of the earth. Unto him that loveth us, and loosed us from
our sins by his blood; and he made us to be a kingdom, to be priests
unto his God and Father; to him be the glory and the dominion for ever
and ever. Amen.

Behold, he cometh with the clouds; and every eye shall see him, and
they which pierced him; and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn
over him. Even so, Amen.

{457}{458}

[Illustration]
EPHESUS. VIEW OP THE RUINS OF THE AQUEDUCT.
CASTLE IN THE BACKGROUND.

From a photograph belonging to Miss Julia W. Snow and used by her
kind permission.
[End illustration]

{459}

"I am the Alpha and the Omega," saith the Lord God, "which is and
which was and which is to come, the Almighty."

I John, your brother and partaker with you in the tribulation and
kingdom and patience which are in Jesus, was in the isle that is
called Patmos, for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was
in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a great voice,
as of a trumpet saying, "What thou seest, write in a book, and send it
to the seven churches; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto
Pergamum, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia,
and unto Laodicea."

And I turned to see the voice which spake with me. And having turned I
saw seven golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the candlesticks
one like unto a son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot,
and girt about at the breasts with a golden girdle. And his head and
his hair were white as white wool, white as snow; and his eyes were as
a flame of fire; and his feet like unto burnished brass, as if it had
been refined in a furnace; and his voice as the voice of many waters.
And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth
proceeded a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun
shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as one
dead.

And he laid his right hand upon me, saying, "Fear not; I am the first
and the last, and the Living one; and I was dead, and behold, I am
alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. Write
{460} therefore the things which thou sawest, and the things which
are, and the things which shall come to pass hereafter; the mystery of
the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven
golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven
churches: and the seven candlesticks are seven churches.

"To the ang