In the case of " the church in Smyrna " (10:8-11), they had begun the downward course; but the Lord had come in most graciously, and arrested the decay by tribulation. I say most graciously, for one goes wonderfully quickly down hill unless a strong hand stop us.

The souls were in tribulation, poverty, and persecution, and how does the Lord reveal Himself? As the One whom nothing can touch, not all the clouds and storms, the difficulties and trials, affect (like the sun, bright before the storm and after it,) "the FIRST and the last." (5:8.)

" Yes," it may be said, " this is true of Him; but then, the storm rolls over us, and threatens to overwhelm:we have no power against it." But He reveals Himself not only as "the First and the Last"-the One therefore on whom we may lean for eternal strength,-but also as " He which was dead, and is alive." He says, as it were, " I have gone through it all:I have entered into the weakness of man, and undergone all the power that could come against it, all the trials even unto death,-! have entered into every thing, for I have died, and yet I am alive."

There is nothing that the Lord has not gone through:death is the last effort of Satan's power; it ends there for the sinner as well as for the saint. The unconverted even are out of Satan's power when they die; if they die in their sins, of course they come under the judgment of God, but Satan has no power in hell. He may have pre-eminence in misery, but no power there (his reigning is some poet's dream; it is here he reigns, and that by means of the pride and vanity, the evil passions and idleness, of men); he is "the ruler of the darkness of this world," not of the next.

But whatever may be the extent of power which he seeks now to exercise against the children of God, the Lord says, " I have been under it-I have been dead." Therefore it is impossible for us to be in any circumstance of difficulty or of trial through which Jesus has not been. He has met the power of Satan there, and yet He is alive. And now He "is alive for evermore," not only to sustain us while passing through the storm, .but to feel for, to sympathize, as having experienced more than all the heaviness of the circumstances in which we are. He can pity with the utmost tenderness, for He came into the very center of our misery.

There were all sorts of opposition to the faithful in this church, but what does the Lord say to them? " Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer." (5:10.) It is the constant effort of Satan to produce in us fear and discouragement when passing through trial; but the Lord says, "Fear none of those things." In like manner the Philippians are told to be "in nothing terrified by their adversaries;" again, in Peter we read, " Be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled."Our wisdom is ever to rest confidently in Him who is "the First and the Last," who rises up in as great power at the end as at the beginning. The Lord does not say to this church, " I will save you from suffering," for suffering was needful in order to prevent it from tumbling headlong into decay; just as Israel was obliged, in consequence of its sin, to go a long way round the desert; and yet the Lord says, as it were, to some among them who were faithful, " Do not be the least uneasy."So here His word is, "Fear none Of those things which thou shalt suffer."

In the beginning of the failure in " the churches " the promise to " the overcomer " in the midst of the decay was, that he should eat, insecurity and peace, of the "tree of life;" so again here, in a time of especial suffering and trial, there is held out, as a stimulus (to the new man of course), a recompense of reward. If they lost every thing, they should gain every thing. The Lord's own voice encourages-" Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. He that" hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; he that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death."He may be hurt, of the first death, but not of the second-the only real exclusion from the presence of God.-(Coll. Writ, of J.N.D.-Practical.)