صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

INTRODUCTION

TO THE

VISIONS.

SECTION I.

The Title or Inscription of the Visions.

I. 1. THE Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God

gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: 2 who bear record of the word of God, and of the

testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that 3 he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things that are written therein; for the time is at hand.

SECTION II.

Salutation and Doxology.

St. John salutes the churches with grace from the divine Unitry, from the Eternal God, from the seven Spirits or God distributively, and from Jesus Christ, who at the same time that he is a man who has redeemed us, and

made a kingdom of us, by his blood, is also the eternal, omnipotent God, by God's assumption of an additional Form, who will come again in the glory of the Father in the clouds of heaven, when all shall see him, both they who have rejected him, as well as they who have received him. To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. This is the true God and eternal life.

4 John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; 5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness,

and the first begotten of the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own 6 blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

[ocr errors]

I

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen..

8

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

THE FIRST VISION

OF

ST. JOHN.

THE SEVEN CANDLESTICKS.

SECTION I.

PREFACE.

John, a member of the kingdom of Christ, receives a commission from the Son of man, the High-Priest, and eternal omnipotent God, master of the intermediate state of good and bad, to write the things which he had already seen, the things then existing, and the things which were to happen hereafter, and to send the account thereof to the seven churches of the Lydian Asia, Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea, and through them to all churches, of which the seven are the representatives. Christ stands ever present in the midst of the churches to the end; and the ministry of each of them he himself holds firm as it were in his right hand.

9 I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God and for the

10 testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on

the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great 11 voice, as of a trumpet, saying, I am Alpha and

Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, 12 and unto Laodicea. And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I 13 saw seven golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. 14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of 15 fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound 16 of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars; and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword; and his countenance was as 17 the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear 18 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 hades 19 and of death. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things 20 which shall be hereafter. The mystery of the

« السابقةمتابعة »