set before thee a
door opened, which none can shut), that thou hast a little power, and
didst keep my word, and didst not deny my name. Behold, I give of the
synagogue of Satan, of them which say they are Jews, and they are not,
but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy
feet, and to know that I have loved thee. Because thou didst keep the
word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of trial,
that hour which is to come upon the whole world, to try them that
dwell upon the earth. I come quickly: hold fast that which thou hast,
that no one take thy crown. He that overcometh, I will {464} make him
a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go out thence no more:
and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city
of my God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my
God, and mine own new name. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit saith to the churches.

"And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write;

THE MESSAGE TO THE CHURCH IN LAODICEA

"These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the
beginning of the creation of God: I know thy works, that thou art
neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So because thou
art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of my
mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and have gotten riches, and
have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art the wretched one
and miserable and poor and blind and naked: I counsel thee to buy of
me gold refined by fire, that thou mayest become rich; and white
garments, that thou mayest clothe thyself, and that the shame of thy
nakedness be not made manifest; and eye-salve to anoint thine eyes,
that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I reprove and chasten: be
zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock:
if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and
will sup with him, and he with me. He that overcometh, I will give to
him to sit down with me in my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down
with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what
the Spirit saith to the churches."

{465}{466}

[Illustration]
EPHESUS. THE TRADITIONAL TOMB OF ST. LUKE.

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

{467}

After these things I saw, and behold, a door opened in heaven, and the
first voice which I