darken in the least degree by their shadow that name which is above every name, which was pronounced in scorn at Antioch, but shall sound as the sweetest note in the eternal jubilee, when Christ and Christianity shall be all and in all. It will there and then be found that Christ begins and also completes our salvation. He is the author and the finisher of our faith-he is all and in all.

Such is the address and promise made to the Philadelphian Church let us draw from it these two lessons. First, there are such things as rewards promised to the Christian. God does not mutilate man when he deals with him in the gospel; he provides for every power its appropriate stimulus, and therefore we are inspired and directed upon earth by the prospect of a future reward. He lays hold of this peculiarity of our nature, which anticipates the future, and holds forth to it the prospect of a glorious reward when time shall be no more. His grace makes the promise of the reward; his grace bestows it: and it is his grace that helps us to hope for it, and qualifies us for the enjoy ment of it. So Abraham "looked for a city that had foundations." Moses, we are told, "had respect unto the recompense of the reward;" and we too may expect a reward. We are saved by grace alone; but there shall be realized in the future, degrees of glory, proportioned to the progress we have made in grace below. As there are some amid the realms of the lost, who shall be beaten with many stripes, and others who shall be beaten with few stripes; so those who are in the realms of the blessed shall shine like the stars for ever and ever, with varying lustre, one star differing from another star in glory; or, to change the metaphor, each vessel full, but each vessel differing in capacity from another, according to what it was made in the world below.

We may notice, that such a hope of such a reward, is the only way to extinguish all inferior hopes and expectation of reward below. No man lives without an object of hope, just as no man lives without an object of trust. There is no one in this congre gation who has not some hope in the distance on which his heart is set; just as there is no man here present who is not either trusting in an idol, or in the true and living God. God treats us as men; and his process is, to dislodge the expectation of the

earthly reward that hangs in the distant horizon, by filling its place with a glorious and heavenly one, infinitely more worthy of our ambition. He removes the idol which deceives him that leans upon it like a broken crutch, and substitutes for it the Rock of ages-the Lord Jesus Christ. We are here taught how to deal with man. The way to displace an inferior hope, is by bringing to bear upon it a superior one. No man's heart will submit to be deprived of what it has, until you can show that heart something better and brighter to take its place. It is of no use preaching to a man not to love money, (because he must have something to love,) unless you teach him to substitute for it the unsearchable riches of Christ, possessed of a far greater glory, and exerting a far more attractive influence. We would not deprive you of the idol you adore without instantly bringing before you that God who alone is worthy of your homage and your love. Christianity preaches not the extinction of the light you have, but only the exchange of that little light for a brighter and a more glorious one. We would dislodge the idol by the living God-the love of sin by the love of holiness-the pursuit of riches that perish in the using, by the pursuit of the unsearchable riches of Christ. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear the joyful sound of a free and full salvation; he that hath an eye to see, let him look unto Jesus and live; he that has a memory to recollect, let him recollect these glorious precepts-these noble encouragements; he that has a heart to feel, that heart was made to love the Saviour; he that has a mind to investigate, that mind was made to know and to study the Saviour; he that hath a soul to be saved, let him seek and rush without delay to be saved by a Saviour's blood; for unto men of every age, country, clime, and language, the words are this night addressed-"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."

PHILADELPHIA is thus described by recent travellers.—A city of Asia Minor, one of the seven Apocalyptic Churches, is supposed to have derived its name from the brothers Attalus Philadelphus, and Eumenes, who founded it. It is situated about thirty-five miles east by south from Sardis, and stands in the plain

of Hormus, about midway between the river of that name and the termination of Mount Tmlous. Not long before the date of the Apocalyptic Epistle in Rev. iii. 7, 13, this city had suffered so much from earthquakes, that it had been in a great measure deserted by its inhabitants; which may, in some degree, account for the poverty of this Church, as described in this epistle. Strabo says, "Philadelphia has no walls that are safe," (alluding to earthquakes.) The inhabitants resided mostly in the country, and possessed fertile lands. The Church of Philadelphia is com mended for its faithfulness, and has made to it a gracious promise of Divine protection, which has been signally fulfilled, as we learn even from infidel testimony.

Gibbon says, "Philadelphia appears to have resisted the attacks of the Turks in 1312, with more success than the other cities. At a distance from the sea, forgotten by the emperor, encompassed on all sides by the Turks, her valiant citizens defended their religion and freedom about fourscore years, and at length capitulated with the proudest of the Ottomans, (Bajazet,) 1390. Among the Greek colonies and Churches of Asia, Philadelphia is still erect· a column in a scene of ruins!" Whatever may be lost of the spirit of Christianity, there is still the form of a Christian Church in this city, which is highly reverenced by the Mohammedans, and called by them Allah Shehr, or the City of God, and is a considerable town spreading over the slopes of three or four hills. It contains about 1,000 Christians, chiefly Greeks, most of whom speak only the Turkish language.

The American missionaries, Fisk and Parsons, when they visited the place in 1820, were informed by the Greek Archbishop Gabriel, that there were five churches in the town, besides twenty which were either old or small, and not then in use. He estimated the whole number of houses at 3,000, of which 250 were inhabited by Greeks, the rest by Turks. They counted six. minarets; and one of the present mosques was pointed out to them as the church in which assembled the primitive Christians of Philadelphia, to whom St. John wrote. The remains of heathen antiquity are not numerous.

Mr. Arundell concurs with other travellers, in describing the

streets as filthy, and the houses remarkably mean; but he was much impressed by the beauty of the country as seen from the hills, and observes that "the view from these elevated situations is magnificent in the extreme; gardens and vineyards lie at the back of the town; and before it is one of the most extensive and richest plains in Asia.”

There are no considerable ruins. One of the most remarkable is a single column of great antiquity, which has evidently appertained to another structure than the present church.

LECTURE XXVII.*

POWER OVER THE NATIONS, AND THE MORNING STAR.

"And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning star. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches."-REV. ii. 26-29.

I FEEL the difficulty of expounding the words which I have read as more especially the subject of our meditation this evening. I have consulted various commentators I have studied the grounds of their solutions; but few of them appear to me satisfactory. I will therefore endeavour to explain these words less by striking out any conjectural solution of my own, and more by parallel references to other parts of the word of God; which, after all, is the true way of discovering the mind of the Spirit.

"He that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning star." I explained in my remarks on the previous epistles what is meant by the expression, "he that overcometh." It describes the character of the Church militant, on earth, "conquering;" hereafter it will be the Church triumphant, or conquest. Now is the battle of life; our enemies are "principalities and powers;" our weapons are spiritual-faith and hope

*It will be seen that this Lecture appears out of its place. It was omitted by the Reporter in his notes, and overlooked by the Preacher in preparing for the press. It is hoped that the reader will pardon an error in arrangement, and accept the Lecture as not unworthy of a place among the rest.