xnr. THE GATES OF PEARL. 221 



had only a temporary purpose to serve ; those of the 

 heavenly were unchangeable and indestructible, matter 

 in its most sublime and enduring form connected with 

 the unceasing service of bodies and spirits of just men 

 made perfect. 



Out of the sunset splendours of his nation's glory 

 emerged the sunrise of the everlasting commonwealth ; 

 and in hues and forms suggested by the aerial land- 

 scapes of the ^Egean, the cheering vision manifested 

 itself to him. On the lonely heights of Patmos, we 

 can picture the aged apostle standing at early dawn 

 and looking eastward to the point where the sea and 

 the sky blended together on the horizon. He sees the 

 faint grey glimmer that marks the struggle of light with 

 darkness along that line. And gradually as the sun 

 rises the neutral tint glows with burnished hues of 

 crimson and purple ; the amber colours passing at last 

 into the clear crystal of the new-born day, and the 

 azure that cools the sky when the sun has taken com- 

 plete possession of it, and the strife with darkness is 

 over. Like these different layers of aerial hues, mark- 

 ing the varying struggles in the birth of day, are the 

 different tiers of gleaming jewels in the walls of the 

 celestial city, each stone being a letter in a radiant 

 alphabet, the crimson hue of suffering passing into the 

 white of purity and the blue of calm, settled peace, and 

 the golden radiance of joyful triumph, and the ame- 

 thystine hue of hope, of the far-distance of ineffable 

 things. The gates of pearl seem like the soft fleecy 

 clouds on the horizon, which stand between the dark- 



