holiness, paralyzes aspiration; which breeds selfishness instead of patience, frivolity instead of perseverance; which is too corrupt, too dead, too twice dead for hope in death. And whilst the seven stages of life compose thus a sort of week, each stage is itself composed of weeks of days, seven within seven, seven after seven, each and all needing the Gift of Sevenfold Grace to consecrate labours and hallow rest.

Yet as St. Paul exhorts not his converts to go out of the world, but to act rightly in it; and much more as our Divine Master offering up His High Priestly Prayer spake, saying: "I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil," let us not be afraid of her terror, but sanctify the Lord God in our hearts. We cannot prevent the World's besetting, haunting, overshadowing us only let us not suffer her to sit down.

Dante in the Divina Commedia (see my sister's A Shadow of Dante) tells us how he "dreamed of a woman stammering, squinting, lame of foot, maimed of hands, and ashy pale. He gazed on her, and lo! under his gaze her form straightened, her face flushed, her tongue loosed to the Siren's song."

Foul is she and ill-favoured, set askew :

Gaze not upon her till thou dream her fair,
Lest she should mesh thee in her wanton hair,
Adept in arts grown old yet ever new.
Her heart lusts not for love, but thro' and thro'
For blood, as spotted panther lusts in lair;
No wine is in her cup, but filth is there
Unutterable, with plagues hid out of view.
Gaze not upon her; for her dancing whirl
Turns giddy the fixed gazer presently:
Gaze not upon her, lest thou be as she
When at the far end of her long desire
Her scarlet vest and gold and gem and pearl
And she amid her pomp are set on fire.

"Seven heads . . . seven mountains "-seven deadly sins: these sustain the World, and the World fosters these. High crested Pride, volcanic Anger, smooth sloped Lust, overhanging Envy, undermined Avarice, swine pasturing Gluttony, landslip Sloth. A dark continent of spiritual geography.

10. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.

From evil rulers and pernicious laws, from obeying man by disobeying God, from misusing our short space, for short is our Good Lord, save us:

space,

Lest we become as a plant that buds not, as a bud that blows not, as a flower that fruits not, in our short space until the harvest, our only space.

11. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. From comradeship with devils and disciples of devils, from persisting in sin and passing away into perdition,

Good Lord, save us :

Lest it had been better for us never to have been born, never to have known the way of life, never to have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear, never to have beheld the Kingdom of Heaven set open to all believers.

12. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

From selling our birthright for a mess of pottage, from bartering eternity for one hour,

Good Lord, save us:

Lest we receive our good things in this life, and after that be tormented.

13. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

From the counsel and deed of them,

Good Lord, save us :

Lest we spend money for that which is not bread, and our labour for that which satisfieth not.

14. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

From choosing the evil and refusing the good, from setting ourselves in no good way, from the tactics of Balak and the end of Balaam, Good Lord, save us :

Lest we who are dust set ourselves in the balance against Thee and lo! we are dust in the balance.

15. And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

From following a multitude to do evil, from sinful compliances, from saving our life but not with Thy salvation, Good Lord, save us :

Lest amid multitudinous glory and pomp and rejoicing we be put to open shame and perish together.

16. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

From such hatred of sin as is not love of righteousness, from hating not sin but sinners, from casting the stone of condemnation whereby we condemn ourselves,

Good Lord, save us :

Lest out of our own mouth we be condemned where there is no respect of persons.

17. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil His will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

From fulfilling a Divine behest in the spirit of rebellious Absalom, apostate Jeroboam, bloodthirsty Edom, Caiaphas harder than flint,

Good Lord, save us :

Lest in us be fulfilled that other word also: "Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels."

18. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

From the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, from foreheads of brass and hearts of stone,

Good Lord, save us :

Lest in the end we be past renewing unto salvation, and there be none to save us.

Yea, Good Lord, save us. Amen.

"And there are seven kings."-The Revised Version preserves this reading marginally, whilst the text gives: "And they [i. e. the mountains' mentioned in the previous verse] are seven kings." Suggesting a many-sided significance in at least one of the images employed if in one, perhaps in others. For here the original figure is " "seven heads": mountains and kings alike belong to the angelic interpretation.

"And the beast . . . even he is the eighth, and is of the seven":-in the Revised Version: ". . . is himself also an eighth,..."-As moral goodness or depravity finds expression in the face, whilst the seat of life is the heart; so a seven

headed monster may infuse into every head his own hideous vitality, whilst each head acts independently of its fellows as mouthpiece and intelligent agent to the abominable animating principle. Perhaps the beast's being "also an eighth" may inspire a dread that in the final death-struggle of Satan against Christ, wickedness superhuman or subhuman (whichever it should be termed) will take the field openly and visibly; and will act in person, as well as through the instrumentality of its miserable mortal allies.

The seven heads have not only the beast for a basis, but have moreover the seated woman for a superincumbent load: the one detaches them from earth, the goodness of nature; the other blocks them out from the sky, the goodness of grace.

I think not as interpretation but as meditation such thoughts may spring from the text.

Have we sought great things for ourselves? Seek them not. Ten kings receive authority, but it is with the beast, and for one hour. "Yea, even like as a dream when one awaketh."

“The Lamb shall overcome them: for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings."-Although both the Lion and the Lamb are titles belonging to our Lord, here in the day of battle we read of Him as the Lamb, not as the Lion. Whatever inscrutable reasons there may be for this choice of a designation, one or two obvious ones suggest themselves. Thus is accomplished one of the Beatitudes: "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth." Thus Christ in His own adorable Person heads the army of those who "out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens." Thus "the weakness of God" stands forth as

"stronger than men." "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." And thus also by a condescension of grace, Jael, a certain woman (see Judges ix. 53), Esther, Judith, become figures illustrative of like truth.

Weakness, however, is not as weakness this more than conqueror. Our Redeemer's weakness was rather the triumph of His strength, because to become weak and work mightily through weakness He laid aside His strength and kept it in abeyance. Our weakness, if it is to win a victory, must include a voluntary element; at the least so far as to will in concert with the Divine Will, and never to have recourse to illicit weapons.

And I think that in these days of women's self-assertion and avowed rivalry with men, I do well to bear in mind that in a contest no stronger proof of superiority can be given on either

side than the not bringing into action all available force. As yet, I suppose, we women claim no more than equality with our brethren in head and heart: whilst as to physical force, we scout it as unworthy to arbitrate between the opposed camps. Men on their side do not scout physical force, but let it be.

Does either man or woman doubt where superiority resides, when at chess one player discards a pawn in favour of the other?

:

Society may be personified as a human figure whose right hand is man, whose left woman; in one sense equal, in another sense unequal. The right hand is labourer, acquirer, achiever the left hand helps, but has little independence, and is more apt at carrying than at executing. The right hand runs the risks, fights the battles: the left hand abides in comparative quiet and safety; except (a material exception) that in the mutual relations of the twain it is in some ways far more liable to undergo than to inflict hurt, to be cut (for instance) than to cut.

Rules admit of and are proved by exceptions. There are left-handed people, and there may arise a left-handed society!

Content to come, content to go,

Content to wrestle or to race,
Content to know or not to know,
Each in his place;

Lord, grant us grace to love Thee so
That glad of heart and glad of face
At last we may sit high or low

Each in his place:

Where pleasures flow as rivers flow,
And loss has left no barren trace,
And all that are, are perfect so
Each in his place.

"And they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful" or according to the Revised Version: "And they also shall overcome that are with Him, called and chosen and faithful":—thus, towards the end, sending thought back to the beginning, to the ever-recurring "overcometh" of the Messages to the Seven Churches, that "overcometh" on which depends each consummating benediction.

God of His free Love calls and chooses: man's faithfulness certifies the call, until by overcoming he crowns all by final perseverance.

Lord Jesus, give us hearing ears, responsive wills, some fear, much faith, much hope, most love.