an understanding heart. . . . And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour. . . . And if thou wilt walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days."

Thus Solomon's dutiful choice of a regal understanding heart won for him not simply the boon craved, but with it riches and honour, gifts of the left hand; which gifts correspond so far with that sunlight and rain which we see lavished on just and unjust, that they all alike come down from the Father of lights, and are all alike capable of promoting God's glory and man's salvation; while yet no one of them is guaranteed against such dire misuse as may pervert it into a means of destruction. Length of days, the gift statedly of the right hand, is promised to Solomon for nothing short of persevering obedience: wherefore we may understand thereby much more than even the most prolonged walk in this vain shadow.

Are we beset by shadows? Let us resolutely walk in them: for by sitting down we should fail ever to emerge from them. Shadows to-day, while shadows show God's Will. Light were not good except He sent us light. Shadows to-day, because this day is night

Whose marvels and whose mysteries fulfil

Their course and deep in darkness serve Him still.
Thou dim aurora, on the extremest height
Of airy summits wax not over bright;

Refrain thy rose, refrain thy daffodil.

Until God's Word go forth to kindle thee

And garland thee and bid thee stoop to us,

Blush in the heavenly choirs and glance not down:
To-day we race in darkness for a crown,

In darkness for beatitude to be,

In darkness for the city luminous.

"A book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals."-A book sealed, inscrutable: evidently containing a message, but that message withheld. Yet does it deliver a message by reason of that very withholding. St. John understood readily a call to humility, and wept (ver. 4) for his own and for the general unworthiness. Humility and penitence befitted St. John, and befit all the saints his fellows it is the reckless sinners who act contrariwise, as at a former crisis was made clear to the prophet Isaiah: "In that day did the Lord God of Hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth and behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we shall die. And it was

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revealed in mine ears by the Lord of hosts, Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die, saith the Lord God of hosts."

To humble ourselves, to repent, to stand alert at the rumour of a Divine message, such acts as these lie within our own power; acts whereby we all can please God. And if nothing further become possible to us, then surely even at such a point we shall not miss a blessing. "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: so shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."

One whose memory I revere once suggested to me that if a person, not through any voluntary fault, knew no more than the Name of Jesus: that Name alone, beloved and cherished, might by God's grace suffice to salvation.

O God Only Wise, bless to us, I beseech Thee, all we know and all we know not. Grant us a ready mind; and accept us according to what we have and not according to what we have not, in our Lord Jesus Christ our All in all.

"Sealed with seven seals."- "There is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.' Lord, grant us sevenfold grace.

2. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?

3. And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.

4. And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.

A question in form, in result a proclamation. He who proclaims is strong, but what he proclaims is a general weakness whence he himself is not exempt.

Since we read in the Prophecy of Daniel of "the man Gabriel," and in the Gospels and Book of Acts of men where it seems we must recognize angels; so I suppose that here we

may perhaps understand all creatures from human beings upwards to be intimated by "men" of heaven, earth, under the earth; and notably mankind at large whether living or dead.

Whereupon St. John wept. Wherefore? because the Book remained sealed and closed? He says not so, but because "no man was found worthy" to open, read, look. For saints bewail unworthiness rather than the penalty of unworthiness.

O Lord Jesus, Who on earth didst shed unselfish vicarious tears, and Who hast bestowed on us a treasure of tears; grant that we may never squander these goodly pearls on vanities, but may weep such blessed tears as Thou hast promised Thyself to wipe away.

"Who is worthy. only not at once.

.?"-The solution was forthcoming,

This world nowadays resounds with questions not yet answerable. I suppose an idiot might happen to propound a query, which not Solomon himself could then and there in his wisdom have answered. Among the first things which meet us when, following St. John afar off, we look through the "door opened in heaven," is a question left for the moment without an answer.

Heaven endured such discipline, and well may earth: St. John endured it, and well may I. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding."

Good Lord, Who requirest faith of us; if our faith be too weak to encounter doubtful disputations, I beseech Thee so far strengthen it that by Thy grace we may humbly avoid them.

O Lord Jesus, my Lord Jesus, Thou art Light to our darkness, Knowledge for our ignorance, Wisdom for our folly, Certainty for our doubts. Thou art our Way and our End; the Illumination of our way, the Glory of our end. Never shall we see, know, have, enjoy, aught permanent out of Thee; but in Thee (please God!) all: for whoso is one with Thee cannot but see with Thine Eyes, acquiesce in Thy Will, apprehend by Thine Understanding, possess by Thy Lordship, enjoy in Thy Good-pleasure. Yea, even while swaddled as babes in fleshly bands, Thy faithful servants being already joined to Thee, do already latently and potentially behold, know, choose, inherit, keep festival. The vigil of Thy Feast excels the high days of time; the threshold of Thy House, the presence-chamber of earth's palaces: "I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of ungodliness." Or if as yet it be not thus with any, with me, Lord, make it thus

to be with us all before we go hence and be no more seen. Amen.

5. And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.

"One of the Elders."-Conjectured (I believe) by some to be St. James, own brother to St. John. What however we know with certainty of this beatified Elder is not his name, but his Christ-likeness. As once his Master on earth, so now he in heaven saith, "Weep not."

Jesus spake the word to a sonless mother in whom (reverent be the thought!) He may have contemplated a fore-image of His own blessed Mother in her bereavement.

The sympathetic Elder spake the same word to the appointed "son" of that blessed Mother, to a saint the days of whose mourning were not yet ended.

Jesus the Consolation of Israel spake, and it was done. Pointing to Him, the Elder became a son of consolation. Christ-likeness is the salient characteristic revealed to us of this celestial Elder. His name continues hidden, his previous history hidden: we know not, however we may attempt to guess, wherefore he rather than another was inspired to testify.

Would his name avail us aught, or his previous history, or even light cast on the secret of his predestination to that particular ministry? We may safely conclude not, since they are unrevealed. Hidden they serve to check curiosity; whilst in a manner they illustrate that the one and only aspect high or low need desire to be known by is Christ-likeness. Thus the saints are stamped, thereby they become recognizable; and this is that accessible glory which we can if we will in common with them put on.

I saw a Saint.-How canst thou tell that he
Thou sawest was a Saint?-

I saw one like to Christ so luminously

By patient deeds of love, his mortal taint
Seemed made his groundwork for humility.

And when he marked me downcast utterly
Where foul I sat and faint,

Then more than ever Christ-like kindled he;
And welcomed me as I had been a saint,
Tenderly stooping low to comfort me.

Christ bade him, "Do thou likewise." Wherefore he

Waxed zealous to acquaint

His soul with sin and sorrow, if so be

He might retrieve some latent saint :

"Lo, I, with the child God hath given to me!"

"Behold."-Commanded to behold, let us behold. The command is simple, the act of obedience simple.

Obedience will bring its own reward, for by obeying we shall presently contemplate Christ. We shall discern Him at work for us men and for our salvation, opening the book and loosing the seven seals thereof.

But if after all we cannot decipher the unsealed revelation? We still shall have gazed on Him Who is the Author of the revelation and Greater is He Who reveals than aught else which is revealed.

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Lord Jesus, Who art Wisdom and the Word and Whose Name is called Wonderful; whatever word be too hard for us, yet vouchsafe to us the wisdom hidden in that word. For Thine own sake, O God, Thou that doest wonders and declarest Thy strength.

"The Lion of the tribe of Juda."-Some if not all of the Jewish tribes derived, it would seem, their standard or coat-ofarms from the form of their father Jacob's blessing differently bestowed upon each. Jacob said: "Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he crouched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?"

Therefore as the standard led the tribe, so this title "Lion of the tribe of Juda" denotes our Lord as Leader and Commander to the people. In the Song of Songs we read: "My Beloved is... the Chiefest among ten thousand," literally "Standard-bearer among ten thousand": our omen of victory; for never will it befall us "as when a standard-bearer fainteth."

"For thus hath the Lord spoken unto me, Like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them: so shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight for Mount Zion, and for the hill thereof."

And whereas in a prophecy of Redemption and Salvation we read: "When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him,”—this same title Lion of the tribe of Juda seems to connect itself pointedly with the sacred Humanity of Jesus, according to those words