another, and especially Laodicea and Hierapolis were not far removed from being really a single city; and

evidently it was the aim and policy of St. Paul to encourage them to bear vividly in mind their common

character and sisterhood.

Now, starting from this situation in AD 61, and taking into consideration the creative and constructive

capacity which the Christian Church showed from the beginning, we must infer that the consolidation of the

three Churches into a recognised group had been completed before the Seven Letters were written. In a

vigorous and rapidly growing body like the Church of the Province Asia, a fact was not likely to lie for a

long time inactive, and then at last begin actively to affect the growth of the whole organism. Rather we

must conceive the stages in the Christian history of the Lycus Valley as being three: first, the natural union

and frequent intercommunication of three separately founded, independent and equal Churches, as appears

in AD 61; secondly, the equally natural growing pre -eminence before the eyes of the world of the leading

city, Laodicea, so that letters which were addressed to one city were still intended equally for all, but

Laodicea was the one that was almost inevitably selected as the representative and outstanding Church;

thirdly, the predominance and presidency of Laodicea as the administra tive head and centre amid a group of

subordinate Churches.

How far this development had proceeded when the Seven Letters were written it is hardly possible to say

with certainty. We can, however, feel very confident that the third stage had not yet been completely

attained. The Seven Letters afford no evidence on this point, except that, by their silence about any other

Churches, they suggest that Laodicea was already felt to stand for and therefore to be in a way pre -eminent

in its group; while, on the other hand, the spirit of the early Church seems to be inconsistent with the view

that Laodicea had as yet acquired anything like headship or superiority. But the whole question as to the

growth of a fixed hierarchy and order of dignity among the Churches is obscure, and needs systematic

The case of the Lycus Valley Churches must be regarded as typical. It was the result of circumstances

common to the entire Province. Hence, the inference must be drawn that a series of similar groups was

formed throughout Asia; that the Seven Churches stood forth as in a certain degree pre -eminent, though

certainly not predominant, in their respective groups; and that thus each in the estimation of the Asian

world carried with it the thought of the whole group of which it formed a centre.

The subject, however, is not yet complete. The character of that first group in the Lycus Valley would

suggest that the groups were territorial, marked off by geographical limits. But a glance at the rest of the

Seven shows that this is not the case: there is here evidently nothing like a division of Asia into

geographical groups: the Seven Churches are a circle of cities round the west-central district of the

Province, while south, east, and north are entirely unrepresented.

Again, the classification is not made according to rank or dignity or importance in the Province. It is true

that the first three, Ephesus, Smyrna and Pergamum, are the greatest and outstanding cities of the Province,

which vied with one another for the title, which all claimed and used and boasted about, "First of Asia":

there were three cities "First of Asia," just as there were two First of Cilicia and two First of Bithynia; and

Acts 16:11 shows that Philippi claimed to be "First of that division of Macedonia," refusing to acknowledge

Amphipolis, the official capital, as superior to itself. This might suggest that they, as the three greatest and

most important cities of the Province, were selected as centres of three groups of Churches. Also it is true

that among the remaining four, two, viz., Sardis and Laodicea, were, like the first three, the heads of

conventus (i.e., governmental districts for legal purposes). But this principle breaks down completely in the

case of Thyatira and Philadelphia, which were secondary and second-rate cities, the latter in the conventus

of Sardis, the former in that of Pergamum. The Seven Churches, therefore, were not selected because they

were planted in the most important and influential cities --had that been the case, Cyzicus, Alabanda, and

Apameia could hardly have been omitted--nor is the order of enumeration, beginning with Ephesus, Smyrna,

and Pergamum, due to the fact that those were the three most important cities of Asia.