the strife between good and evil, the Church and the powers of darkness, even to the consummation of all things, and the final purifying of the earth from evil, and the eternal restoration of Paradise, with the Tree of Life, the glorious city of our God, and the perpetual light of God's presence. Then, and not till then, he lost sight of the heavenly temple, the crystal sea, and all those intermediate modes of bringing man back to approach his God; but the full and entire presence and glory blessed those of mankind who had been redeemed out of every people and nation and tongue. And he beheld the full completion of the great work of his Master: as he had watched the agony of the conflict, so it was vouchsafed to him to witness the triumph, the glory, and the fulness of the achievement-the perfect restoration.

When he came back to the rocks of Patmos, and his solitary exiled old age, well might the words recur to him with the most comfort: "Behold I come quickly;" so that he could not but in recording them, reply, "Even so come, Lord JESUS."

And though "as men count slackness," it may seem as if long years, seventeen centuries indeed, had passed since that announcement, the Advent will assuredly show itself to have been veritably prompt and sudden, when we, alike with St. John and the seven angels of the Churches, shall be awakened with the sound of the trumpet.

The Apostle wrote the marvels he had seen, so far as human language could express them, and there

with sealed up the books of the Holy Scripture, being as we may believe caused so to do as being the last of that series of writers who at intervals during two thousand years had been inspired by the Holy Ghost to write the messages of God to man.

CHAPTER VII.

THE APOSTLE OF LOVE.

"A gate, that opens wide to those
That do lament their sin."

Lamentation of a Sinner.

ON one of the steep slopes of the wild ravines of Asia Minor, with a torrent rushing beneath, and among the wild rocks overgrown with brushwood and the luxuriant herbage of shady places in the East, might have been seen an aged man, with snowy hair and beard, and keen, undimmed eyes, bright with a lofty, upturned expression, as though ever looking at a joy beyond mortal knowledge, with a look of radiant lovingkindness beaming round him, such as would win all who came near him to lean on him for comfort and for sympathy, and which made it seem only natural that a tame partridge should nestle in his bosom, and court the caressing touch of his hand on its brown speckled feathers. Though evidently very aged, his form was not bowed, nor was there any air of weakness or decay, as he drew the rein of his horse, and asked his guide if they were not near the place. Few persons were wont to linger in that valley; most

hurried through it with terror and alarm; but, though an anxious expression for a moment ruffled the broad, clear calm of his brow, his lips moved in prayer, and when loud shouts and trampling sounds were heard behind the rocks, before and behind, instead of the deadly terror such sounds were wont to inspire, his countenance lighted up with an unspeakable beam of joy and hope, like that of a father hearing the first footsteps of a long-absent son. Forth rushed, with threatening cries, a horde of wild-looking men, with streaming hair, loose white kilts, and bare feet -some with the short Roman sword, some with a long lance, and some further off with bows and arrows levelled against that one old man. They took rudely from him his horse and bound his guide, but when they saw that he only stood still and smiled a kindly greeting to them, they paused in wonder. He waved his hand, and bade them take him to their captain, and there was an authority in his manner, a dignity in his bearing, that, though he was clad in homely garments, overawed them, so that they scarcely spoke as they guided him to an open space of grass, where there sat, on horseback, a tall, handsome young man, bravely equipped with the bright helmet, breastplate, and spear of a warrior. He was a lordly-looking youth, but no sooner did he catch a sight of the venerable head in the midst of the robbers, than, with a cry of mingled fear and anguish, he turned his horse, and was about to flee, as though from the face of a centurion and all his band. The old man, however, sprang forth, holding out his

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arms affectionately, and calling him with the tenderest names to come to one who had longed after and sought for him; and, as that voice fell on that captain's ears, he threw himself from his horse, and dropped absolutely on the ground, weeping aloud, and laying his forehead in the dust in an agony of shame and misery, waving off the old man, as though the very sight of him were overpowering; but as the old man continued to approach, still speaking to him with fondling words, as a shepherd rejoicing over a lost sheep that he had just found, the unhappy man so far arose as to embrace his knees, sobbing forth that it was all in vain, there was no pardon for such as he, no renewing for one who had so fallen away, and hiding away his right hand which had dealt so many cruel blows and defiled with so much blood.

When last those two had met it was in one of the chambers which Christian rich men set apart for worship. There had stood that aged man, robed like a priest of the old sanctuary, with a fair mitre on his head, and over his brow a plate of gold, on which were graven the great words, "Holiness unto the Lord." And as, at the head of his ministers, he led the prayers and hymns, or spake forth the love of his Saviour and the redemption of the world, with that intense, glorious purity of life that had become possible, that youth's face had glowed with eager hope and enthusiasm, and his heart had burnt within him. He stood but in the outward part, he had to turn away ere the full feast was held; but the kind bright eye had singled him out, the sweet tender voice