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I. THOSE PERSONS WHO ARE HERE SPOKEN OF WERE TRULY HOLY. Those men were the glory of their Church; and we might have expected that the heavenly purity of their principles and their conduct would have shed around them a highly beneficial influence, and would have induced many others to have pursued along with them a course so splendid in itself, and so happy and brilliant in its termination.

II. The passage represents these truly holy persons as only FEW IN NUMBER. The truly holy, in every age of the world have borne but a very small proportion to the great mass of mankind.

III. These holy persons were found IN A PLACE WHERE GREAT DEGENERACY PREVAILED. Religion is like the snowdrop that flowers amid the colds and frosts of winter, or like the violet that blooms in all the beauties of its varied and vivid tints, and breathes all the richness of its fragrance unhurt by the foul and noxious weeds that flourish in its immediate vicinity.

IV. The few holy persons in the church at Sardis had THE PROMISE OF GREAT HONOUR BEING CONFERRED UPON THEM. White, in the inspired volume, is frequently used to denote the holiness of the Christian character, and, at the same time, to represent the success, the prosperity, and the honour which all enjoy who possess it.

(John Johnstone.)

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KJV: Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.

WEB: Nevertheless you have a few names in Sardis that did not defile their garments. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.