རྒྱུ

REVELATION.

II. 14 Because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Baaam, &c.

As Balaam taught Balac to cast an offence before the people of Israel, in drawing them to communicate with the Midianites in their idol feasts, by alluring them to fornication and uncleanness.

II. 15 So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate.

So hast thou them that proceed in the same steps; teaching and maintaining the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, to the very same purpose; tending both to bodily and spiritual uncleanness: which wicked heresy I do justly hate.

II. 16 Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

Repent; or else I will come to take punishment of thee shortly; and, as I sent my angel with a sword in his hand to resist Balaam, so will I fight against these followers of Balaam by my two-edged sword, the powerful word of my Truth, in the mouths of my ministers, and will confound them.

II. 17 To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new Iname written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. To him, that overcometh, will I impart the true Manna, that came down from heaven, which shall feed him to everlasting life; and will give unto him a free and full acquittal and absolution from at all his sins; and therewithal a comfortable assurance of his adoption to be the son of God: which blessed condition, as it is new and of the state of nature, so it is secret in rerespect strange spect of the certain knowledge of others, and cannot be surely discerned by any but him that hath it,

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II. 18 Who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass. See chapter i. verses 14, 15.

II. 20 Because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.

Because thou sufferest that wicked woman, which is no better than another Jezebel in the church,who falsely stiles herself a prophetess, to take upon her to teach publicly, contrary to the inodesty of her sex; and, by her teaching to seduce my servants into those two abominable errors of the Nicolaitanes, the allowance and practice of fornication, and eating things sacrificed to idols.

II. 22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation.

Behold, I will cast her upon the bed of sickness, and inflict a grievous disease upon her; and will plague those, that commit adultery with her, and that abet her in her wicked errors, with many sore judgments,

II. 23 And I will kill her children with death,

And I will sweep away her followers, the children of her fornication, with violent death.

II. 24 As many as have not this doctrine, and which have not

known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden.

As many of you as have not given way to this wicked doctrine, and have not approved these depths and subtleties, as they call them, of their profound speculations; which are no other, nor no better, than the devices of Satan himself; I will lay no other charge upon you than this.

II. 25 But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. That true and apostolical doctrine and sincere religion, which ye have received, hold fast to the end,

II. 26 To him will I give power over the nations.

To him will I give power, by virtue of that union which he shall have with me, to have victory over all the professed enemies of my truth; and to sit with me, as the assistant and approver of that judgment, which shall be passed upon them,

II. 27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

And he shall in me, as a limb of that body whereof I am the Head, overrule and subdue his enemies, and the enemies of my Church; as a brittle vessel of earth is broken into shivers, by an iron scepter: even as I received of my Father, so do I impart this power, according to the capacity of my Church, to the members thereof.

II. 28 And I will give him the morning star.

And, howsoever he was obscured and basely accounted of in the world, I will put upon him exceeding glory and majesty, and will communicate myself unto him, who am the true light that enlighteneth the world.

III. 1 That thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. Thou hast the reputation of a zealous professor and faithful teacher of my truth; yet, indeed, thou art no better than a hypocrite, and hast not that measure of true life of grace in thee which thou pretendest.

III. 2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.

Stir up thyself to care and vigilancy; and labour to strengthen and confirm those few good things that yet remain in thee, which are ready, by thy slackness and neglect, to be utterly extinguished: for I have found thy obedience, however seemingly perfect, yet very hollow and defective in the sight of God.

III. 3 I will come on thee as a thief.

I will come suddenly upon thee, and seize on thee by unexpected judgments.

III. 4 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.

Thou hast, under thy charge, some few worthy Christians, even in Sardis, which have not suffered themselves to be so much as

outwardly tainted with the pollution of the common wickedness
and idolatry of the rest; and they shall partake with me of my
heavenly glory for my mercy accepteth them as justly capable of
such happiness.

III. 5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white rai-
ment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I
will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
He, that overcometh, shall be clothed with glory and majesty in
heaven; and, as I have from eternity ordained him to life and
blessedness, so I will undoubtedly continue unto him the right and
title thereunto; and will acknowledge him for mine, before my
Father, and before the angels of heaven.

III. 7 He that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no
man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth.

He, that hath all power, regiment, and sovereignty given to him
over his Church, whereof the kingdom of David was a type and
resemblance; so as he admitteth and excludeth, forbiddeth and
commandeth, saveth and destroyeth, whom he pleaseth.

III. 8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open
door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and
hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.
Behold, I have vouchsafed to thee very fair and meet opportu-
nities to preach the Gospel, which no man can be able to bereave
thee of: for, although thou hast not those eminent gifts that some
others have, yet thou hast well improved those which thou hast,
and hast maintained my truth, and hast not denied my name.
See chapter ii. verse 9.

III. 9 Them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are
Jews; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy
feet.

I will so work upon them, that they shall come in and submit
themselves unto thee; and shall humbly worship God, before
thee and the congregation, as true converts and penitents,

III. 10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also
will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all
the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

Because thou hast kept that word and Gospel of mine, which both
enjoineth and worketh patience in all my faithful, I will also keep
thee from the hurt and danger of that grievous persecution, which
shall come upon all the Asian Churches.

III. 11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast,
that no man take thy crown.

It shall not be long, that thou shalt need to endure; hold fast
therefore the profession of my Gospel, which thou hast received,
that thou mayest not be defeated of that glory which awaits for
thee.

III. 12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God.

As the manner of men is, to erect pillars for monuments, to continue their memory; so will I do to him that overcometh: I will set him up, as a firm and during pillar; and will establish and settle him, as one of those living stones whereof my spiritual temple consisteth; so as he shall be utterly unremoveable from thence: and I will, as the custom is in such pillars, write upon him the inscriptions of the names of those to whom he appertaineth; viz. the name of my God, and of those habitations above whereto be is designed; making it manifest, that he is an undoubted son of God, and a citizen of heaven.

III. 14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;

These things saith that God of Truth, the faithful and infallible Witness of his Father's will, the powerful Creator of all things by whom the Father made all that was made;

III. 15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot : I would thou wert cold or hot.

I know thy works, and thy disposition; that thou art of a lukewarm temper, neither opposite to religion nor yet a zealous friend to it: I would thou wert resolved, one way or other: I would rather thou wert any thing, than what thou art: open hostility to the Gospel should not so much displease me, as this hollowness and uncertainty.

III. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

So then, because thou art thus spiritually lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold; I will deal with thee as a man doth by lukewarm water, wherewith the stomach is made apt to egestion, cast thee up out of my mouth, and discharge myself of any further entertainment of that profession thou makest of me.

III. 17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:

Because thou art carried away with a spiritual pride, and fondly conceivest thyself to be stored with all holy graces and virtues, and that thou hast no defect in any of them; and art far from knowing aright the truth of thine estate, how sinful thou art, how ignorant, how wretched every way:

III. 18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes &c.

I counsel thee to have recourse unto me, thy God and Saviour; and, by my means, to furnish thyself with all those heavenly graces, whereby thy wants may be supplied; which may be to thee instead of gold to remedy thy poverty, and glorious raiment to remedy thy nakedness, and eye-salve to redress thy blindness.

III. 20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man

REVELATION.

hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will
sup with him, and he with me.

Behold, I have used all means for thy conversion: I have pa-
tiently expected it, and earnestly importuned it, and still I con-
tinue so doing; and if any man hear the voice of my word, and
open the door of his heart to me, yielding to those my vehement
solicitations, I will impart myself to the soul of that man, and will
have mutual fellowship with him, and he with me.

III. 21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my
throne, even as I also overcame, &c,

To him, that overcometh, will I give the honour of a meet participation with me in my glory; in such manner and measure, as every true member partakes of the honour of the Head.

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; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.

After this, I looked up, and, behold, the heaven seemed to open itself to me, and a large door appeared to be set wide open therein and, as my eye was taken up with this sight, so my ear was filled with the sound of a voice from thence; which was strong and loud, as of a trumpet, talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter accomplished.

IV, 2 And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.

And immediately I had, in a further continuation of this vision, represented to me a glorious throne, which was set in heaven, and a person of great glory sitting on the throne.

IV. 3 And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.

And he, that sat upon it, was God the Father; full of resplendence and majesty; having a shining brightness, like to the most sparkling precious stones: and the throne was encompassed about with a glorious rainbow, in the mixture of the colours whereof the green smaragd-like colour was most eminent; to import that gracious and comfortable reconciliation, which is betwixt God and his people.

IV. 4 And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.

And round about the throne were four and twenty seats of state or judicature and upon the seats I saw four and twenty ancient and majestical persons sitting, which were the Patriarchs and Prophets of the Old Testament, and the Apostles and Evangelists of the New, and the Saints of both; which were honoured with their participation of glory, and their assistance of the righteous judgment of God: and these Elders, to signify that perfect righteous