e
of some use to our blessed Lord_.

FOOTNOTES:

[54] William Norris Burr.

[55] Notably Ephesians i. 20-23.

[56] Revelation i. 1-3.

[57] Revelation i. 4-8.

[58] Revelation i. 9-20.

[59] Genesis xv.

[60] Ezekiel i. 26-28.

[61] Daniel x. 5-9.

[62] Daniel x. 20.

[63] Hebrews x. 13.

IV.--A MESSAGE FROM THE CROWNED CHRIST

(Revelation, Chapters ii and iii)

"The glory of love is brightest when the glory of self is dim,
And they have the most compelled me who most have pointed to Him.
They have held me, stirred me, swayed me,--I have hung on their
every word,
Till I fain would arise and follow, not them, not them,--but their
Lord!"[64]

Patmos Spells Patience.

Patience is strength at its strongest, using all its strength in holding
back from doing something. Patience is love at flood pleading with
strength to hold steady in holding back.

The love in the strength insists on waiting a bit longer for the sake of
the one being waited for. The strength in the love obeys the love
passion and takes fresh hold in holding back.

Patmos spells out the patience of our Lord Jesus. It tells the strength
and tenderness of His love. Olivet spelled out His _plan_, His great
sweeping plan, _through His followers_, for a race. Calvary spelled out
His _passion_, passion of love, passion of suffering, in dying for a
race.

Calvary, Olivet, and Patmos are inseparably linked, the gentle slope of
the Jerusalem hillside, the little mount to its east, and the little
rocky isle in the far AEgean. Calvary was the passion of love pouring out
a life for a race. Olivet was the plan of love for telling a race, till
every one would know the love by the feel. Patmos is the patience of
love pleading with the should-be tellers of the story to carry out the
plan, and waiting, and then waiting just a little longer.

Olivet had heard the last word. There the Master had told the disciples
the plan. All the race was to be told and taught, bit by bit, earnestly,
repeatedly, patiently, tirelessly, by word and act and life. He Himself
unseen by outer eyes would always be with them, His supernatural power
making real and living what they told and taught. This was the plan.
Olivet was to be the executive of Calvary, bringing home to men and
making vital to them what had been done there.

Then Jesus went up on the Cloud. And they went out everywhere. And His
power convincingly went with them just as He had