man who preaches it in the heart of the metropolis, and that man alone, will hold the crowd and build up a church that shall uncrown and discomfit the adversary. But, as afore suggested, He must stand ready for self-sacrifice. Antipas, Christ’s witness in Pergamos, was killed “where Satan dwelleth”.No man is fit to undertake the problem at the city center whose first proposition is to save himself. All such men are illustrations of the declaration of the Lord, “He that findeth his life shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it”. It is no place for the man who prides himself on his meekness. It is a poor place for the man who boasts his mental balance and talks in terms of toleration and gospelizes about “Gentleness.” “Moderation” is a poor watchword for the middle of the metropolis. A man needs the convictions of a Luther, the enthusiasm of a Wyclif, the hard-heartedness of a Hus, the unyielding stubbornness of a Savonarola, and the Scriptural bigotry of a Spurgeon. But to them all he needs still more to add a willingness to sacrifice himself for the city’s sake, and die if need be, in body, that men who are dead in soul may live in Spirit. But a sacrifice however great has no merit whatever except it be made in exalting Christ and presenting Him to the people and seeking His acceptance, since “There is none other name under Heaven given among men” whereby the city can be saved. The reading public is fairly familiar with the eloquent words of Joseph Cook on “The Ultimate of America”. Once in the blue midnight, in my study on Beacon Hill, in Boston, I fell into long thought as I looked out on the land and on the sea; and passing through the gate of dreams, I saw the angel having charge of America stand in the air, above the continent, and his wings shadowed either shore. Around him were gathered all who at Valley Forge, and at Andersonville, and the other sacred places, suffered for the preservation of a virtuous Republic; and they conversed of what was, and is, and is to be. There was about the angel a multitude whom no man could number, of all nations and kindreds and tribes and tongues; and their voices were as the sound of many waters. And I heard thunderings and saw lightnings; but the face of the angel was above the brightness of the lightnings, and the majesty of his words above that of the thunders. “Then came forth before the angel three spirits, whose garments were as white as the light; and I saw not their faces, but I heard the ten-thousand-times ten-thousand call them by names known on earth—Washington and Lincoln and Garfield. And behind them stood Hampden and Tell and Miltiades and Leonidas and a multitude who had scars and crowns. And they said to the angel, ‘We will go on earth and teach the diffusion of liberty. We will heal America by equality.’ And the angel said, ‘Go. You will be efficient, but not sufficient!’ Meanwhile under emigrant wharves, and under the hovels of the perishing poor, and under crowded factories, and under the poisonous alleys of great cities, I heard, far in the subterranean depths, the black angel’s laugh. “Then came forward before the angel three other spirits, whose garments were white as the light, and I saw not their faces, but I heard the ten-thousand-times-ten-thousand call them by names known on earth—Franklin and Hamilton and Irving. And behind them stood Pestalozzi and Shakespeare and Bacon and Aristotle and a multitude who had scrolls and crowns. And they said to the angel, ‘We will go on earth and teach diffusion of intelligence. We will heal America by knowledge.’ And the angel said, ‘Go. You will be efficient, but not sufficient.’ “Meanwhile, under emigrant wharves and crowded factories, and under Washington, and under scheming conclaves of men acute and unscrupulous, and under many newspaper presses, and beneath Wall Street, and under the poisonous alleys of great cities, I heard the black angel’s laugh. “Then came forward before the angel three other spirits whom I heard the ten-thousand-times-ten-thousand call by names known on earth—Adams and Jefferson and Webster. And behind them stood Chatham and Wilberforce and Howard and the Roman Gracchi and a multitude who had keys and crowns. And they said to the angel, ‘We will go on earth and teach diffusion of property. We will heal America by the self-respect of ownership.’ And the angel said, ‘Go. You will be efficient, but not sufficient.’ “Meanwhile, under emigrant wharves and crowded factories, and beneath Wall Street, and under the poisonous alleys of suffocated cities, I heard the black angel’s laugh. “Then came, lastly, forward before the angel three other spirits, with garments white as the light; and I saw not their faces, but I heard the ten-thousand-times-ten-thousand call them by names known on earth—Edwards and Dwight and Whitfield. And behind them stood Wyclif and Cramner and Wesley and Luther and a multitude who had harps and crowns. And they said to the angel, ‘We will go on earth and teach the diffusion of conscientiousness. We will heal America by righteousness!’ Then the angel arose and lifted up his far-gleaming hand to the Heaven of heavens, and said, ‘Go! Not in the first three, but only in all four of these leaves from the Tree of Life, is to be found the healing of the nations, —the diffusion of liberty, the diffusion of intelligence, the diffusion of property, the diffusion of conscientiousness. You will be more than very efficient; but not sufficient.’ “I listened, and under Plymouth Rock and the universities there was no sound; but under emigrant wharves and crowded factories, and under Wall Street, and in poisonous alleys of great cities, I heard yet the black angel’s laugh; but with the laughter there came up now from beneath a clanking of chains. “Then I looked, and the whole firmament above the angel was as if it were one azure eye; and into it the ten-thousand-times-ten-thousand gazed; and I saw that they stood on one palm of a hand of Him into whose face they gazed, and that the soft axle of the world stood upon the finger of another palm; and that both palms were pierced. I saw the twelve spirits which had gone forth, and they joined hands with each other and with the twelve hours, and moved perpetually about the globe; and I heard a voice, after which there was no laughter! ‘You are efficient; but I am sufficient!’” What then is the hope of the modern city? What then is the possibility of Satan’s dispossession and the conversion of his seat into a sanctuary? How can the crisis to which we have come be turned to conquest? The answer is in one name—Christ!

Revelation 2:18-29

THE CHURCH AT Revelation 2:18-29THE student of these seven Epistles to the Churches of Asia, must be impressed with the fact that Christ reveals Himself to His Churches in such character as accords with the spiritual state of each. To the Church in Ephesus He reveals Himself as One that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand, and walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. That signified that He would come and move the Ephesian candlestick—or church— out of its place, except the people repented and turned with full hearts toward the Lord. To the Church in Smyrna He appeared as the One who was dead, but lived again. From such a character they might expect the sympathetic expressions that follow; having suffered Himself, He knew how to succor them in their times of trial. To the Church at Pergamos He is the One who hath the sharp two-edged sword. When He so introduces Himself to a church you may be sure that there is some wickedness against which He is ready to war with the word of His mouth. Of His message to the Church in Thyatira it is written, “These things saith the Son of God, who hath His eyes like unto a flame of fire, and His feet are like fine brass”. There is then some sin for which He, who searcheth the reins and hearts, is looking; and upon which, when it is found, He will trample with the feet of judgment. If you went on through the seven Epistles you would find in each instance the character which He assumes in introducing Himself to the Church is always determined by its moral state. This Church in Thyatira was located in the mean city of Macedonia. It likely originated as a result of Lydia’s conversion, for we remember that it was written of her in Acts that she was a seller of purple of Thyatira, and was doubtless in Philippi for purposes of trade. On return to her home, she would naturally adopt the custom of the early Christians and testify to the divinity of Jesus Christ, and His saving power; and many of the Macedonians, listening to this truth, would come to love her Lord; and for purposes of holy communion, personal protection, hearty cooperation, and Gospel propagation, organize themselves as a body of believers. In the process of time there crept into the Thyatiran Church the sins named in this Epistle. Most strikingly do those sins symbolize that period of the Church when the priesthood should array itself in purple and fine linen; when preaching would connive at the most wicked coalitions with the world; such as the prophetess Jezebel effected between the world and Israel; and when false teaching should lead to filthy living of the sort that corrupted Romanism up to the very day of Luther’s Reformation. But, now having seen the attitude of the Saviour toward this Church, and the age symbolized by its condition, let us study the suggestions of the Epistle. CHRIST’S FIRST SEARCH IS FOR VIRTUES“I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience”.He prefers to find the good in His Church. If you read these seven Epistles, you will see that in every church you will find some good. Even the Church at Sardis, which had a name to live but was dead, and concerning which He said, “I have not found thy works perfect before God”, He searches through and through for good. Ere He finished that Epistle, He says, “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”.If there be an exception to this rule of finding good in every church, it obtains touching the Church in Laodicea, and to them He says, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me”.The true Christian, like his Master, prefers to find good in His Church, while the false professor prefers to exploit its faults. I have yet to meet a man whose custom it was to speak good things of his church, but I have found him to be a fairly consistent member, and most often a faithful and efficient servant of God. Dr. Johnston Myers says, “It is a habit of life with some Christians to speak kindly and enthusiastically of their church; with others, it is the habit to criticize * *. No possible condition of affairs could exist that would please them.” If no souls are saved, they declare the church is dead, and the preacher worthless. If many people are saved, they say the church is gone to be a second-rate mission. If the money for missions is a small amount, that is proof positive of no progress; if it is large, the pastor is guilty of begging out of the pockets of people more than they can spare. If the audiences dwindle, what need of better proof that the preacher is without power; if they increase, it is a common tasting crowd that he attracts about him. Now, as Myers continued, “Let us make an effort to say to the community the good things about our church and its work. If the services are good, tell people of them. If the people are friendly and kind, tell those who inquire that your church is a social church.” If the work is growing, rejoice. If there are faults and weaknesses, treat your church as you treat your family and cover them up in the eyes of the public, and put your whole life into an effort at correcting them. “Charity shall cover the multitude of sins”, and did it ever occur to you that they are sins of other people, not your own? for “he that covereth his sins shall not prosper”.It was Christ custom to search for the good in His Church. It is the custom of the true Christian always. Having found the good, He heartily commends it.“I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience”.He was not afraid of spoiling the people by an honest compliment. Few people are so spoiled. For every one who has been made a fool of through the compliment of friends, there are a score who are discouraged and cramped by the criticism of enemies. You go to the kindergartner of the present hour and she will tell you, if you want the best boys, or best girls, you must commend virtues and call little attention to vices. Christ Jesus approves that philosophy at least so far as to give the first place, and first importance to commendation. Let us not depart so far from His example as to bring our fellows to regard us as critics and cynics. “Don’t look for the flaws as you go through life;And even when you find them, It is wise and kind to be somewhat blindAnd look for the virtue behind them.For the cloudiest night has a tint of light Somewhere in its shadows hiding;It is better by far to look for a star, Than the spots on the sun abiding.”He takes pleasure in the points of progress.“I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first”. The growth in the Church was the thing in which He rejoiced. It should certainly be so with every man who loves the church. If, in the offerings made there is a decline of a little at one point, and a gain of much more at another, the latter would seem to be more worthy of a word. If, of the new converts, one falls away, and a hundred stand, he is a poor member of the church, who publishes the falling away, but has nothing to say concerning the established. If, in the experience of the institution, there is a single point at which no marked progress is noticeable and ten other points at which good growth is tabulated, he is a pessimist indeed who seeks to fix the eyes and attention of all his fellows upon the first, and never sounds one note of joy on account of the second. Our Christ regarded the fact that the last works of the Thyatiran Christians were more than the first. And yet our text has a complementary suggestion— CHRIST IS NEVER BLIND TO MEN’S VICES“Notwithstanding, I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce My servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.“And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not”.When grievous sins get into the Church of God, they may be covered from all other eyes, but not from His. I learned one week of a man whom I used to know, who was to all outward appearances an exemplary Christian, that for ten years or more he had been a deceiver and practiced all manner of thefts and frauds. For the greater portion of that time he covered up his deeds so entirely that his intimate associates never suspected him. But God’s eye was on him. “He which searcheth the reins and hearts” was watching him, and by and by He poured upon him the white light of Gospel truth, and brought him under such conviction that he was compelled to cry out, confessing his own sins. Joseph Clark, our missionary to Africa, was reading to the natives one day, “Thou seest us in the darkness as in the light”, and they were repeating the words after him. But at this sentence they added, “Thou seest us not in the darkness as in the light.’ Clark read it over, supposing they had misunderstood him, “Thou seest us in the darkness as in the light”. They rendered it a second time, “Thou seest us not in the darkness as in the light.” And when Clark explained to them that God could see in the dark, they smiled and said, “At night, it is very dark in our houses.” Poor Africans! They were only making the mistake in their philosophy that many an American, many a church member makes, namely, that of acting as if sin could escape God’s eyes. L. A. Banks tells of a beautiful young woman who sat for a photograph. The artist found that the proof showed her face strongly mottled. Knowing that her complexion was clear, he repaired to her house to try his camera again, when her mother meeting him at the door informed him that she was in bed breaking out with the measles. What had escaped the human eye, the keen searching eye of the camera had caught. And we may be sure that when God looks upon His Church, with the eye that searcheth the reins and heart, He sees every disease that mars the beauty of this affianced Bride. And though it be covered away from the eyes of men, He mourns because of it. At sight of sin, God cannot be silent. You remember how it was with the first sin, when the disobedience of Eve came abroad. They “heard the voice of the Lord God”; and when they came out of their hiding, His question was, “Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat”? And when they confessed, His curses followed. Henry Van Dyke, in his book, “The Gospel for a World of Sin,” says, “One thing is clear in the Book of Genesis. By whatever method we translate its records, their meaning is the same. They show a vision of human sin, conflict, and suffering, against a Divine background of offended love, righteous indignation and just retribution. * * The more God loves men and women, the more He must hate the evil which mars His image in their characters and defeats His design in their lives.” We should not be surprised, therefore, to hear Him speak against the iniquities of the Thyatiran Church, and we are not surprised when His wrath burns against the sins that stain the escutcheon of present-day saintship. “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him.“He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people” (Psalms 50:3-4). CHRIST’S ACTION“Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.“And I will kill her children with death; and all the Churches shall know that I am He which searcheth the reins and hearts; and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.“But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden.“But that which ye have already, hold fast till I come”.Character always determines the relation men sustain to Christ. I believe in church membership, but when judgment comes that will enter very little into Christ’s action, whereas character will determine it. Mr. Moody says, “When Daniel died in Babylon, no one had to hunt up any old church records to find out if he was all right. When Paul was beheaded by Nero, no one had to look over the register. On the other hand, no one thinks Pontius Pilate was a saint simply because his name is in the creed.” Against the wicked God’s Word is gone out. The condemnation of the evildoers in this Church was only in confirmation of God’s teaching in the Old Testament, where He said, “The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.“For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish”.According to this Scripture, the righteous have a double reward.“And he that overcometh, and keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:“And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers”.He shares His Kingship with the righteous. I noticed in the Minneapolis “Journal” some years since, a cartoon representing two Kentucky candidates, Goebel and Taylor, in a vain endeavor to make the wreath of election cover both their heads. Below was written, “Not quite big enough for both of them.” But the wreath of Christ’s authority is so ample that He purposes to share it with the saved. When King George the Third was crowned, he called all the peers of his realm together and he put a crown upon each, and reminded each that it was his right to reign, as a subordinate to himself. And is it not written, of the work of Christ, in saving men out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation “thou * * hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth”?The second reward of the saved is Christ Himself. “And I will give him the Morning Star”. Perhaps you have often wondered what that meant? Of what earthly use a star would be to one of God’s children? But, if you will look into this same Book (Revelation 22:16), you will find that Christ is here offering Himself with all His wealth of love, and power, to His people, for He has said, “I am the root and the offspring of David, and the Bright and Morning Star”.The man who receives Christ should be wanting in nothing. He may be weak, but Christ, whom he has received, is Power.

His affection may be at fault, but Christ has perfect love; his knowledge of the truth is deficient, but Christ is the Truth; his belief feeble, but Christ’s faith is wanting in nothing. It was a sage thing that Rev. J. B. Murch, of my church, used often to say in our prayer meetings, “Brethren, there is something better than the blessing, it is the Blesser; there is something better than the gift, it is the Giver.” To receive Him, is to receive all fulness, and He is offering Himself. “He that overcometh, that keepeth My works unto the end, ** I will give him the Morning Star”, that is, “I will give him Myself.” Oh, brethren, that is Heaven’s best Gift. The man who has that reward has everything. The man who has it not has nothing. Christ is our baptism, “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ”. Christ is our Life. “I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Galatians 2:20).Christ is our Righteousness. “Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us* * righteousness” (1 Corinthians 1:30). Christ is our Sanctification. “Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not”.

Christ is our Glorification. “For the Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). All we need is ours in Him.John Mason knew what was the promise of the Word when he wrote: “I’ve found the Pearl of greatest price:My heart doth sing with joy;And sing I must, for Christ is mine, He shall my song employ.“Christ is my Prophet, Priest and King, My Prophet full of light;My great High Priest before the throne:My King of heavenly might.“Christ is my Peace: He died for me, For me He gave His Blood:And, as my wondrous sacrifice, Offered Himself to God. “Christ Jesus is my all in all, My comfort and my love:My life below, and He shall beMy joy and crown above.”