Great after the overthrow of the Persian empire. The Macedonian colonists appear to have introduced the worship of Apollo, honoured as the Sun-god, under the name of Tyrumnas. It has been thought by some that the description here given of Christ -"the eyes of flame "-was selected in allusion to this worship of the Sun-god, under the form of some dazzlingly ornamented image. Certainly close commercial intercourse connected the daughter colony with its mother city. There seem to have been various mercantile guilds in the colony -bakers, potters, tanners, weavers, and dyers. The dye trade was, perhaps, the most important. Lydia, the seller of purple, was in all likelihood connected with the guild of dyers; and her appearance in Philippi is an illustration of the trade relations of Macedonia and Thyatira. To her the Christian community of Thyatira may have owed its beginning. "She who had gone forth for a while to buy and sell and get gain, when she returned home may have

brought home with her richer merchandise than any she had looked to obtain" (Trench). The population was of a mixed character, and included besides Asiatics, Macedonians, Italians, and Chaldeans. Of all the homiletic sketches on this epistle, we know of no sketch so clear and comprehensive, so philosophic and suggestive as that of the late Caleb Morris, one of the greatest, if not the greatest preacher that has appeared in London during the century. Those whom the popular sentiment designates 'princes of preachers" seem to me to shrink into contempt in his presence. "There are,' "four things in

he says, this epistle to which we shall call attention-the commendable in character, the reprehensible in doctrine, the indispensable in duty, and the blessed in destiny.” How forcibly every item in this epistle is brought out by these four general divisions!* To attempt a plan equal to this in all points of excellence would be presumption. Albeit as it would be supererogatory and useless to repeat what others

have said, I shall endeavour to bring all the important elements of the chapter under one general heading,—the moral character of mankind;

and here we have it in three aspects.

I-As THAT IN WHICH CHRIST FEELS THE PROFOUNDEST INTEREST. He who is here called the "Son of God," no doubt feels an interest in every part of the great universe; but material worlds and systems, methinks, concern Him not so much as the moral character of God's spiritual offspring. In souls His interest is profound, practical, and permanent. Two remarks are suggested

First: His interest springs from an absolute knowledge of the primary elements of character. "I know thy works"; and again He says, "I am He which searcheth the reins and hearts." He peers into those spheres of mind into which the vulture's eye cannot pierce, no, nor the keenest eye of angelic intelligence; the sphere where character is generated, where its elements float in invisible germs; the arena where the moral battles are fought, where

victories are won and defeats endured. Our interest in objects is often blind, and so it often happens that we are entranced with admiration for objects which we learn from sad experience to be worthless, base, and abhorrent. Not so with Christ, He knows what character really is, its elements whether good or bad. Another remark we make is

Secondly: His interest fills Him with the deepest concern for the progress of the good. "I know thy works, and charity (thy love), and service, and faith (and ministry), and thy patience." "Charity" and "service"-love and its administrations; "faith" and "patience "-faith in its practical endurance; and all these in their progressive development, and "the last to be more than the first." Moral goodness wherever it exists is progressive. Unlike all other life the more it grows the more the craving and the more the capability for growth. "From glory to glory," &c. Another aspect in which we have the moral character of mankind is

II.-As THAT WHICH IS TRANSMITTED FROM GENERA

TION TO GENERATION.

In the long black roll of human infamy there is not a blacker name than that of Jezebel, the wife of Ahab. She was the great seducer to idolatry in the later history of Israel, and as the worship of the Phoenician Astarte, or Venus, was accompanied with the grossest impurity, her name became the synonym of all that was debasing and profligate." Some suppose that this Jezebel in Thyatira, who embodied the character of the old Israelitish, fiendish idolatress, was the wife of the bishop of the congregation at Thyatira. might be so, for many a worthy bishop has been matrimonially linked to a Jezebelitish woman. Aye, what is worse, many a Jezebelitish woman, married, has entrapped young unmarried bishops to their disgrace and ruin. But I am disposed to regard the name here as symbolical of some proud persecuting, selfconstituted authority on religion, haughtily vaunting claims of superior religious piety and theological intelligence.

It

Now upwards of three thousand years had passed

away since Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, ended her execrable history and passed into the retributive future; yet her character appears in Thyatira, breathing the same passions and repeating the same conduct as of yore. Thus moral character is transmitted. I enquire not into the philosophy of this patent and awful fact in human history, nor into its moral propriety; certain we are that in the present generation the same characters appear as in the generation that lived before the flood. We offer three remarks on the transmission of moral character, as suggested by the letter before us.

First: The transmitted character does not free the possessor from its responsibility. The party here addressed, whether an individual, a faction, or a community, is spoken of as responsible; aye, and it would seem that even the bishop of the church had not a little responsibility for the existence of this Jezebelitish character -a character that used its influence on the side of ungodliness, licentiousness, and adultery. The grand mission of Christly men is to expel

evil from the community, to crush the wrong, not by force and persecution, but by Divine moral suasion and high Christian example. The work of a Christly man is to slay with the sword of the Spirit all the moral Jezebels within his reach. But whilst the disciples of Christ are held to some extent responsible for the existence of bad characters in its midst, the characters themselves are conscious of their responsibility. The fact that they inherit the bad temper and principles of their ancestors, however near or distant, does not relieve them from the remorseful consciousness that they are the authors of their own character. Every pang of remorse, every tear of compunction, every sigh of moral regret demonstrate to the greatest sinner that he is the author of his own vile character, and no other.

An

other remark which we offer on the transmission of moral character, as here suggested, is

Secondly: The transmitted character might be got rid of by its possessor. "I gave her space (time that she should) to repent of her fornication;

There was

Therefore, others, the

and she repented not (willeth not to repent of her fornication)." Even the wickedest person, man or woman, has time given him for repentance. God hates nothing that He has made. He wills not the death of any sinner, but rather that he should turn and be saved, should repent and live. It was so even with the immoral person here spoken of, time was given her; but she would not use it. no will to repent. for the sake of time must now be shortened, and after one more trial judgment must follow. Repentance is the method of ridding oneself of a bad character, and this repentance every man can and ought to accomplish. Men are not machines or automatons, but free agents. The will is the rudder of the soul, it either steers the ship into the wished for haven, or drives on to shoals and quicksands. Another remark which we offer on the transmission of moral character, as here suggested, is

Thirdly: The transmitted character might entail enormous evils on others. In truth all evil characters must