Let us seek to pay special attention to it during the next few Sunday evenings, as we hear what the Spirit saith unto each of these seven Churches, and through them to us. But let us also "hear what the Spirit saith" to us in our ordinary everyday lives—“If we live in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit ;" and the way to "walk in the Spirit" is to follow day by day the leading and guiding of the Spirit. Let our constant habit and frame of mind be that of the Psalmist, and then we shall never be led astray; "I will hear what God the Lord will speak; for He will speak peace unto His people, and to His saints; but let them not turn again to folly."

"Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent."-REV. ii. 4, 5.

HE Church of Ephesus is one with whose history, as derived from the sacred record, we are perhaps better acquainted than any other among the early Christian Churches. In the Acts of the Apostles we have a very

full account of its condition in its infancy; and when we remember that for "the space of three years" it had the benefit of the apostle Paul's fostering care and fatherly counsel, we do not wonder that it attained a position of pre-eminence. Nor does the insight into the inner spiritual life of the Church, which is afforded by the epistle of St. Paul-written probably about five years after his departure-exhibit

a less satisfactory state of things. But now, after a lapse of some thirty-five years, during which we may suppose it to have undergone many trials and many vicissitudes, we are presented in the closing pages of the sacred volume with a picture of its true condition at that time a picture drawn with the very finger of God. And a marvellous combination of contrasted light and shadow does this picture display. Following the rule which is observed in the case of at least the first four of the Churches addressed, the divine Speaker makes mention in the first place of the bright features that distinguished them, before He alludes to their several failings; and a goodly catalogue of Christian qualities and graces is this that meets us in the Ephesian Church, as we see from verses 2 and 3good works, labour, patience, forbearance, long-suffering, endurance—such is the description given; and to add to these, she had shown a very decided abhorrence of evildoers. Nor is this all; there were false apostles-the "grievous wolves" of whom the apostle Paul had forewarned them in Acts xx.-who had arisen among them; that which he foretold had come to pass, and they had profited by the apostolic warning-they had "tried them and found them

liars."

But behind this apparent spiritual prosperity there lurks one great defect, that casts all these good works into the shade; amidst so much that is outwardly noble, and beautiful, and admirable, there is one sad blemish that mars the effect of the picture. He whose piercing eye could penetrate into the inmost depths of the heart, discovers the malady that is

hidden there, and He brings it forth into the light of day: "Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love;" and then follows the exhortation to renewed constancy, "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent." Alas! that this Ephesian Church should have profited so little by this urgent and opportune warning. But history tells its own tale, and to-day a few miserable huts, scattered amidst vast and majestic ruins, mark the spot where stood the once proud and flourishing capital of Asia. The "candlestick" has indeed been “removed out of its place," and the Ephesian Church-the Church of Paul and Timothy -the Church of Aquila and Priscilla—the Church of John, who penned this book-is numbered with the things of the past.

My friends, this history was written for our example and our warning; and as we consider for a few moments to-day the solemn indictment and the earnest call to repentance, delivered in my text with the impressive accents of a divine utterance, may God give us all grace to weigh well the terms of this grave and momentous charge, and to obey the Spirit's warning voice, while yet there is time for amendment.

Some sixty years or more had elapsed since the foundations of the Christian Church were first laid, and during that time there had been ample scope for the progress and development of the several branches. And now the great Head of the Church-He "who walketh in the midst of the candlesticks"-addresses the seven branches of the parent stem, which had

been established in the province of Asia, and calls them to render an account of their stewardship. Stand forth, ye Ephesian Christians, and listen to the voice of the Great Discerner of hearts, as He reveals to you your true condition in His sight; and learn the searching lesson with all submission and patience. "Nevertheless"-in spite of those high attainments-notwithstanding those splendid achievements in doctrine and practice-in spite of those outward works that adorn your Church, and on which you pride yourselves "nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love." A very grave charge; even in the eyes of men a misdemeanour of no ordinary dye, and one universally reprobated. How much more in the eyes of a perfect and unchangeable God, whose own love is everlasting, and never changeth! We are not told in what particular the Ephesian Church had "left her first love." Some have thought that a want of charity towards her neighbours is referred to; others, that she had relapsed into a love for this present world; others again, that the love of first conversion had waxed cold, and had given way to a lifeless orthodoxy. Be this as it may, probably the accusation is to be taken in its plainest and most general sense, as signifying a grievous declension from true, simple, pure, wholehearted faith in Christ: a departure from "the truth as it is in Jesus," spoken of in chap. iv. of St. Paul's epistle to this same Church; in one word, it was Inconstancy-Inconstancy to her Lord-something very like what our Poet Laureate so aptly describes, in words which may well be taken as symbolizing the