wards applied to Antipas, [Ch. ii. 13,] who was faithful unto death.

Jesus being here called the prince of the kings of the earth, probably refers to the dignity to which he will be advanced when the kingdoms of the world shall become the kingdoms of God and of Christ, and he shall reign for ever, [Ch. xi. 15,] other princes being in some sense under him:

By washing us from our sins in his own blood, is to be understood, that by his death and resurrection, that religion by which the world is reformed, is established. Clemens Alexandrinus says, that by his blood is meant his doctrine.

6. Whatever be the glory to which Christ will be advanced in his proper kingdom, there are many intimations given that his faithful followers will share with him in it. This was sufficiently expressed by himself, when he said, [Matt. xix. 28,] that his twelve apostles should "sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel;" and when he said, (John xvii. 22,) that the glory which God had given to him, he had given to his disciples.. According to Daniel, vii. 27, this kingdom" shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High," and not to a single person. When Paul said, [1 Cor. vi. 2,]" the saints shall judge the world," he must have meant they will attain to princely power, judging being one branch of it.

7. The compunction with which the Jewish nation will behold this great event is particularly described by Zechariah

xii. 10:

And they shall look on him whom they pierced;

And they shall mourn for him, as with the mourning of an only

son;

And the bitterness for him shall be as the bitterness for a first

born.‡

It was probably to this passage that John here alludes.§

* Washed. "In some copies, delivered, or redeemed." See Mill in Lardner, V. p. 275, Note (q); Harwood, N. T.

"That is, that he might make us (for and is here to be taken for that) kings, to subdue the world, the flesh, and the devil; priests to offer sacrifices of prayer, thanksgiving, works of mercy, and other acceptable services to our heavenly Father." Mede, p. 113. "Dr. Mill observes, that in one ancient Greek MS. the words [ver 5] unto him, are wanting. In which case the doxology will be, not to Christ, but to the Father." Clarke (S. D.), 750.

To God and his Father. "Or rather, to his own God and Father, which is more according to the original." Haynes (Ch. ix.), p. 39. See Lindsey's Apol. p. 144; Belsham's Inquiry, pp. 369, 370.

Newcome. See Vol. XII. p. 445, Note*.

§ See Lowman. Ver. 8, The Lord God. Newcome in Impr. Vers.

See Belsham's Inquiry, p. 177;

10. To be in the spirit, means being under a divine impression. He was probably in ecstacy, so that no other person, though he had been present, would have seen or heard what he describes. It appears from this that the first day of the week had, at this time, got the appellation of the Lord's day, by way of distinction from the other days of the week, and that particular respect was paid to it.*

11. The words, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, are not in the best MSS.,† or ancient versions. This alludes to Isaiah xliii. 10, where God says, "Before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me;" and Ch. xliv. 6, "I am the first and I am the last,+ and besides me there is no God."

12-16. Our Saviour is here represented as in the holy place, behind the golden candlesticks that were in the Temple; but the scenery is not exact: for in the Temple there were ten candlesticks, and in the Tabernacle only one. This description of his appearance is calculated to impress the mind with the greatest reverence; but that it is only an emblematical representation, proper for a vision, and not the appearance that Jesus will actually make hereafter, may be inferred from the sword proceeding out of his mouth, and the seven stars in his right hand. It was customary, however, for soldiers to carry their swords in their mouths when they could not make any immediate use of them. Thus we read of Turks boarding a vessel, with their swords in their mouths, ready for use when they should have got into the vessel they endeavoured to make a prize of.

* "It was never questioned, that the first day of the week is in this text called the Lord's day. St. John here names it by the stated name, by which it was then commonly known. This incontestably proves the generality of its use, and the consecration of it to religious purposes, to have been supposed and allowed by the Christian church at that time." Wotton, I. p. 297. See Hallett (on the Lord's day), III. pp. 168-186.

+ Clarke (S. D.), 666. See 414; Wakefield's Enquiry, p. 148. "These words are wanting in the Alexandrine and Ephrem MSS., and in the Coptic, Ethiopic, and other versions; and are omitted in the editions of Griesbach and Newcome." Impr. Vers. Of a reading, now so justly exploded, Doddridge, who does not appear to have critically examined it, says, "This text has done more than any other in the Bible towards preventing me from going into that scheme which would make our Lord Jesus Christ no more than a deified creature." See his Note. Thus, according to Doddridge, a Christian inquiring after scriptural evidence for the supposed deity of Christ, will pass over histories and epistles, describing the faith and worship of our Lord and his divinely-instructed followers, and will reach the last and most obscure book in the New Testament before he find this text calculated, till discovered to be spurious, "more than any other in the Bible," to support that doctrine. See Belsham's Inquiry, pp. 268, 269, and Note (49).

I See Isaiah xli. 4. "It is true, that thou art the first, and thou art the last, and that we have no king, redeemer, or saviour, besides thyself." Morning Office of the Jews, in Wotton, I. p. 182.

17. Instead of the first, one MS. has the first-born; but the appellation applies with sufficient accuracy to Jesus, who, in his humility, appeared in the lowest state of human wretchedness, and in his exaltation the first of the human race, the Prince of the kings of the earth.

18.* This figure is peculiarly expressive, implying that God has put it in his power to raise from the grave and to give eternal life to whom he pleases.†

19. By the things which are, is probably meant the messages to the seven churches in the two next chapters, after which come the predictions of what is future.+

20. We may infer from this account of Jesus walking in the midst of the golden candlesticks, which represent the churches, but more clearly from his messages to the seven churches in the two next chapters, as well as from several circumstances in the Acts of the Apostles, that he is at this time present with his churches in this world, though invisible, and also employed, though in a manner of which we have no knowledge.

II. There is an uncommon solemnity and dignity in the messages of Jesus to the seven churches, contained in these two chapters, exceeding any thing even in the sacred writings. It is not possible to read them with attention without the strongest emotions. They express the very great interest that he takes in the state of the churches, his earnest desire for their improvement, and the most solemn warnings against any failure in their duty. This could never have been thought of, nor could it have been counterfeited, by an impostor. ||

1.¶ The angel in this place means the presiding officer, or bishop of the church, but not a diocesan bishop, who had the care of other churches besides his own.

• He that liveth. "Gr. The living One. As John v. 26." Clarke (S. D.), 667. "I who am Amen, am alive for evermore.' Bowyer.

"In the Gospel of St. John we read the life of Christ on earth: a man conversing with men, humble, poor, weak and suffering: we behold a sacrifice ready to be offered, and a man appointed to sorrows and death; but in the Revelation of St. John, we have the Gospel of Christ, now raised from the dead. He speaks and acts as having conquered the grave, and triumphed over death and hell; as entered into the place of his glory." Bossuet in Lowman (Pref.), p. xliii.

↑ See Lowman.

Angels, rather messengers. See Wakefield; Impr. Vers.

See Mr. Evanson's "reasons for objecting" to these Epistles " as a spurious interpolation of the important book of the Apocalypse." Dissonance, 1792, pp. 284-286.

¶ "An expression taken from the office of the priests in dressing the lamps, which was to keep them always burning before the Lord." Lowman.

2. Here is probably an allusion to the Gnostics, who are called liars, or enemies of truth, in the Epistle of John.*

5. This awful threat has been fulfilled with respect to all these churches of Asia, there being hardly a vestige of true Christianity in any of them.†

6. The Nicolaitans were a division of the Gnostics. What were their peculiar tenets, or practices, is not certainly known; but, besides holding absurd tenets, they are by all the ancients charged with impure practices.‡

7. Each of these epistles closes with a promise to the obedient, expressed in very peculiar language, all different from one another, and unlike any thing else in the New Tesment, or the Old; but, bold as the figures are, they are, in general, sufficiently intelligible. From the tree of life, Adam, for his transgression, was excluded; but as, by our faith in the gospel, and our obedience to the precepts of it, we secure a happy immortality, we may be said to gain access to this tree of life again. It is observable that whatever Jesus addresses to these churches he does it as from the spirit, and not from himself.

9. Here, I doubt not, is another allusion to the Gnostics, who, in this time, were in general speculating Jews, but according to our Saviour, unworthy of the name.

10.§ Ten days expresses a considerable, but a limited time. Some, however, though I think without reason, suppose that this is an allusion to the ten persecutions of the Christians by the Romans.

11. The second death, is an allusion to the same language in the latter part of this book, [Ch. xx. 14,] where some explanation will be given of it. The phrase occurs in no other part of the New Testament.

12. Christ being represented with a sword coming out of his mouth, to which he here alludes, is an intimation that he is possessed of the power of punishing his enemies, as well as of rewarding his friends.

See 1 Ep. i. 10; ii. 4, 22; iv. 20; v. 10. On "the absurdity" of arguing from such a text" against toleration, see Limborch in Doddridge.

+ See "A Survey of the Seven Churches of Asia, as they now lye in their Ruines." Smith's Remarks upon the Turks, 1678, pp. 205-276,

See Lowman; Harwood, I. pp. 243, 244.

See 1 Peter v. 4; James i. 11. Referring, probably, to a military custom. Titus, to reward some who had distinguished themselves in the siege of Jerusalem, put on their heads crowns of gold." Jos. War, B. vii. Ch. i. Sect. iii. See Harwood, II. pp. 56, 57.

"In scripture language, (Gen. xxxi. 7, 41; Lev. xxvi. 26; 1 Sam. i. 8; Eccles. vii. 9,) and in common speech, as Mr. Daubuz has observed (in Plautus), ten signifies many." Lowman.

13. This circumstance of the martyrdom of Antipas shews that this book was not written before the persecution of the Christians by the Romans. We have no account of this Antipas in church history,† but his name is in the book of life.

14. Here again is an allusion to the tenets and practices of the Gnostics, such as Paul noticed in the church of Corinth, where some maintained that there was no harm in partaking of feasts in honour of idols, and even eating at the sacrifices in the temples of the Heathen gods. Fornication was countenanced, and, indeed, required, in several of the Heathen festivals; and, as we learn from the epistles of Paul, it was by no means regarded with sufficient abhorrence by several of the newly-converted Christians.‡

15. It should seem from this that the doctrine of the Nicolaitans was something different from that which is called the doctrine of Balaam; § but ecclesiastical history throws no light on the subject. There were many sects of the Gnostics distinguished from each other by peculiar denominations.

17. This hidden manna is a phrase of the same import with the language of Jesus in the synagogue at Capernaum, when he speaks of living bread, implying the gift of eternal life. The white stone is an allusion to the tickets. that were given at the Grecian games, on which were written the names of the conquerors, and the prizes to which they were entitled.¶ A white stone was also the token of acquittal in some of their courts of justice; but to what the name upon it alludes is uncertain.**

20. This must have been some woman of note in the

* Satan is supposed to mean, "the idol Esculapius, which was worshipped at Pergamos." N. T. 1729.

+"The martyrologies, which are too fabulous to deserve any credit, say, that Antipas was roasted in a brazen-bull. But the Romans-were utter strangers to that kind of punishment." N. T. 1729.

See on 2 Cor. xii. 21, supra, p. 192; Doddridge.

"Balaamite and Nicolaite both signify, conqueror of the people, a proper title for impostors." N. T. 1729. See Doddridge.

See John vi. 51; Lowman.

"Dans les combats des anciens on donnoit une pierre blanche au vainqueur, sur laquelle étoit écrit son nom et le prix qu'il avoit remporté. Beausobre et Lenfant's N. T. Note" Harwood, II. p. 331, Note. "Dr. Ward (Diss. lix. p. 231) thinks this an allusion to the tessera hospitalis of the ancients." Ibid. See Doddridge.

Perhaps to the following custom of dividing the token of hospitality into halves, the inscription on which might thus be unintelligible to all but the posses→ sors: "Mos erat tesseram dare hospitibus semel receptis dimidiatam, quam quicumque attulisset ad hospitem, continuè agnoscebatur, hospitio receptus, tanquam amicus et vetus hospes." Tomasinus de Tess. Hosp. p. 90. See Eurip. Schol. in Medea in ibid. p. 106.

VOL. XIV.

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