the privileges of them, besides the person for whom they were intended; this circumstance gives a beautiful and natural explanation of the following passage in Rev. ii. 17. where it is said, To him that overcometh, &c.

In this passage, the venerable translators of our authorized version, by rendering it a white stone, seem to have confounded it with the calculus or small globular stone, which was commonly used for ballotting, and on some other occasions. The original words do not specify either the matter or the form, but only the use of it. By this allusion, therefore, the promise made to the church at Pergamos seems to be to this purpose: "To him that overcometh will I give a pledge of my affection, which shall constitute him my friend, and entitle him to privileges and honours, of which none else can know the value or extent." And to this sense the following words very well agree, which describe this stone or tessera, as having in it a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it."

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II.-20. "To commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto idols." The Greek word here rendered fornication comes from a word signifying to vend; properly, to transport, or carry any where for sale. Hence, in Scripture, it often means idolatry, or a carrying away from God, a departing from him, and a readiness to serve any other God for the purposes of gain. This is almost invariably the meaning, when the word is used with some expressions importing any species of idolatry as above, " And to eat things sacrificed unto idols." Thus the sin is introduced under its general name fornication, and afterwards specified. It may be necessary to observe, that this interpretation is not intended to exclude the usual meaning of the word in question, when the context requires such meaning to be given.

III.- -3. "I will come on thee as a thief.”—See remark at Luke xii. 39.

"They shall walk with me in white." Some think, that here is an allusion to the custom of the Sanhedrim, when they examined the candidates for the high priesthood. If they judged him worthy, they gave him a white garment; if unqualified, he was sent out from among them in mourning. -Doddridge.

III.- -5. "And I will not blot out his name out of the book of life." Mr. Horne, in his Introduction, vol. iii. p. 213. under the article, Military Affairs, has the following remark : 66 The names of those who died or were cashiered for misconduct, were expunged from the muster-roll. To this custom, probably, the following text alludes; in this view the similitude is very striking, I will not blot out his name,” &c.

III.-7. “These things saith he that is holy, he that is true," &c. "This is so peculiarly the prerogative of God," says Doddridge," that I have sometimes wondered no greater stress should have been laid upon it in proof of the Deity of our blessed Redeemer, by many writers who have pressed other texts of a much more dubious nature to serve in the cause."

III. 12. "Him that overcometh, will I make a pillar in the temple," &c. Few texts in the whole New Testament are more illustrated by antiquity than this. Great numbers of inscriptions are yet remaining, brought from the Grecian cities of Europe and Asia, and some from islands in the neighbourhood of Patmos, in which the victories of eminent persons are commemorated. Some of these were placed near the temples of their deities, others were in the temples, to signify that they were put under their particular protection; upon these were inscribed the names of their deities, of the conquerors, and of the cities to which they belong, and the names of the generals by whose conduct the victory was gained.—Ostervald.

III. -15. "I would thou wert cold or hot." The meaning of this passage is, That God requires persons to serve him warmly and heartily,-he demands the whole heart. Atheists and openly profane persons are less dangerous than hypocrites.

IV.—1.

"After this I looked, and behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me." This may probably allude to the custom of the Jewish church, that upon opening the gates of the temple the priests sounded their trumpets, to call the Levites and stationary men to their attendance.-See Burder's Oriental Customs, vol. ii. p. 387.

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IV.-3. 'He that sat was to look upon like a jasper," &c. This seems to refer not so much to the colour of those stones, as to their lustre and the radiancy of the light as reflected from them, when perfectly polished. The rainbow of emerald was, no doubt, to express a covenant of peace, of which the rainbow was, with Noah, an appointed token.Ostervald.

IV.-4. "Round about the throne were four and twenty seats." More correctly, four and twenty thrones, i. e. round about the other throne. The following remark is from Burder's Oriental Customs, vol. i. page 393. The situation of the elders is agreeable to the antient manner of sitting in council or consistory among the Jews. There is a representation of this in Daniel vii. 9. I beheld till the seats or thrones were pitched, not thrown down, as in our translation, and the antient of days did sit in the midst of the other thrones, as the father or head of the consistory, and the judgment was set, (ver. 10.) that is, the whole Sanhedrim; the rest of the elders were seated on those thrones which were round about, and the books were cpened preparatory to the judicature.

IV.-6. "Round about the throne were four beasts." More correctly, living creatures, as in Ezek. i.

V.-1. "A book written within and on the back side.” This expression, written on the back side, is very significant. The Hebrew, or antient books, were properly volumes, effected by rolling a length of parchment, or skin, round a piece of wood prepared for that purpose. Usually, such were written only within; therefore, one written within and on the back side would contain twice as much.

V.-5. "The Lion of the tribe of Juda."-See Gen. xlix. 9. Christ is called a Lion because he is noble, heroic, and invincible.

V.-8. "When he had taken the book." Some interpreters understand the delivering of this book into the hands of Christ, as an act of inauguration, or investiture, into his regal power and authority, and that many of the expressions here used are taken from the ceremonies of solemn investiture, in which there are several instances of its having been done by the delivery of a book.-Burder's Oriental Customs, vol. i. page 393.

V.-8. "Golden vials full of odours." Vials were of common use in the temple service; they were like cups on a plate, in allusion to the censers of gold, in which the priests offered incense in the temple.-Valpy's Greek Testament.

V.- 13. "And every creature-and such as are in the sea," &c. As the inhabitants of the watery elements are necessarily mute, says Doddridge, I suppose we are not to understand by this, that in this vision, they seemed to grow vocal in the praises of Christ upon this occasion: but rather, that heaven, earth, and sea, are used to signify, that all nature, in its different ways, concurred in the praise; i. e. that the whole constitution of it contributed to furnish out matter of praise, just as inanimate, as well as rational creatures, are called upon to praise God in many of the psalms.

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V. 14. "And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever." It was the custom in the temple worship for the singers to make pauses. In every Psalm, say the Talmudists, the music made three intermissions; at these intermissions the trumpet sounded and the people worshipped.-Burder's Oriental Customs, vol. ii. page 388. For the former part of this verse, see chap iv. 6.

VI.2. "A white horse." White horses were formerly used in triumphs in token of victory. To see a white horse in a dream was accounted a good sign by the Jews: and Astrampsychus says, a vision of white horses is an apparition. of angels. One of those angels, which the Jews suppose to have the care of men, is said to ride by them and at their right hand upon a white horse.-Burder's Oriental Customs, vol. ii. page 388.

The first seal may refer to the triumph of christianity over the Jewish and heathen opposition, by the labours of its first preachers.-Doddridge.

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VI."A measure of wheat for a penny," &c. This may seem, to an English reader, says Doddridge, a description of great plenty: but it certainly intends the contrary. The penny was about 74d. of our money; and it appears from Tacitus, as well as from Matthew xx. 2. to have been the daily wages of a labourer. It is also evident from other antient writers, particularly Herodotus, that this measure was no more than was allowed to a slave for his daily food.

VI.-8. " And I looked, and behold a pale horse, and his name that sat on him was Death." It is not unlikely that the figures representing death and the grave might have their names expressed by some motto or inscription, as it was a thing so well known in the medals of these times to write the names Pietas, Felicitas, Virtus, &c. under the figures designed to represent them.-Burder's Oriental Customs, vol. i. page 395.