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YALE DIVINITY SCHOOL

A FIRST CENTURY MESSAGE
TO
TWENTIETH CENTURY CHRISTIANS

By G. CAMPBELL MORGAN

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A First Century Message
to
Twentieth Century Christians

Addresses based upon the
Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia

By
G. Campbell Morgan

New Tork Chicago Toronto
FLEMING H. REVELL COMP ANT
London fcf Edinburgh

Copyright 1902
by
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY

CONTENTS

I.

PAGE 7

II.

The Vision and the Voice .

15

III.

The Ephesus Lettee . .

31

IV.

The Smyena Lettee . .

57

V.

The Peegamitm Lettee .

S3

VI.

The Thyatiea Lettee . .

. Ill

VII.

The Saedis Lettee . . .

. 135

VIII.

The Philadelphia Lettee

159

IX.

The Loadicea Lettee . .

. 185

I
INTRODUCTORY
T N order to a proper understanding of the
purpose of the letters to the churches of
Asia, it is necessary that some word should be
spqken concerning the book in which they are
to be found.
This book contains the last messages of
Christ to men. In some important ways it
differs from any other in the Divine Library.
John did not receive it by the inspiration of the
Spirit in the ordinary sense of that expression,
but directly from Jesus Christ, as He appeared
to him while in exile in Patmos.
The usual title, " The Revelation of St.
John, the Divine " is misleading, as the open
ing words of the book will show, which read,
" The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God
gave Him to show unto His servants." Per
haps no book has been more neglected than this
Revelation of Jesus Christ, and yet it the only
one that opens with a distinct and three-fold
blessing pronounced, a blessing first, upon
those who read, secondly, upon those who
7

8 Introductory
hear, thirdly, upon those who keep the things
that are written therein.
There must be some deep significance in this
introductory pronouncement," and because of
the difficulty of interpretation, the Church has
no right to neglect her Master's last mes
sage. Yet while it is true that no book has been so
sadly neglected, it is also true that around no
book has there waged more persistent contro
versy. So keen has that controversy been,
that we find Christian people divided into dis
tinct schools of thought about it, and we hear
of Preterist, Presentist, Futurist, and Spirit
ual interpretations. These differences have no
detailed place in our present discussion. Our
business lies only with the messages to the
churches. That we may see their place, some
word must be said about the general character
of the book.
The book of Revelation is not primarily a
book of Church truth. It is a book of judg
ment in the broadest sense of that word, judg
ment, that is, as the method and government of
God. It reveals the consummation of the
world's history, and gives a panorama of God's
final dealings with the earth. We find our
selves largely back in the realm of Old Testa-

Introductory g
ment truth. Jehovah is introduced in language
in keeping with the thoughts suggested by that
name to the ancient Hebrew people, " Him
which is and which was and which is to
come." The Holy Spirit is spoken of, not as
the unified personality that men came to know
through the work of Christ, and Who appears
in the Epistles of the New Testament. He is
seen rather as seven Spirits, that is, in the per
fection of activity, and these Spirits, moreover,
are before the throne. Jesus is the " faith
ful Witness, the First-born from the dead, and
the Ruler of the kings of the earth ; " while
the Church, loved and loosed from sin, is a
kingdom of priests, perfected in their number,
and save in the early chapters, occupying a
place in glory. Thus God is reyealed as su
preme in the government of the universe, the
Spirit as the light and activity of that govern
ment, and Jesus as the faithful Witness, and
as ruling the kings of the earth.
The outlook of Revelation is larger than thfc
Church of Christ. It deals, not with the rela
tion of God as Father to the company of saved
in the Church, but to His larger relation as
King and Governor of the whole earth. There
has been a great deal of cloudy thinking and
teaching on these subjects. Many seem to im-

i o Introductory
agine that the Church and the Kingdom of God
are one and the same thing. The fact is that
the Kingdom of God is infinitely larger than
the Church, and includes that whole realm over
which God is King, and in which that King
ship will finally be established. To-day the
Church recognizes and submits to that King
ship. The time will come when all nations
shall recognize and submit. The Church is
an instrument to that end. And yet she is a
complete entity within herself, having her spe
cific vocation in future ages.
The whole book of Revelation reveals the
final stages in the work of God with humanity.
No one has perfectly understood all its teach
ing. Its great principles are evident. It
shows the final overthrow of evil, and the set
ting up of the eternal Kingdom of God. It
moreover teaches us that that overthrow and
that setting up will be realized through Jesus
the anointed King.
In all probability the key to the division of
the book is to be found in the words, " Write
therefore the things which thou sawest, and the
things which are, and the things which shall
come to pass hereafter." This verse divides
the book, and marks the subjects upon which
John was commissioned by Jesus to write.

Introductory 1 1
i. " The things which thou sawest."
ii. " The things which are."
iii. " The things which shall come to pass
after these."
The first of these undoubtedly has reference
to the vision of glory that John looked upon,
the second to the condition of things existent
as described in the seven letters to the churches,
and the things " after these " are the final
things, the chronicle of which commences in
chapter iv, verse I. Let it be noted that in
chapter i, verse 19, the word " hereafter " is
a translation of the two words p.tra ravra,
and in chapter iv, verse 1, " after these things "
is a translation of the same two words. Thus
evidently the third division begins at the fourth
chapter, and from there to the end we have
unfulfilled prophecy. With this section of
the book we have now nothing to do. Our
particular subject is the second division, " the
things which are."
Of this there have been three interpretations.
First, that the epistles were actually written to
seven churches at the time existing in Asia.
Second, that the epistles contain an unfolding
of the condition of the Church in successive
stages of its history. Third, that the epistles
give a picture of seven conditions of Church

1 2 Introductory
life to be found continuously in the history of
the Church of Christ. My own conviction is
that all these are true. I propose however, to
consider them in the light of the first and third,
that is to say, as letters written to actual
churches, and as having perpetual application
to some phase of Church life. While there is
very little doubt that they do reveal a process
in the history of the Church, upon that phase
of their teaching I do not intend to touch.
We shall first look at the vision which ar
rested John in the Isle of Patmos, then at the
seven epistles, endeavouring to gather their
message to the age in which we live; so that
we are to give attention to a first century mes
sage to twentieth century Christians.
In dealing with each of the epistles, we shall
notice four distinct matters,
i. Christ's title.
ii. Christ's commendation. *
iii. Christ's complaint.
iv. Christ's counsel.
These will not always be in this exact order,
for in some cases either commendation or com
plaint is omitted, but for these as main points
of interest we shall look in our studies.

THE VISION AND THE VOICE

" And I turned to see the voice which spake
with me. And having turned I saw seven golden
lampstands ; and in the midst of the lampstands
One like unto a Son of man, clothed with a gar
ment down to the foot, and girt about at the breasts
with a golden girdle. And His head and His hair
were white as white wool, white as snow; and His
eyes were as a flame of fire; and His feet like unto
burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a fur
nace; and His voice as the voice of many waters.
And He had in His right hand seven stars : and out
of His mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword:
and His countenance was as the sun shineth in his
strength."

" The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest
in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands.
The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches :
and the seven lampstands are seven churches." —
Rev. i : 12-16, 20.

II
THE VISION AND THE VOICE
XT7HEN in the loneliness of Patmos John
heard a voice behind him, he " turned to
see . . . and having turned he saw." The
vision that fell upon him was present during
all the messages he received for the churches,
lending value and emphasis to these messages.
If we therefore are to understand, we also must
see the vision. Let us take a general survey,
note the first impression produced, and then
proceed to a careful examination of the central
figure. " Having turned he saw seven golden lamp-
stands. . . . One like unto a Son of man. . . .
He had in His right hand seven stars." He
first beheld seven golden lampstands. " Lamp-
stand " is a better translation, and far more per
fectly conveys the true symbolism. A candle
stick presupposes a kind of light which is self-
consumptive. A lampstand presupposes a light
which may be perpetually fed by oil, and in
Scripture, oil is constantly emblematic of the
Holy Spirit. Of these lampstands the Master
IS

1 6 A First Century Message
Himself gives the interpretation. " The seven
lampstands are seven churches." Thus each
individual church is seen as a centre of light.
Then " in the midst of the lampstands " he
saw " One like unto a Son of man." Thus
Christ is seen in all human sympathy, presid
ing over the churches in the exercise of their
function. He moreover notices that in the right hand
of the Son of man were seven stars, and here
again we have the interpretation of the Lord,
" The seven stars are the angels of the seven
churches." The first impression produced by the vision
is peculiar, and apparently contradictory. It
is evidently a night scene, as witness the lamp-
stands and the stars, and yet it is a day scene,
for behold, the countenance of the Son of man
is " as the sun shineth in his strength." John
beheld as in a vision, the Church in its present
relation and responsibility to Christ and th«>
world. The night all around is the world's
darkness. The only light shining upon that
darkness is that which comes from the lamp-
stands. The vision of Christ's face as that of
the sun, is a revelation of what He is to His
people. To them it is day time. " For ye are
all sons of light, and sons of the day : we are

The Vision and the Voice 17
not of the night, nor of darkness." The Church
is here seen as the light bearer, with Christ as
unifying Centre and directing Authority.
Christ Himself in the midst of the seven lamp-
stands creates their unity. The unity of the
Church consists in the common relationship of
each church to the Lord Himself Who is
present in the midst.
In His right hand He holds the messengers,
and herein is revealed the true position that
ministry occupies in the Christian Church,
whether it be the ministry of authoritative
teaching as given through the apostles, the
ministry of prophetic utterance, the ministry
of evangelization, or that of the pastoral office.
Christ the truth, the angel His. messenger, the
Church that to which truth is made known by
the messenger, and in which truth is embodied,
that its light may fall upon the surrounding
darkness. No man can be a messenger of
the Master and the Church save as he is held
in the right hand of Jesus, and interprets, not
his own idea concerning the Church's well-
being, nor the Church's wish concerning its
function, but the will of the Master. The mes
senger has no authority in himself, no authority
which he derives from the Church over which
he presides. His authority is the communi-

18 A First Century Message
cated authority of the Son of man, Who is
Lord and Master of the whole.
In the midst of the world's night, the Church
unified by the presence of the Lord, diversified
in the seven lampstands, is a light shining in
a dark place. This perfectly sets forth the one
responsibility of every church of Jesus Christ.
It is to be a medium through which the essen
tial Light of the world shall shine upon the
world's darkness. A most important principle
to be perpetually borne in mind by those who
would fulfil the highest function of Church
life is that the world waits for light, and the
Church's only capacity for shedding the light,
is that she should live in the day which the
face of Christ creates for her. No church
and no individual member of a church, can
fling across the darkness one ray or gleam of
light save as that church or that person lives
in the sunshine created by the shining of His
face. When the Master was here He said " I
am the Light of the world." That Light was
eclipsed in the darkness of Calvary's Cross,
but from behind the dense cloud, it broke again
to shine upon all those who receive life by the
way of that Cross, and through them to flash
upon the night of the world.
Thus having seen the general scheme, before

The Vision and the Voice 19
passing to a close consideration of the central
Figure, we pause for a moment to look again
at the lampstands and at the stars.
Let it be emphasized that the lampstands are
not the sources of light but the bearers of
light, also that their number is seven, and that
they are golden. So that if they do not in
themselves create light, it is evident that the
medium upon which the light is to rest, and
from which it is to flash upon the darkness,
must be heavenly and perfect. While we have
no light of our own with which to help men in
the darkness, for God's light must shine upon
and through us, we must in order to that
shining, know what it is to partake of that
nature which is symbolized by the gold of the
sanctuary. Thus we have a symbolism of
function, and a symbolism of character.
The stars held in His right hand are symbols
of the fact that ministry to be effective, must
be of heavenly character, revolving solely
around the central sun.
In reverently examining the central figure,
we notice first His position. He is "in the
midst of the lampstands," unifying them into
one whole, and directing them by individual
messages, showing His intimate acquaintance
with the details of each.

20 A First Century Message
His general appearance is that of the Son
of man. It is important to remember that this
phrase occurs in the Gospel narratives with
regard to the Master, eighty-five times, and of
these, Christ Himself makes use of it eighty-
three. The first detail of the vision is a sym
bolism of function, and the second a symbolism
of character.
His function is suggested by His robing.
" Clothed with a garment down te the foot,
and girt about at the breasts with a golden
girdle." _ Two things are suggested by this
double figure. The garment to the foot sug
gests the right to govern and to judge. It is
the robing of judicial authority, not the robing
of the priest. He is here seen as the central
Authority in all Church life, having sole right
to pronounce verdict and sentence upon all
the service that the Church renders. The
girdle is frequently mentioned in Scripture.
Sometimes it is the girdle of the loins, and
sometimes the girdle of the breasts. The
former is the symbol of activity and power,
the latter that of faithfulness and affection.
In this case the girdle is at the breasts, show
ing the fidelity of His love. This robing of
the Son of Man reveals His judicial position

The Vision and the Voice 21
among the churches, and that all the exercise
of judicial right is based upon the faithful
ness of the Eternal Love.
A remarkable Scripture in the prophecy of
Isaiah will serve to throw light upon the ro
bing. " And it shall come to pass in that day,
that I will call My servant Eliakim the son of
Hilkiah: and I will clothe him with Thy robe,
and strengthen him with Thy girdle, and I will
commit Thy government into his hand: and
he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Je
rusalem, and to the house of Judah." There
is of course no immediate connection between
the subject dealt with in Isaiah and the one
now under consideration, but we refer to it
that we may have light upon the symbolism of
the robe and the girdle in our vision.
Jesus moves amid the churches with the robe
reaching to His feet, marking the fact that He
is the sole Governor of His people, having the
right to pass His verdict upon their service,
and reward or punish them as He will. The
golden girdle about the breasts reveals the
fact that every judgment He pronounces, and
every sentence He passes, is based upon His
infinite love and faithfulness. Christ is the one
supreme Head, Ruler, Governor, among His

22 A First Century Message
people, and all His headship, and His rule,
and His government are based upon His in
finite and unfailing compassion.
Passing from the symbolism of function to
that of character we have the most marvellous ,
and entrancing vision of Jesus Christ con
tained in Scripture. We can do no more than
pass rapidly over, attempting to indicate the
significance of the sevenfold glory revealed.
" His head and His hair were white as white
wool, white as snow."
" His eyes were as a flame of fire."
" His feet like unto burnished brass, as if it
had been refined in a furnace."
" His voice as the voice of many waters."
" In His right hand seven stars."
" Qut of His mouth proceeded a sharp two-
edged sword."
" His countenance was as the sun shineth
in his strength."
Here are seven points to which our attention
is directed. His head, His hair, His eyes, His
feet, His voice, His hand, His mouth, His
countenance. Let us take them in their order.
" His head and His hair were white as white
wool, white as snow." Two facts are symbo
lized by this language, His purity and His eter-

The Vision and the Voice 23
nity. The description is remarkably similar to
that in the book of Daniel, describing the " An
cient of Days." ' The hair white as wool is the
mark of age, and yet of age that is not aged.
This whiteness is moreover the symbol of
purity, and these two facts are, in the last
analysis, but one, for all eternal things are
pure, and only purity can be eternal. The
doomed things are the base, the impure, the
unholy things, and in the glorious vision of
the royal head of the Son of man, shining like
some snow-capped mountain peak, far ele
vated, we see Him as Son of God also, His
purity the basis of His eternity, His eternity
the crowning of His purity.
"His eyes were as a flame of Are." Here
the suggestion is that of infinite and infallible
knowledge, eyes that pierce and penetrate,
from which no secret thing can possibly be
hidden, eyes that being as a flame of fire, see
ing through and through, detect all that is
hidden from ordinary sight, separating with
unerring accuracy the alloy from the pure
gold. Thus the Son of* man amid the churches
is revealed as the One from Whom nothing
can be hidden. There is no detail in the do
ings of a church, or in the life of an individual
member, that He is not perfectly acquainted

24 A First Century Message
with. He has seen and rightly valued every
deed of.lowly service which the earthly records
of the Church have found no place for. The
steady, searching eyes of the great Son of
man are ever upon the churches that bear His
name, and absolutely nothing can be hidden
from that gaze.
" His feet like unto burnished brass, as if it
had been refined in a furnace." The feet are the
symbols of procedure, and indicate the con
tinued activity of Christ among the churches,
and through the churches, as He marches, the
Leader of the hosts of God, toward His ulti
mate victory.
These feet are of brass as though they
burned in a furnace. Brass is invariably the
type of strength, and the furnace of fire is
symbolic of purification. Thus the Son of
man is seen moving amid the churches ever
toward the consummation upon which the
heart of God is set, with such absolute purity,
that He can never be contaminated with the
evil upon which He treads, and with such
tremendous strength that He can never be pre
vented by the opposition raised against Him.
"His voice as the voice of many waters."
This exquisitely beautiful statement I think I
never appreciated until for the first time I

The Vision and the Voice 25
stood near the mighty falls of Niagara, as the
water sweeps from height to depth in calm
persistent majesty with a cry that excludes all
other sounds, possesses all your soul, and yet
fills you with a deep peace and quiet. The
mighty music of the many waters impressed
me as nothing else, and as I listened there
came to me with new meaning the words " His
voice as the voice of many waters."
The suggestion is very beautiful. What is
the voice of many waters ? It is a perfect con
cord of divers tones; many waters, one voice.
" God, having of old time spoken unto the
fathers in the prophets by divers portions and
in divers manners, hath at the end of these
days spoken unto us in His Son." " His voice
as the voice of many waters." These waters
have come from the hills of long ago in single
streams, all their courses bent toward Him.
In Him they mingle and they merge, and in
Him is discovered the perfect harmony of the
thousand melodies of the past. Close atten
tion by a trained ear will detect each separate
value, and it will be found that there is no
subject upon which He has not something to
say. He speaks to art, to music, to science,
to literature, to all life, to each separately, and
yet to each in its relation to all the rest. Many

26 A First Century Message
waters, many messengers, many messages, yet
one voice, one word, one revelation.
So moving amid the lampstands, with hair
like wool, telling of His purity and eternity,
with eyes as a flame of fire, searching and
knowing every detail of all the life of the
churches, with His feet like brass that burned
in a furnace, moving toward the consumma
tion, He speaks, and the infinite music is a
perfect harmony of all the tones of the voice
of God.
"He had in His right hand seven stars."
In all the symbolism of the old economy, the
right hand is the mark of authoritative admin
istration, and here has the same significance.
In the centre of that hand of power rest the
seven stars which are the angels of the
churches, the place of perfect rest, perfect
power, perfect protection. Oh, blessed, blessed
place of rest for the Master's messengers ! Oh,
high and holy honour to lie in that right hand,
and listen while He speaks, and still from the
same vantage ground to repeat the words of
His will.
" Out of His mouth proceeded a sharp two-
edged sword." We have heard the voice of
many waters that speaks of revelation, of His
uttering of the deep things of God. Here is

The Vision and the Voice 27
symbolized another aspect of His speech to
men, that namely of His pronouncement on
the things of men. While He was yet on
earth, He distinctly affirmed that by His words
men should be judged, and the value of this
symbolism will be better understood as we hear
His verdicts concerning the churches amid
whom He moves. It will then be seen how
sharp that sword is, and how its double action
condemns the fault and approves the excel
lence. " His countenance as the sun shineth in his
strength." The countenance is the sum total
of all the features of the face. The dome-like
splendour of the forehead, crowned by the
white hair, the flashing glory of the wondrous
eyes, the marvellous expressiveness of the
mouth, from which proceeds the sword-like
speech, and the sound of the voice of many
waters ; take all these, and other things not de
scribed, in combination, and the result is a sun
of light and glory, shining in strength. " God
is a sun," and the merging of the features of
humanity into the perfect impression of the
countenance, reveals in might and majesty the
Deity of the Son of man.
Take this picture and look at it again and
again until the vision holds you in its marvel-

28 A First Century Message
lous power. His head and His hair white like
wool, His purity and His eternity; His eyes
like a flame of fire, His intimate knowledge,
penetrating and piercing; His feet like burn
ished bra.ss, signifying the procedure of
strength and purity; His voice like the voice
of many waters, a concord of perfect tones ; in
His hand seven stars, His administrative right,
power and protection; from_ His mouth a
sharp two-edged swordj keen and accurate
verdicts concerning His people; His whole
countenance as the sun, creating day, flashing
light, bathing all the landscape with beauty.
Such was the One Who moved amid the
churches in the vision of the saint at Patmos,
and such the One who still unifies the
churches into the Church, by His presence and
presidence. Thus the Lord is seen in all the fulness and
the functions of His glory, presiding over the
witnessing of the Church in the midst of dark
ness, and we now turn to a study of the mes
sages He delivers, ever keeping this vision
before us.

THE EPHESUS LETTER

" To the angel of the church in Ephesus write ;
" These things saith He that holdeth the seven
stars in His right hand, He that walketh in the
midst of the seven golden lampstands: I know thy
works, and thy toil and patience, and that thou canst
not bear evil men, and didst try them which call
themselves apostles, and they are not, and didst find
them false; and thou hast patience and didst bear
for My name's sake, and hast not grown weary.
But I have against thee, that thou didst leave thy
first love. 'Remember therefore from whence thou
art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or
else I come to thee, and will move thy lampstand
out of its place, except thou repent. But this thou
hast, that thou hatest the works of the Nicolaitans,
which I also hate. He that hath an ear, let him hear
what the Spirit saith to the churches. To him that
overcometh, to him will I give to eat of the tree of
life, which is in the Paradise of God." Rev. ii : 1-7.

Ill
THE EPHESUS LETTER
A T the time of the writing of the epistle,
Ephesus was the metropolis of Ionia, and
undoubtedly a great and opulent city. All
kinds of people were gathered there, the
wealthy and the learned, as well as the poor
and the illiterate. The general condition of
life was that of a wealthy, cultured, and cor
rupt community.
So far as the history of the church is con
cerned, we have a most interesting account of
its planting and progress in the Acts of the
Apostles. This account lies almost completely
within chapters eighteen to twenty. Paul on
his journeyings arrived in the city accom
panied by Aquila and Priscilla. As his cus
tom was, he went into the synagogue, and
spoke to the assembled people of the one theme
ever on his heart. Passing on his way, he
left behind him these two people. Thus was
first spoken the message of the risen and cru
cified Christ, and from such an apparently hur
ried commencement there came eventually a
strong and remarkable church,
3i

32 A First Century Message
The next event of note was the arrival of
Apollos. He had learned of Jesus through the
ministry of John, and was a man of splendid
mental equipment and great oratorical power.
In Ephesus he declared all he knew of truth
with the result that a little group of men, at
tracted by the story he had to tell, imperfect
though it was, were baptized with the baptism
of John. Beyond that they made no progress.
They were in all about twelve in number.
Then came a crisis. Paul returned to Ephe
sus, Apollos having passed on to Achaia and
Corinth. In the nineteenth and twentieth
chapters of the Acts we have, briefly stated,
the work he accomplished during a period of
about three years. It is very interesting to
notice the growth. He found twelve disciples,
imperfectly instructed, not yet having received
the Spirit of God, men who were followers of
Christ so far as they had light. Apollos had
preached the baptism of water to repentance
as preparatory to entrance upon the Kingdom
over which Jesus was to preside. Paul found
them ignorant of the very essentials of Chris- \
tianity, and asked them evidently in a tone of
surprise and enquiry, " Did ye receive the
Holy Ghost when ye believed." And they re
plied " Nay, we did not as much as hear

The Ephesus Letter 33
whether the Holy1 Ghost was given." This
called for further enquiry as to the nature of
their baptism, and then finding that they had
been baptized with John's baptism, he led them
into further light. How much they had gained
from obedience to the light received is re
vealed by their readiness to obey the new light
that fell. They were baptized into the name
of the Lord Jesus, and the apostle, laying his
hands upon them, they received the Holy
Spirit. Then Paul began to teach in the synagogue,
and it is a remarkable fact that they suffered
him to do this for three months. The effect of
the preaching was as always. To those who
were disobedient there came hardness, and a
spirit of opposition was aroused. The apostle
saw that the time had arrived for the outward
formation of a church. He gathered the dis
ciples out of the synagogue, and securing the
school of Tyrannus, he began preaching there.
During two years the church grew until it be
came a great centre of missionary operations.
The Word of God sounded out through all
Asia as the result of the teaching in Ephesus.
Then mark what followed. Imitators arose,
men desiring to accomplish the same results,
but lacking the necessary power. Spme of

34 A First Century Message
these took upon themselves the work of cast
ing out evil spirits, using the name of Jesus
saying, " I adjure you by Jesus Whom Paul
preacheth." But demons were not so to be de
ceived, and the startling answer came " Jesus
I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?
And the man in whom the evil spirit was,
leaped on them, and mastered both of them,
and prevailed against them, so that they fled
out of that house naked and wounded."
Attempts to imitate the work of the Spirit
through the servants of God always ends dis
astrously to those who make the attempt.
From this experience the work blazed out
again in new power. Fear fell upon all, and
those that practiced magical arts, brought their
books together and burned them.
Then followed new opposition against Paul,
the reason being that he had endangered the
craftsmen's art.
Then Paul left Ephesus, and journeyed
through Macedonia. Passing back through
the same region, he paused at Miletus that he
might there meet the elders of the church at
Ephesus, and as he was to be no more with
them, he gave them parting instructions.
It is more than probable that at this time
John came down and took oversight of the

The Ephesus Letter 35
church. How long he remained it is impos
sible to decide. In all likelihood the message
of Jesus to the church of Ephesus was sent
about thirty-five years after Paul's departure.
It reveals the changes that had been wrought.
To it we now turn our attention.
The Lord introduces Himself as " He that
holdeth the seven stars in His right hand, He
that walketh in the midst of the seven golden
lampstands." Here as always there is a very
remarkable fitness of selection. It is evident
that the church at Ephesus is fulfilling the
true ideal of Church order. Christ is seen as
the unifying Centre and Director of the
church, walking still amid the seven golden
lampstands, and holding in His right hand
the seven stars. No other things in that de
scriptive vision are mentioned concerning Him.
The true Church order is still maintained, the
ministry is in its proper and rightful place.
Outwardly everything is as it should be. There
is no flaw, no failure, in organization, in work,
in attitude, so far as any visiting apostle could
have discovered it, 'or so far as the world was
concerned in watching it.
Then follows our Lord's commendation, a
commendation so remarkable that I venture to
think a careful consideration of it will leave

36 A First Century Message
us inclined to ask, Can there be anything
wrong with this church? Had we visited it,
in all probability we should have reported that
it was the most remarkable church we had ever
seen. The commendation is sevenfold. " I
know thy works, and thy toil and patience,
and that thou canst not bear evil men, and
didst try them which call themselves apostles,
and they are not, and didst find them false;
and thou hast patience and didst bear for My
name's sake, and hast not grown weary." One
is startled at the completeness of the commen
dation. Consider it closely.
" I know thy works." This has reference to
actual service being rendered. The church
was not a comfortable club for the conserving
of the life of a few saints. It was an active
and aggressive congregation of the saints.
" I know thy toil." This word lies deeper,
having reference to the effort that produces
work even at the cost of pain. There are those
who boast that their work and their gifts cost
them nothing. Wherever that is true the work
is worthless. These people at Ephesus could
make no such boast, for behind the works lay
the toil. They were not offering to the Master,
to the church, to the world things worthless

The Ephesus Letter 37
because costless. They were working at the
price of toil.
" And thy patience," that is the attitude of
persistence in the toil that produces the work.
These first three words are closely linked, —
" works, toil, patience." And the words are
the more wonderful as we remember they fall
from the lips of Jesus. It is not merely the
opinion of an apostle or a stranger. It is the
definitely expressed verdict of the Lord of the
church, the One Who with eyes of fire, scans
every detail. I know your works, and that
behind them there is the toil that speaks of
pain, and enveloping that there is the patient
endurance that makes work perpetual.
And " I know that thou canst not bear evil
men." There is no impurity condoned within
the borders of this church. It has no com
plicity with the evil things in Ephesus. They
had guarded the fellowship of the saints
against the unholy intrusion of impure men.
They had not been lax in their discipline as to
life. " Thou didst try them which call themselves
apostles, and they are not, and didst find them
false." The church had been careful about its
doctrine, careful about what it listened to,

38 A First Century Message
characterized by discernment and judgment
of false teachers. Not only had their dis
cipline been perfect as to the life of their mem
bers, but they had refused to tolerate the false
teachers that had come to them.
And yet again " Thou hast patience and
didst bear for My name's sake." Their per
sistent fidelity had not been in circumstances
that were always easy. Persecution had raged
around them, and yet they had maintained
their works.
And then the last and most remarkable
word, " Thou hast not grown weary." They
had a great reserve of strength. All the
achievements had been under the impulse of,
and in the power of unswerving fidelity.
This description is surely most remarkable.
The church at work, labouring at the work,
patiently persistent in the labour that produced
the work. The church refusing to have fel
lowship with evil men, observing the false
philosophy of certain teaching and rejecting it.
The church, persistent in its faithfulness and
unwearying in its service. If the Master, visit
ing the church to which we belong uttered
such words as these, should we not feel that
they constituted the highest commendation that
could possibly be passed?

The Ephesus Letter 39
And yet once again, after the complaint
which He makes, He adds something more to
the commendation. " But this thou hast, that
thou hatest the works of the Nicolaitans, which
I also hate." Some doubt exists as to the
peculiar views of the Nicolaitans. Some light
may be thrown upon the subject by reference
to the letter to Pergamum. " I have a few
things against thee, because thou hast, there
some that hold the teaching of Balaam, who
taught Balak to cast a stumblingblock before
the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed
to idols, and to commit fornication. So hast
thou also some that hold the teaching of the
Nicolaitans in like manner." My personal
conviction is that the Nicolaitans were persons
who excused certain forms of impurity, and
made the grace of God a cloak for lascivious-
ness. I believe the heresy was that known in
latter days as Antinomianism, which declares
that grace is sufficient for salvation, and that
life is of little moment. This heresy will be
dealt with more fully in considering the letter
to Pergamum.
So wonderful a commendation seems to
leave nothing to be desired. No eye but the
penetrating eye of fire which is the eye of love
would ever have detected the failure of the

40 A First Century Message
church at Ephesus, at this point. Subsequently
that failure would have been detected even by
the outsider. The living Lord was conscious
of the incipient disease which others could
only know as it manifested itself in the ex
ternalities. Light focussed in a camera has re
vealed the presence of disease in the face of a
child long before any symptoms appeared
which a physician could have detected. So
the searching light of the eyes of fire detected
the absence of an essential quality in the life
of the church.
" I have against thee, that thou didst leave
thy first love." That is all. No other sen
tence. No other word. Immediately He
passes to the counsel which He has to give to
the church. And yet how much He has said.
Seeing the church now in the light of His dec
laration, all the radiance of the former things
is over-shadowed. What is first love, and
what is it to lose first love?
First love is the love of espousal. First love
is marital. In writing to the Corinthian
church, Paul said, " For I espoused you to one
husband, that I might present you as a pure
virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any
means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his
craftiness, your minds should be corrupted

The Ephesus Letter 41
from the simplicity and the purity that is to
ward Christ." That is first love. " I espoused
you, to one husband, that I might present you
as a pure virgin to Christ." And this is the
loss of pure love. "But I fear, lest by any
means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craf
tiness, your minds should be corrupted from
the simplicity and the purity that is toward
Christ." The elements of first love then are
simplicity and purity. Now think for a mo
ment of what this same man wrote to this
church at Ephesus. After dealing with the
relation of husbands to wives, and wives to
husbands, he pens this marvellous statement,
" This mystery is great : but I speak in regard
of Christ and of the Church."
Now what fs the mystery to which he refers.
It is the mystery of love which has its most
radiant revelation in the marriage relationship,
and the apostle declares that that relationship
is the most perfect symbol of that existing be
tween Christ and His Bride. " Husbands,
love your wives, even as Christ also loved the
Church." Thus it is evident that Christ's love
for the Church is typified by the love of hus
band for wife. " Wives, be in subjection unto
your own husbands, as unto the Lord." Thus
the love of the Church to Christ is typified by

42 A First Century Message
the love of the wife for the husband. What
then is the love of Christ to the Church?
Unselfish love, love in which there was no
single thought of self. What then is the
Church's love for Christ? The response of
love to the mystery of love, the submission of
love to perfect love. First love is the love of
espousal. Its notes are simplicity, and purity,
marital love, the response of love to love, the
subjection of a great love to a great love, the
submission of a self-denying love to a love that
denies self. First love is the abandonment of
all for a love that has abandoned all.
First love defies analysis. It loves, it knows
not why, save that the lover has by love at
tracted love, and the responsive love is pure,
unselfish, ardent, humble. The church at
Ephesus had had its first love, the love of es
pousal, the love of simplicity, the love of
singleness, the love in which no low motive
lurked. First love is fair as the morning,
bright with the promise of hope, a flame in the
presence of which all other emotions and en
thusiasms are included. It was this the Master
missed. No soul can try to love Him. When
you felt your need of Him as Saviour, and
there dawned upon you the vision of His per
fect love, and you found that the perfect sal-

The Ephesus Letter 43
vation He offered was Himself given to you,
your raptured soul was bound to Him by the
excellency of His own character. In the con
sciousness of the infinite love of His heart
your love was born, and the first flush of that
young love of yours was pure, unselfish,
humble, ardent, burning like a flame, consum
ing everything in its fervour and its fire.
Now think of the infinite pathos of that one
sentence of complaint. " Thou didst leave thy
first love." The emotion and the enthusiasm
and the energy are lacking. Jesus recognizes
this. Had Judas been a member of this
church, he would have found nothing to criti
cize. He criticized Mary of Bethany, and
why? Because the love of Mary of Bethany
was the love that overstepped all the bounds
of prudence and regularity. Love cannot be
weighed in scales or measured with a foot rule.
It overleaps the channel you cut for it, and
laughs its way into meadows, leaving behind it
the track of fertility and the fragrance of
flowers. You cannot compress it into mathe
matical formulae. It sings in poetry, and for
gets calculation. It worships in abandonment,
and oversteps arithmetic. It is a vestal flame.
It is the crowning consciousness of life.
The church at Ephesus was still a remark-

44 A First Century Message
able church, but it lacked the element of that
enthusiasm, which in the eyes of the calculating
worldling, is imprudent. There are some peo
ple who imagine that this lack of enthusiasm is
an advantage. May God have mercy on such.
I pray the day may never come when the hero
isms and enthusiasms of first love shall cease.
Christ stands confronting this great church,
and He says in effect, There is much of ex
cellency, but I miss the first love. I do not
hear the song at the unusual hour. I wait in
vain for the aroma of some new box of spike
nard. The church has become
" Faultily faultless, icily regular,
Splendidly null."
After Christ has spoken, we begin to re
consider the commendation, and even in that
commendation now it is possible ^to detect
omissions, things He did not say which He
might have said, had they not left their first
love. In Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians we
have inferentially a picture of a church in its
first love. There were many irregularities of
doctrine and of conduct, but there was a great
enthusiasm. The apostle describing their con
dition says, " Remembering without ceasing

The Ephesus Letter 45
your work of faith and labour of love and
patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ."
Here are the same things that Christ com
mends in Ephesus and yet how different. In
the full rush of first love the apostle says
of the Thessalonians " work of faith . .
labour of love . . . patience of hope." But
speaking to the church at Ephesus Jesus says
" work . . . labour . . . patience."
What are the missing things? "The faith,
the love, the hope." In first love it is " work
of faith." First love lost, it is " work." In
first love it is " labour of love." First love
lost, it is " labour." In first love it is " pa
tience of hope." With first love lost it is " pa
tience." The externalities remain, but the un
derlying sources have been weakened. Faith,
out of which work grows, is faltering. Love,
the principle of toil, is waning. Hope, the in
spiration of perpetual patience, is dimmed.
Now these three, faith, hope, and love alike
centre in the Person. Where faith in Him is
strong, works abide. Where love for Him is
full, enduring toil continues. Where hope to
ward Him is perfect, patience is perpetual.
As yet the outward manifestations are not, but
the Master has discovered the inward back
sliding. He says in effect, You have lost your

46 A First Century Message
first love, your works run on, but your faith
in Me is not what it was, your labour is still
evident, but the love is weakened; your pa
tience is still evident, but your hope does not
burn so brightly. And presently He will mark
the full meaning of this. Unless you repent
and get back to these first things, you will lose
your lampstand. When the flame of love
flickers, then its sisters, faith and. hope grow
faint, and presently the outward light will burn
low, and the surrounding darkness be unil-
luminated. In the light of these statements moreover,
other parts of the commendation may be recon
sidered. Is it not more than likely that their
very opposition to false men and doctrine par
took of the nature of lack of love? I would
speak very cautiously at this point, for the
Lord commended these things, and they were
right, but I am quite sure that there may be
right things done in a wrong spirit. I seldom
find men strenuously fighting what they are
pleased to call heterodox teaching, and in bitter
language denouncing false doctrine, without
being more afraid for the men denouncing than
for the men denounced. There is an anger
against impurity which is impure. There is
a zeal for orthodoxy which is most unorthodox.

The Ephesus Letter 47
There is a spirit that contends for faith which is
in conflict with faith. If men have lost their
first love, they will do more harm than good by
their defence of the faith. Behind the de
nunciation of sin there must always be the
tenderness of first love if that denunciation is
not to become evil in its bitterness. Behind the
zeal for truth, there must always be the spa
ciousness of first love if that zeal is not to be
come narrowed into hate. There have been
men who have become so self-centred in a
narrowness that they are pleased to designate
as holding the truth, that the very principle
for which they contend has been excluded from
their life and service. All zeal for the Master
that is not the outcome of love to Him is
worthless. His love is so perfect that nothing
can take the place of love as a return. He who
woos the bride can never have his heart sat
isfied with a servant. Activity in the King's
business will not make up for neglect of the
King. He who has lost his first love cannot
satisfy with work and labour and patience, and
hatred of sin and orthodoxy. The Master
waits for love. Your church may pass muster
as one of those amid which He walks ; but He,
walking there pines for your love, and nothing
satisfies Him but love. Oh the pathos of the

48 A First Century Message
picture! Christ in all His glory seeks amid
the churches first for love. As He looks over
the outward perfections of Ephesus He dis
covers that the spirit, the tone, the temper of
the church is altered. No eye but His could
have detected that the bloom was brushed
away, and that the flame was less ardent.
Surely this message needs to be repeated to
all our churches to-day. Your work, your
labour, your patience are all evident. Never
were you busier. Never were your organiza
tions more complete, but where is your first
Jove? A friend of mine some years ago had
a little daughter whom he dearly loved, and
at the time of my story, she was between ten
and eleven years of age. They were great
friends, and were always found in each other's
company. But about this time there seemed to
come some estrangement between them , for
which he could not account. He was not able
to get her company as he had been. She
seemed to shun him, and if he went for a walk,
excused herself for she had something she
must do at home. He grieved about it and
could not understand it, and yet hardly cared
to mention to her what was apparent to him.
One day his birthday came, and in the morn
ing of that day she -came into his room, with

The Ephesus Letter 49
her face wreathed in smiles and said " Father
I have brought you a present." She handed
him a parcel, and unfastening it he found an
exquisitely worked pair of slippers. He said
" Darling, it was very good of you to buy these
for me." " Oh, Father," said she, " I did not
buy them. I have made them for you." Then
looking at her he said " Oh, now I think I un
derstand. Is this what you have been doing
for the last three months ? " She replied " Yes,
Father, but how did you know how long I had
been at work on them ? " He said " Because
for three months I have wanted much of you,
but have not been able to have it. You have
been too busy. My darling, I like these slip
pers very much, but next time, buy the
slippers, and let me have you all the days,
I would rather have my child than anything she
can make for me."
That story has ever been weighted for me
with spiritual value. Some of us are so busy
here and there about the business of the Lord
that He cannot get us much for Himself.
There is so much to be done. Do not misun
derstand me. We are perfectly sincere in our
devotion, and yet it seems to me as if some
times He would say " I know your works,
your labour, your patience, but I miss the

50 A First Century Message
first love." Do you not remember your first
love, with its great thrill, when all . Nature
seemed to sing a new song, and when your
, chief delight was to be alone with the Lord,
to look into His face, and in silent adoration
sit while you listened to His voice? Oh, if
that old-time delight has passed, nothing can
make up for it to Him or to you.
And now briefly notice the counsel He gives
to this church, an injunction, a warning, and
a promise. The injunction may be expressed
in three words, Remember, Repent, and Re
peat. These of course are not the exact words
that the Master used, but they will help us to
bear in mind the terms of His counsel.
" Remember therefore from whence thou art
fallen," go back and think of the freshness of
first love. Remind your heart of the light that
never was on sea or land when you began to
love Him. Go back to the rising life of the
Spring-time. " Remember." Oh, the tender
ness of that word of Christ. Do not be satis
fied any longer with the dead level of your
orthodoxy, and your mechanical precision in
service. " Remember therefore from whence
thou art fallen."
And then , " repent." Turn back in heart
and purpose of the old attitude, the attitude

The Ephesus Letter 51
of simplicity and purity, the abandonment of
everything for love, the love- of espousal, the
first love that leaves father and mother and
house and lands and everything for the loved
one. Go back to that, return and do the first
works. And what are the first works? Let
Jesus tell us, " This is the work of God, that
ye believe on Him Whom He hath sent."
Christ said in effect to these people, ' Your lack
of love proves your failure of faith. You do
not believe in Me as you did, or you would
love Me as of old. You have lost confidence.
An absolute confidence always blossoms into
a perfect love. And if the fruit of your love
be smitten, it is because at the root of your
faith is some disease.'
Then finally mark His solemn warning.
" Or else I come to thee, and wttl move thy
lampstand out of its place, except thou re
pent." What is this He says? Remove thy
lampstand? Yes, notwithstanding all the per
fection of your work, and your labour, and
your patience, notwithstanding your cold and
icy purity, notwithstanding your orthodoxy,
unless you love, that lampstand must be re
moved. It is impossible to witness for Christ
in the darkness of the world except in the
power of first love. It is not abundant works,

52 A First Century Message
nor even a passionate determination to witness
against the sin of the world that serves Him.
Unless there be first love the lampstand must
be removed. It is a solemn warning. Oh,
that we might rightly understand it, and see
that it is not merely a capricious threatening,
but the statement of an inevitable sequence.
Loss of first love to Christ will inevitably issue
in loss of love to the brethren, and cannot fail
to dry up the rivers of compassion toward the
outside world. It is the first love of the saint
that is the true light that shines in a dark
place. When men outside the Church can look
at its community and say " see how these peo
ple love " then they will be attracted to the
Centre upon which our love is set. Without
first love we may retain ceaseless activity, im
maculate purity, severest orthodoxy, but there
will be no light shining in a dark place.
It is not our doing that lightens the world.
It is not our ceremonial cleanness that helps
men. It is not our correctness in the holding
of truth that helps a dying race. It is our love
first for our Master, then for each other, and
then for the world.
Then notice the graciousness of the closing
promise. " To him that overcometh, to him
will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is iff

The Ephesus Letter 53
the Paradise of God." And how may a man
overcome? By remembering, repenting, and
repeating, by coming back to the beginnings.
Then shall he have to eat of the tree of life.
See how the great words gather together.
Life, light, love. They are the very words
that Jesus came to bring us, and it is only as
we have life that we love, and only as we love
that we shed forth light.
The supreme lesson of this study for to-day
is that for the maintenance of our position as
light-bearers our communion with the Master
in all the abandonment of first love must be
maintained. " If I speak with the tongues of
men and of angels, but have not love, I am be
come sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal.
And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know
all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have
all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have
not love, I am nothing. And if I bestow all
my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my
body to be burned, but have not love, it profit-
eth me nothing."

THE SMYRNA LETTER

" And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write:
" These things saith the first and the last, which
was dead, and lived again: I know thy tribulation,
and thy poverty (but thou art rich), and the blas
phemy of them which say they are Jews, and they
are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Fear not
the things which thou art about to suffer: behold,
the devil is about to 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 the crown of life. He that hath an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.
He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second
death." Rev. ii: 8-n.

IV
THE SMYRNA LETTER
CMYRNA has been for long centuries a
prosperous city. Originally an Ionian set
tlement, it passed for a period into obscurity.
It was rebuilt by Alexander the Great and
Antigonus, and almost immediately it became
noted and wealthy.
We have no account in Scripture of the
planting of the church there, but history tells
the story of the persecution of the church, and
chronicles the fact of the martyrdom of Poly
carp in his ninetieth year. History moreover
clearly states the cause of the persecution,
showing that it arose from the clamour of the
pagan population, excited and incensed by the
Jewish community. This statement is valu
able as throwing much light upon some of the
things incidentally referred to in the epistle
itself. The Master addressing the church, speaks
of Himself as " The first and the last, which
was dead, and lived again." These words are
a repetition of those which He had addressed
to John when, smitten with a great fear in the
57

58 A First Century Message
presence of His glory, he had become as one
dead. This church is in the midst of a great
sorrow, and the Lord announces Himself as
the living One Who has passed through death,
and therefore possesses the keys of death and
of Hades. In approaching a people dwelling
in the region and shadow of death, some of
their number having already suffered martyr
dom, others of them most certainly approach
ing the place of death through their loyalty to
Him, He reminds them that He is Master of
these darker matters also, and holds in His
own hand the keys. The description is in
tended for the consolation of the afflicted peo
ple, and indeed out of this description by which
our Lord introduces Himself to their notice,
flows all the comfort that follows. They are
in the midst of sorrow, and He first declares
to them that He has been to the uttermost
reach of it, and is alive again. They are under
the shadow of death, and He tells them that
He " has been dead, and is alive forevermore."
They are almost certainly in the midst of those
perplexities and questionings which come to
men when surrounded by sorrow. He tells
them that He, having been dead, is now alive ;
and, moreover, that He holds the keys of death
and of Hades, the symbols of solution and au-

The Smyrna Letter 59
thority. He has unlocked the problem and is
now Master of the situation.
.The Master's method in commending this
church at Smyrna is remarkable. He offers
them no solution of the problem of their pain,
and it may be said that the commendation is
contained in a silence and a parenthesis. His
approval of this church is manifest not so
much by what He said, as by the fact that He
had no complaint to make concerning them.
Added t'o the silence there is one brief phrase,
parenthetically interjected, four words only,
" But thou art rich." A careful investigation
will show the value of this phrase, and who
would not rather have that illuminative flash
light than all the eulogy that fell from His
lips on the church at Ephesus? Here as ever,
the value of the statement depends upon the
fact that it was Christ Who uttered it. We
shall only be able to understand the silence of
Jesus and this parenthetical commendation by
a careful examination of the surroundings.
Let us endeavour to see it as He reveals it.
Of it he savs, " I know " — three things.
" Thy tribulation, and thy poverty, and the
blasphemy of them which say they are Jews,
and they are not, but are a synagogue of
Satan." Let us mention these separately. " I

60 A First Century Message
know thy tribulation." " I know thy poverty."
" I know the blasphemy of them which say
they are Jews and they are not, but are a
synagogue of Satan." Tribulation, poverty,
reviling. These are the words which reveal
the desperate condition of the church at the
moment when the Master sent His message
to them.
First, " I know thy tribulation." This is a
strong word, not very often made use of. It
signifies a pressure of persecution. Jesus did
not say I know thy trials, the occasional test
ings of faith, those experiences which are com
mon to all the saints and necessary for their
perfecting, but " thy tribulation." Our word
tribulation suggests the stripe of the Roman
whip, but the word that the Master used, sug
gested rather the pressure of the stones that
grind the wheat, or that force the blood out of
the grape. It is a word that throbs with mean
ing. These people were being pressed even to
death on account of their loyalty to Christ,
and as He looks at the church, He says in
tones of infinite tenderness, " I know thy trib
ulation." And yet again, " I know thy poverty." And
the word indicates actual beggary. Here it
has no reference to a poverty of spirit. In all

The Smyrna Letter 61
probability these people had suffered the loss
of all things in the persecution that had broken
out against them, loss, of trade, loss of social
position, loss almost of the bare necessaries of
life, reduced to beggary, " I know thy pov
erty." And once more, " I, know the blasphemy of
them which say they are Jews, and they are
not, but are a synagogue of Satan." The use
of the word blasphemy is somewhat peculiar
here. Evidently the Lord uses the word, not
in its specific sense as against God, but in its
simplest sense, that of vilification or reviling.
Here the Master reveals His intimate knowl
edge of the causes from which all the trouble
has proceeded. In all probability the vilifying
of the church by the synagogue had issued in
the beggary of the little band of Christians by
the pagans of Smyrna. The members of the
Jewish synagogue, hating the Christian dis
ciples would publish libellous statements con
cerning them as to their character, their pur
pose, and their modes of life. The stories told
had aroused the pagan population, and in all
likelihood, there had followed the confiscation
of their goods which had reduced them to the
point of actual want. It is profoundly inter
esting to notice the wonderful similarity ex-

62 A First Century Message
isting between the experience of these people
at Smyrna, and the experience of the Lord
Himself. The consciousness of this seems to
lie within the phrase " which is alive again."
Before beginning to speak to them, He re
minded them of His own experience ; and de
clared to them that He, having passed through
it, has found it the gate of life.
That through which they are passing is in
many senses almost identical with that
through which He has passed. The force
which encompassed His death was the blas
phemy of the Jews, acting upon a pagan na
tion, that stripped Him of all He possessed,
and gave Him only death. The persecution
that culminated in His own passing had begun
within the synagogue, at the very centre of
supposed religion, and had proceeded along
the line of pagan power to its terrible issue.
Thus addressing these people He says " I
know," and the force of the word is not merely
that He knows by watching, but by His own
experience, not alone by observing their suf
fering, but by having Himself passed through
the same experience. I know for I have ex
perienced the pain of vilification, and the want
of poverty, and the final tribulation. I know
all these to their deepest depths. Thus He

The Smyrna Letter 63
would comfort them with a declaration of His
consciousness of their condition, and His ex
perimental sympathy therewith.
With what summary conciseness and start
ling force He sums up in a sentence the truth
concerning the condition of the Jews in
Smyrna. They are " a synagogue of Satan,"
and these are they that have persecuted
His people. Mark the contrast. The church
in Smyrna. A synagogue of Satan. The
ecclesia of the living God, the gathered
out people. A synagogue of Satan, the
gathered together forces. It is a terrible in
dictment, called forth by the fact that they had
vilified His people, and so had proved them
selves under the leadership of the slanderer
whose perpetual aim it is to degrade our God
and His Christ.
Thus He identified Himself with them in
their sorrow and suffering, and thus in a sen
tence uttered the most severe condemnation of
those who were causing the trouble.
Now let us mark the commendation. First
the silence, and what can be said concerning
silence. It is more eloquent than all language.
He has no word of complaint to utter. The
character and conduct of the church at Smyrna
was such as perfectly to satisfy the heart of

64 A First Century Message
the Lord, and how wonderful it is when we re
member that tribulation and poverty and re
viling make more terrible demands than any
other circumstances, upon the spirit of those
passing through it. There is no profounder
proof of grace of character than that of being
able to suffer wrongfully and yet to manifest
a gracious spirit. How often have we all
fallen at that very point. Repeatedly in the
midst of suffering for righteousness sake, we
have manifested unrightness of character and
of conduct. Is not that the whole story of the
failure of God's wonderful servant Moses.
" He spake unadvisedly with his lips." And
yet the people were doing wrong. There was
no possible defence of their action, but in the
presence of their wrong-doing, he did wrong,
in that he manifested a provoked spirit. Christ
watched these saints at Smyrna, persecuted,
beggared, vilified, and yet had no fault to find
with them. Their spirit under tribulation was
such as to satisfy the heart of Christ. The
finer graces of the Christian character are only
revealed under bruising and pressure, as the
fragrance of fine spices is only obtained
through crushing. Christ pre-eminently be
came a sweet smelling savour to God through
the terrible experiences of the Cross. His un-

The Smyrna Letter 65
provoked and tender spirit was most perfectly
seen amid the circumstances that were provo
cative of anger and resentment. So with these
loved ones in Smyrna. Though under press
and conflict, He found nothing to condemn,
and in the silence there lies the highest eulo-
gium. Of such value is this teaching that I pause
to make a passing application. Some child of
God, whelmed with great and crushing sor
rows is longing for the sound of His voice,
and there is nothing but silence. It may be
that that silence is a sign, not of disapproval
but of approval. Do not be cast down. If in
the midst of tribulation and suffering there is
no voice, it may be that the silence of the Lord
is His highest commendation. There is an old
and beautiful story of how a nun dreamed that
she saw three other nuns at prayer. As they
kneeled the Master approached them. As He
came to the first of the three, He bent over
her with tender solicitude, and smiles full of
radiant love, speaking to her in words of
softest tenderest music. Leaving her and ap
proaching the next He only placed His hand
upon her head, and gave her one look of tender
approval. But the third woman He passed al
most abruptly without word or glance. The

66 A First Century Message
woman in her dream said to herself, How
tenderly the Lord must love this first of His
children. The second He is not angry with,
and yet for her has no endearments like those
bestowed upon the first. She wondered how
the third had grieved Him, so that He gave
her no look, no passing word. As in her dream
she attempted to account for the action of the
Lord, the Master Himself confronted her, and
addressing her said, " Oh woman of the world,
— how wrongly hast thou judged. The first
kneeling woman needs all the succour of My
constant care to keep her feet in the way. The
second has stronger faith and deeper love, but
the third whom I seemed to pass abruptly by,
has faith and love of finest fibre, and her I am
preparing by swift processes for highest and
holiest service. She knows and loves and
trusts Me so perfectly as to be independent of
words or looks."
Do not therefore be surprised if you have no
vision. It may be that the vision granted is
after all but proof of weakness. Peter, James,
and John were taken to behold the vision of
transfiguration. The common interpretation
of this is that they were special apostles being
prepared for special service, and while unable
to contradict that, I should not personally be

The Smyrna Letter 67
surprised in the perfect day to discover that
the reasons for the Master's special attention
were to be found in their weakness rather than
their strength. Not a word of commendation
did He speak to the church in Smyrna, but a
great silence as they passed through the fire
proved His approval of the Tightness of their
spirit. And yet there was more than the silence,
just that one word, that flash, that gleam of
light, " but thou art rich." It is as though He
bent over them and whispered the great truth.
Smyrna counts thee poor. I count thee rich.
The blasphemy of the Jews and the persecu
tion of pagans have robbed thee of everything,
but thou hast lost nothing. I know the pinch
of poverty, I know its pain, and yet I never
lost the riches of spiritual wealth. While I
was still upon the earth a man, I was a beg
gar, and yet My Father was with Me. " I
know thy poverty (but thou art rich)."
The words recall to our mind, the Lord's
conception of riches as revealed in His parable
concerning the rich fool. He said to himself,
" I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much
goods laid up for many years." As though
a life could be fed with goods! And yet the
only place of worship for many is a dry goods

68 A First Century Message
store. Dry goods indeed ! At the close of the
parable Jesus said, " So is he that layeth up
treasure for himself, and is not rich toward
God." Of goods these Smyrna saints had
none, but they were rich toward God. " I
know thy poverty," thou hast no barns, no
store-house, but thou hast all wealth.
Again one calls to mind the word of James,
the practical, far-seeing apostle. " Did not
God choose them that are poor as to the world
to be rich in faith." This also is what the
Master meant. " I know thy poverty," you
are poor as to the world. They have taken
everything from you, but you are rich in faith,
in the principle that possesses the unseen and
imperishable things.
And yet again, the words of Paul recur.
His conception of his own position perfectly
harmonizes with the Lord's estimate of the
people in Smyrna. " As poor " — so poor that
he had to make tents to live, so poor that
when someone is coming to see him, he has to
ask them to bring that old cloak to protect him
from the cold, and to keep him warm — " yet
making many rich " — so rich that he is able to
minister through tent-making without cost, so
rich that he is more anxious about the parch
ments than about the cloak, — " especially the

The Smyrna Letter 69
parchments." " As having nothing," he
writes, " and yet possessing all things." " I
know thy poverty," says Christ, you are poor,
you have nothing, but you are rich, enriching
others, possessing all things.
All this is intensely interesting, but we have
not yet touched the deepest note of exposition.
Read again the old familiar words concerning
the Master from the writings of Paul. " For
ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes
He became poor, that ye through His poverty
might become rich." The words used are ex
actly the same, the same for " rich " and the
same for " poverty." " He became poor,"
" I know thy poverty." " He was rich,"
" but thou art rich." " I know, / know your
poverty. I have been poor with the actual
poverty of beggary, but you are rich, for
through that poverty of Mine, you have en
tered into that wealth of Mine, and even in
the midst of all your poverty, you possess the
abiding wealth. I know your poverty, for I
have shared it. I know your wealth, for I
have given it." It is well to remember that
the word " rich " in all these cases is the actual
word which we use of the world's wealth. It
is the root word from which we derive our

^o A First Century Message
word plutocrat. According to Christ then,
wealth is enrichment of character, not posses
sion of gold. He said in effect to these suffer
ing people in Smyrna, You are the poorest
people in Smyrna. You are the plutocrats of
Smyrna. Others have the wealth of the world,
the fulness of material things, but you have the
true fulness. I love to think of this estimate
of Christ, and to remember that the saints of
God are the true aristocrats and plutocrats of
every age. An aristocrat is a man of best
strength. A plutocrat is a full man. The best
strength of the nation is ever to be found in the
saints of Christ. The true fulness of the na
tion is to be reckoned by the number of its
men and women who are living in fellowship
with God. The riches of the saints are the
riches that abide. The things the Christians
of Smyrna had lost, they must have left behind
them ere long, when they had passed from the
stage of earthly action. The things that they
possessed became theirs in fullest measure only
through that passing. True wealth is the
wealth that never tarnishes, never decays,
never fades. Oh, glorious parenthesis of
Jesus, a great silence of commendation, and a
parenthesis of approbation.
What words of counsel then has He to speak

The Smyrna Letter 71
to people passing through such circumstances ?
Mainly two. First, " Fear not," and secondly,
" Be thou faithful unto death." In reading
this epistle I think the most startling thing to
me was to discover that there is not a single
promise to them that they should escape their
suffering. Nay, He rather tells them that
heavier trials are to come upon them, and the
" fear not " is a preparatory word in advance
of the present consciousness of need. He does
not say " Fear not the things which thou hast
suffered," but " Fear not the things which thou
art about to suffer." There is no promise of
succour. He does not say, Never mind, these
things will soon be over. He comes rather
with an announcement of another sorrow. Oh,
the comfort of knowing that He is acquainted
with the things that are yet to be, and that
facing them He says " fear not." There is no
sorrow waiting for them that He is not ac
quainted with. I know thy present tribulation.
I know thy present poverty, the present blas
phemy I know. I know more. I know what
lies hidden in the womb of the future, that
" the devil is about to cast some of you into
prison, that ye may be tried, and ye shall have
tribulation ten days." Fear not these things
then, the persecution will increase, the fear-

72 A First Century Message
some darkness will deepen, tribulation will be
more severe, the pressure will yet be heavier.
Fear not, and let the first comforting thought
against fear be that I know and that I have
told you.
Then " Be thou faithful unto death," live
upon the principle of faith even to the bound
of death. The word " faithful " here is from
i the root which means to be convinced. Fidel
ity is born of conviction, and conviction must
have a groundwork and foundation. What
then is this faithfulness enjoined? The faith
fulness of the saints is the assurance of the
faithfulness of Jesus. A deep conviction of
His fidelity produces their fidelity. Wherever
a man, woman, or child under any circum
stances of pain or testing is deeply convinced
of the fidelity of Christ, they are immediately
and necessarily faithful themselves. It is as
though He had said to them, You are going to
be cast into prison, " the devil is about to cast
some of you into prison, that ye may be tried."
Be faithful, believe still. Live within the limit
of a great assurance. Don't question Me, don't
doubt Me, depend on Me. The Lord did not
mean, Gather yourselves up and go through.
He simply meant, Trust Me. He did not in
tend to advise them to gird up their loins and

The Smyrna Letter 73
be determined that they would see the business
through. That is ever a poor and sorry way
oi attempting to pass through times of testing.
He meant rather, Trust Me, let Me be your
courage. I am alive, and I was dead. I have
gone to the limit of this matter.. There is no
depth I have not fathomed, no darkness I
have not penetrated. Be faithful, follow Me,
not in the effort of a strenuous determination,
but with the ease of a simple trust.
Then the gracious promise. " I will give
thee the crown of life," and the word is very
full and very rich. This crown that He prom
ises is the crown of royalty. It is more. It
is the crown of royalty victorious. It is still
more. It is the chaplet that adorns the brow
of the victor who comes laden with spoils, the
crown of royalty, the crown of victory, the
crown of added wealth. It is the crown of life,
life which reigns because it has won, and reigns
moreover in possession of spoils obtained
through conflict. The life is the crown. What
wondrous light this flings back upon the pro
cess. This pressure of tribulation is not acci
dental and capricious. Out of the tribulation
we shall have our triumph. Out of the dark
ness we shall come to light. That is the whole
philosophy of suffering.

/
/

74 A First Century Message
This may be a message to some saints who/
are being sorely tried. And yet are you no/
already, as the mists clear from the valleys,
finding your crown of life? I think to-day I
see the meaning of past mysteries in my own
life. Dut of the pressure of tribulation we
extract the new wine of the Kingdom, and out
of the deep dark death experience in which the
devil sifts and tries, there breaks a new capac
ity, an enlarged outlook, a new meaning in life,
a new tone in the speech. Almost impercepti
bly and yet surely, through the process of pain
God is putting the horizon further back, and
broadening and deepening the experience of
life. That is the present value of pain, but
its ultimate value is the fulness of which all
this is but the foretelling. When presently all
the tribulation is passed, and the painful pro
cesses of the little while are over, and the last
grim pressure ceases, then we shall be crowned
with life, then we shall know the meaning of
life. All this must ever be emphasized by the
perpetual memory of the words with which
Christ addressed His suffering saints. Em
phasizing His experimental acquaintance with
the philosophies, He declares " I was dead, and
behold, I am alive." " I know thy tribula-

The Smyrna Letter f |
tion!" Think of His tribulation. "I know thy
poverty ! " Think of His poverty. " I know the
revilings of them which say they are Jews and
they are not ! " Think of the revilings heaped
upon Him by them which said they were Jews.
" Fear not ! " Think of His unswerving faith
in God. " Be thou faithful until death ! " See
Him faithful unto death. " I will give thee the
crown of life ! " See Him crowned with life, on
the resurrection morning. This is the heart
and centre of the great truth delivered to the
suffering saints at Smyrna. I am your com
panion in distress. I am your comrade in the
darkness. I know, and I am with you, and
just beyond I will be with you still, leading you
to the fountains of living waters.
Then there was His added promise. " He
that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second
death." It always seems to me as though this
were an inferential note of warning and threat
ening against the persecutors. These men of
Smyrna will die, saints and sinners alike, but
beyond death is death. The persecutors of
Smyrna will pa§s through death to death. The
believers of Smyrna being faithful to death,
through death will find no second death, but
instead thereof life. The saints are rich in pov
erty. They walk through darkness into light.

76 A First Century Message
They live beyond all death. As Christ holds
the keys, we see through open doors, things as
they really are. The great and wealthy men of
Smyrna were not the persecuting pagans and
the blasphemous Jews, but the suffering, tried,
poverty-stricken saints, for they were wealthy
in all essential things, and would pass through
the pressure of death to the realization of end
less life.
Let all Smyrna face death, but only
those whose principle of life is faith in Christ
will pass unafraid through the first to find the
second abolished.
Of this epistle there can be no immediate
application to the majority of those who hear
these words. Sometimes it seems as though
the very reproach of Christ has almost ceased.
I am not sure that this is a healthy sign. It
is doubtful if many people really suffer much
to-day for Christ's sake. I often hear men
speak of the difficulties of their position in
business, of the taunts and sneers of certain
opposing ones, but are they really serious when
they mention these things? When we think
of the actualities of the persecution in Smyrna,
and of the early days of the Christian era,
ought we not to blush to speak of suffering
to-day ? And yet is there not a sadness in this

The Smyrna Letter 77
very fact of absence of persecution? Is real
Godliness more popular to-day, or is not that
which is popular a kind of hybrid Christianity ?
I leave these questions for personal asking.
And yet there is a sympathetic application
of the epistle. During the Armenian massa
cres, and the martyrdom of native Christians
in China, how one has thanked God again and
again for the letter to Smyrna. Surely the
One walking amid the lampstands said to all
these, as robbed of earthly possessions, and
brutally deprived of life they were still faith
ful to His name, " I know . . . but thou
art rich." I think I hear the voice of the
thorn-crowned sounding in cadences of sweet
est music over the hills and valleys of Armenia,
and I think I hear that self-same voice, like the .
voice of many waters, breathing these words
of strength to all His witnesses in China.
Surely He met them at the portal of death,
and crowned them with life.
And yet there is an immediate application to
all those who suffer for His name's sake.
From the meditation, let us gather one or
two lessons of general import. First, outward
adversity of a church or a people or a person
is not a proof of essential poverty or weakness.
It is not always the wealthy church financially

78 A First Century Message
that is the rich church. The material wealth
of members does not create the true riches of
the church. How often it has been that some
struggling company of believers, fighting with
poverty, contending for very existence, has
been the truly rich and prosperous church.
Then secondly, let us gather the inexpressi
ble comfort that comes from this revelation of
Christ's identification with all His suffering
saints. Wherever the Church passes through
tribulation, He stands and says " I know."
And lastly, let us ever rejoice in His asser
tion that He holds the keys of all the things
that most affright and oppress us, of the last
foes, of death and of Hades, and the keys in
His right hand are symbols of solution and
authority. As we pass to the valley of the
shadow, He approaches, holding these keys,
and saying, " Fear not," I have unlocked the
problem. I have solved it, I have been into
the deepest darkness, I know it. I have not
borrowed these keys. They belong to Me. I
have them for unlocking and for locking.
Oh, suffering saints, and all who approach
the shadow-land, fear not, fear not! Trust
Him utterly, be faithful, confiding, even unto
death, and through the dark chambers of death
and of Hades, He will lead to light. Christ

The Smyrna Letter 79
never tells us not to fear, until He Himself has
fathomed all the mystery. I say to my child
Do not be afraid, while yet in my own heart
lurks a great fear that I dare not tell him of.
This Christ never does. He has not fear, and
therefore I need not fear but may sing with
the Psalmist,
" Yea, though I walk through the valley of
the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil ; for Thou art with me :
Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me."
He has probed the shadow and the pain. Let
Him lead on, even through tribulation and
through death, to the life and the crowning
that lie ahead.

THE PERGAMUM LETTER

" And to the angel of the church in Pergamum
write ;
" These things saith He that hath the sharp two-
edged sword: I know where thou dwellest, even
where Satan's throne is: and thou holdest fast My
name, and didst not deny My faith, even in the days
of Antipas My witness, My faithful one, who was
killed among you, where Satan dwelleth. But I
have a few things against thee, because thou hast
there some that hold the teaching of Balaam, who
taught Balak to cast a stumblingblock before the
children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols,
and to commit fornication. So hast thou also some
that hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans in like
manner. Repent therefore; or else I come to thee
quickly, and I will make war against them with the
sword of My mouth. He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. To him
that overcometh, to him will I give of the hidden
manna, and I will give him a white stone, and upon
the stone a new name written, which no one knoweth
but he that receiveth it." Rev. ii: 12-17.

V
THE PERGAMUM LETTER
"D ERGAMUM was an illustrious city of My-
sia, given over almost entirely to wealth
and fashion. Unlike Ephesus and Smyrna, it
was not a centre of commerce. .ZEsculapius,
the god of medicine, was worshipped there
under the form of a serpent, and the special
aspect of this worship was that of the study
of the secret springs of life, and like all Nature
worship, sincere as may have been the begin
nings thereof, it had issued in corruption. This
fact may serve to throw light upon some of
the statements that occur in the letter.
We have no account whatever of the plant
ing of the church, and therefore can only look
at it as seen in the epistle now under considera
tion. Christ speaks to the church as the One " that
hath the sharp two-edged sword." That sword
as we have seen is the symbol of the discerning
and executive power of truth. The fitness of
this lies in the fact that the church is harbour
ing error. Not that the church has itself
83

84 A First Century Message
adopted the teaching, nor that she has as a
corporate whole, committed herself to these
heresies, but she has become guilty of Broad
Churchism, attempting to find room within
her pale for all sorts and conditions of men and
faiths. Approaching the church as the One from
Whose mouth proceeds the sword, He comes to
deal with the false teachers within it.
First let us notice His commendation. " I
know where thou dwellest, even where Satan's
throne is : and thou holdest fast My name, and
didst not deny My faith, even in the days of
Antipas My witness, My faithful one, who
was killed among you, where Satan dwelleth."
The Lord recognizes the peculiar dangers and
difficulties surrounding these people. The un
derlying suggestion of the commendation is
that it is an honourable thing to have held fast
His name, and not have denied His faith. The
inference is that if there was any place that it
might have been probable that people should
have ceased to hold His name, it would have
been in these peculiar and difficult circum
stances in which the church at Pergamum
found itself at the time.
The commendation consists in the twofold
statement. " Thou holdest fast My name,"

The Pergamum Letter 85
" Thou didst not deny My faith." " My name,
My faith." And the emphasis of the com
mendation is discovered by consideration of
the peculiar perils threatening these people.
" I know where thou dwellest." That state
ment in itself is full of comfort. In every
circumstance of trial and tribulation and perse
cution and peril, we may hear the words of
the Master, " I know where thou dwellest."
In this case the place is described by the
startling phrase, " Where Satan's throne is."
Satan has ever some base of operation, some
central place for his throne. It is very diffi
cult to refer to Satan without wanting to say
a great deal about him, and much needs to be
said in these days ; and in a study of this epistle
it is necessary to pause for a little upon this
subject. Wasting no time over arguments
concerning the personality of Satan, but ac
cepting that as an established fact, there re
mains certain co-related facts which need re
statement. First, Satan is not God, and there
fore neither has he any of the essential powers
of Deity. He is neither omniscient, omnipres
ent, nor omnipotent. He does not know as
God knows. He is not everywhere as God is
everywhere. He is not all-powerful as God is
all-powerful. He is a fallen angel, " Lucifer,

86 A First Century Message
'son of the morning, how art thou fallen." In
his fall and degradation, he has retained all the
essential capacities of his unfallen state. The
wisdom, the possibility of locomotion, and the
marvellous power, which were his before he
fell, are his to-day, but he is not God. He
dragged with him in that awful fall hosts of
the bright ones, and with the marvellous wis
dom of that unfallen nature, now prostituted
to base uses, he marshalls them for the doing
of his work. To state the case bluntly, if the
devil is here, he is not there. If the devil is
there he is not here. His messengers cover
all countries, and include all ranks of life in
their operations, and these ramifications of evil
are under the supreme control of Satan, who
is the prince of the power of the air, the god
of this world, the son of the morning, fallen
as lightning from heaven. For the carrying
out of his enterprises in the world, he has
somewhere a place where his throne is, a base
of operations. It may be that he has more
than one such centre, and he himself will pass
from point to point with the rapidity of light
ning. He is ubiquitous, as we use the word of
a general who, on the field of battle seems to be
here, there, and everywhere, only more so. He
is not omnipresent as God is without motion

i I

The Pergamum Letter 87
and without effort. At the time of the wri
ting of this letter, for some strategic reason of
his own, he had his seat at Pergamum. The
Master knew it and indicated it. Truly the
devil manifests a great deal more wisdom than
Christian people very often. His throne will
be at some strategic point from which he can
best use his influence. Almost invariably that
throne is at the centre of worldliness and
worldly greatness. Wherever his throne is, is
a place of peculiar peril. As it has been force
fully said, " In the greatest centres of worldly
power, there his eye more peculiarly watches,
his energy more peculiarly acts, his influence
more peculiarly emanates."
Now this was the peril of the church at
Pergamum. In Smyrna it was " a synagogue
of Satan." In Pergamum it is the " throne of
Satan." In Smyrna opposition to the Chris
tian Church was veiled behind religion. The
devil operated through the Jewish synagogue,
and Christ with infinite scorn and contempt,
spoke of that religious centre as the " syna
gogue of Satan." In Pergamum it is quite
a different matter. Satan's throne is there,
and the peril that threatens the church is not
so much that of direct opposition as that of
patronage. " Where Satan's throne is," the

88 A First Century Message
saints are in peril of entering into alliance with
the forces under his control.
The history of evil I think will prove the
assertion that Satan loves to have his seat in
the midst of worldly wealth, and all that stands
for the feeding of the flesh life in men. The
Master did not say to men what we often say,
" Ye cannot serve God and the devil." I do
not question the accuracy of that statement,
but it is worthy of notice that the Master said,
" Ye cannot serve God and Mammon." Thus
He revealed the antithesis between the two
great forces which govern human lives, God
and Mammon. God governs man through the
spiritual side of man's nature, and man can
only be governed in the highest aspects of his
life when he is so governed. Mammon, which
stands for all the worldly power and worldly
greatness, the things which the men of the
world value, as a governing force issues in the
degradation of man, proving he cannot be per
fectly governed in flesh by the things that
minister to flesh. The devil lurks behind Mam
mon, sets his throne up at the point where it
gathers its force, and from there rules men.
If you think to-day for a single moment of the
great evils that are blighting our lands, and
if you take time to think far enough back in

The Pergamum Letter 89
the history of these things, you will discover
that the invariable impulse of evil is Mammon,
and the love of gold. Behind the drink traffic,
behind the unholy and iniquitous crowding of
the poor into dwellings of which our cities
ought to be ashamed, behind the breath of
vile impurity that spoils life as it passes across
it, is Mammon, the love of gold; and behind
that, using and manipulating it, the devil sits
upon the throne of power.
The peril which ever threatens a church
situated in such a city is that it may
enter into alliance with Mammon, and so pass
under the control of Satan. Pergamum was
perhaps the wealthiest city of the seven, and
there was Satan's throne, the base of his opera
tions, the place from which he governed the
goings of evil in that whole district. If you
ask me where Satan's throne is in England,
I do not hesitate to say that it is in London.
If you ask me where his throne is in America,
it would be difficult to answer, for there seem
to be several places, one in the East at least,
one in the middle West, a strategic point, and
others there may be on the far West coast,
where the gates are opening towards yet fur
ther enterprises. Be sure of this that where
the excellencies of God's earth create special

90 A First Century Message
possibilities for man's abuse, there the devil
sets his throne.
Having recognized this peril, let us now no
tice the commendation. " Thou holdest fast
My name." Christ's name is ever the symbol
of His nature, and this first word of com
mendation declares that the church at Perga
mum has been loyal to the Person of Christ.
There had been no denying of any part of the
strange and mystic fact of His personality, that
personality that can be compared to nothing,
and that can have nothing compared to it. His
name stands for a Person utterly separated
from all others, and utterly unlike them in its
totality, while akin to God and man in its
duality. Christ says You have not denied My
name. You are loyal to the central fact of
Christianity. Thou holdest fast My name,
which is the sign and symbol of My nature.
Again, " Thou didst not deny My faith."
Note specially that He does not say; You have
not denied your own faith, but " My faith."
In the letter to the Hebrews the writer speaks
of Jesus as being the " Author and Finisher,"
not of our faith, but " of faith." That is to
say, He lived and wrought upon the principle
of faith, and through His victory, was the
Author or the File-leader, as the word literally

The Pergamum Letter 91
is, and Perfector, or Vindicator of faith as a
principle of life. The faith of man exercised
in His victory, is response to His faith. The
fact that the church at Pergamum had not
denied the faith, indicates that they were loyal,
not only to the Person of Christ, but that they
evidently rested in His accomplished purpose.
His faith had operated to perfect realization Of
a Divine purpose of redemption. Their faith
operated in Him for the appropriation of that
redemption. The redemption was that of re
generation as justification, renewal as sancti
fication, realization as glorification. The force
that was sufficient to bring Him to victory was
that of His faith in God and His faith in men,
faith, that is, in the wisdom and the love of
God, and in the possibility of man brought
under the influence of that wisdom and that
love. This was the mighty principle that bore.
Him up and carried Him on, until His faith,
triumphant even over death, ^became the life
principle for ruined men, and their faith centred
upon His victory, appropriated the value of
His faith. His faith would have been denied
by their lack of faith in Him. On the other
hand, His faith is affirmed by that confidence
in Him which created their character, and is
sued in conduct. " Thou holdest fast My

92 A First Century Message
name " is the commendation of Christ upon the
loyalty of the men of Pergamum to His Per
son; the peculiar, separate, unique Person of
Jesus Christ, the one and only Person of His
order that the world has ever seen. The name
of Jesus stands for His personality, for the
human and the Divine, for the Divine and the
human, for that strange mysterious combina
tion that has baffled the theology of every suc
cessive century, and concerning which no final
word has yet been said because no final word
can ever be said, because no finite mind can
grasp the infinite mystery of God incarnate.
To that name these men had held fast.
" Thou didst not deny My faith," indicates
their confidence in His mission, confidence in
His atoning work. His name marks the glory
of His Person. His faith marks the perfection
of His purpose. It was a wonderful testimony
that the Master bore to this church at Perga
mum, where Satan's throne was, the centre of
wealth and power, the home of mystic thought
and occult study. The church had been loyal
to the Person of Christ, more mysterious than
the mysteries of Pergamum, loyal to the faith
of Christ, bringing men to the true springs of
life, which these dwellers in the wealthy city

The Pergamum Letter 93
were professing to give themselves over to dis
cover. Now mark His complaint. " But I have a
few things against thee, because thou hast
there some that hold the teaching of Balaam,
who taught Balak to cast a stumblingblock be
fore the children of Israel, to eat things sac
rificed to idols, and to commit fornication."
That is one thing. " So hast thou also some
that hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans , in
like manner." That is the second thing. Let
us examine them for they reveal one great fact
to which the Lord objects in this church at
Pergamum. It is necessary that we note care
fully what is here said. A very tender and
delicate distinction is drawn between the church
and certain persons within the church. He has
something against the church, but He is care
ful to show that it is not that the church holds
the false doctrine, but that she has fellowship
with those who do. Not " I have a few things
against thee, because thou holdest the teach
ing of Balaam," but " I have a few things
against thee, because thou hast there some
that hold the teaching of Balaam." The church
was loyal to the mission of Christ, and did not
deny the faith, but what He had against them

94 A First Century Message
was that they were tolerating false views.
What the church lacked was discipline. What
cursed the church was a false charity. For
the emphasis of this point notice the closing
words of the Master, " Repent therefore ; or
else I come to thee quickly, and I will make
war against them with the sword of My
mouth." With great delicacy and fine distinc
tion He draws the line between the church and
those holding the false doctrine, and yet He
now declares it as being against the whole
church, that it tolerates these people within its
borders. What then is the doctrine which is being
tolerated and to which our Lord takes objec
tion ? " Some that hold the teaching of
Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-
block before the children of Israel, to eat things
sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication."
What is this teaching of Balaam ? Let us look
very carefully at the structure of the state
ment. " I have a few things against thee, be
cause thou hast there some that hold the teach
ing of Balaam " — and then there really follows
a parenthesis — " who taught Balak to cast a
stumblingblock before the children of Israel."
Omit the parenthesis, and then read the state
ment. " I have a few things against thee, be-

The Pergamum Letter 95
cause thou hast there some that hold the teach
ing of Balaam, to eat things sacrificed to idols,
and to commit fornication."
Now is it to be understood that the
Master meant that Balaam's teaching was that
men were to eat things sacrificed to idols, and
to commit fornication? I think not, although
they are the exact things which logically fol
lowed the teaching of Balaam, and exactly the
same perils which threatened the church at
Pergamum. May we not reverently attempt to para
phrase the words of Christ, so that their mean
ing may be clearer to us? It is as though He
had said, This is what I have against thee.
You have people, who in order that they may
, eat of the things sacrificed to idols, and in order
that they may indulge in the sin of fornication,
are holding a doctrine which excuses the
actual wrong. The wrong thing is the sacrific
ing to idols and the fornication, but behind the
wrong conduct is the wrong creed, and they
are holding the doctrine of Balaam in order
to excuse or justify conduct which is wrong.
If this be the interpretation then it remains
that we should ask, What was the teaching of
Balaam, which made possible such awful con
duct ? The story of Balaam is contained in the

96 A First Century Message
book of Numbers, chapters twenty-two to
twenty- four, and at the end of the twenty-
fourth chapter it would appear as though that
story is concluded, but it is not. Let me in
few words epitomize the whole story.
Balak, the king of Moab, a man under the
influence of the sophistries and incantations of
a certain class of men, sent for Balaam. He
wanted Balaam to curse the nation that had
come up out of Egypt, believing that a curse
pronounced would work ruin upon Israel. We
do not know who Balaam was. When Balak
sent for him, it was that he might hire him.
That word " hire " must be carefully remem
bered in the study. He offered him reward
if he would curse Israel.
Now what happened ? God appeared to Ba
laam and warned him not to go. Balak sent
his princes back to Balaam, offering him silver
and gold and honours if he would but come.
Balaam, lured by the hire, started, and on his
way encountered that remarkable incident of
the appearance of the angel, and the speech of
the dumb ass. The result of Balaam's conver
sation with the angel was that the angel warned
him not to go. Balaam terrified, offered to go
back, but now the aneel said You must go
forward. He came to Balak, and on a high

The Pergamum Letter 97
mountain seven sacrifices were offered, and
he opened his mouth to curse, and instead
spoke words of blessing. Balak took him to
yet another mountain, with a like result. He
hoped that a third place might bring the de
sired cursing and again the sevenfold sacrifice
was offered, and Balaam spoke. There are
however, no prophecies in the whole book of
God more wonderfully beautiful than the things
that then fell from his lips.
The anger of Balak was naturally then
kindled, and he said I called you to curse,
and behold, thou hast altogether blessed them
these three times. He rid himself of Balaam,
who returned home. So ends the twenty-
fourth chapter.
What then is the doctrine of Balaam?
Now the fact is that it has not appeared
at all in the story as contained in these
chapters. To discover it we must pass into
chapter twenty-five, and there we read these
startling words, " And Israel abode in Shittim,
and the people began to commit whoredom
with the daughters of Moab " — that is, with
the daughters of this king Balak, and his peo
ple. Now specially notice, "for they" — that
is the children of Moab, and the daughters of
Moab, " called the people unto the sacrifices of

98 A First Century Message
their gods; and the people did- eat, and bowed
down to their gods. And Israel joined himself
unto Baal-peor; and the anger of the Lord was
kindled against Israel." Now this is the
strangest thing, possible. Balaam, instead of
cursing the people had blessed them, and the
next thing we read is that these very peo
ple Moab wanted to destroy, are enticed to the
lewd feasts of Moab, and to all the awful cor
ruption that follows upon such a proceeding.
How has this come about ? The answer is to
be found by passing still further to the thirty-
third chapter, of the book of Numbers, and
the sixteenth verse, and in the words therein
contained, the whole mystery is solved. Moses
is speaking, and he says, " Behold, these" that
is, the women of Moab, " caused the children
of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to
commit trespass against the Lord, in the mat
ter of Peor." Here we touch the secret of the
whole thing, and it is a startling revelation.
It is evident that when Balaam utterly failed to
curse, he went home with the lust of hire still
in his heart, and began to corrupt Israel.
This he did by persuading them to social
alliances with Moab, saying that according ta
the prophecy he had been forced to utter, Moab,
would be unable to harm them.

The Pergamum Letter 99
The doctrine of Balaam broadly stated was
undoubtedly that seeing that they were the
covenant people of God, they might with safety
indulge themselves in social intercourse with
their neighbours, for no harm could happen to
them. Both Peter and Jude refer to Balaam,
and they both tell us that the motive of his
teaching was that of hire, but neither of them
declare what the teaching was. There can be
no reasonable doubt that in effect his declara
tion to the children of Israel was that their
covenant with God was so sure, as would wit
ness the blessing he had been compelled to
pronounce, that they need not be" anxious about
their conduct.
His teaching issued, as Jesus says, in the
eating of things sacrificed to idols, and the
committing of fornication. It was the perilous
and damnable heresy that sin cannot violate a
covenant. Then a second fact in the complaint, " So
hast thou also some that hold the teaching of
the Nicolaitans in like manner." What that
doctrine was I do not profess to know, but I
know its issue, and I am not sure that the
Words " in like manner," do not refer to the
similarity between the teaching of the Nicolai
tans, and that of Balaam, rather than to the

ioo A First Century Message
fact that men held that doctrine, as well as the
other. Technically there may have been a
difference. The issue of both was the same.
What then was the danger in the church at
Pergamum? There were persons associated
with the church, who held a doctrine which
gave them license to indulge in sins which were
the special peril of all life in Pergamum. There
was the splendour of a great temple worship,
with its seductive feasts, and impure gaieties.
This question of things sacrificed to idols, and
of fornication had arisen long before, and had
been remitted to a special council of the church
at Jerusalem. The story of that council is re
corded in the Acts, chapter fifteen. Its de
cision was that while they did not desire to in
sist upon the rite of circumcision, they charged
the Christians dwelling in these Asiatic cities
that they should not eat things sacrificed to
idols, nor commit fornication. In the first letter
to the Corinthians, beginning with the sixth
chapter, the apostle deals with this very sub
ject of fornication, and of things sacrificed
to idols, and he distinctly forbids them on
apostolic authority, not merely to the one
church at Corinth, but to all the churches of
the district, for note well these words, " And
so ordain I in all the churches." Thus that

The Pergamum Letter 101
church had the definite teaching of the apostle
'that it was wrong to eat the things sacrificed to
idols, and yet it was tolerating persons who
.-were finding a way to excuse these popular sins
of the city. They held fast the name, they did
not deny the faith, but they put false emphasis
upon the value of the name, and false applica
tion of the force of the faith, claiming that
these things were of such value and such force
as to cover and make of no vital importance
certain forms of popular wrong doing. Thus
there was heresy in that church at Pergamum,
the heresy which has come to be known in later
days as the Antinomian heresy, the heresy
which says, You are so safe in the name and
in the faith, that it matters little about your
conduct. You may mix with the sinners of
Pergamum, and follow their habits, and yet
share the benefits of the covenant. This is the
teaching of Balaam, and it had its recrudes
cence in the church at Pergamum.
The Lord is terribly severe in His denuncia
tion. The church at Pergamum in its cor
porate capacity had not indulged in these for
bidden sins, neither endorsed the teaching of
Balaam. Its fault lay in its lack of discipline,
in that it tolerated within its borders those
holding the doctrine. The whole church did

loa A First Century Message
not hold the doctrine, but for some mistaken
idea of expediency and policy, these people
were permitting those who did hold it, to re
main in fellowship. Said Christ, Thou hast
them there. Thou art tolerating the people
who hold the doctrine, which can only issue in
moral corruption.
Turn now to the counsel. " Repent." This
word is addressed not to the people holding the
doctrine, but to the church and to the angel.
In what sense then can they repent ? The only
repentance possible to the church was that of
the exclusion from its fellowship of the persons
who held the pernicious teaching. That doc
trine must not be tolerated. The warning is
very solemn. " I will make war against them
with the sword of My mouth." Unless you
exercise your discipline as a church, and ex
clude these people, I will come and fight against
them. What an inference of love lies behind
this threat. It is as though the Lord would
say, ' Discipline these people, for the judgment
will be swift and heavy, if they are not ex
cluded.' For the sake of the men that hold
pernicious doctrine, they should be excluded
from the church. There are men in the borders
of our churches to whom we are doing incal-

The Pergamum Letter 103
culable harm by allowing them to remain there.
We allow them to remain and they imagine
that they are in a place of safety, when they
are in the place of death. We are sometimes
inclined to treat this warning as though it were
not alarming, but I want to say that it is one of
the most solemn in all these epistles. It is a
warning that the Lord Jesus will come, and
by exercise of righteous judgment, will re
move what the church itself refuses to remove.
The supreme illustration of the solemnity of it
is to be found in the letter to the church
at Corinth, where disorders had arisen, and
Paul wrote words that must have made men
tremble before them as to what should be done
with the wrongdoers. In that same epistle you
will find that the apostle marks this solemn
fact, that Jesus Christ, in dealing in judgment
with a church, has before now had to remove
by death the wrong-doers for the purification
of the church, and for the making possible for
its testimony of light in the midst of the dark
ness of the age. If therefore I understand this
message of the letter to the church at Perga
mum, it is as though the Lord had said, Un
less you repent and deal in discipline with these
men, I must fight against them with the sword
of My mouth, and that sword will not be

104 A First Century Message
found to be the method of argument, or a new
enunciation of truth. It will be a judgment
swift and sure upon the evil workers, in order
that the church itself may be free and may be
pure. Then the Lord, in Whose heart there was
a great tenderness .even toward the evil
doers, utters His promise. " To him that
overcometh, to him will I give of the hid
den manna." That is the first half of the
promise, Divine sustenance. And why did
Jesus speak of it as manna? Because manna
was Divinely supplied, and yet had to be hu
manly gathered. Hidden manna, the Word of
God upon which man lives, as against the doc
trine of Balaam, in accepting which man per
ishes. The true bread, the bread of life. The
applicability of this promise to these people
is seen when it is remembered how the very
heart of the false religion of Pergamum con
sisted in the attempt to feed upon secret mys
teries of life. To those who overcome these
subtle temptations, the Master promises that
they shall feed upon hidden manna.
And then the other portion of that sweet
promise. " To him that overcometh . . .
I will give him a white stone, and upon the
stone a new name written, which no one

The Pergamum Letter 105
knoweth but he that receiveth it." The sug-
gestiveness of that white stone is not perfectly
clear. There have been many interpretations.
Personally I would be inclined to think that
they all have some value. From them let me
select four.
The white stone was given to a man who
after trial was justly acquitted, and went forth
clear from condemnation. The white stone was
given to one who, returning from battle, having
won victories, bore his triumphs with him. It
was the reward of victory. The white stone
was sometimes given to a man as the token
that he was made a free man of the city. It
indicated his free citizenship.
And yet there is one other meaning, per
haps more beautiful than all, very sweet and
tender. There was the white stone known as
the tessara hospitalis. Two men, friends,
about to part, would divide a white stone
into two, each carrying with him half, upon
which was inscribed the name of the friend.
It may be that they would never meet
again, but that stone in each case would be
bequeathed to son, and sometimes generations
after, a man would meet another, and they
would find that they possessed the comple
mentary halves of one white stone, and their

106 A First Century Message
friendship would be at once created upon the
basis of the friendship made long ag^.
All these seem to me to be probably sug
gested by this white stone. First, the white
stone of acquittal, which is justification. The
white stone of victory, being triumph over all
foes. The white stone of citizenship, which
marks the freedom of the city of God. And
then the white stone of unending friendship,
my name written on His half, His name written
on mine.
The central lesson of the study is a very
solemn one. The Church of Jesus Christ must
not tolerate within her borders those who lower
the standard of truth's requirements. This is
not a question of holding the truth. The
church at Pergamum was orthodox. It is a
question of the right application of truth. The
error of these men is one that in subtle form,
threatens all churches even until this hour.
It is that if a man's creed be right, his conduct
does not so much matter. Truth never excuses
sin. All forms of sin are to be treated with
ruthless and pitiless severity, and if a man
holding any form of teaching, should attempt
to excuse sin, he is to be excluded from the
fellowship of the saints. Purity of doctrine
has its danger. A man may be so loyal to the

The Pergamum Letter 107
name and the faith, that almost before he knows
it, his zeal for these things may make him blind
to the presence of teaching which will under
mine their value. The test of doctrine is purity
of conduct and character. The seal of the
Master has two sides, on each an inscription.
On the one side the words are graven, " The
Lord knoweth them that are His." On the
other side these other words, " Let him that
nameth the name of the Lord depart from in
iquity." Any attempt to efface this second side
of the seal, is blasphemy, an error to be
banished with exclusion from the fellowship of
the Church. God's order is the order of peace,
but it is always peace based upon purity, for
the wisdom that is from above is first pure
and then peaceable.

THE THYATIRA LETTER

" And to the angel of the church in Thyatira
write ;
" These things saith the Son of God, Who hath His
eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like unto
burnished brass. I know thy works, and thy love
and faith and ministry and patience, and that thy
last works are more than the first. But I have
against thee, that thou sufferest the woman Jezebel,
which calleth herself a prophetess; and she teacheth
and seduceth My servants to commit fornication,
and to eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her
time that she should repent; and she willeth not to
repent of her fornication. Behold, I do cast her
into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her
into great tribulation, except they repent of her
works. 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
each one of you according to your works. But to
you I say, to the rest that are in Thyatira, as many
as have not this teaching, which know not the deep
things of Satan, as they say; I cast upon you none
other burden. Howbeit that which ye have, hold
fast till I come. And he that overcometh, and he
that keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I
give authority over the nations: and he shall rule
them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter
are broken to shivers; as I also have received of
My Father: and I will give him the morning star.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
saith to the churches." Rev. ii: 18-29.

VI
THE THYATIRA LETTER
HP HYATIRA was a small city in Asia
Minor. While we have no certain account
of the planting there Of the Christian Church,
it may be it was an indirect result of the in
fluence of Lydia. We remember how she, the
" seller of purple of the city of Thyatira," was
one at the prayer meeting held on the banks
of the river. There her heart was opened to
receive the truth and obey it, and she and all
her household were baptized and received into
the fellowship of the Church. They belonged
to Thyatira, though at the time they were living
near Philippi. This of course is pure conjec
ture. Nothing has been definitely revealed,
therefore again we are confined for our knowl
edge of the church to what appears of it in
this letter of Jesus.
In addressing the angel, the Lord announces
Himself as the " Son of God, Who hath His
eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like
unto burnished brass." " The Son of God."
This is the first time that He has made use of
this description of Himself in these letters, and
m

ii2 A First Century Message
it marks the assertion of power and authority.
He is the infallible One to Whose speech
the church must pay attention. When John
turned to see the vision, he " beheld One
like unto a Son of man," but yet the glory of
the vision spoke also of the fact that He was
Son of God. And now in this central letter of
the seven, He makes use of the title of su
preme authority. From the complete vision
He selects two facts concerning Himself, which
indicate the special meaning and value of the
message He is about to deliver, " His eyes like
a flame of fire, and His feet are like unto burn
ished brass," the eyes of fire suggesting His in
timate knowledge, His penetrating vision con
cerning the church, so that in the sentence He
is about to pronounce, there can be no mistake,
for His understanding of all the conditions is
a perfect understanding. The eyes of fire
pierce all the deeps of darkness, and know the
profoundest secrets. He is also the One Who
" hath His feet like unto burnished brass," and
by these statements He practically announces
the fact that He is coming in judgment which
is strong and pure. His eyes like a flame of
fire, He sees perfectly and understands ac
curately. His feet like unto burnished brass,
He marches to judgment, the King amid the

The Thyatira Letter 1 1 3
seven golden lampstands, and the track of His
coming is the track of fire. Righteous, pure,
and final are all His judgments. Within the
church at Thyatira there is an evil for which
no remedial measures are sufficient. It is not
one that admits of correction. There is nothing
for it but destruction. It has permeated the
whole fellowship. Nothing but judgment re
mains, and so He comes to definite and imme
diate dealing with this evil.
His commendation commences with the usual
words, " I know." The general statement is
" I know thy works." Then follows an an
alysis, " and thy love and faith and ministry
and patience." And lastly, " thy last works
are more than the first." Three things are in-
, dicated in this commendation. First, the works
of the church ; secondly, the forces that lie be
hind the works — " thy love and faith and min
istry and patience ; " and lastly that those
works have not decreased but increased. He
\ thus approves the activity of the church, the
\ principles upon which it is based, and the fact
that in true order, it increases. His first ap
probation is of the church's work, the things
that are seen. His second of the hidden facts
that lie behind the outward manifestation.
Thirdly, He approves that which is always a

114 A First Century Message
sequence of such condition, that the last works
are more than the first.
" I know thy works." He does not name or
tabulate them. He declares His acquaintance
with them.
Also He recognizes that behind them lie the
love and fidelity, the ministry and the patience,
and the fact that because these works have
these principles behind them, the last works are
more than the first.
Notice principally, though briefly, the prin
ciples He recognizes as lying behind the works
of the church. " I know . . . thy love."
This is a statement of the church's character.
It is the fact that lies at the root, and out of
which all springs. Underlying all the works
there was a principle toward God and man
which the Master had declared to be the sum
and substance of the law of God. It was a
church character. There was no breach, no
division, no schism, but a wonderful manifesta
tion of love.
" I know . . . thy faith." Again the
force of the word is thy fidelity. Faith is
here mentioned not as the principle out of
which an attitude grows, but rather the atti
tude of fidelity that grows out of the principle
of confidence. I know thy stedfastness, I know

The Thyatira Letter 115
that in thee is manifested the opposite of fickle
ness. Too often works of love are alike occa
sional and spasmodic, but here they were char
acterized by constancy. In this case the love
was not an accident, it was a habit.
" I know . . . thy ministry," and herein
is a tender and beautiful touch. He was con
scious of love in 'action, of deeds done because
of love to God and man. There is a difference
between this ministry and the general works
already referred to. They are the peculiar and
special activities of the church of Jesus Christ
in its church capacity. The ministry referred
to here is rather that of unofficial kindnesses
and tendernesses of the members as amongst
themselves, and in all probability toward the
outsider also. It is possible to have a church
characterized by works, and yet sadly devoid
of this particular kind of ministry. There have
been officials constantly zealous concerning all
official work, and yet lacking the thousand
tender touches which fulfil this highest min
istry. So many men are ready to spread a
banquet, and slow to give a cup of cold water.
But to this church the Master says, " I know
. . . thy ministry, as well as thy works," all
the outpouring of the life in untabulated serv
ice.

1 1 6 A First Century Message
" I know . . . thy patience." This is a
great word upon which the Master seemed to
set much value. He spoke of it to the church
at Ephesus, and now again to this church at
Thyatira. May we not define this patience as
the spirit of peace under pressure. Surely
Milton's words may be taken as a perfect ex
position of true patience.
" Yet I argue not against Heaven's hand or will.
Nor bate a jot of heart or hope,
But still bear up and steer right onward."
Patience is the capacity for being still when
all around is tempest-tossed. Patience is the
flower of fidelity." If fidelity is the activity of
faith, patience is the condition of character re
sulting therefrom. It is that peace of heart
under pressure of life which is so fair and
fragrant a thing to us, and ever seems to give
the heart of the Lord satisfaction and joy.
And yet again. " I know . . . that thy
last works are more than the first." There
had been progress and development resulting
from this intermediate group of facts, the out
ward and evident activity of the church had
broadened and deepened. Such was the Mas
ter's commendation, and very beautiful it is.
How tenderly the Lord recognizes all the best

The Thyatira Letter 1 17
facts in the life of the church. How excellent
a thing it would be if when, for any reason, we
are called upon to criticize some assembly of
the saints, we might take our Lord's pattern,
and utter first our commendation. This He al
ways did unless there were no word of com
mendation that could be uttered. In His mes
sages we ever discover His recognition of ex
cellent things.
But now we pass to the solemn words of this
most mysterious epistle, the words of com
plaint. " But I have against thee, that thou
sufferest the woman Jezebel." That is all.
Nothing more. There is no other complaint
against this church. The whole paragraph
which follows from the middle of the twentieth
verse to the end of the twenty-third contains
simply the' statement of the facts of the case,
which demonstrate our Lord's right to com
plain against the church for suffering the
woman. It cannot be over-emphasized that
the sin of this church consisted in the fact
that she raised no protest against the woman
Jezebel, that she allowed an outsider to pro
mulgate under her shelter the most terrible
doctrine, with the most disastrous results.
Jezebel did not belong to the church, She
may have been a member of the congrega-

1 1 8 A First Century Message
tion, even perhaps enrolled on the earthly
list of the fellowship, but she had no living re
lation with the church because she did not be
long to Christ. The church incurred a ter
rible responsibility by suffering her. Not the
teaching, nor the result of the teaching did the
Lord charge against the church, save as she
becomes responsible for what she suffers. The
wrong of this false toleration may be gathered
from an examination of the woman, her work,
and her judgment.
In attempting to consider the woman Jeze
bel, we are at once found in the presence of all
kinds of questionings and doubts and inter
pretations. Is the whole language figurative?
Does Jezebel stand for an idea, or was she
actually a woman, exerting evil influences
through pernicious teaching in Thyatira?
These things perhaps cannot be finally or sat
isfactorily answered. The greatest probability
is that there was an actual woman. The mar
ginal rendering of the message to the angel is,
" Thou sufferest thy wife Jezebel," and there
are those who believe that this woman was in
deed the wife of the angel of the church.
Whether this be so or not, there can be little
doubt of the existence of an actual v/oman.
Whether her real name was Jezebel may be

The Thyatira Letter 119
doubtful. It is probable that when the Master
named the woman, He borrowed a name from
the Old Testament in order to light up the
fact of her character, and the influence she was
exerting. Turn from these things that are doubtful,
and let us examine the actual words of Christ.
" Thou sufferest the woman Jezebel, which
calleth herself a prophetess." What is a
prophetess, and why is the statement made in
this form, " she calleth herself a prophetess ? "
There can be very little doubt that the woman
claimed to be an inspired woman, who had re
ceived some new revelation. Some vision or
enlightenment had been granted to her, denied
to the apostles, and she was promulgating this
new teaching.
The result is carefully stated by the Lord in
the words " she teacheth and seduceth." The
result of the teaching was the seduction of the
servants of God, and the teaching was made
forceful because the woman claimed that she
was an inspired messenger. The name that
the Master uses in referring to her, suggests
an analogy with her Old Testament prototype.
Let us think for a moment of the Jezebel of
old. She was a daughter of the king of Tyre

120 A First Century Message
and Sidon, avowedly a teacher and worshipper
of Baal. This worship of Baal was Nature
worship, and as is the case with all Nature
worship, it had become utterly degraded.
Coming into relationship with the king of
Israel by marriage, we learn from the ancient
history of God's people that she was not only
his consort, but that she was associated with
him in the government, with the result that
she said in effect, ' Let us also set up the wor
ship of Baal. I do not ask that the worship of
Jehovah should be set aside, but by the side
of it let us have opportunities for Nature wor
ship.' Her method was that of uniting the two
worships. The purpose in her heart was that
of the setting aside of the worship of Jehovah
for the worship of Baal. Of all the women
seen in Old Testament history, none was more
brilliant, more daring, more unscrupulous than
Jezebel. The name of this woman in the church at
Thyatira drives us back to this woman of the
old economy, and of her the Lord declares that
she " teacheth and seduceth My servants to
commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed
to idols." What was it that she was teaching?
Nothing at the moment seems to be said on

The Thyatira Letter j2i
the point, but presently when the Master is
pronouncing His judgment, He gives us a clue
to the character of the teaching. " But to you
I say, to the rest that are in Thyatira, as many
as have not this teaching, which know not the
deep things of Satan, as they say." What did
the Lord mean by this "as they sayf" He
evidently refers to a claim set up within the
teaching of Jezebel, that she had discovered
some new deep hidden philosophy of life.
Christ called it " the deep things of Satan."
This new revelation by inspiration, the end of
which was to show how in the heathen systems
were deep philosophies, and the result of which
was to seduce the servants of God into com
plicity with the outward corruptions of heath
endom, Christ characterizes as the " deep
things of Satan.", It was evidently an attempt
to graft on to Christianity as revealed in the
Church, the mysteries of darkness by which
Christianity was surrounded in that district.
As there was the germ principle of Antino-
mianism dealt with in the church at Perga
mum, so here there is the germ principle of the
heresy of Gnosticism in the woman Jezebel.
Here was an attempt made to fathom deep and
underlying and unrevealed mysteries of life,

122 A First Century Message
and to make application of them under the
name and sanction of the church, and the issue
of the whole business was corruption.
Truly there is nothing new under the sun.
The latest of all heresies which names itself
by conjunction of words, Christian and
Science, of all the facts concerning which it is
profoundly ignorant, is but the galvanizing
of a mummy, under the inspiration of yet
another woman, calling herself a prophetess.
This latter day manifestation, dealt with phil
osophically, might be treated as the amuse
ment of a passing hour, but the terrible effect
it is producing among the servants of God,
should call the Church to new attention to our
Lord's message to Thyatira, and the estimate
it contains of His view of a church that suffers
such awful teaching.
What then according to the Master's esti
mate was the result of this woman's teach
ing? Itjwas a lowering of the standard of
separation between the church and the world.
One uses the very word with bated breath, for
it is a terrible word. " She teacheth and se
duceth My servants to commit fornication."
In the prophecy of Hosea there is a startling
revelation of the nature of spiritual fornication.
It is God's estimate of the sin of those who

The Thyatira Letter 123
were betrothed to Him, when they return to
the things from which they had turned to Him.
People who should be satisfied with Christ,
wholly possessed by Him, led by Him, taught
by Him, are playing the harlot with the things <¦
that are against Him. The influence of the
teaching of Jezebel was that the separated
cHldren- of God, redeemed from the present
"evil — world, called to separation from that
world, were forming new alliances therewith,
and the spirit of worldliness was spreading be
cause of the toleration of the teaching of Jeze
bel. The members of the church at Thyatira
were finding their way to the feasts in the
heathen temple, eating the things sacrificed to
idols, and descending even to the depth of the
vices that ensued. The teaching which made
this possible for them was not the teaching of
Balaam, which said that the covenant was so
, sure and strong that sin cotild not break it.
This denied _the_sinfulness of sin, affirming
that within the things that seem to be evil
are things of good. It was a practical de
nial of evil, in that it advocated union between
the deep things, or mysteries of the out
side world, and the mysteries which are the
revelations of the Christian Church. And so
the servants of God had become seduced by

\

124 A First Century Message
the teaching. First, the false teaching con
cerning the " deep things of Satan," and then
the seduction following. His people went over
to the forces which were against Him, and
1 committed harlotry and fornication in the
spiritual realm by using freedom, bestowed by
Him, for the violation of His will. His
charge against the church was that notwith
standing these terrible facts, she was silent and
tolerant. Then mark His words of judgment. These
are introduced with a declaration of His
patience, " And I gave her time that she should
repent." Then follows a statement that reveals
the Speaker, reveals Him as the Son of God,
and reveals Him as the One Whose eyes are as
a flame of fire. " She willethjiot to repent of
her fornication." No one else could have said
that. He Who knows even these deep things
of Satan, declares that the will is hardened and
set against repentance, and then, and never
until then does He pronounce judgment.
There is first a personal visitation. " Be
hold, I do cast her into a bed." The symbo
lism is graphic and forceful and terrible. It
suggests that the woman, who has taught and
seduced His servants, shall find her destruc
tion in the midst of the very corruption which

The Thyatira Letter 125
she has created. More than that cannot be
said. Then follows the fact that others will share
in the doom. " And them that commit adul
tery with her into great tribulation, except
they repent of her works." The only way to
escape the tribulation which He pronounces
upon those who have been seduced, is that they
shall repent of her works, and turn altogether
from the things resulting from her teaching.
And then the last and final word in this con
nection " I will kill her children with death ;
and all the churches shall know that I am He
which searcheth the reins and hearts."
, This description of the woman, her sin, and
her judgment lies in a paragraph in the midst
of the epistle, recording our Master's reason
for disapproval. The church's wrong was that
this woman had been permitted. Some of the
children of God had been seduced, and yet no
protest had been raised. It was a false charity,
permitting the teaching of the woman, some
where and somehow under the patronage of the
church itself. The whole church was not con
taminated with the doctrine. Of it He said
some of His sweetest and strongest things.
But in a false charity the woman Jezebel had
been suffered. The church had not with suf-

126 A First Century Message
ficient clearness announced the fact that she
had no dealing with the heresy taught, that
between the inspired truth of which the church
was the pillar and the ground, and the hyster
ical teaching from the self-styled prophetess,
there was no complicity, and could be no
union. Now let us turn to our Lord's words of
counsel, full of encouragement and gracious
promise. " But to you I say, to the rest that
are in Thyatira." Thus to those who had not
been influenced by the teaching, nor consented
to its toleration, He said, " I cast upon you
none other burden. Howbeit that which ye
have, hold fast till I come." Did He mean that
they were to hold fast the burden until He
came? Assuredly He did. What then is the
burden ? The truth as once for all delivered to
them ; and by saying, " I cast upon you none
other burden," He meant, Do not be led away
by any new mysteries, or new perplexities, or
new revelations. I have laid upon you the bur
den of truth sufficient for the moment. " I cast
upon you none other burden." Any new rev
elation that men claim as from Me, receive it
not. Any new philosophy of life that fails to
harmonize with that declared, reject. " How
beit that which ye have," the truth as revealed,

The Thyatira Letter 127
My law of life, that hold fast. Do not suffer
anyone to teach something which I forgot to
say ! " I will cast upon you none other bur
den." Carefully note this. There seems to be al
most a play upon words in what Jesus said;
there is certainly familiarity with their root
meaning. He says, Those of you who have not
this teaching, that " know not the deep things
of Satan " — that word, " deep things " is the
word [sdOos, that is, the profundities of Satan.
And He then says, " I cast upon you none other
burden." That word " ' urden " is the word
jSapos, which means an impression made.
Both f3d6cK and /Sapos spring from the original
root fJda-K. It is evident that He was speak
ing with an intimate knowledge of the history
of the words, and indulging in a play upon
them. It is as though He had said, These
people are professing to discover some new
deep things, which they will lay upon you.
" I cast upon you none other deep things."
Herein is a great principle for the government
of our intelligent life as Christian people. The
thing claiming to be new, is therefore to be
doubted. The message He has delivered is
complete, the doctrine is enunciated, the mys
teries are revealed, and whosoever, man or

128 A First Century Message
woman, would claim to reveal a new mystery,
is the messenger of Satan.
And yet again " Hold fast till I come." How
often this reference to His coming, and almost
wherever found, it has some fresh light and
meaning. It is as though He would say, Wait
for the deeper things until I come. When I
come I will unlock the mysteries, I will reveal
the profundities. If I have not told you of
them, it is because you cannot bear them yet.
There are deep mysteries of life, and great and
marvellous secrets, but you are not ready for
their understanding. " I cast upon you none
other burden." You have all you can bear.
" Howbeit that which ye have, hold fast till
I come." And then we shall know as we are
known, and the mysteries, attempting to fathom
which to-day we can find corruption only, will
flame with light, and lead in the way of truth.
The closing promise and the crowning state
ment follow. " And he that overcometh, and
he that keepeth My works unto the end, to him
will I give authority over the nations : and he
shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the ves
sels of the potter are broken to shivers; as I
also have received of My Father." Notice the
contrast. " Them that commit adultery with
her into great tribulation, except they repent of
her works." " He that overcometh, and he

The Thyatira Letter 129
that keepeth My works." This is the promise
of a coming authority, an authority to be de
livered to the saints, when they have held fast
to the trust committed to them, until God's
moment of consummation arrives.
" I will give him the morning star." We
shall often walk in darkness. There will be
many mysteries perplexing us. The burden we
have is sufficient for the building of our char
acter, for our growth in life, and ministry and
works. The other things will wait. Presently
He will give us the morning star. That ex
pression only occurs three times in Scripture.
In the book of Job, in the language of God,
when He is causing His glory to pass before
the astonished vision of His servant, He tells
Job of the wonder-working age, when He laid
the beams and wonders of Nature, and He says
" When the morning stars sang together."
This was the song of the principalities and
powers in the heavenly places as they wrought
in the spaces of new creation.
I go to the end of the Library, and I find
that Jesus says, " I am the bright and the
Morning Star." He is the Prince of creation,
He is the First-born, and if we will but wait,
and not follow the last false philosophy of
impertinent attempt to discover hidden things,
He will give us the morning star. We shall

130 A First Century Message
know the secrets of life, the deepest problems,
and discover His Lordship in all.
How often has the Church of Christ imper
illed her safety by giving undue heed to some
new voice. I am growingly afraid of the men
or the women who have seen a vision, and now
feel called upon to declare it. Do not misun
derstand me. I believe in visions. But let us
before we speak of the vision be perfectly sure
that it is not nightmare. The probability is
that if you have a vision, you will not say
much concerning it, but men will know that
you have seen by the light that lingers on your
face. Perfect light has shined upon man in
Christ. With the shining of that light, all
symbols and signs of the old covenant have
passed, and the visions and the dreams have
very largely ceased. The lower orders of
material miracles have given place to the
higher in the realms of spiritual triumph. Let
us ever be careful how we give credence to a
new voice. We must be loyal to Christ, and
loyalty to Christ is loyalty to the inspired
Word, and its mighty teachings. To deny
Christ is to deny atonement, and to deny sin,
and the only voice that denies these has learned
its language and caught its tone in the deep
things of Satan.

The Thyatira Letter 131
Is not the voice of Jezebel to be heard in our
churches to-day in more ways than one? Is
there not sounding all around us a cry as
against separation ? Is there not a terrible tend
ency in church life to deny that the Master calls
us to places of peculiarity and loneliness in our
loyalty to Him? We may still retain our
church relationship, and our name Christian,
and because of some new voice, eat of things
sacrificed to idols, without defilement, and have
easy absolution, not by blood, from the filth of
fornication. Is it really popular to-day to call
church members into the place of separation
from worldliness? Is there not a greater
eagerness than ever to find some doctrine by
submission to which we can be rid of sin, while
still keeping it ? Yet surely the New Test-
ment is perfectly clear.
" Come ye out from among them, and
be ye separate,
saith the Lord
And touch no unclean thing ;
And I will receive you,
And will be to you a Father,
And ye shall be to Me sons and
daughters,
saith the Lord Almighty.

132 A First Century Message
" Who gave Himself for our sins, that He
might deliver us out of this present evil world."
" If then ye were raised together with Christ,
seek the things that are above, where Christ is,
seated on the right hand of God."
" Who gave Himself for us, that He might
redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto
Himself a people for His own possession."
" Be ye yourselves holy in all manner of
living." Through the whole New Testament the call
is to separation, to peculiarity, to a clear line
of demarcation between the Church and the
world. I fear that the voice of Jezebel is yet
tolerated, and that the children of God are
being seduced. Things at which our fathers
shuddered are to-day being introduced as nec
essary to the social and financial success of the
Church. In the name of God and humanity,
let us keep the line clear and sharp, and know
on which side we stand. Any doctrine, any
philosophy, that makes it easy to sin, whether
by excusing it, minimizing its enormity, or de
nying its existence is of hell, and not merely
are those held guilty who teach the doctrine
and practise the sin, but that church also which
is not clear and outspoken in its protests
against sin. The church that suffers the
woman is guilty.

THE SARDIS LETTER

"And to the angel of the church in Sardis write;
" 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 thou art dead.
Be thou watchful, and stablish the things that re
main, which were ready to die: for I have found
no works of thine fulfilled before My God. Re
member therefore how thou hast received and didst
hear; and keep it, and repent. If therefore thou
shalt not watch, I will come as a thief, and thou
shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
But thou hast a few names in Sardis which did not
defile their garments : and they shall walk with Me
in white; for they are worthy. He that overcometh
shall thus be arrayed in white garments; and I
will in no wise blot his name out of the book of
life, and I will confess His name before My Father,
and before His angels. He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith to the churches." Rev.
iii: 1-6.

VII
THE SARDIS LETTER
'T1 HERE is a marked change in our Lord's
method of address to the church at Sardis.
Hitherto He has commenced with words of
commendation. Here He commenced with
words of condemnation. In the other churches
evil had not been the habit, but rather the ex
ception, and therefore it was possible first to
commend. Here the case is reversed, and no
word of commendation is addressed to the
church as a church.
The Lord addressed the church as " He that
hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven
stars," and this commendation marks those as
pects of His personality which characterize His
dealing with a church in such condition. " He
that hath the seven Spirits of God." This de
scription indicates His fulness of power, and
also His fulness of wisdom. The church for
lack of life, is full of unfulfilled works, and the
Lord approaches them in all the plenitude of
His power and His wisdom. " He that hath
. . . the seven stars." This symbol is sug-
135

136 A First Century Message
gestive at once of the perfection of ministry
which He places at the disposal of the churches,
and also therefore of His knowledge of all
such ministry as the churches have received.
His complaint is startling and terrible. " I
know thy works, that thou hast a name that
thou livest, and thou art dead." With what
changed emphasis we read the words " I
know." The whole tone of it has been full of
tenderness and comfort. Now it is a trumpet-
blast of terror. " I know thy works." The
church at Sardis is not devoid of works. In
deed it is so full of them as to give it a name of
being alive. In all probability there was full
and correct organization, the ordinances of the
church were regularly observed. They gath
ered upon the first day of the week for wor
ship. They contributed systematically to the
necessities of the work. In brief, it is most
likely that to all outward appearances they
fulfilled the description of the early Church
in the Acts of the Apostles, in that they
" continued stedfastly in the apostles' doc
trine, in the breaking of bread, and in fel
lowship, and in prayers." " Thou hast a name
that thou livest." There can be but one sig
nification in this statement of Christ. Noth
ing is lacking as to external manifestation, and

The Sardis Letter 137
yet Christ says " And thou art dead." He
Who seeks first for the inward life, finds noth
ing to satisfy His heart in this church. Scaf
folding is of no value to Him if the building
be making no progress behind it. The white
ness of a sepulcher does not attract Him if
within there be nothing but dead bones. He
seeks always for the inward, and only for the
outward as it continues to be the expression of
the inward. The breaking of bread is nothing
save as there is the spiritual feeding upon Him
self. The meeting for worship is valueless save
as through the externals, the soul passes into
communion with Him. Gifts are not accepted
when they are the mere observance of a duty,
and not the expression of the heart's adoration.
The life which expresses itself in love was ab
sent, and so the church lacked what would be
acceptable to Christ, and would satisfy for all
the toil He had endured to win it for Himself.
" Thou art dead." Flowers there may be, but
of wax, poor imitations of the flowers of God
which grow and bloom and shed their fra
grance. The form of manhood may be there,
and the garments in which the form is draped
be gorgeous, and all the trappings speak of
royalty, and yet the body be loathsome to
Christ, for the eye lacks lustre, the arm is

138 A First Century Message
nerveless, the heart is still, death reigns and
corruption is already holding high carnival,
" Thou hast a name that thou livest." That
is to say, that there was everything in Sardis
that would satisfy the outside observer. " And
thou art dead." That is to say, there was noth
ing iu Sardis that could satisfy the heart of
Christ. This seems difficult to comprehend,
but the explanation is to be found in the fur
ther words of Christ. " I have found no works
of thine fulfilled, before My God." There was
great promise, but no result, that is, nothing
fulfilled before God. Was there no prayer?
On earth there were prayers, but they did not
reach the heavens. Were there no songs ? In
all likelihood, the music was correct and
elaborate, but no harmony was heard in the
heavenly temple. Were there no gifts ? In all
probability gifts were bestowed with unfail
ing regularity, but they were not registered in
the treasury of the inner sanctuary. Every
thing stopped short of the inner temple. All
kinds of Committee meetings attended, but
nothing done, nothing finished, nothing ful
filled. Resolutions, and promises, and a great
showing upon paper, but nothing reaching
fruitage before God, nothing that satisfied the
Divine heart, nothing that answered the Divine

The Sardis Letter 139
purpose. Outward forms, ceremonies, organi
zation; but death reigned.
The essence of worship is that while it
begins in the church, it takes hold upon
heaven. If the hymn is simply a musical ex
pression of pleasant feeling, there is no wor
ship in it. But if upon the wings of sacred
6ong our spirits find their way into the Holy of
Holies, then that song is fulfilled before God.
If the prayer we utter is a compilation of sen
tences, spoken for the fulfilment of duty, it is
not prayer. But if the prayer, expressing a
sense of need, finds its way above the mists and
the mysteries of life, to the throne, it is fulfilled
before God. If our gifts are bestowed that we
may be kept square with duty, they are utterly
refused in heaven. But if they express a sac
rifice and a sympathy, though they be but small
according to the arithmetic of men, they are
counted of great worth in that temple where
gifts are valued according to the givers.
In the church at Sardis there were plans,
schemes, programmes, but nothing fulfilled be
fore God, no growth into the likeness of Christ,
no enlargement of the church through the prop
agation of the Christ-life, no compassion for
souls, no fellowship with the sufferings of
Christ. There were many things fulfilled be-

140 A First Century Message
fore men ; indeed, the church had come to the
place where it lived before men rather than be
fore God, more anxious in all probability about
their reputation in Sardis than their reputation
in heaven, more desirous for the good opinion
of neighbouring churches, than for the com
mendation of the Head of the Church. " Thou
hast a name," everything that will satisfy the
craving for reputation, " and thou art dead,"
nothing that gladdens the heart of God.
Having thus in one swift sentence revealed
the church's lack, He continues in words of
gracious counsel. " Be thou watchful, and
stablish the things that remain, which were
ready to die: for I have found no works of
thine fulfilled before My God. Remember
therefore how thou hast received and didst
hear; and keep it, and repent. If therefore
thou shalt not watch, I will come as a thief,
and thou shalt not know what hour I will come
upon thee." And then omitting the next verse,
" He that overcometh shall thus be arrayed in
white garments; and I will in no wise blot
his name out of the book of life, and I will con
fess his name before My Father, and before
His angels." His words of counsel contain,
first, advice to the church; secondly, an in-

The Sardis Letter 141
centive to obedience and a warning ; and lastly,
His promise to the overcomer.
" Stablish the things that remain." If the
church was dead, what things remained ? The
unfulfilled things, the very forms and cere
monies which had given the church its name to
live. Christ did not suggest that these people
Should put aside any of their externalities, but
that they should fulfil them. They were not to
cease assembling for worship, but they were to
worship. They were still to send their help,
and give their gifts, but these were to be the
expressions of their devotion to their Lord,
and not the price they paid for the good opin
ion of others. The forms were not wrong.
They needed to be filled with power. The dry
bones were necessary, but they needed to be
clothed with flesh, and become instinct with
life. The organization must not be neglected,
but it should act in the power of vital force.
There can, I think, be no other understand
ing of this expression, " the things that re
main." He cannot have reference to a faint
life that needed revival, for He distinctly says
" thou art dead." This part of the message is
not for the few in Sardis, for to them He has a
special word. No, it is rather that in tender

142 A First Century Message
grace, He recognizes the outward symbol, the
unfulfilled things, the very forms and ceremo
nies that have been earth-bound, and He says,
Strengthen them, stablish them, fill them to the
full. Be no longer satisfied with externals.
That is ever Christ's message to the formal
ist. He does not ask that outward form should
be given up, or helpful rite abandoned. He
will not suggest the setting aside of any form
or ceremony that in itself is helpful. He has
no criticism for these things. He permits the
music and the methods, always providing that
they are expressive of the deeper fact of life.
These things He hates when they become the
grave-clothes wrapped about death. The true
ideal of worship is that of man communing
with God. Through what forms that wor
ship expresses itself is of little moment. Christ
does not call the church at Sardis to abandon
these, but to stablish them by making them
instinct with life.
Specially mark the significance of the words
that follow, " which were ready to die." This
is a solemn note of warning. It indicates the
fact that even these outward forms will cease,
unless there be behind them the throb of life.
They are ready to die, as all that is merely out
ward perishes. The very things that remain,

The Sardis Letter 143
the outward forms and ceremonies, which give
the church a name to live, are ready to perish
if the heart and life have passed away. It is
always but a step from formalism to rational
ism,' and if external things lack internal force,
they themselves will crumble to decay, and
presently there will remain in Sardis not even
a church having a name to live.
No man can live long on ritual. How often
has the Church had proof of this. Stretching
over the hill-side yonder is a forest of mighty
oaks, and among them I see one necessarily at
tracting attention by the magnificence of its
form, and the splendour of its outward appear
ance. It is easily the king of the forest. But
presently under stress of a sweeping storm
that tree is bowed and broken. We approach,
in wonder, to discover the reason, and find
that through processes we did not observe,
which were secret and silent in operation, an
inward decay had long been at work. The
life forces within had been weakened, and in
the rush of the tempest the outward appear
ance was destroyed.
So also with the Church. When its inward
life force has ebbed away into orthodox organ
izations, it is ready to die, to perish. In the
sight of Christ it is dead already, though it

144 A First Century Message
has yet a name to live ; and when dead in His
sight it will surely soon be seen to be dead even
by those among whom for the moment it has
a name to live.
What is true of the Church is equally true of
the individual. No man can become absorbed
in the external to neglect of the inward and
spiritual without being in danger of losing the
external manifestation also. How often have
we seen it! Men leave the plain and simpler
forms of worship for outward magnificence of
manifestation, hoping by these things to com
pensate for lack of spiritual power, and the
next thing we hear of them is that they have
abandoned their outward relation to the Church
also. It is of little importance what the out
ward form may be, providing that the inner life
is there, and that through the externalities it
is finding full expression.
Works unfulfilled before God must sooner
or later manifest their emptiness before men.
Therefore let the things that remain, which
were ready to die be stablished.
As an incentive to obedience, the Lord ut
ters a solemn warning. " If therefore thou
shalt not watch, I will come as a thief, and
thou shalt not know what hour I will come
upon thee." How differently the promise of

The Sardis Letter 145
His coming sounds under different circum
stances of Church life and Church character.
When sacred things lose power, precious things
lose blessing. When faith is dead, hope be
comes dread. In the early first love of Chris
tian experience, the thought of the advent of
Christ is a thought of hope. When that love
is lost, and death reigns, that which is the
brightest star in the firmament to the trusting
heart becomes a dread of darkness. The
promise which produces a thrill of joy, be
comes a thought of terror to the men who
have fallen out of harmony with the Lord and
Master. In Scripture the advent of Jesus is con
stantly described under two aspects. The last
prophecy uttered before His first advent, has
the same recognition of dual significance.
" For, behold, the day cometh, it burneth as a
furnace ; and all the proud, and all that work
wickedness, shall be stubble ; and the day that
cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of
Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor
branch." What a terrible announcement. But
yet listen again, for the prophet proceeds with
out break, " But unto you that fear My name
shall the sun of righteousness arise with heal
ing in His wings; and ye shall go forth, and

146 A First Century Message
gambol as calves of the stall." What a con
trast. On the one side a day of burning and
destruction. On the other the sun rising with
healing in its light. Are these two different
advents ? No, the difference is created by the
condition of the people at the dawning of the
day. To those who work wickedness the day
would be one of burning and destructive heat.
To those who fear His name the day would be
of healing, the dawning of the morning, the
breaking of light. The sun has two effects.
It will burn up the parched ground until it be
comes like a cinder. A plant in such ground,
devoid of water, will be killed by the heat ; but
if a tree be planted by the rivers of water,
and its roots go down and take hold of the
springs of life, the sun will be the messenger
of health and growth and advancement.
So also with regard to the second advent.
The church's attitude toward the doctrine is
always a revelation of the church's spiritual
condition; and the attitude of the individual
soul toward the thought of the Lord's return
is always a revelation of that soul's condition
before God. If I have a name to live while I
am dead, then His announcement " I will
come ! " is a thought of terror. But if I have

The Sardis Letter 147
life and love and loyalty, the promise of His
coming is the promise of day break.
In referring to the second advent the apostle
of love wrote, " And now, my little children,
abide in Him ; that, if He shall be manifested,
we may have boldness, and not be ashamed
before Him at His coming." Two attitudes
towards His coming are here revealed, " bold
ness," " ashamed before Him." The difference
is created by the condition of those who wait
for Him. If abiding in Him, then at His
coming we shall have boldness. If not abid
ing in Him, we shall be ashamed before Him.
This is a very searching test of our personal
condition. If when we hear the coming of
Jesus spoken of, it is as the voice of music in
the soul, then are we fulfilling our works be
fore God. If on the other hand, the mention
of the possibility of His approach creates the
desire to postpone that coming, it is because
our relation to Him is formal rather than liv
ing. The soul that lives in Christ, and works
with Him amid the defilement of a decadent
age, never hears His message " Behold, I come
quickly " without answering, " Even so come.
Lord Jesus."
This announcement of His coming gives
force to the word " Remember therefore how

148 A First Century Message
thou hast received and didst hear; and keep
it and repent." If the church hear His
warning, and repent, and watch, and stablish
the things remaining, the promise of His com
ing will have in it no terror, but be a veritable
gospel of hope. But if the church abide in the
realm of formalism, having a name, but lack
ing life, then the declaration that He will come
can produce nothing but fear.
To the overcomer the Master says " He that
overcometh shall thus be arrayed in white gar
ments ; and I will in no wise blot his name out
of the book of life, and I will confess his name
before My Father, and before His angels."
The man that overcomes is the one who re
members and repents. To such He promises
the final robing, " He shall thus be arrayed in
white garments," and a recognition in the
final roll-call, " I will in no wise blot his name
out of the book of life, and I will confess his
name before My Father, and before His an
gels." The robing in white garments is sym
bolical not of the purity of Christ, but of the
manifestation of the works of the saints, works
purified by Christ, and revealed in the light of
the Father's house ; and the names of such,
Christ will confess in the presence of His
Father and of the holy angels.

The Sardis Letter 149
Then there is also that tender word of com
mendation almost a parenthesis, not spoken to
the whole church as describing it, but of a
remnant that have not passed under the con
demnation. " But thou hast a few names in
Sardis which did not defile their garments :
and they shall walk with Me in white; for
they are worthy." In the midst of the formal
ism of the many, there were a few who lived
and fulfilled their works before God, who did
not defile their garments, and to these the
Master says, " They shall walk with Me in
white for they are worthy." In Scripture the
robing of the saint is ever an expression of the
saint's own service and character. In the de
scription of the white robed multitude in Rev
elation, it is said that their white robes are the
righteousness of the saints, not the righteous
ness of God, but the righteousness of the
saints. That is to say, that fidelity of charac
ter and of service shall presently have its out
ward manifestation.
Is not some very beautiful light thrown
upon the thought by the fact of the transfig
uration of Jesus? On the holy mount His
raiment became white and glistening, and the
glory which the wondering disciples beheld
was that of the outshining of His own perfec-

150 A First Century Message
tion which made even the homely garment that
He wore, flash with the splendour of heaven's
own whiteness. Those who on earth did not
defile their garments, shall finally walk with
Him in white. They shall come to the time
when there shall be manifested in outward
glory their inward loyalty to Christ.
The chief thought of the church in Sardis
had been that of popularity, of having a name.
A few had been supremely anxious to be ap
proved of Him, and concerning them He says,
one day they shall be manifested in the glory
of their own fidelity. That which is visible
now to the eye of Christ shall finally be seen
to be beautiful by others.
There is an awful possibility threatening the
life of all our churches,, and the church at
Sardis is an example of warning concerning it.
It is a possibility, so subtle and insidious, that
almost before knowing, the church may have
drifted into the peril. It is that of a dead
'orthodoxy, a dead correctness. There may be
flourishing finances, large numbers attending
the services, varied and ever increasing organ
izations, correct expositions of truth, and yet
the church may be dead. It may have a name
to live. It may be such as will always be
spoken of as a living church. Surrounding

The Sardis Letter 151
churches may flatter it, and it may even be de
ceived itself, and yet Christ may find in it no
element of value. Such a statement as. that,
such a solemn and awful statement should lead
us to ask in all seriousness, What are the true
signs of life in the churches of Jesus Christ?
If the presence of life may not be judged by
these things, how may we know whether the
church is living or dead?
The evidences of life are at least fourfold.
In a living church there will be growth, com
passion, union, and emotion. ,
There will be growth. The principle of life
makes stagnation impossible. Growth in the
individual character of the members, and
growth in the membership of the church, not
merely by accretion from without, but by ex
pansion from within. That church is in a
sorrowful condition that has added nothing to
its membership through the propagative life
forces of its own communion. The member
ship that only grows by the accident of re
movals and letters of introduction is in a ter
rible condition. If none are born again di
rectly through the working of the church, we
may almost certainly say that the church is
dead. I say that in all seriousness, and without
apology. I would be afraid to remain as pas-

152 A First Century Message
tor or member of a church if for any length
of time there were none added to its fellow
ship upon confession of faith. In this matter
the minister cannot be held wholly responsible.
He may travail in birth for souls, but unless
the church is in co-operative and living sym
pathy with him, there will be no result. But
where the whole communion is serving in the
power of a great life, then through the Sab
bath School, through the varied agencies,
through the living influence of individual
members, the life will be propagated, and men
and women will be gathered into the fellow
ship upon confession of faith. Whatever else
may be true concerning the church, if there
be no additions by new birth, the church is
dead, though it have a name to live. Life is
always propagative, and that is nowhere so
actually and forcefully true as in the realm
of Christianity.
Another sign of life is that of compassion.
The true consciousness of the Church is the
consciousness of the Christ, and the conscious
ness of the Christ is that of love. That church
which has no heart of compassion for the lost,
is dead. The suburban church that attempts
to buy off its own personal responsibility by
making donations to send men down to work

The Sardis Letter 153
in slums which it does not care itself to touch,
is dead. Such responsibility can never be dele
gated. A church into which only one class
or caste of persons gathers for purely self
ish preservation, is a libel upon the very name
of Christ. Every church should be an asylum
for the lost, a refuge for the broken-hearted,
a home of welcome for the harlot and the pub
lican. In God's name let us take down the
signs that label us churches of Christ if we
have no compassion for such, and we have no
compassion if it be not strong enough to over
come sentimental prejudices, which result
from the mere accident of birth. A girl of
good family and excellent opportunities, of
much culture and refinement once said to me,
when I asked her to visit in a neighbourhood
characterized by suffering and sin, " I really
could not do it. I am so sensitive. It makes
me ill." God have mercy on such idle pre
tence. Can any be more sensitive than Jesus
the Saviour ? Can any refinement be superior
to that of the perfect One of Nazareth? I
blush with shame at a sensitiveness which
proves an absence of compassion. It is only-
as we find our pride and prejudices whelmed
in the strong sweep of His great love that we
shall ever be prepared to touch the depraved.

154 A First Century Message
We are dead indeed if we lack compassion. If
the love of Christ is shed abroad in the heart,
and the church is swept by that love, there is
utter forgetfulness of all the things that are
objectionable. Refinement that refuses to re
lieve is nothing more than cultured paganism.
If there be love, there will also be union.
Disintegration is a sign of death. If the
church be filled with sections, and parties, and
there be strifes and schism it is because of the
lack of the life element. The prevalence of
caste, and the existence of division within the
borders of the church is a sure proof of its
lack of life. In the full tide of Divine life,
there is a constant consciousness of the unity
of the Spirit.
And yet again. Where there is life there is
emotion. Sometimes it seems as though the
day has come when the highest type of life is
supposed to be that which is most free from
the possibility of emotion, and yet how false
is the idea. I am alive, and because I am alive,
I weep, I sing, I laugh, I mourn. It is the
dead that have no tears, no laughter, no music,
no mourning. I have no patience with the
man who boasts that his religion lacks emo
tion. The church without tears and laughter,
Christ has little use for. I put these things

The Sardis Letter 155
together for they are together. You cannot
have tears without laughtef. You never found
a man capable of humour that was not also
capable of sorrow. And no church that lacks
joy has compassion. The church that lives,
thrills with emotion, is full of laughter, and
full of tears, perpetually breaks into song,
and is silent again in the silence of pain. The
experience of the individual members is real
ized within the great union.
If these things be lacking in the church, it is
dead indeed. The signs of life are growth,
compassion, union, and emotion. These being
absent, there may be very many other things
that give the church a name to live among men.
But Christ, walking amid the lampstands,
counts as nothing worth the externalities, and
hungers for the growth, the compassion, the
union, and the emotion that prove the life.

IE PHILADELPHIA LETTER

" And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia
write ;
" These things saith He that is holy, He that is
true, He that hath the key of David, He that openeth,
and none shall shut, and that shutteth, and none
openeth: I know thy works (behold, I have set
before thee a door opened, which none can shut),
and thou hast a little power, and didst keep My
word, and didst not deny My name. Behold, I give
of the synagogue of Satan, of them which say they
are Jews, and they are not, but do lie; behold, I
will make them to come and worship before thy
feet, and to know that I have loved thee. Because
thou didst keep the word of My patience, I also
will keep thee from the hour of trial, that hour
which is to come upon the whole world, to try them
that dwell upon the earth. I come quickly: hold
fast that which thou hast, that no one take thy
crown. He that overcometh, I will make him a
pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out
thence no more: and I will write upon him the name
of My God, and the name of the city of My God,
the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of
heaven from My God, and Mine own new name. He
that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith
to the churches." Rev. iii. 7-13.

VIII
THE PHILADELPHIA LETTER.
'Tp HIS is the second epistle which contains
¦*¦ no word of complaint. To the church
at Smyrna, suffering amid persecution and
tribulation, His message was wholly of His
own love and strength. Again to the church
at Philadelphia, He has nothing save com
mendation, and the announcement of preserva
tion from the period of calamity and trial
which is coming to the whole earth.
The church being in true relationship to its
Lord, He approaches it in His rightful char
acter of the Supreme One Who directs the
church's activity. " These things saith He
that is holy, He that is true, He that hath the
key of David, He that openeth, and none shall
shut, and that shutteth and none openeth."
Thus He announces three facts concerning
Himself. Concerning His character ; " He that
is holy, He that is true :" concerning His official
position ; " He that hath the key of David : "
concerning His administration ; " He that
openeth, and none shall shut, and that shutteth
159

160 A First Century Message
and none openeth." Between these things
there is a close connection. His character of
holiness and truth is His right to Kingship.
He is, moreover, King by the official act of
God as witness His holding of the key of
David. And because He is King in character,
and by appointment, He exercises His Kingly
office, and administers the affairs of His King
dom. The relation between these facts must
be remembered.
First let us consider the Kingly character.
" He that is holy, He that is true." The first
marks the essential fact, and the second the
relative ; holy in character, true in action ; holy
in Himself, true in His government. The two
statements give us two sides of the one essen
tial fact. These two statements constitute the
complete whole which creates the true Kingli-
ness of Christ, and gives Him what all. other
kings have lacked, the Divine right of King
ship. These two facets of the one fact are con
stantly revealed in New Testament thought.
In the prophecy of Zacharias chronicled in
Luke, in referring to the result of the coming
of Christ it is said, that He should establish
the people in " holiness and righteousness,"
holiness the hidden fact, righteousness its out-

The Philadelphia Letter 161
ward manifestation ; the lightness of charac
ter and conduct. " He that is holy," that is,
right in character. " He that is true," that is,
right in conduct. Holy, and therefore in Him
self royal; true, and therefore making others
loyal. By His holiness of character and truth
of conduct He creates a consciousness which!
demands the loyalty of those who find Him as
their King. It is always impossible to be loyal
in all the broadest sense of the great word to
that which is other than royal, also in the
broadest sense of the word. No man who
loves purity can be loyal to impurity. No
man that has his heart set upon holy things can
be loyal to that which is unholy. Loyalty
must be the outcome of royalty. The royalty
of earth is created by the accident of birth, or
by the questionable right of conquest, and ex
presses itself in trappings and dwellings.
Christ's right to Kingship rests upon the bed
rock of character. He and He alone is King
by Divine right, because He is holy, He is
true. The second Psalm announces the fact of
God's appointment of a King.
" Yet have I set my King
Upon My holy hill of Zion.
1 will tell of the decree :

1 62 A First Century Message
The Lord said unto Me, Thou art My Son ;
This day have I begotten Thee.
Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the nations
for Thine inheritance,
And the uttermost parts of the earth for
Thy possession."
The twenty-fourth Psalm reveals the char
acter of that King.
" Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord ?
And who shall stand in His holy place?
He that hath clean hands, and a pUre heart ;
Who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity,
And hath not sworn deceitfully.
He shall receive a blessing from the Lord,
And righteousness from the God of His
salvation." " I have set My King upon My holy hill of
Zion." " Who shall ascend into the hill of
the Lord? He that hath clean hands and a
pure heart." This God-appointed King comes
to the church at Philadelphia, and speaks of
the deepest fact which constitutes His right to
Kingship, " I am He that is holy."
And then He declares the necessary se
quence, " He that is true."
He then proceeds to announce that His posi
tion is official. " He that hath the key of
David." In Isaiah's description of Eliakim

The Philadelphia Letter . 163
the son of Hilkiah, already referred to in
another connection, it is written, " I will clothe
him with Thy robe,' and strengthen him with
Thy girdle, and I will commit Thy govern
ment into his hand: and he shall be a father
to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the
house of Judah." That is, government based
upon life and upon resource. It is then added
" And the key of the house of David will I lay
upon his shoulder; and he shall open, and
none shall shut; and he shall shut, and
none shall open." From that prophecy the
Lord quotes the words " He that hath the
key of David," and thus claims its fulfil
ment in His own Person. He it is, to
Whom God has committed His government,
of which fact the key is the symbol and the
sign. And then in the last place He declares the
fact of His administration. " He that open
eth, and none shall shut, and that shutteth and
none openeth." Let it be most particularly
noted that Jesus did not say " He that can
open and none can shut, and that can shut,
and none openeth." That is obviously true,
but He said something far stronger. He did
not make a declaration of ability, but of ac
tivity. Not merely that He held an executive

164 A First Century Message
position, but that He was executing the worlc.
" He that openeth, and none shall shut, and
that shutteth and none openeth." This is not
a distinction without a difference, but a dif
ference with a distinction. Philadelphia was
a church like the other churches of the time,
existing in the midst of the corruption of pa
ganism, and surrounded by forces which per
petually threatened to overwhelm these assem
blies gathered around the risen One. To it
however the Lord comes, announcing Himself
in all the Kingly majesty of actual administra
tion, " He that openeth, and none shall shut,
and that shutteth and none openeth."
These words should bring to us a great
sense of confidence and safety, notwithstand
ing all the appearances which appal us. He
is God's King to-day, and though for a while
man rejects Him, He nevertheless holds the
reins of government, sitting upon the holy hill
of Zion, King by right of character, King, as
witness the key of office which He holds, He
moreover acts in perpetual administration. He
opens to-day, and He shuts to-day. Amid all
the fret and restlessness of the age He is
moving toward the final order, and that
through the mysteries that enwrap us. Pres
ently the crisis will arrive, and then the process

The Philadelphia Letter 165
will be vindicated. Let us ever comfort our
hearts also with the threefold truth, of His
character, " He that is holy, He that is true ; "
of His official position, " He that hath the key
of David ; " and of His actual administration,
" He that openeth, and none shall shut, and
that shutteth and none openeth."
In examining the commendation, a little care
must be taken to notice the structure. " I
know thy works (behold, I have set before
thee a door opened, which none can shut),
and thou hast a little power, and didst keep
My word, and didst not deny My name." The
words " Behold, I have set before thee a door
opened, which none can shut," being in paren
thesis, must be omitted from the commenda
tion. Of course these words cannot be alto
gether omitted, neither would it be wise to
place them anywhere but where the Lord has
placed them. The commendation then con
sists in this statement, " I know thy works
. . . that thou hast a little power, and didst
keep My word, and didst not deny My name."
Now in the parenthesis in the middle of that
commendation comes the declaration concern
ing the opened door. The question arising is
as to whether the Lord meant to say, that be
cause they had kept His word, and not denied

1 66 A First Century Message
His name, He had opened a door; or that,
having opened the door, they had kept His
word and had not denied His name. Without
desiring to dogmatize upon what must be a
somewhat difficult matter, let me say that I
hold the latter view, that the open door is not
a reward for fidelity, but the opportunity in
, /which this church has proved its faithfulness.
' The statement of reward comes further on in
the epistle. It is as though the Lord had said,
I set before you a door opened, which none
could shut, and I know your works, you had a
little power, and didst keep My word, and didst
not deny My name. He opened the door in
front of them, and they passed through it and
filled the opportunity. He opened the door,
and they, though having but little power, were
yet true to His word, and loyal to His name.
It is evident then that the commendation must
be considered wholly in the light of the state
ment concerning the open door.
What this open door was locally, it is impos
sible to state. We cannot go back and examine
in detail the opportunity which the Lord gave
the church. In all probability however it was
some special opening for missionary enter
prise. There is almost certainly a connection
between the announcement of the Kingly char-

The Philadelphia Letter 167
acter of Christ and His opening of the door.
It is "He that holdeth the key of David,"
which is the insignia of Kingship, Who has
opened the door, and the suggestion is that of
a passport given to His dominions for the
transaction of His business. In the second
Psalm already quoted of the announcement of
the appointment of the King, the Divine prom
ise concerning the King is made,
" Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the na
tions for Thine inheritance,
" And the uttermost parts of the earth for
Thy possession."
The key opens the territory of the King. He
Who held the key had set before the church a
door opened. He had given them entrance to
some other of His dominions for the transac
tion of His business. The opening of the
door is the King's governmental preparation
of the pathway, along which His messengers
are to run to do His biddings, to herald His
Gospel, to win His dominion for Himself. The
opening of the door is the exercise of His ex
ecutive right.
Turn for a moment from the immediate and
local application of these words. Let us think
of them as the statement of a great principle.
How wondrously in every successive century;

1 68 A First Century Message
has the King opened the doors before His
Church. In spite of human opposition, and
human hatred, He has unlocked and flung
wide open the doors of opportunity before His
faithful people. Never has this been more
conspicuous than in the past century. It is
not for us here to stay to illustrate the truth.
Those who would follow the thought should
obtain Dr. Arthur T. Pierson's book, "The
Modern Mission Century," one of the most
thrilling romances ever written since the first
chapter in the history of the open doors, called
the Acts of the Apostles. The message of the
book will cheer the heart, and nerve the arm.
What the particular opening for the church
at Philadelphia was, we have no means of
knowing. The fact of value revealed is that
there came to a church which was neither
great nor strong, an opportunity which the
church recognized and filled.
But who are these that enter through the
open door ? Mark well His description. Jesus
did not say to this church at Philadelphia,
Thou art strong, but " Thou hast a little
power." But they were faithful to the oppor
tunity in that they kept His word and did not
deny His name. That is the true principle of
success in Christian service. The greatest re-

The Philadelphia Letter 169
^rards that will ever come to churches or to
riien will be bestowed, not according to the
greatness of the strength they had, or the
greatness of the opportunity as it appeared to
men, but according to fidelity to opportunity,
and full use of the measure of strength pos
sessed. The measure of strength was small,
but entering the open door the church made
use of all in loyalty to His word, and in main
taining the honour of His name. In this two
fold statement there is a .revelation of the se
cret of success in all service, the keeping of the
word, and loyalty to the name. Of the first of
these there is a double explanation. s
The word of Christ is not kept merely by
defending its letter but by realizing its spirit
in obedience to its teaching. No man keeps
the word of Christ in duty unless he keeps it
as doctrine; and yet no man keeps the word
of Christ as doctrine unless he possess it in
all the details of duty. If life is to be accord
ing to the will of the King, there must be
knowledge of His teaching. Knowledge of
the teaching is only evident as life harmonizes
therewith. There is great force in the word
" keep." The other phrase marks the fact which is
correlative, " Thou didst not deny My name."

170 A First Century Message
Holding the word of Christ must issue in un
swerving loyalty to His name. Wherever
there has been a tendency to undervalue the
word, there has resulted the peril of insulting
the name by degrading the personality. Dur
ing recent years there has gone forward within
the Church a certain kind of criticism of the
words of Christ until we are not surprised,
while strangely startled, that to-day the name
of Jesus is being assailed by those who are
questioning the essential facts concerning His
Person and His nature. One hears of those
who suggest that perhaps after all the story
of miraculous conception is mythic. This is
the necessary corollary of speaking of His
words as partaking of the ignorance of His
age. And such failure to keep the word and
maintain the name inevitably reacts upon the
Church in her fitness for service. His claim
of Kingship is inseparably bound up with the
miracles of His nature, and the authority of
His speech. To deny these is to neglect the
open doors. Infinitely better to have a little
power, and use it within the doors He opens
in loyalty to His teaching and Himself, than
to have much power and use it as abetting the
work of those who, robbing Him of His dig
nity, hinder His coming into His Kingdom.

The Philadelphia Letter 171
In passing to the Lord's counsel to this
church, we notice that He emphasizes His ad
ministration. " Behold, I give of the syna
gogue of Satan, of them which say they are
Jews, and they are not, but do lie; behold, I
will make them to come and worship before
thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee."
Recognizing the difficult conditions under
which this church has borne its witness, He
declares His administrative activity, first with
regard to the synagogue of Satan. This ref
erence is of interest in as much as it closely re
sembles the Lord's reference in His other epis
tle without complaint, that to the church at
Smyrna. He then said "I know thy tribula
tion, and thy poverty, and the blasphemy of
them^ which say they are Jews, and they are
not, but are a synagogue of Satan." In writ
ing to Philadelphia, there is no such detailed
declaration, but the passing reference creates
the idea that there were conditions, calculated
to hinder the church at Philadelphia, similar
to those which hindered and brought tribula
tion to the church at Smyrna. There the Jew
ish synagogue had stirred up a pagan popula
tion to oppose the work of the church. It is
likely that something of the kind had also
happened in Philadelphia. Concerning such

172 A First Century Message
He announces that the synagogue of Satan is
yet to be compelled to recognize the church,
" I will make them to come and worship before
thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee."
This is not the language of a great anger, nor
that of vindictive administration. His ancient
people who are hindering the work, are yet to
be brought to the feet of the church, to learn
how He has loved her. These administrative
facts all lie in the realm of thaf great crisis,
His second advent. To the church He says
" Because thou didst keep the word of My
patience, I also will keep thee from the hour
of trial, that hour which is to come upon the
whole world, to try them that dwell upon the
earth." Recognizing the faithfulness of His
people, He promises them exemption from the
tribulation which is to come. While that
promise may have had its partial fulfilment in
the escape of the church at Philadelphia from
some wave of persecution that swept over the
district, its final fulfilment will undoubtedly be
realized by those who, loyal to His word, and
not denying His name, shall be gathered out
of the world at His second coming before the
judgment that must usher in the setting up of
His Kingdom on the earth.
" I come quickly " is the great announce-

The Philadelphia Letter 173
ment which unlocks the meaning of this prom
ise of exemption from coming tribulation.
There can be no interpretation of the adminis
tration by which He shall bring the synagogue
of Satan to the feet of the church, or of the
church's being saved from tribulation save the
thought contained in the announcement, " I
come quickly."
In these words the Lord does for the church
at Philadelphia what He has done for the
Church again and again. He directs their at
tention to His second advent as the goal and
crisis of victory. Through all the years of
service the Church should ever wait for Him,
hearing constantly the sound of His voice " I
come quickly."
In view of that promise, consider the Mas
ter's declaration of the present responsibility
of the church. " Hold fast that which thou
hast, that no one take thy crown." To the
church at Sardis He said the same thing, and
yet how different the value and application of
the announcement. To them it was a warn
ing. To these it is a promise. To the church
that was dead, it was a proclamation, calcu
lated to startle them into obedience. To the
church exercising its little strength in fulfil
ment of His gracious will, it was a declaration

174 A First Century" Message ' ',
calculated to comfort them in obedience. Thus
again it is evident that the doctrine of the ad
vent of Jesus affects persons according to the
condition of their life. One church is threat
ened, another is comforted by the announce
ment of His coming.
In the little while that lies between the pres
ent moment and His advent, He marks their
responsibility in the words "Hold fast that
which thou hast." What had they? A little
power, His word, His name, His promise of
return. These they were to hold fast, and the
reason, " that no one take thy crown." The
crown referred to was that of reward for serv
ice. He had opened the door. They in little
power had entered in and had fulfilled His
will. He knew their works, that they had
kept His word and did not deny His name.
He had no complaint to make of them. He
Himself was coming, and at His coming they
would have their crowning. Not the crown
ing but the conflict is for to-day, but so surely
as the conflict is maintained, and the things
now possessed held fast, the crowning must
come. Then lastly notice His promise to the over
comer. " He that overcometh, I will make
him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he

The Philadelphia Letter 175
shall go out thence no more : and I will write
upon him the name of My God, and the name
of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which
cometh down out of heaven from My God,
and Mine own new name." The overcoming
referred to in this case is not that of some evil
in the church, but of the forces which are out
side, 'jnd these will be finally overcome at His
ac/ent. As He has been speaking of that ad
vent as the crisis at which all the rewards He
promises will be bestowed upon the church,
His promise to the overcomer is here that of
those conditions of life to which they shall pass
beyond that advent.
First He promises them position, " I will
make him a pillar in the temple of My God."
That is finality. The Bible does not speak of
men as being pillars in His temple while on
earth. Sometimes we have prayed for our
children that they may become pillars in the
house of God, and that will be, by and by,
always providing that here they are trees of
the Lord's planting by the rivers of water.
Then yonder they will have a position con
spicuous and abiding, based upon the fact of
their approximation to the character of God.
Then secondly, " I will write upon him the
name of My God," this indicating the fact of

176 A First Century Message
likeness, and the reason of the position of
prominence. And yet again, a definite and specific re
ward. " I will write upon him . . . the
name of the city of My God, the new Jerusa
lem, which cometh down out of heaven from
My God." Those who have the right within
that city, of permanent dwelling upon the basis
of character, are not to be there as foreigners
or aliens, but as those who have the city's free
dom, that freedom being the recognition of
their overcoming.
And yet once more, " I will write upon him
. . . Mine own new name." What strange
and mystical statement is this? In the nine
teenth chapter of this book of Revelation there
is another reference to it. " He hath a name
written, which no one knoweth but He Him
self." There are yet honours for Jesus unre
vealed, and these are signified in that new name.
This then is the name that He will write upon
the overcomer. He will share with him all His
honours and rewards. There is to be the
most perfect oneness between the overcomer
and the King. To suffer with Him will be to
reign with Him o'er all the territory. To
enter the door He opens to-day is to walk with

The Philadelphia Letter 177
Him in all the spacious realms o'er which He
yet must reign.
In this great and gracious promise to the
overcomer, mark the reiteration of Christ's
personal pronoun. " I will write upon Him
the name of My God, and the name of the city
of My God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh
down out of heaven from My God." He came
to do the will of His Father. He became the
King upon the basis of the perfections of that
will. And even in the unutterable anguish of
the hour of His forsaking, there was still
marked the relationship between Him person
ally and His Father, for even then He said
" My God, My God,, why hast Thou forsaken
Me ? " As He looks on to the ultimate
triumph, all for Him lies within the fact of His
relationship to God, and this is marked by that
gracious word " My God."
To those who in little power, yet fulfil His
purpose, He will give, as the reward of serv
ice, association with Himself in that union
with His Father, which is the full glory and
the final centre of perfect government.
From this study there are certain abiding
lessons to be remembered. The first is a word
of comfort, the word that reminds us of the

178 A First Century Message
present administration of Christ. Oh, that we
may turn back to our work with the music of
that thought ever sounding in our hearts. Our
crowning may depend on our fidelity, but
God's ultimate victory depends upon the King
Whom He has set on His holy hill. Let there
be no moment in which we imagine that He
has either lost ground, or abandoned any part
of the territory committed to Him. He can
not fail nor be discouraged till He have accom
plished the uttermost purpose of His God, and
though at times our eyes may fail to trace the
method of His administration, let our hearts
be ever comforted by remembering " He . . .
openeth, and none shall shut, and He shutteth
and none openeth." If we are not able to see
how He opens or how He shuts, it matters lit
tle. The fact is full of infinite and inexpressi
ble comfort. God's anointed King, though
for a time hidden from the eyes of men, is car-'
rying on His government. As of old, David
the anointed king of Israel was for a time
exiled from his kingdom, and took refuge in
cave Adullam, so for to-day Christ is earth's
rejected King, but He is still God's anointed
King. The story of Adullam is full of signifi
cance. David, refused by his people, went up

The Philadelphia Letter 179
to the fastness in the mountains, and there
three classes of people gathered round him,
men in debt, men in danger, and men that were
discontented. Not of much count in the eyes
of the nation. In all probability it was looked
upon as a happy exodus when they left for the
cave. And yet how wonderful the story of
their relation to David, and its results. Con
tact with him turned them into mighty men.
The story of David and his mighty men is in
deed a romance. The raw material was surely
as poor as ever gathered to a man, but than the
finished product there has seldom been any
thing finer.
In process of time the glad day dawned
when David left Adullam, and came to his
crowning. Concerning that crowning a state
ment full of significance is made, " These all
came to Hebron of one heart to make David
king." " Our Lord is now rejected,
And by the world disowned,
By the many still neglected,
And by the few enthroned."
But He is gathering to Himself a company
of people in debt, in danger, and discontented,
and those who have thus gathered to Him in

1 80 A First Century Message
the days of His rejection are by that contact
and comradeship being transformed into His
mighty men, and presently the morning will
break when we shall gather with one heart to
make Jesus King. Oh, take heart. Let there
be fewer dirges sung in the sanctuary, and
more paeans of praise. Let us have done with
the lamentations of hope deferred, and putting
on our garments of beauty, rise from the dust,
and believe in our King. He at this moment
holds the reins, and swaying the sceptre, ad
ministers the affairs of the Kingdom of God.
Such is the comfort to be gathered from this
epistle. Then there follows a solemn word,
marking our responsibility " Hold fast that
which thou hast." Opposition is not over,
Satan still has a synagogue. Open doors — and
never had the Church such open doors as she
has at this moment — open doors do not make
strenuous fidelity unnecessary, but more than
ever necessary. One of the most terrible facts
of the present moment is that the Master is
unlocking the doors all around, but the Church
is not entering them as she should. Blindness
to the fact is utterest folly. A great door and
effectual is opened before the Church in India,
that land of fascinating problems, and splen
did opportunity. There we have undermined

The Philadelphia Letter 181
the false faiths by educational methods. At
the present moment there are multitudes of
men in that land, who have discovered the fal
sity of the faith of their fathers, and are now
waiting for something else, and the Church is
slow to bring to them the Evangel of the risen
Christ. How terrible a thing it is to have
taken away a faith, and yet not to be ready
immediately to supply the lack. And India is
but one instance. Surely never was it so true
that the fields are white unto harvest but the
labourers are few.
The Church should stand ready before every
door, so that the moment it is open, she may
occupy the territory for Christ. When will
those who prosecute the commerce of heaven,
manifest the same wisdom as that of the mer
chant princes of the earth? If the Church is
thus to be ready and responsive to the call of
the King she must hold fast His word, and
not deny His name. Alas, that we have too
often allowed things essential to be neglected,
while we have been dealing with things of
minor or of no importance. Back to the word,
back to the name. Then will the Church be
what God intends she should be, " fair as the
moon, clear as the sun, terrible as an army
with banners." ¦

1 82 A First Century Message
The final word of value from the study is
that the test of the Church's loyalty to Christ
is not the measure of her manifestation before
men, but her fidelity to the opportunity her
Lord creates. • Infinitely better to have a little
power only, all used for Christ, than much
strength bestowed in other ways. If He have
opened the door, then let us go through in all
the strength we possess, remembering that our
all, with the all of all the rest, shall make His
all, that is, " the nations for His inheritance,
and the uttermost parts of the earth for His
possession."

THE LAODICEA LETTER

" And to the angel of the church in Laodicea
write ;
" These things saith the Amen, the faithful and
true witness, the beginning of the creation of God,
I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor
hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So because
thou art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will
spew thee out of My mouth. Because thou sayest, I
am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of
nothing ; and knowest not that thou art the wretched
one and miserable and poor and blind and naked : I
counsel thee to buy of Me gold refined by fire, that
thou mayest become rich; and white garments, that
thou mayest clothe thyself, and that the shame of
thy nakedness be not made manifest; and eye-salve
to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest see. As many
as I love, I reprove and chasten: be zealous there
fore, and repent. 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. He that overcometh, I will give
to him to sit down with Me in My throne, as I also
overcame, and sat down with My Father in His
throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit saith to the churches." — Rev. iii : 14-22.

IX
THE LAODICEA LETTER
*Tp HIS last of the letters to the churches is
•*• in some sense saddest of them all, yet
in other respects, it is most full of exquisite
beauty. In every other epistle we find some
word of commendation. Here there is abso
lutely none. This very fact seems to account
for some of the tenderest and most wonderful
words uttered by the Lord in the whole series.
It is impossible to study this message without
seeming to feel the heartbeat of the Son of
God, and in none of the letters has there been
more evident the yearning compassion of the
Divine heart.
Very little is known of the church at Laodi
cea. We have no account of its planting, but
there are certain references to it in the New
Testament which may throw some light on its
history. It is certain that the church was
known to Paul, and it is most probable that he
visited it. The latter position is of course
open to question. Very much depends on the
view taken concerning his imprisonment. If
185

1 86 A First Century Message
the confidence expressed in the letter to the
Philippians was fulfilled that he would again
visit his children, it is quite probable that
among the rest, he would see Laodicea. The
references he makes to the church are most
interesting in the light of this message of
Jesus. In his letter to the church at Colosse
there are no fewer than four references to the
church at Laodicea. First in the second chap
ter, verses 1-3. " For I would have you know
how greatly I strive for you, and for them at
Laodicea, . . . that their hearts may be
comforted, they being knit together in love,
and unto all riches of the full assurance of un
derstanding, that they may know the mystery
of God, even Christ in Whom are all the treas
ures of wisdom and knowledge hidden." It
is thus evident that while writing to the church
at Colosse, he has in mind the church at Lao
dicea. In the fourth chapter of the same epistle, in
referring to Epaphras, the apostle says, " For
I bear him witness, that he hath much labour
for you, and for them in Laodicea." It is well
to remember in passing that the labour of
Epaphras was that of prayer. In the fifteenth
verse of the same chapter he writes " Salute

The Laodicea Letter 187
the brethren that are in Laodicea," and yet
again in the sixteenth verse, " And when this
epistle hath been read among you, cause that
it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans ;
and that ye also read the epistle from Laodi
cea." Now these references show us very clearly
one or two things. The apostle was acquainted
with the church, and undoubtedly was inter
ested in it. There was some kind of connec
tion between it and the church at Colosse. In
all probability they were geographically con
tiguous. It is quite conceivable that they were
related to each other as mother and daughter,
the church at Colosse founding the church at
Laodicea, or being founded by it. It is more
over evident that there was interest and fellow
ship existing between them so that when Epa
phras, a member of the church in Colosse la
boured in prayer, that they of that fellowship
might stand perfect and -complete in all the
will of God, he also included in his petitions
the sister church at Laodicea.
Moreover it is probable that the apostle
wrote to the church at Laodicea a special letter
which has not been preserved, having most
likely no perpetual value, for he distinctly
charges the church at Colosse that the letter

1 88 A First Century Message
to the church at Laodicea is to be read to them
also. The apostle's interest in the church at Lao
dicea is marked in the first place by his prayer
for them as for those at Colosse, that "their
hearts may be comforted they being knit
together in love, and unto all riches." The
one great peril threatening the church at Lao
dicea was its wealth, and it may safely be in
ferred that the apostle saw the peril and prayed
that " their hearts might be comforted, they
being knit together in love, and unto all riches
of the full assurance of understanding, that
they may know the mystery of God even
Christ," that is to say, he desired for them that
they might have the true wealth, knowing as
he probably did, that they were already pos
sessed of much earthly wealth.
In the Authorized Version we have another
reference to the church at Laodicea, which has
been omitted from the Revised. It occurs at
the close of the first letter to Timothy, and is
of the nature of a note. " The first to Timo
thy was written from Laodicea which is the
chiefest city of Phrygia, Pacatiana." That
note of course presupposes that Paul was set
free from the imprisonment during which he
wrote, and that he visited this church, and

The Laodicea Letter 189
while among them wrote to Timothy who sub
sequently joined him, having been left in
charge of the church at Ephesus. Our Re
visers have omitted that statement, believing
that there is no sufficient authority for it.
This much however, is certain that the
church at Laodicea was known to the apostle,
that he was deeply interested in it, and that it
had some intimate fellowship with the church
at Colosse.
In addressing Himself to this church, the
Lord uses descriptive words, which at once
arouse interest, and arrest attention. " These
things saith the Amen, the faithful and true
Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God."
Here is nothing which symbolizes His mani
fested splendour. This is rather a declaration
of His essential glory. The description creates
a contrast. To abject failure He addresses
Himself as the One incapable of failure. The
statement is threefold; positive, relative, and
declarative of authority. It is a profound
proclamation of authority based upon the
facts which are the cause and reason of all
things. First the positive statement, " These things
saith the Amen." Secondly, the relative dec
laration, " the faithful and true witness."

190 A First Century Message
Thirdly, the authoritative proclamation " the
beginning of the creation of God."
He that is " the Amen." This word has come
from the Hebrew without translation, and to
understand its value, we must seek to know
its original meaning in that language. The
root meaning is that of nursing, or building
up, and the derived meaning in perpetual use
to-day is that of something stablished, built up
sure, positive. The word therefore takes us
back to God as the nursing Mother and ex
presses the truth of the absolute stability and
the actual correctness of everything that God
has thought, and spoken, and done. It is an
essential word, " the Amen." All truth lies
within its compass as to certainty. As a title
of Christ it is equivalent in value to the state
ment which He made when he said "Iam the
truth." It must ever be remembered that He
did not say " I teach the truth," nor, " I de
clare the truth," nor " I explain the truth," but
" I am vthe truth." Here we have the same
thought put in a form, almost more august and
splendid. He that is " the Amen," the essen
tial truth, truth expressed in a Person, truth
from which there can be no appeal. The Amen
is the conclusion, because it is the finality of
nourishment, the perfection of edification, the

The Laodicea Letter 191
last word, the end, to which nothing can be
added. So Christ approaching this church de
clares in the first phase of declaration that
from Him there can be no appeal. He is the
Certainty, the Finality, the Ratification, the
ultimate Authority, the Amen.
Then follows the relative statement of the
same great fact. " He is the faithful and true
witness." He is that, because He is the Amen.
He is that, because He is the truth. He is the
Amen, even though He never speak. He is
the Truth, if He utter no word. But now that
the truth has been spoken by Him it is a faith
ful and true witness that He has borne. He
is the faithful and true Witness of God and of
the Church. When He speaks there is no ex
aggeration, and no minimizing. What he says
is faithful and true because He is faithfulness
and truth. What He says will be exactly true,
because He is in Himself absolute truth, and
there is nothing beyond Him in all the realm
of truth.
The witness concerning all things in Him
will be faithfulness and truth. He is the only
One through Whom this perfect witness can
be spoken. The church at Laodicea had failed
in witness. Its condition had eclipsed the es-,
sential light that should have been shining in

192 A First Century Message
the darkness around, and the Master comes to
it and addresses it as the faithful and true Wit
ness. He is about to strip it of all the false
appearance which deceives the eyes of many,
but which cannot deceive Him. As in the old
economy, by its last messenger, Jehovah said
He would be a swift Witness against the sor
cerers and evil doers, the witness of truth
against evil, the One Who would drag the evil
into the light of truth, so here as He comes to
unmask the failure of the Laodicean people,
He announces Himself as the One Who will
neither exaggerate the condition, nor permit
anything of it to remain hidden.
Then the last phrase brings us back into the
sublimity of majesty. As we read it, we are
impelled to worship. " The beginning of the
creation of God." Having noticed the refer
ence to Laodicea in Colossians, it becomes in
teresting to read Colossians in the light of
Laodicea, and to notice how this very expres
sion, " the beginning of the creation of God "
is one of the pillars upon which the truth of the
Colossian epistle rests. In that sublime and
matchless statement concerning the glories of
Christ, occurring in the first chapter of Colos
sians, verses fifteen to eighteen, these words
occur, " Who is the image of the invisible God,

The Laodicea Letter

193

the Firstborn of all creation, for in Him were
all things created, in the heavens, and upon
the earth, things visible and things invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or principalities
or powers; all things have been created
through Him, and unto Him; and He is be
fore all things, and in Him all things hold
together, consist." This betokens rank and
right lying behind all other. If the heart ever
questions the Deity of Christ it is well to go
back and ponder this great statement. It is
impossible to retain this in the Bible if Christ
be anything less than God, and all the sublim
ity of these declarations lies in the suggestion
within this title.
Approaching the church at Laodicea He
comes as the One Whose rank is infinitely be
yond that of priest, prophet, or king. He
speaks with the authority of cause and crea
tion. Wherever the eye rests, whatever the
mind is conscious of, is as to first cause the
work of Christ. His footprints may be tracked
through all creation, and every blush of beauty
reveals the touch of His finger. There are no
flowers but have in them witness to Him, no
marvellous and majestic landscape entrancing
the vision of men but that sings the solemn
anthem of His power and His beauty. In all

194 A First Century Message
the precision of created things, the rolling sea
sons, the dawn of day, and the westering of
the sun, in the emergence of Spring, from its
garment of Winter, its procedure into the
splendour of Summer, and its gorgeous robing
in Autumnal glory is to be discovered the
power of the Christ.
Thus coming to a church conceited because
of its wealth and independence. He sublimely
announces His wealth and independence. If
this church had but ears to hear, how it must
have blushed with shame as the tawdriness of
its wealth became apparent in the blinding
splendour of His, and as the blasphemy of
its independence was manifest, as the only
One of independence declared Himself as the
origin of all things. He speaks to them not
as the King of a section, not as the One Who
enunciates laws for one realm of the universe,
but as the beginning of creation, the Cause and
the Creator, Who is King of all creation, and
enunciates for all the laws which condition
life. To the church at Laodicea, lifeless, indiffer
ent, cool, He speaks as the One Who is the
Source of all life, the infinite Energy, the be
ginning of the creation of God.
In this capacity of infinite majesty He

The Laodicea Letter 195
speaks no single word of commendation.
Many are the words of hope He utters. He has
not lost all hope even for this fearful failure
at Laodicea. But there is no commendation.
His counsel and complaint run close together,
alternating through all the message. Let us
select the complaint, considering it first, and
then passing to attention to His counsel.
Three brief statements indicate the Lord's
complaint. First " Thou art," and then " Thou
sayest," and yet again, " Thou art." In the
first He describes the general condition of the
church. In the second He describes the
church as the church thinks it is. In the third
He reveals in minute and detailed truth the
actualities. First His vision of the church as to its spirit,
and not as to its externalities, then a revelation
of the church's belief concerning itself, and
then the contrast, terrible and startling of His
view of the church, even as to details.
" I know thy works, that thou art neither
cold nor hot." Such is the spiritual condition
as He declares it. " Thou sayest, I am rich,
and have gotten riches, and have need of
nothing." That ' was their consciousness.
" Thou art the wretched one and miserable and
poor and blind and naked, and thou knowest it

196 A First Century Message
not." That is their detailed condition in con
trast with their supposed condition. These
descriptions form our Lord's complaint.
" Thou art neither cold nor hot . . .
thou art lukewarm." Let us take these words
and attempt to see what they really indicate.
" Cold," frozen, the thought of temperature
lowered by evaporation lies within the word.
" Thou art not frozen." The church was not
characterized by utter indifference. " Hot,"
boiling. " Thou art not boiling." The church
was not characterized by fervent heat. It was
not utterly indifferent. It had no fervent zeal.
What then is the condition? Lukewarm, and
we may with perfect accuracy render the word
tepid. Thou art not frozen, thou art not boil
ing, thou art tepid. If there is anything ab
horrent to the heart of Christ it is a tepid
church. He would rather have the church
frozen. I did not say that. He did. " I
would thou wert cold." He would rather
have the church boiling. " I would thou wert
. . . hot." But this condition of being tepid
is utterly repugnant to Him. No emotion, no
enthusiasm, no urgency, no passion, no com
passion. I am not sure that the condition of
the church might not be expressed in a phrase
I once heard fall from the lips of one who

The Laodicea Letter 197
called himself a Christian. Said he when rais
ing a protest against evangelistic work, with a
very evident assumption of superiority and
self complacency, "You know, I am thorough
ly evangelical but not evangelistic? " Exactly!
Tepid. Evangelical but not evangelistic? It
is a lie. No man is evangeliqal without being
evangelistic. A man tells me that he is evan
gelical, that he believes in the ruin of man, and
redemption provided by Christ, and in man's
responsibility, and yet is not evangelistic!
Then he is the worst traitor in the camp of
Christ, and that is why Christ hates tepid men
and tepid churches. It was that condition that
drove John Wesley into the lines of irregular
itineracy, which became the regular march of
the armies of God. It was that same condi
tion that drove William Booth out into the
work of the Christian Mission, which devel
oped into the Salvation Army.
I remember him once telling the story how
he was made an enthusiast for salvation. Said
he, "I was made a red hot Salvationist by an
infidel lecturer. That lecturer said, ' If I be
lieved what some of you Christians believe, I
would never rest day nor night telling men
about it.' " That sentence was the great sen
tence. William Booth heard, believed, acted.

198 A First Century Message
It was like a fire in his bones, and drove him
out from that which was tepid to that which
was boiling. Tepid is that condition in which
conviction does not affect conscience, heart, or
will. The Cross is not denied, but it is not
vital. The Cross may have been worn as an
ornament, as alas it is too often worn to-day,
but these sleek saints had never themselves
been nailed to a Cross. The silver cross, the
golden Cross worn as an ornament upon the
breast creates a pleasant sensation. A wooden
cross and iron nails and agonizing death is a
different matter. When the Cross is an orna
ment there is no death in it, but then there is
no life in it. When the Cross ceases to be an
ornament and becomes the death, then there is
a passion that eventuates in contagious life.
Sin? Oh certainly the fact of sin was ad
mitted, but there was no hatred of sin. They
would speak of sinners as persons to be pitied,
but no finger would be lifted to save them.
They would speak of sin as something objec
tionable, perhaps as a moral defect, or an
obliquity of vision, but never as a damnable
poison, rotting the foundations of life and
bringing down into awful cataclasm all fair
and lovely things. They were tepid, luke
warm in their creeds and neither cold nor hot

The Laodicea Letter 199
in their conduct. Is it any wonder that Christ
sighed over them " I would thou wert cold or
hot." In the light of this pronouncement the dec
laration of the church's opinion of itself is ter
rible. Hear the language as Christ construed
it, remembering He was the faithful and true
Witness, and this is no exaggeration, but in
ward conviction. " I am rich," possessing
abundantly, " I have gotten riches," the lan
guage of perfect self satisfaction, " I have
need of nothing," independence.
If we had visited the church at Laodicea in
all probability they would have shown us the
church premises, they would have told us
how much they paid for the property, how
much the church cost. They would have said,
Whatever we want, we have. If we require
new premises, we build them. We are inde
pendent. Did you suggest some form of serv
ice that would create new spiritual power, they
would have been astonished. Did^you propose
a mission ? No, certainly not, we do not want
a mission here, we have need of nothing. A
series of meetings for the deepening of spirit
ual life ? Oh no, hold them in some other dis
trict, we have need of nothing. A time of
special humiliation and prayer? We have no

200 A First Century Message
need of humiliation, we have need of nothing.
That was the condition. They needed nothing
because they had everything.
Now listen again. Christ gives His view of
their condition. " Thou are the wretched one
and miserable and poor and blind and naked."
First, "wretched" and the simple meaning
of the word is oppressed with a burden. The
burden they carried was the very wealth which
they imagined carried them. Instead of wealth
helping and lifting them, it hindered and de
graded. As He with eyes of fire looked over
the churches, of the one that was perhaps the
wealthiest, He said it was a heavily burdened
one. How different from the popular esti
mate. We have often heard of a church being
heavily burdened with debt, but the Master
speaks of one heavily burdened with wealth.
Again " thou art miserable " and the word
here means pitiable. The heart of the Lord
was moved in pity toward them. He had no
congratulation to offer them. His feeling
toward them was one of commiseration.
" Thou art poor," and the word means poor
as a pauper by the highway side is poor. From
His standpoint of wealth the church was a
cringing beggar, possessing nothing worth the
having.

The Laodicea Letter 201
" Thou art blind." That is opaque, seeing
nothing clearly, seeing nothing afar. Near
sighted is the word which perhaps most
accurately expresses the thought, lacking
vision, lacking light, devoid of the sense of
the far distances, confined within narrow
limits. And " thou art naked," nude, stripped of the
clothing of glory and beauty, which ought to
adorn the church as the Bride of Jesus Christ.
To other churches He has spoken of white rai
ment. This church has none. Presently the
garments of purple, and the jewels of gold will
become moth eaten and tarnished, and the
church will be seen in the light of the eterni
ties with no robe of purified service to cover it.
Let it be specially noted that all these words
which Christ uses to describe the church are
words of pity. There is not an angry word
among them. He is not angry with the con
dition of the church. All that, He is able to
remedy. His anger is that they are satisfied
with these things. Read the words yet once
again, and note how they pulsate with the pity
of His heart.
" Wretched," the condition that ever appeals
to the sympathy of the tender-hearted. " Mis
erable," in such a condition as to touch a sym-

202 A First Century Message
pathetic nature. " Poor," a beggar by tlie
highway side, to .whom you can hardly refuse
help. " Blind," one groping the way, stretch
ing out hands, that seem to compel you to
stretch out yours in guiding kindness.
" Naked," making you long to fling some gar
ment of warmth around the denuded form.
Such people -are saying, We are rich, and have
gotten our riches, we do not need anything,
and in that very fact lies the deepest note of
misery that calls most loudly for a yet deeper
compassion. I believe that Christ's attitude
to the church was one of profound pity. It
was Keith who wrote of this church, " Sooner
would a man in Sardis have felt that the chill
of death was upon him, and have cried out for
life, and called for the physician, than would
a man of Laodicea; who would calmly count
his even pulse, and think his life secure, when
death was preying on his vitals." This is a
true picture of Laodicea. " I am rich," " thou
art poor ; " "I am increased with goods,"
" thou hast nothing ; " "I have need of noth
ing," "thou are pitiable, blind, naked." Oh
the revealing Christ ! With what heart-search
ing does the infinite light of His infinite love
fall upon the assemblies -of His people.
Now turn to our Lord's counsel to the

The Laodicea Letter 203
church, and in it even more supremely is His
heart revealed.
First, His wish expressed, " I would thou
wert cold or hot." Secondly, His declared in
tention, " I will spew thee out of My mouth."
Lastly, His immediate advice, " Buy of Me."
His wish expressed, " I would thou wert
cold or hot." Is not that a strange thing for
Him to say? We could have understood it
better if He had said, " I would thou wert
hot." And yet a deep abhorrence of the con
dition is revealed more forcefully by what He
actually said. He would rather have had them
cold. There is infinitely greater chance for
someone who is cold than for someone who is
lukewarm. There is more hope of the man
outside the church in all the desolating dreari
ness of that coldness which is lack of life, and
therefore of love, than for the man within the
church who is near enough to its warmth not
to appreciate it, and far enough away from its
burning heat to be useless to God and man. A
greater chance for the heathen who has not
heard the Gospel than for the man who has
become an evangelized heathen, if he disobey
the claims of the Evangel. It is impossible to
read this epistle without a sense throbbing
through the heart of the wail of " I would."

204 A First Century Message
We have heard Him say it before. While yet
upon the earth, with a voice full of emotion, as
He looked on Jerusalem, He cried, " How
often I would have gathered thy children
together, . . . and ye would not ! " "I
would thou wert cold or hot." He would in
finitely rather have had to do with a frozen
people, clamouring for warmth, than with this
crowd of lukewarm rich folk, which having
everything had need of nothing, and having
nothing had need of everything.
Then follows His declared intention, " I will
spew thee out of My mouth," or very literally,
" I am about to spew thee out of My mouth."
This is not a question of casting a Christian
from relation to Himself. It is the casting
out of a church from her position of witness
bearing. Christ amid the lampstands is
speaking to the churches in their capacity of
light bearers in the darkness of the night, and
He says, I am about to reject thee from this
work, about "to spew thee out of My mouth,"
about to put thee away from the place of wit
ness and testimony. In the form of the state
ment there is at once a declaration of a de
cision arrived at, and the intimation of a pos
sible escape from the judgment pronounced.
I am about to do it. It is a sentence pronounced,

The Laodicea Letter 205
it is a doom descending. I am about to do it.
It is not yet done. The blow has not fallen.
The light is not yet extinguished.
All this lends urgency to the actual words
of counsel, as He now utters them, " I counsel
thee to buy of Me gold refined by fire, that
thou mayest become rich ; and white garments
that thou mayest clothe thyself, and that the
shame of thy nakedness be not made mani
fest; and eye-salve to anoint thine eyes, that
thou mayest see." He now addresses Him
self to the church as He sees her, not to the
church as she thinks she is, and He confronts
her in all fulness as the One possessing all she
most sadly lacks, and in His counsel there is
a declaration of the way by which all that is
objectionable in their condition may be cor
rected. You are poor, buy My gold, that you
may be rich. You are naked, buy My white
raiment that you may be clothed. You are
blind, buy My eye-salve that you may see.
The church says " I am rich, and have gotten
riches, and have need of nothing." He says
" Thou art miserable and poor and blind arid
naked." Buy gold from Me that you may be
rich. They say We have gotten all we need,
and He says You are naked, buy of Me the
white garments that you may clothe yourself.

206 A First Century Message
They say We have need of nothing. He says
You are blind, buy My eye-salve and anoint
your eyes that you may see.
The Lord would teach the church that the
true wealth, the true raiment, the true wisdom,
the true vision is Himself possessed in all the
aspects of His perfection. As Paul had in
timated in that' letter to the Colossian church,
which he desired to be read to the Laodiceans
also " that their hearts may be comforted, they
being knit together in love, and unto all riches
of the full assurance of understanding, that
they may know the mystery of God even
Christ/' If they would be wealthy, they must
buy of Him gold refined by fire, they must be
rich with what He is. If they would be
clothed, it must be with white garments, which
are woven out of loyal service rendered to
Him, and in the strength of His love. If
they would have wisdom they must seek from
Him the eye-salve by which they may see
things in their true values and perspective. So
He approaches the church that He is about to
spew out of His mouth in disdain, and opens
before them the storehouse of His infinite
riches and says If yoU are only conscious of
your poverty, I have riches. If you are but
conscious of your nakedness, I have clothing.

The Laodicea Letter 207
If you are but conscious of your blindness, I
have eye-salve. All that can hinder the church
will be continuance in the vain delusion that she
is rich and increased with goods and has need
of nothing. The way back to blessing will be
that the church should get down into the dust,
into the place of humbling, into the place of
heart-break, into the- place where she shall
indeed say I am poor, and miserable, and blind,
and naked. Then He will comfort with His
own heart's love, and enrich with His own
untold wealth, and clothe with His own white
raiment of reward ; and anoint with His own
inspiration and vision. How graciously He
offers to supply the need, and yet with what
tender irony mingled with mighty compassion
this statement of His ability confronts their
false notion of their sufficiency. They said
"We are rich." He said "Buy My gold."
They said "We have need of nothing." He
said Seek all from Me.
Then as in a flash, straight out of His heart
of infinite love, comes a statement " As many
as I love, I reprove and chasten." If He had
not loved the church at Laodicea He would
have let her alone. He loved them notwith
standing all their failure, and His love was the
reason of His rebuke and of His counsel.

208 A First Century Message
And then words follow, full of a great
urgency, " Be zealous and repent." It is as
though the Master would do anything to
arouse them from their lethargy. He calls
them to zeal and to repentance. But how can
these people come back? They have not far
to travel, though their distance be great, for
He is close at hand. Hear the words, the
gracious words, " Behold, I stand at the door
and knock? if any man hear My voice, I will
come in to him, and will sup with him and he
with Me." What startling revelations lie
within the compass of these words. First, He
is excluded. They have everything in the
church at Laodicea except Jesus Christ. He
is outside the door. We should ever remem
ber that while we have often preached the
Gospel from this text, and I do not think it is
wrong, that the words are first to the church
and not to the individual. " Behold, I stand
at the door," the door of the church, " and
knock," outside it. Oh, this excluded Christ,
excluded from His world, for they crucified
Him; excluded from His church, for He is
outside the door knocking.
Yet He waits, and for what? For one
man to let Him in. He is not waiting for a
committee to pass a resolution. Then indeed

The Laodicea Letter 209
the case might be hopeless. He. waits for a
man, " If any man hear My voice, I will come
in to him, and will sup with him and he with
Me." I will first be his Guest " I will sup with
him." He shall be My guest, "and he with
Me." I will sit at the table which his love
provides and satisfy My heart. He shall sit
at the table which My love will provide, and
satisfy his heart.
Supposing a man in Laodicea opened that
door, saying as he did so " I am convinced of
our poverty. We have everything but Christ. I
will admit Him, and spread the table for Him,"
what would happen ? The moment a man should
open the door to Christ, the excluded Christ,
and Christ should pass to communion and
fellowship with that man, then that man in
communion with Christ would excommunicate
the church. We have often heard of churches
excommunicating men. It is quite possible
for one man to excommunicate the church by
passing into the place of communion with the
Lord. Then how may the church return to
fellowship ? By joining Christ and that man.
Just as the one man came into communication
with Christ, so also must the church by includ
ing Him Who so long has been excluded. In
the Old Testament there is a remarkable illus-

210 A First Century Message
tration of this truth. There was a day when
Moses by taking up the tabernacle of the Lord
of Hosts, and pitching it without the camp,
excommunicated the whole nation from the
covenant. To that new centre he called those
who sought the Lord into a new position of
separation, and as the people returned
around that centre in obedience, they were
received back into fellowship. There came
a day when Christ excommunicated the
whole Hebrew nation, and the whole world.
It was the day on which He suffered without
the camp. Passing outside the camp He rent
the veil, and called men to the inner place of
worship by calling them back to Himself.
Those following Him, entered the Holy of
Holies. So this man in Laodicea who should open
the door to Jesus would set up a new standard
of life and power, and the only way for the
excommunicated church to return would be to
take the same position as that man. It is a
solemn and awful crisis in the history of a
church when in response to the patient calling
of the excluded Lord one man shall open the
door, and including the Christ, exclude those
that have lost their loyalty to Him. There is
but one way for such to return, and that is by
coming to that man's position.

The Laodicea Letter 211
We read once in the life story of Jesus of
how they excommunicated a man. So angry
were they with the testimony that he bore to
Jesus, that they cast him out of the synagogue.
When Jesus heard of it, He found the man and
said " Dost thou believe on the Son of God ? "
And the man said, " And Who is He, Lord,
that I may believe on Him ? " And the reply
fell with strange strength and sweetness upon
the listening ear of that excommunicated man,
" Thou hast both seen Him, and He it is that
speaketh with thee," and the man said " Lord,
I believe, and he worshipped Him." They
cast him out of the synagogue the place of
worship, but he found the one Centre of
worship. It may be that the Laodicean church
will exclude the man who includes the Christ.
Then let that man have no sorrow in his heart
save for the folly of the church. If there
be no other way to find Christ than by leaving
the Laodicean church then the sooner it be left,
the better. To find Him is to find gold refined
by fire, and clothing, so that there may be no
shame of nakedness, and eyesalve which
broadens the outlook, and creates all visions.
Oh, behold the vision. Apostasy confront
with fidelity, falsehood confront with truth,
decorated poverty face to face with infinite
wealth, lukewarmness and hypocrisy with

212 A First Century Message
compassion and devotion. " Behold, I stand at
the door and knock." What dost thou want,
oh, crowned One, knocking ? A man, one man
who will open that I may come in and sup
with him, and he with Me.
The last thing to be noticed is a promise to
the overcomer. For these people the hardest
battle had to be fought, and therefore the
greatest reward is promised. The Lord seems
to recognize that the difficulty of such life in
such a church as Laodicea is the most terrible
the saint ever has to fight, and so He makes
to them the most gracious and remarkable
promise. " He that overcometh, I will give to
him to sit down with Me in My throne, as I
also overcame, and sat down with My Father
in His throne." Beyond this promise neither
hope nor imagination can go.
Is there not a suggestion here of the pecu
liar temptation that Jesus had to meet " as I
also overcame ? " How did He overcome ?
What can He mean? A hundred answers
come to our thoughts, but do they fit the occa
sion ? There seems to be but one that unlocks
the mystery. He is talking to people whose
supreme wrong is that they are attempting to
take everything easily, they have no com
passion, no enthusiasm, and He says to them
" Overcome ... as I also overcame." Is there

The Laodicea Letter 213
not here every evidence of His remembrance
of the subtlest temptation that came to
Him? The enemy in the wilderness said
"All these kingdoms will I give Thee"
by an easy way, without the Cross, without the
passion, without crucifixion. His own disci
ple brought to Him the same suggestion, Spare
Thyself, what need for all this outpouring of
life in a great passion and compassipn. And
even in Gethsemane we catch the echo of the
tempter's voice. I say this with all careful-i
ness, ever remembering that temptation is not
sin. I speak only of the echo of temptation
as I seem to hear it in His prayer " Father if
it be possible, let this cup pass from Me." The
enemy was ever saying to Him in one way or
another Spare Thyself, why this strenuous life,
why set your face like a flint toward Jerusa
lem, and be determined to tread the via dolo
rosa? But He overcame, and sat down with
His Father in His throne, having taken the
only pathway that could issue in the crowning,
and now with all the mighty meaning of that
fact, He says to the church at Laodicea, to
this self-complaisant, self-satisfied, lukewarm,
and tepid crowd " Overcome as I also over
came. Be zealous. Be hot, and you shall sit
down with Me in My throne."
Very few words are necessary by way of

214 A First Century Message
application of the message of this letter to the
age in which we live. The lessons are self
evident. I propose to do little more than
gather them up, indicating each in brief sen
tences. Lukewarmness is in itself a contradiction of
all we profess to believe. I do not think in
the whole scheme of these letters there is any
thing of greater importance, or anything more
needing emphasis to-day than this truth.
The things we profess to believe are of such a
nature that we cannot be lukewarm without
practically denying them. Better be cold, be
frozen. Better abandon all profession of in
terest in sacred things than to pretend to be
lieve them and sing about them, and yet be
lukewarm. We work far more harm to our
age by tepid character than by open denial of
Christ. It is not the people who are frozen,
utterly indifferent, but the people who pretend
to love Christ, those, forsooth, who are evan
gelical, but not evangelistic, who are hindering
the progress, of His Kingdom. Men who
theorize around the atonement, and quarrel
over the forms in which they express the truth,
and never stretch out the hand to save the lost
souls, these are the men who are cursing the
Church, men who love to split hairs about elec-

The Laodicea Letter 215
tion and free will, and yet let the millions drift
and do nothing to rescue them. All the wrath
of my heart could not equal the words of
Christ to such as are lukewarm, " I am about
to spew thee out of My mouth." He loathes
the unimpassioned regularity of the man who
professes to believe the facts which constitute
evangelical faith, and does not yield himself
to the great claims lying within these truths.
Lukewarmness is the worst form of blasphemy.
Let the tepid churches call themselves clubs,
and we shall know how to deal with them.
Let tepid men leave the churches. Let them
say they do not believe in Christ for that is the
true statement. Let them say there is no sin,
for of that position, their actions prove their
acceptance. Anything to be rid of the insolent
indifference which to Christ and men is cal
culated cruelty.
And yet another thought, appalling and
awful, abides with us as we turn from this
study. It is that of the excluded Christ. Oh,
how He has suffered, and how He suffers still.
Of His own gracious will He was excluded
from His heaven for the redemption of lost
men; and then excluded from His nation by
the blindness of that nation ; and then excluded
from His world by the apparent victory of

2i 6 A First Century Message
the forces of evil. And now, alas, so often
excluded from His very Church by the tepid
indifference of those who imagine that they
have everything while they have nothing.
And yet once more. Oh, the matchless ten
derness and patience of this selfsame Son of
God. He is the Amen, the faithful and true
Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God,
and in this letter where He speaks from the
standpoint of these primal facts, more than in
any other, is revealed the unquenchable love
of the heart of God. Insulted, excluded, and
ready to spew out of His mouth that which is
utterly loathsome, He yet waits, knocking still
at the door, willing to enter into new fellow
ship with one man. To that simply stated fact,
nothing that proves tenderness can be added.
Yet we learn, moreover, that the only cure
for lukewarmness is the re-admission of the
excluded Christ. Apostasy must be confronted
with His fidelity, looseness with conviction
born of His authority, poverty with the fact
of His wealth, frost with the mighty fire of
His enthusiasm, and death with the life Di
vine that is in His gift. There is no other
cure for the loneliness of heaven, for the mal
ady of the world, for the lukewarmness of the
Church than the readmitted Christ.

The Laodicea Letter 217
Let us listen to the Son of man as He walks
amid the lampstands. Let us beseech Him to
say to us all He has to say.
What He says to us shall be the truth, for
He will preface it with the "T know," and so
true will be the statement following that in
itial word that we shall be compelled to say,
This is the word of truth.
If He has commendation for us, the uttering
of it shall be our chief reward. If He speak
words of complaint, heeding them, let us find
our way to true and deep repentance.
Let us listen principally for His words of
counsel, and hearing them without reserve let
us yield to Him our quick obedience.
He also says to all the churches, " I will."
It is the word of His judgment. It is the
word of His promise. This we know, that
what He wills is best, so to His chastisements
we render ourselves that we may find His
great reward.
" He that hath an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit saith to the churches."
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