PATMOS.

PATMOS is a small island in the Egæan Sea, or Archipelago, which is the name given to that part of the Mediterranean Sea which separates Greece from Asia.

We learn from the first chapter of Revelations, that it was in this island that the Apostle John received those wonderful communications of the Spirit of God which he has recorded in that book. The Romans, who at that time. were the most powerful people in the world, possessed the island. St. Paul carried the Gospel of Christ from Jerusalem to Rome, and many became true converts; but the great mass of the nation for a long time resisted it. They were heathens; they loved idolatry and wickedness, and they could not bear the pure and holy doctrines of Jesus. Not contented with refusing the religion themselves, they sought, with a malice and fury which the great enemy of souls alone can put into the heart of man, to destroy all those who were willing to accept it. Many of them refusing to give up their faith in Christ their God and Saviour, underwent the most cruel tortures, and suffered death rather than give up the hope of everlasting life through the merits of their Redeemer.

During these bitter persecutions, most of the Apostles perished. St. John, as foretold by Christ, outlived most, if not all of them. At last he too was taken, and condemned to undergo a most cruel death; from this he was delivered, as some say, by a miracle, and was then banished to the island of Patmos. He was at this time not less than eighty years old; but he did not wish for ease, or to go down to his grave in peace, while the Gospel of the Master whom he loved was dishonoured and despised. He remained at Patmos some years, and then went to Ephesus, in Asia, where he died at the age of ninety-four.

The island is now, as our travellers tell us, dreary and forbidding. There is a city in it, and a monastery built upon a lofty rock, as shown in our print. There is also a cave, which the inhabitants show as the spot where St. John lived. The monks sell pieces of the stone, under

John xxi. 22.

VOL. XXIII.

T

pretence that they will cure diseases of body and soul. These poor people still call themselves Christians; but how have they polluted and changed the religion of the Gospel! Like the papists, they bow down to images of wood and stone; they think to gain heaven by their works. Their priests, who ought to guide them in the way to everlasting life, are patterns of nothing but hypocrisy, and blindness, and sin. Who would not pity and pray for immortal souls thus perishing in darkness, that the pure and holy light of the Spirit of God might once again descend on that benighted region? and who would not desire to praise God that we live in a country, and belong to a Church, which has been enabled, by his grace, to come out from a state so awful?

1

EXTRACTS FROM MY FAMILY BIBLE.

Matt. x. 1-16.

HERE, my dear family, you have an account of the appointment of the first ministers of the Gospel. You see that every disciple of Christ was not to be a minister, but that the twelve here named were chosen by our Lord for the holy duty. Great powers were given to them, such as ministers or clergymen have not now, because they are not wanted. When our religion was new, God, in his wisdom, saw that it was necessary to draw men's minds to it by means of miracles; and that is the reason why the first teachers of Christ's religion had those powers given them which are spoken of in the first and eighth verses of this chapter. The twelve new teachers, who were called Apostles, or persons sent to declare a message, were not at first to go into any other country but that of the Jews. The Jews called all other nations Gentiles, and the Samaritans sprung from the heathen people who were brought into Samaria by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria', from Babylon and other countries, in place of the ten tribes of Israel who were carried away captive.

Preaching was the great business of the Apostles; they were to declare faithfully, that "the kingdom of heaven

5 Read 1 Kings xii., 2 Kings xvii.

was at hand;" in other words, that the glorious Gospel was now about to burst forth. They were to do acts of kindness to the bodies, as well as the souls of men; not only that they might prove their power by working miracles in order to do these acts, but to show that they were the servants of that God who is so tender and affectionate to all his creatures, but more especially to men whom He made in his own image. Freely, indeed, dear family, had these Apostles received. There were given to them extraordinary powers, and great honour was put upon them, in that they were the first chosen ministers of the Gospel of peace; freely, therefore, they were to give. Not merely were they to heal, but they were to preach freely; they were to proclaim to the poor prisoners of sin the opening of the doors of their prison-house. They were freely to give assurance of pardon and acceptance to all who would believe in Jesus Christ. When this command was given, they knew but little about the Gospel; it must therefore be understood to refer to their future labours, when they, full of the Holy Ghost, should have been led "into all truth," and able, therefore, to make a full and plain statement of the great truth, "Jesus Christ, and him crucified." For worldly comforts they were to be but little careful; they to whom they preached were to provide for them. All ministers of the Gospel are worthy of their meat; the very meanest of them holds authority from God, and it is the office, and not the men, you must consider, when you are tempted to doubt whether the dues of a bad minister should be paid. Recollect Judas Iscariot was among those Apostles to whom it was said, "The workman is worthy of his meat." They were not to stay first at one house, and then at another, but upon finding a pious person in his house they were to remain till they left a place. When they went into a house to preach the Gospel, they were to wish the family peace: if they were worthy, the peace of God would come down upon them; if not, the pious wish for the peace of that family would return to them unanswered.

It was the custom of the Jews, when in a foreign city, to shake off the dust from their feet, that they might not be defiled. The feet of the Apostles were not to be de

filed by the dust of an unbelieving house or city. "Verily, verily," says our Saviour, "it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city." Beloved, it is the fashion to talk thus: "It matters not what people believe, men have a right to think as they choose;" you find, however, that these words of Christ are directly against this notion: how anxious, therefore, should we be to come at the truth, and to lay hold of it as the anchor of our souls! Abundant means are given us. We have Bibles, and we have preachers, and we have the appointed ordinances of Christ. We have not, to be sure, such miracles worked for our conversion as had the first Christians; but, mind this, we have the promises of Christ to trust to, and found our prayers upon; and of these, two are most precious to every honest seeker of the Divine truth: 1st, that the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, shall teach us all things, and guide us into all truth; 2ndly, that Christ will be with his Church, even unto the end of the world. Whoever, then, disbelieves, does so against the very light of heaven, and refuses to be taught God's way of salvation by God Himself. A LAYMAN.

NO MAN CAN SERVE TWO MASTERS.

THIS is so plainly true in reference to earthly masters, and so sure to be familiar to every body, that it forms the very best example and illustration that could be found, with regard to the relation of the soul with God. No one will doubt the truth of it for an instant, if the "masters. are understood to mean two persons who have hired the services of a labourer, to employ him upon their land, or in their business. He may have engaged to serve them both, and may hope that he can thus secure the wages of both; but he can never, for a single day, fulfil his engagement. The moment he attempts it he finds that he has undertaken an impossibility; and this was so very plain from the first, that he must have been extremely ignorant and foolish ever to have entertained the thought in his mind. It can only be accounted for by the con

6 John xiv. 26; xvi. 13; Mark xvi. 20.