REV. xix. 12. “On His head were many crowns.”

THIS was a symbolic revelation of the extent and variety
of the kingdoms over which Christ rules.
I. In times of deep religious earnestness the very in-
tensity of men’s desire to serve Christ perfectly often
makes them forget the actual service to which He has
appointed them. The first impulse of some persons, when
they begin to be in real earnest about serving Christ, is to
look at a great part of their life from sorrow as alienated
from His service. Remember that on the head of Christ
are many crowns, that all occupations of human life are
His, and that every one who desires to serve Him can give
Him not fragments, but the whole of life from first to last.
You need not give up trade, if it is an honest one, to serve
Christ. Serve Him in the trade itself, and remember that
in trade, as in everything besides, He is King.
II. And He is the King of the province of public life too,
and in politics, whether imperial or local, Christian men
should still be serving and honouring Him. Christ is the
King of our political life, and in that, as in every other
province of our activity, we have to serve and honour
Him.
III. Christ is King of the spiritual life of man. Much
of the weakness and sorrow of Christian people arise from
forgetting this—we have to give Him reverence as well as
trust, fear as well as love. We have to recognise His
authority. The awe and devout fear with which we bow
down before God are His, for He is God manifest in the
flesh.
R. W. Dale, D.D.