INTRODUCTION.

"I John, who am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.

"I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great Voice as of a trumpet, saying, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. And I turned to see the Voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks ; and in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and His hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and His eyes were as a flame of fire; and His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and His voice as the sound of many waters. And He had in His right hand seven stars; and out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.

"And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And

B

He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the First and the Last: I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of death and of hell. Write, therefore, the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter; the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in My right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches; and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches."-REV. i. 9-20.

LETTER I.

Anto the Angel of the Church in Ephesus write.

REVELATION ii. I.

WAY for the King's messenger! A letter from the Lord Jesus Christ in glory to a branch of His Church on earth! A message from the Chief Shepherd to His Pastor in a great city, and through him to the flock of God which he oversees! Shall we read it to-night? But Ephesus as a city and as a church is dead; its greatness and its glory departed. The harbour which once received the merchandise of all nations is now a muddy and rush-tangled swamp. The huge and beautiful buildings which once in whitest marble adorned the plain, or crowned the slopes of the neighbouring hills, are now scarce distinguishable in their ruin. Ships are gone, and men are gone, and Ephesus is with the dead. How then are we concerned with its message? Much in every way. Wherever and whenever and whatever God has spoken to man, we may be sure His words are living and imperishable, whether as to Jerusalem, to Nineveh, to Babylon, to Tyre, and others in the Old Testament, or to Ephesus and its companion cities in the New, the utterances of Jehovah must be fruitful, significant, and far-reaching; must contain lessons of wider and deeper application than those specially appropriate to the circum