"Fear not; I am the First and the Last: I am he that liveth and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death!" Language sinks under the weight of ideas which are presented to the mind, when we contemplate the feelings of overpowering majesty and of unspeakable tenderness, which are inspired by this vision of our glorified Redeemers!

Indeed when we connect his glorified appearance on this occasion, as the King of kings and Lord of lords, on the one hand, with the thought of "that glory which he had with the Father before the world was," the glory which belonged to the divinity of his pre-existent state, and, on the other, with that humiliation to which he submitted, when he divested himself of that glory, and was "made in the likeness of men ;"-when we contrast the majesty and the eternity of Him, who is the First and the Last, with the voluntary sufferings of him who was "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;" -and when we, finally, behold the glorious power to which he is exalted at the right hand of God, thus employed in the support of his faithful servants, and in the direction and government of that " Church which he hath purchased with his own blood;"what bounds can we place to our ideas of the ma

Compare Dan. x. 12. Mr W. Lowth, in his note on Dan. x. 10, in which passage Daniel describes "a hand touching him," supposes that it has reference to some created angel, who was in attendance on the Logos. But why should it not be the Redeemer himself? The idea seems to be countenanced by this passage of St John.

7 Compare Isaiah xxii. 22; and see

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the force of this allusion illustrated by Woodhouse ad locum.

8 "Who can read," observes Michaëlis, "if he reads without prejudice, the following address of Jesus to John, sinking to the ground through fear, and not be affected with the greatness of the thought and the expressions: "Fear not, " &c. ver. 17, 18? Michaëlis, Introduction to the New Testament, Chap. xxxiii. Sect. 10.

jesty and the mercy of that great Being, or of the unspeakable interest of those objects, for which the Son of God was made flesh, and humbled himself to the death of the cross!

PART I. SECT. II.

The Epistles to the seven Churches.

WE come, in the next place, to the consideration of the epistles,-which were sent by the Redeemer to the seven churches of Asia; and which constitute the subject of the second and third chapters of the Apocalypse. The consideration of these is very important; because they may supply us with some valuable rules for our guidance in the interpretation of the subsequent chapters of the Apocalypse.

CHAP. II. 17.

1. The first of these is the Epistle to the church in Ephesus:

1 "UNTO the angel of the Church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks: I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast 3 found them liars: and hast borne, and hast patience, and 4 for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left 5 thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of 6 his place, except thou repent. But this thou hast, that thou 7 hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God."

The church of Ephesus was the principal church in this part of Asia, and was the centre from which Christianity was propagated to the neighbouring countries. It had had the especial privilege of being the residence of St Paul for two years; of the superintending care of Timothy; and, lastly, of St John himself. The subjects especially alluded to in this epistle to the church of Ephesus, relate to doctrine and practice. (1) With regard to the first, the testimony of the great Head of the Church is favourable in the highest degree to the character of the church of Ephesus: "I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured and hast not fainted." In this passage, allusion is probably made to some Judaizing or other heretical teachers, of whom St Paul spoke in his address to the Ephesian elders at Miletus, when he told them, that "of themselves men would arise, speaking perverse things, that they might draw away disciples after them';" and to whom he also makes more especial allusion in his Epistles to Timothy: from which we may collect, that this church was assailed by a variety of heretical teachers, who taught their "fables and endless genealogies," to the destruction of faith and charity. And with regard to the Nicolaitans, they appear, from all that is to be collected from history concerning them, to have been a description of heretics, resembling those who afterwards were known by the name of the Gnostics, professing the most dangerous

1 Acts xx. 30.

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doctrines, and profligate and abandoned in their lives'. (2) But, secondly, they are charged with having "left their first love;" that is, with having deviated from that earnestness and zeal which marked the early period of their conversion to the faith of Christ. They are therefore enjoined to remember whence they are fallen, and repent, and do the first works; under a threat, that, if they delayed their repentance, their candlestick would be removed out of its place; and with a promise, that if they did return and repent, they should be made partakers of those rewards which their Redeemer, the second Adam, had secured for them, even the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God3.

2. The next Epistle is addressed to the church of Smyrna; and this, like the former, relates to some corruptions of doctrine, which were attempted to be introduced by some Judaizing heretical teachers:

II. 8-11.

"And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the First and the Last, which was dead, 9 and is alive; I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich ;) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of 10 Satan. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of 11 life. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death."

1 See an account of the Nicolaitans and their opinions given by Woodhouse ad locum.

2 Compare Jerem. ii. 2; where God, speaking of the early affection of his people towards him, says, "Thus saith the Lord, I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in

a land that was not sown. Israel was holiness unto the Lord;"&c. Perhaps the whole of this chapter of Jeremiah will afford the most explicit and instructive commentary that can be met with of this expression of St John.

3 See the whole of Dean Woodhouse's most valuable and instructive notes on the sixth and seventh verses.

With regard to the duration of this persecution, commentators differ; some understanding the expression of St John literally, others typically, to mean ten years, according to the usage of prophetical Scripture. Dean Woodhouse, however, upon considering the different explanations of the difficulty, thinks it, "on the whole, to be most probable, that the persecution, foretold in these words, was only of ten days, and was fulfilled in that generation; and that the Jews, who are described as acting against this Church, under the influence of Satan, were the authors of the persecution." And he gives the following judicious and satisfactory reasons for his opinion,-that "this prophecy, thus fulfilled, would serve a temporary purpose. It would convince the seven churches, that the Revelation, which foretold it, was from God; and that therefore the remaining predictions of the same prophet would also receive their completion; and it would occasion them to revere, and preserve, and faithfully to deliver down to posterity, the book in which they were contained; which they seem to have done." It may perhaps serve to confirm this interpretation, to remark, that the figurative language, in which the Holy Spirit is spoken of in the preceding chapter, is dropped in the messages both to this church and to that of Ephesus, and that he is spoken of in the terms, which are found in numberless other passages of Scripture, as "the Spirit:" "Hear what the Spirit saith unto the

churches."

3. The next Epistle is addressed to the church of Pergamos :—

4 See Dean Woodhouse's note ad locum.