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^  PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


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Division 


Section 


yea'  J)4LcJtJ&. 


THE 


SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA 


riUSTTED    BY 

SFOTTISWOODE    AND    CO.,    NKW-STBKET    SQUARE 

LONDON 


-  .......  »  Pi   -„« 

MAY  1"  1915 


COMMENTARY   ON    THE    EPISTLES 


TO     THE 


SEVEN   CHURCHES    IN   ASIA 


REVELATION  II.  Ill 


BY      • 
RICHARD   CHENEVIX   TRENCH,   D.D. 

ARCHBISHOP 


FOURTH    EDITION,    REVISED 


LONDON 
KEGAN   PAUL,    TRENCH,   &   CO.,    1   PATERNOSTER   SQUARE 

1886 


[The  rights  of  translation  and  of  reproduction  are  reserved) 


PREFACE. 

In  publishing  this  volume  I  at  length  accomplish,  how- 
ever imperfectly,  a  wish  which  I  have  cherished  for  many 
years.  During  the  time  that  I  fulfilled  my  pleasant 
labours  at  King's  College,  I  lectured  three  times  to  the 
theological  students  there  on  these  seven  Epistles ;  and 
the  lectures  to  them  delivered  constitute  the  groundwork 
of  the  present  volume,  though  much  has  been  added,  and 
some  little  changed,  in  the  final  revision  which  I  have 
given  to  my  work  before  venturing  to  challenge  a  larger 
audience  for  it.  I  confess  that  each  time  I  have  gone 
over  these  Epistles  I  have  become  more  conscious  of  the 
manifold  difficulties  which  they  present ;  and  more  than 
once  have  been  half  disposed  not  to  offer  to  others,  in  the 
way  of  interpretation  of  them,  what  has  so  little  satisfied 
myself.  I  have  not,  however,  held  my  hand.  There  has 
ever  seemed  to  me  a  very  useful  warning  contained  in 
that  German  proverb  which  says,  *  The  best  is  oftentimes 
the  enemy  of  the  good ; '  and,  without  claiming  for  an 
instant  that  title  of  good  for  my  book,  I  do  not  doubt  that 


VI  PREFACE. 

many  a  good  book  has  remained  unwritten,  or,  perhaps, 
being  written,  has  remained  unpublished,  because  there 
floated  before  the  mind's  eye  of  the  author,  or  possible 
author,  the  ideal  of  a  better  or  a  best,  which  has  put  him 
out  of  all  conceit  with  his  good  ;  meanwhile  some  other, 
having  no  ideal  at  all  before  him,  either  to  stimulate  or 
to  repress,  steps  in  and  poorly  fills  the  place  which  the 
other  would  have  filled,  if  not  excellently,  yet  reasonably, 
well. 

But  indeed,  if  there  is  much  in  the  difficulties  with 
which  these  Epistles  abound  to  repel  and  deter,  there  is 
much  also  in  these  same  difficulties  to  allure  and  attract. 
And  not  in  these  only.  The  number  of  aspects  in  which 
they  present  themselves  to  us  as  full  of  interest  is  extra- 
ordinary. 

For  example,  the  points  of  peculiar  attraction  which 
they  offer  to  the  student  of  ecclesiastical  history  are 
many.  Who  are  these  Angels  of  the  Churches?  What 
do  we  learn  from  their  evident  preeminence  in  their 
several  Churches,  about  the  government  and  constitution 
of  the  Church  in  the  later  apostolic  times  ?  or  is  it  lawful 
to  draw  any  conclusions?  Again,  was  there  a  body  of 
heretics  actually  bearing  the  name  of  Nicolaitans  in  the 
times  of  St.  John  ?  And  those  that  had  the  doctrine  of. 
Balaam,  and  the  followers  of  the  woman  Jezebel,  with 
what  heretics  mentioned  elsewhere  shall  we  identify 
these  ?      Or,   once   more,   what    is   the   worth   of    that 


PREFACE.  Vii 

historico-prophetical  scheme  of  interpretation  adopted  by 
our  own  Joseph  Mede  and  Henry  More,  and  many  others 
down  even  to  the  present  day ;  who  see  in  these  seven 
Epistles  the  mystery  of  the  whole  evolution  of  the  Church 
from  the  days  of  the  Apostles  to  the  close  of  the  present 
dispensation  ?  Was  this  so  intended  by  the  Spirit  ?  or 
is  it  only  a  dream  and  fancy  of  men  ? 

Nor  less  is  there  a  strong  attraction  in  these  Epistles 
for  those  who  occupy  themselves  with  questions  of  pure 
exegesis,  from  the  fact  of  so  many  unsolved,  or  imper- 
fectly solved,  problems  of  interpretation  being  found  in 
them.  It  is  seldom  within  so  small  a  compass  that  so 
many  questions  to  which  no  answer  with  perfect  confi- 
dence can  be  given,  occur.  What,  for  instance,  is  the 
exact  meaning,  and  what  the  etymology,  of  ^a\/coXi/3az/os 
(i.  15;  ii.  18)?  what  the  interpretation  of  the  white 
stone  with  the  new  name  written  upon  it  (ii.  17)?  why 
is  Pergamum  called  'Satan's  seat'  (ii.  13)?  with  many 
other  questions  of  the  same  kind. 

Nor  can  any  one,  I  think,  attentively  studying,  fail  to 
be  struck  with  what  one  might  venture  to  call  the  entire 
originality  of  these  seven  Epistles,  their  entire  unlikeness, 
in  some  points  at  least,  to  anything  else  in  Scripture. 
.Contemplate,  for  instance,  the  titles  of  Christ  here,  'the 
Amen,'  '  the  Faithful  and  True  Witness,'  '  the  Beginning 
of  the  Creation  of  God,'  '  He  that  hath  the  seven  Spirits 
of  God,5  and  others  which  I  might  name.     While  the 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

analogy  of  faith  is  perfectly  preserved,  while  there  is  no 
difficulty  in  harmonizing  what  is  here  taught  of  Christ's 
person  and  offices  with  that  which  is  taught  elsewhere, 
yet  how  wholly  new  a  series  of  titles  are  these.  It  is  the 
same  with  the  promises  ;  some,  it  is  true,  as  '  the  tree  of 
life,'  '  the  crown  of  life,'  '  the  new  name,'  have  been 
anticipated  in  other  parts  of  Scripture,  yet  how  many 
appear  here  for  the  first  time ;  and  set  forth  what 
Augustine  so  grandly  calls,  '  beatae  vitae  magna  secreta,' 
under  aspects  as  novel  as  they  are  animating  and  allur- 
ing ;  such  are  '  the  hidden  manna,'  the  '  white  stone,' 
the  *  white  raiment,'  the  '  pillar  in  the  temple  of  Grod,' 
and  *  the  morning  star.'  And  very  striking,  as  combined 
with  this  originality,  with  this  free  movement  of  the 
Spirit  here,  is  the  strict  and  rigid  symmetrical  arrange- 
ment of  these  Epistles,  the  way  in  which  they  are  all 
laid  out  upon  the  same  plan,  distributed  according  to 
exactly  the  same  ever-recurring  laws.  The  surprise  which 
we  feel  on  tracing  this  for  the  first  time,  is  similar  to 
that  which  overtakes  one  who,  attempting  any  thing  like 
a  critical  study  of  the  Psalms,  discovers  the  rigorous  laws 
to  which,  so  far  as  concerns  the  form,  they  are  for  the 
most  part  submitted,  or  rather,  which  they  have  imposed 
on  themselves,  and  to  which  they  delight  to  conform. 

Then,  once  more,  the  purely  theological  interest  of 
these  Epistles  is  great.  I  have  already  referred  to  the 
titles  of  Christ,  the  entirely  novel  aspects  under  which 


PREFACE.  IX 

the  glory  of  the  Son  of  Grod  is  here  set  forth.  But  they 
have  another  and  profounder  interest.  Assuredly  there 
is  enough  in  these  two  chapters  alone  to  render  Arianism 
entirely  untenable  by  any  one  who,  admitting  their 
authority,  should  consent  to  be  bound  in  their  interpre- 
tation by  the  ordinary  rules  of  fairness  and  truth.  On 
this  matter  I  have  several  times  dwelt  in  the  course  of 
my  interpretation. 

And,  finally,  the  practical  interest  of  these  Epistles  in 
their  bearing  on  the  whole  pastoral  and  ministerial  work 
is  extreme.  It  is  recorded  of  the  admirable  Bengel  that 
it  was  his  wont  above  all  things  to  recommend  the  study 
of  these  Epistles  to  youthful  ministers  of  Christ's  Word 
and  Sacraments.  And  indeed  to  them  they  are  full  of 
teaching,  of  the  most  solemn  warning,  of  the  strongest 
encouragement.  We  learn  from  these  Epistles  the  extent 
to  which  the  spiritual  condition  of  a  Church  is  dependent 
upon  that  of  its  pastors ;  the  guilt,  not  merely  of  teach- 
ing, but  of  allowing,  error ;  how  there  may  be  united 
much  and  real  zeal  for  the  form  of  sound  words  with  a 
lamentable  decay  of  the  spirit  of  love ;  or,  on  the  other 
hand,  many  works  and  active  ministries  of  love,  with  only 
too  languid  a  zeal  for  the  truth  once  delivered;  with 
innumerable  lessons  more.  For  one  who  has  undertaken 
the  awful  ministry  of  souls,  I  know  almost  nothing  in 
Scripture  so  searching,  no  threatenings  so  alarming,  no 
promises  so  comfortable,  as  are  some  which  these  Epistles 
contain. 


X  PREFACE. 

Surely,  if  all  this  be  so,  it  is  very  much  to  be  re- 
gretted that,  while  every  chapter  of  every  other  book  of 
the  New  Testament  is  set  forth  to  be  read  in  the  Church, 
and,  wherever  there  is  daily  service,  is  read  in  the^Church, 
three  times  in  the  year,  and  some,  or  portions  of  some, 
are  read  oftener  there,  while  even  of  the  Apocalypse 
itself  two  chapters  and  portions  of  others  have  been 
admitted  into  the  calendar,  under  no  circumstances  what- 
ever can  the  second  and  third  chapter  ever  be  heard  in 
the  congregation.  Any  one  who  knows,  or  at  all  guesses, 
how  small  the  amount  of  the  private  reading  of  the  Scrip- 
tures among  our  people,  and  the  extent,  therefore,  to 
which  the  stated  public  reading  in  the  congregation  is 
the  source  of  whatever  knowledge  of  it  the  great  mass  of 
our  people  possess,  the  means  by  which  they  are  at  all 
leavened  by  it,  must  deeply  regret  that  chapters  so  rich 
in  doctrine,  in  exhortation,  in  reproofs,  in  promises,  should 
thus  be  withheld  from  them.  Certainly,  if  at  any  time  a 
reconsideration  of  the  portions  of  Scripture  appointed  to 
be  read  in  the  Church  should  find  place,  the  slight  cast 
on  these  chapters,  and  in  them  on  the  Apocalypse  itself, 
with  the  injury  inflicted  on  the  people  by  their  total 
omission,  ought  not  to  be  allowed  to  continue.1 

Whether  the  attempt  here  made  to  draw  out  some  of 

1  It  need  hardly  be  observed,  that  what  I  complain  of  here  has 
for  several  years  ceased  to  be  the  fact. — Note  to  the  fourth  edition, 
1883. 


PREFACE.  XI 

the  riches  contained  in  this  portion  of  God's  Word  may 
have  any  interest  for  others,  I  know  not :  but  for  myself 
this  volume  must  ever  retain  a  very  solemn  interest. 
Besides  the  serious  solemnity  of  giving  any  work  that 
professes  to  be  a  work  for  God  into  the  hands  of  men,  I 
can  never  disconnect  this  book  from  two  great  sorrows 
which  fell  on  me,  while  it  was  preparing  for,  and  passing 
through,  the  press ;  sorrows  which  have  left  me  far 
poorer  than  before ;  and  yet,  I  would  humbly  hope,  richer 
too,  if  better  able  to  speak  to  others  of  truths  whose  price 
and  value  has  been  brought  home  with  new  power  to 
myself ;  if  theology  has  been  thus  more  closely  connected 
for  me  with  life,  and  with  life's  toil  and  burden,  from 
which  it  is  ever  in  danger  of  being  dissociated  and 
divorced.  It  is  my  earnest  hope  that  so  it  may  prove ; 
and  in  this  hope  I  humbly  commend  my  book,  with  all 
it3  shortcomings,  to  Him  who  can  alone  make  it  profit- 
able to  any. 

Deanery,  Westminster  : 
July  31,  1861. 


CONTENTS. 

PAQB 

Introduction.    Rev.  i.  4-20 1 

The  Seven  Epistles.    Rev.  ii.  iii. 71 

I.     Epistle  to  the  Church  of  Ephesus.     Rev.  ii.  1-7          .  74 

II.     Epistle  to  the  Church  of  Smyrna.    Rev.  ii.  8-1 1         .  104 

III.  Epistle  to  the  Church  of  Pergamum.     Rev.  ii.  12-17  •  120 

IV.  Epistle  to  the  Church  of  Thyatira.     Rev.  ii.  18-29    .  143 
V.     Epistle  to  the  Church  of  Sardis.     Rev.  iii.  1-6  .         .  161 

VI.     Epistle  to  the  Church  of  Philadelphia.  Rev.  iii.  7-13  180 

VII.     Epistle  to  the  Church  of  Laodicea.     Rev.  iii.  14-22    .  199 

Excursus  on  the  Historico-Prophetical  Interpretation 

of  the  Epistles  to  the  Seven  Churches  in  Asia  .  232 


COMMENTAET 


EPISTLES  TO  THE  SEVEN  CHURCHES  IN  ASIA. 


REVELATION  II.   III. 


Introduction,  Eev.  i.  4-20. 

The  question,  Wliy  we  enter  the  wondrous  temple  of  this 
Book  by  the  vestibule  of  these  seven  Epistles,  what  the 
exact  relation  in  which  they  stand  to  the  other  parts  of 
the  Apocalypse,  has  not,  within  my  knowledge,  been  ever 
very  satisfactorily  answered.  So  far  from  receiving  an 
answer,  to  most  interpreters  the  question  is  one  which 
hardly  seems  to  have  so  much  as  presented  itself  at  all. 
And  yet  a  thoughtful  student  of  God's  Word  might  here 
fitly  pause,  and  reverently  inquire  why  this  Book  should 
have  this  introduction.  We  are  sure  that  Scripture,  as  it 
has  every  other  perfection,  so  it  must  have  the  perfection 
of  form  and  proportion  ;  while  yet  it  does  not  seem  very 
easy  to  trace  what  is  the  relation  here  between  these 
two  : — the  Book  prophetic,  the  introduction  for  the  most 
part  historic ;  the  Book  universal  in  its  character,  in- 
cluding the  whole  Church  in  the  range  of  its  vision,  the 
introductory    Epistles    having   to  do    with    separate    and 


2  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.        [i.  4. 

single  Churches,  and  with  the  details  of  their  inner 
spiritual  condition.  I  will  not  affirm  that  Bengel's  expla- 
nation exhausts  the  whole  matter,  but  it  appears  to  me 
the  best  which  has  been  offered  :  '  Gravissima  vii.  harum 
Epistolarum  causa  est.  Populus  legem  in  Sinai  suscep- 
turus,  prius  sanctificabatur :  idem  opera  Johannis  Baptistse, 
cum  immineret  regnum  Dei,  per  pcenitentiam  prsepara- 
batur  ;  nunc  Ecclesia  Christiana  ad  tantam  Kevelationem 
digne  suscipiendam  his  instruitur  epistolis.  Id  enim 
agitur  ut  malos,  prius  admonitos,  et  mala  ex  medio  sui 
exterminans,  ipsa  cum  sua,  posteritate  ad  hoc  pretiosissimum 
depositum,  hanc  tanti  momenti  revelationem  recte  amplec- 
tendam  asservandamque,  ad  eventus  maximos  spectandos, 
et  fructus  uberrimos  percipiendos,  plagasque  effugiendas 
pra?paretur,  inspersis  in  ipsas  epistolas  revelationis  reliquse 
stricturis  fulgidissimis,  ad  attentionem  excitandam,  et  viam 
intelligentiae  muniendam  aptissimis :  ecclesiaeque  per  pceni- 
tentiam renovatio,  ut  par  est,  conspectui  iridis  praemittitur ' 
(iv.  3). 

Ver.  4.  '  John  to  the  seven  Churches  l  in  Asia.'' — So 
far  as  the  Apocalypse  is  allowed  to  witness  for  its  own 
authorship,  we  find  in  these  words  a  strong  internal  .evi- 
dence that  we  possess  in  it  an  authentic  work  of  St.  John. 
The  writer  avouches  himself  as  '  John  ; '  but,  though  there 
may  have  been  Johns  many  in  the  Church  at  this  time, 
John  the  Presbyter  and  others,  still  it  is  well-nigh  im- 
possible to  conceive  any  other  but  John  the  Apostle  who 
would  have  named  himself  by  this  single  name,  with  no 
further  style  or  addition.     We  instinctively  feel  that  for 


1  The  words,  '  which  are]  finding  here  a  place  in  most  modern 
editions  of  our  Authorized  Version,  have  no  place  in  tlie  exemplar 
edition  of  161 1. 


I.  4.]  INTRODUCTION,    REV.    I.    4~20.  3 

any  other  there  would  have  been  here  an  affectation  of 
humility,  veiling  a  most  real  arrogance,  in  the  very 
plainness  of  this  title.  Who  else,  without  arrogance,  could 
have  taken  for  granted  that  the  bare  mention  of  his  name 
was  sufficient  to  ensure  his  recognition,  or  that  he  had 
a  right  to  appropriate  this  name  in  so  absolute  a  manner 
to  himself?  The  unique  position  in  the  Church  of  St. 
John,  the  beloved  Apostle,  and  now  the  sole  surviving 
Apostle,  the  one  remaining  link  between  the  faithful  of 
that  time  and  of  the  human  lifetime  of  their  Lord,  abun- 
dantly justified  in  him  what  would  have  ill  become  any 
other ;  just  as  a  king  or  queen,  as  representative  persons 
in  a  nation,  fitly  sign  by  their  Christian  names  only,  but 
none  beside  them.  Thus  there  are  many  at  this  day  who 
bear  the  name  of  Victoria,  but  only  one  who  signs  herself 
by  this  and  no  other  name.  Despite  of  all  which  has  been 
urged  to  avoid  this  conclusion,  it  is  assuredly  either  John 
the  Apostle  and  Evangelist  who  writes  the  Apocalypse; 
or  one  who,  assuming  his  title  and  style,  desires  to  pass 
himself  off  as  John — in  other  words  a  falsariun.  Are  the 
opposers  of  St.  John's  authorship  of  this  Book  prepared  for 
the  alternative  ? 

Of  the  seven  Churches  which  St.  John  addresses  here 
there  will  be  better  opportunity  of  speaking  in  particular 
when  we  reach  the  nominal  enumeration  of  them  (ver.  11); 
but  as  only  here  they  are  described  as  Churches  '  in  Asiaf 
it  may  be  well  to  say  something  of  the  '  Asia '  which  is 
intended.  We  may  trace  two  opposite  movements  going 
on  in  the  names  of  countries,  analogous  to  like  move- 
ments which  are  continually  finding  place  in  other  words. 
Sometimes  they  grow  more  and  more  inclusive,  are  applied 
in  their  later  use  to  far  wider  tracts  of  the  earth  than 
they  were  in  their  earlier.     It  is  thus  with   the   name 

b  2 


4  EriSTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES   IN    ASIA.        [i.  4. 

'  Italy.'  Designating  at  one  time  only  the  extreme 
southern  point  of  the  central  peninsula  of  Europe,  the 
name  crept  on  and  up,  till  in  the  time  of  Augustus  it 
obtained  the  meaning  which  it  has  ever  since  retained, 
including  all  within  the  Alps.  So  too  *  Germany  '  was  once 
no  more  than  a  little  corner  on  the  left  bank  of  the  lower 
Ehine  (Grimm,  Gesch.  der  Deutschen  Sprache,  p.  785). 
'France,'  'Burgundy,'  'Switzerland,'  'Holland' are  all  later 
examples  of  the  same  gradual  expansion  of  meaning  which 
names  of  countries  have  undergone.  Other  names,  on  the 
contrary,  once  of  the  widest  reach,  gradually  contract  their 
meaning,  till  in  the  end  they  designate  no  more  than  a 
minute  fraction  of  that  which  they  designated  at  the  be- 
ginning. '  Asia '  furnishes  a  good  example  of  this.  In  the 
New  Testament,  as  generally  in  the  language  of  men  when 
the  New  Testament  was  written,  '  Asia  '  meant  not  what 
it  now  means  for  us,  and  had  once  meant  for  the  Greeks, 
one  namely  of  the  three  great  continents  of  the  old  world 
(iEschylus,  Prom.  Vinct.  412;  Pindar,  Olymp.  vii.  18; 
Herodotus,  iv.  38),  nor  yet  even  that  region  which  geo- 
graphers about  the  fourth  century  of  our  era  began  to  call 
'  Asia  Minor ; '  but  a  strip  of  the  western  sea-board  contain- 
ing hardly  a  third  portion  of  this  ( cf.  1  Pet.  i.  1 ;  Acts  ii.  9  ; 
vi.  9).  '  Asia  vestra,'  says  Cicero  (Pro  Flacc.27),  addressing 
some  Asiatics,  'constat  ex  Phrygia,  Mysia,  Caria,  Lydia ; ' 
its  limits  being  nearly  identical  with  those  of  the  kingdom 
which  Attalus  III.  bequeathed  (b.c.  133)  to  the  Eoman 
people  (see  Wieseler,  Chronol.  p.  31-35).  Take  '  Asia '  in 
this  sense,  and  there  may  be  little  or  no  exaggeration  in  the 
words  of  the  Ephesian  silversmith,  that  '  almost  through- 
out all  Asia '  Paul  had  turned  away  much  people  from  the 
service  of  idols  (Acts  xix.  26;  cf.  ver.  10);  words  which  must 
seem  to  exceed  even  the  limits  of  an  angry  hyperbole  to 


I.  4.]  INTRODUCTION,    REV.    I.    /J.-20.  5 

those  not  acquainted  with  this  restricted  use  of  the  term. 
On  the  history  of  the  word  '  Asia '  and  what  at  different 
times  it  was  taken  to  include  or  exclude,  see  an  excellent 
note  in  Lee  on  Rev.  i.  4,  in  the  Speaker's  Commentary. 

'  Grace  be  unto  you,  and  peace,  from  Him  which  is 
and  which  ivas,  and  which  is  to  come' — This  opening 
salutation  may  fitly  remind  us  (for  in  reading  the  Apoca- 
lypse we  are  often  in  danger  of  forgetting  it),  that  the 
Book  is  an  Epistle,  that,  besides  containing  within  its  bo- 
som those  seven  briefer  Epistles  addressed  severally  to  the 
seven  Churches  in  particular,  it  is  itself  an  Epistle  addressed 
to  them  as  a  whole,  and  as  representing  in  their  mystic 
unity  all  the  Churches,,  or  the  Church  (ii.  7,  11,  23,  &c). 
Of  this  larger  Epistlef  namely  the  Apocalypse  itself,  these 
seven  Churches  are  the  original  receivers  ;  not  as  having 
a  nearer  or  greater  interest  in  it  than  any  other  portion  of 
the  Universal  Church ;  though  as  members  of  that  Church 
they  have  an  interest  in  it  as  near  and  great  as  can  be 
conceived  (i.  3  ;  xxii.  18,  19);  but  on  account  of  this  their 
representative  character,  of  which  there  will  be  occasion 
presently  to  speak.  And  being  such  an  Epistle,  it  opens 
with  the  most  frequently  recurring  apostolic  salutation  : 
1  Grace  and  peace'  This  is  the  constant  salutation  of  St. 
Paul  (Rom.  i.  7  ;  1  Cor.  i.  3,  &c),  with  only  the  exception 
of  his  two  Epistles  to  Timothy,  where  '  mercy '  finds  place 
between  '  grace  and  peace  '  (cf.  2  John  3) ;  the  salutation 
also  of  St.  Peter  in  both  his  Epistles  ;  while  St.  James 
employs  the  less  distinctively  Christian  *  greeting'  (^alpsiv, 
i.  1  ;  cf.  Acts  xxiii.  26). — On  the  departure  from  the  or- 
dinary rules  of  grammar,  and  apparent  violation  of  them 
in  the  words,  airo  6  cov,  koI  6  rjv,  kcl\  6  ip-^o/xsvos,  there 
will  presently  be  something  more  to  say.  Doubtless 
the    immutability    of    God,    '  the    same   yesterday,   and 


6  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.        [1.4. 

to-day,  and  for  ever'  (Heb.  xiii.  8),  is  intended  to  be 
expressed  in  this  immutability  of  the  name  of  (rod,  in  this 
absolute  resistance  to  change  or  even  modification  which 
that  name  here  presents.  '  I  am  the  Lord ;  I  change  not ' 
(Mai.  iii.  6),  this  is  what  is  here  declared ;  and  there  could 
be  no  stronger  consolation  for  the  faithful  than  thus  to  be 
reminded  that  He  who  is  from  everlasting  to  everlasting, 
'  with  whom  is  no  variableness,  neither  shadow  of  turning ' 
(Jam.  i.  17),  was  on  their  side;  how  then  should  they  'be 
afraid  of  a  man  that  shall  die,  and  the  son  of  man  which 
shall  be  made  as  grass'  (Isai.  li.  12,  13)? 

And  yet  we  must  not  understand  the  words,  '  and  which 
is  to  come,'  as  though  they  declared  the  '  aeternitas  a  parte 
post '  in  the  same  way  as  *  which  webs'1  expresses  the  'arter- 
nitas  a  parte  ante.''  It  is  difficult  to  understand  how  so 
many  should  assume  without  further  question  that  6  spx^- 
fisvos  here  is  =  6  saofxsvos,  and  that  thus  we  have  the  eter- 
nity of  God  expressed  here,  so  far  as  it  can  be  expressed, 
in  forms  of  time :  '  He  who  was,  and  is,  and  shall  be.''  On 
the  inadequacy  and  imperfection  of  all  such  language 
see  Plato,  Timceus,  38  A.  But  how  6  sp^o^evos  should 
ever  have  this  significance  it  is  hard  to  perceive.  There  is 
a  certain  ambiguity  about  our  translation ;  it  cannot  be 
accused  of  incorrectness ;  yet,  on  the  other  hand,  one  does 
not  feel  sure  that  when  our  Translators  rendered,  '  ivhich 
is  to  come,''  they  did  not  mean  *  which  is  to  be.'  The 
Eheims,  which  is  here  kept  right  by  the  Vulgate  ('  et  qui 
venturus  est,s),  so  renders  the  words  as  to  exclude  ambi- 
guity, '  and  which  shall  come.''  If  any  urge  that  '  ivhich 
is,  and  vjhich  was,'  present  and  past,  require  to  be  com- 
pleted with  a  future,  '  and  which  shall  be,'  to  this  it  may 
be  replied,  that  plainly  they  do  not  require  to  be  so  com- 
pleted, seeing  that  at  xi.  17,  no  such  complement  finds 


I.  4. J  INTRODUCTION,    REV.    I.    4.-20.  7 

place  ;  for  the  words  koI  6  ipx6/j,svo$  have  no  right  to  a 
place  there  in  the  text ;  and  in  strong  confirmation  of  the 
other  interpretation,  they  are  left  out  exactly  because,  ac- 
cording to  it,  they  would  now  be  inappropriate ;  for  He  is 
there  contemplated  as  actually  having  come  (st\v4>as  ttjv 
Svva/xtv  (tov).  And  then,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  every 
thing  to  recommend  the  grammatical  interpretation.  What 
is  the  key-note  to  this  whole  Book  ?  Surely  it  is,  '  Mara- 
natha,'  '  Our  Lord  cometh.'  The  world  seems  to  have 
all  things  its  own  way,  to  kill  my  servants  ;  but  I  come 
quickly.'  With  this  announcement  the  Book  begins,  i.  7  ; 
with  this  it  ends,  xxii.  7,  12,  20;  and  this  is  a  constantly 
recurring  note  through  it  all,  ii.  5,  16;  iii.  11  ;  vi.  17  ; 
xi.  18  ;  xiv.  7  ;  xvi.  15  ;  xviii.  20.  It  is  Christ's  word  of 
comfort,  or,  where  they  need  it,  of  warning,  to  his  friends  ; 
of  terror  to  his  foes.  We  may  say,  indeed,  that  in  some 
sort  6  ip^6/j,svo9  is  a  proper  name  of  our  Lord  (Matt.  xi.  3  ; 
Luke  vii.  19,  20;  Heb.  x.  37  ;  John  i.  15,  27 ;  cf.  Mai.  iii. 
1  ;  Hab.  ii.  3).  Delitzsch  :  'Es  heisst  6  ip^ofisvos,  nicht 
iXsuaofisvos,  denn  seit  seiner  Auffahrt  ist  Er  und  sein  Tag 
fort  und  fort  im  Kommen  begriffen,  so  dass  immer  von 
seiner  Nahe  die  Eede  seyn  kann,  und  seine  Erscheinung 
jederzeit  zu  erwarten  ist.'  Origen  further  notes  the  evi- 
dence which  this  language,  rightly  interpreted,  yields  for 
the  equal  divinity  of  the  Son  with  the  Father  (De  Princ. 
§  10):  '  Ut  autem  unam  et  eandem  omnipotentiam  Patris 
ac  Filii  esse  cognoscas,  audi  hoc  modo  Joamiem  in  Apoca- 
lypsi  dicentem,  Hasc  dicit  Dominus  Deus,  qui  est,  et  qui 
erat,  et  qui  venturus  est,  Omnipotens.  Qui  enim  venturus 
est,  quis  est  alius  nisi  Christus?'  Compare  Hengstenberg, 
Authentie  des  Pentateuches,  vol.  i.  pp.  236-250. — There 
should  be  no  comma  dividing  '  which  is  '  from  the  clause 
following,  '  and  which  was.'     These  rather  form  one  sen- 


8  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.        [1.4. 

tence,  which  is  to  be  balanced  with  the  other,  '  and  ivhich 
is  to  come.''  How  the  Seer  himself  interprets  the  last 
clause  of  this  description  is  clear  from  Kev.  ii.  17,  where 
they  find  no  place  in  the  text  (they  are  omitted  rightly  in 
the  R.  V.) ;  and  why  omitted  ?  because  they  belong  to  a 
time  when  Christ  had  already  come. 

*  A  nd  from  the  seven  Spirits  ivhich  are  before  his 
throne.' — Compare  iii.  1  ;  iv.  5  ;  v.  6.  Some  have  under- 
stood by '  the  seven  Spirits,'  the  seven  principal  Angels,  the 
heavenly  realities  of  which  '  the  seven  princes  of  Persia 
and  Media,  which  saw  the  king's  face,  and  which  sat  the 
first  in  the  kingdom'  (Esth.  i.  14),  the  'seven  counsellors' 
(Ezra  vii.  14),  were  a  kind  of  earthly  copy.  Room  for 
these  seven  Angels  had  been  found  in  the  later  Jewish 
angelology  (Tob.  xii.  15),  and  the  seal  of  allowance  set  on 
the  number  seven  in  this  very  Book  (Rev.  viii.  2).  And 
these  have  not  been  merely  Roman  Catholic  expositors, 
such  as  Bossuet  and  Ribera,  tempted  to  this  interpretation 
by  their  zeal  to  find  any  support  for  the  worshipping  of 
Angels  ;  but  others  with  no  such  temptations,  as  Beza, 
Hammond,  Mede  (in  a  sermon  on  Zech.  iv.  10,  Works, 
1672,  p.  40.  cf.  pp.  833,  908);  and  Ewald.  They  claim 
some  of  the  Fathers  for  predecessors  in  the  same  line  of 
interpretation;  as  Hilary,  for  example  (Tract. in  Ps.  118, 
Lit.  21,  §  5).  Clement  of  Alexandria  is  also  claimed  by 
Hammond  ;  but  neither  in  the  passage  cited,  nor  in  the 
context  (Strom,  vi.  16),  can  I  find  that  he  affirms  anything 
of  the  kind.  But  this  interpretation,  which  after  all  is 
that  of  a  small  minority  either  of  ancients  or  moderns, 
must  be  rejected  without  hesitation.  Angels,  often  as  they 
are  mentioned  in  this  Book,  are  never  called  '  Spirits.'  So 
also,  in  testimony  of  their  ministering  condition,  their 
creaturely  state,  they  always  stand  (Rev.  viii.  2  ;  Luke  i.  1 9 ; 


I.  4.]  INTRODUCTION,    EEV.    I.    4~20.  9 

1  Kin.  xxii.  19,  21),  but  the  Spirits  'are'  (sarlv)  before 
the  throne.  Again,  how  it  is  possible  to  conceive  the  Apostle 
desiring  '  grace  and  peace'  to  the  Church  from  the  Angels, 
let  them  be  the  chiefest  Angels  which  are,  or  from  any  but 
from  God  alone,  who  is  the  God  of  all  grace  ?  Or  how  can 
we  imagine  Angels,  created  beings,  interposed  here  between 
the  Father  and  the  Son,  and  thus  set  as  upon  an  equal 
level  with  Them;  the  Holy  Ghost  meanwhile  being  passed 
by,  as  according  to  this  interpretation  He  must  be,  in  this 
solemn  salutation  of  the  Churches?  Where,  again,  would 
be  the  singular  glory  claimed  for  Himself  by  the  Son  in 
those  words,  '  He  that  hath  the  seven  Spirits  of  God  ' 
(iii.  1)?  what  transcendant  prerogative  in  the  fact  that 
these  Angels,  with  all  other  created  things,  were  within  his 
dominion  ? 

There  can  then  be  no  serious  controversy  on  this  point. 
By  '  the  seven  Spirits  '  we  must  understand,  not  indeed  the 
sevenfold  operations  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  but  the  Holy 
Ghost  sevenfold  in  his  operations  ;  '  that  doth  his  seven- 
fold gifts  impart.'  Neither  need  there  be  any  difficulty  in 
reconciling  this  interpretation,  as  Mede  urges,  with  the 
doctrine  of  his  personality.  It  is  only  that  He  is  regarded 
here  not  so  much  in  his  personal  unity  as  in  his  manifold 
energies ;  just  as  light,  being  one,  does  yet  in  the  prism 
separate  itself  into  its  seven  colours  ;  for  '  there  are  diver- 
sities of  gifts,  but  the  same  Spirit '  ( I  Cor.  xii.  4).  The 
matter  could  not  be  put  better  than  by  Eichard  of  St.  Vic- 
tor :  '  Et  a  septem  Spiritibus,  id  est,  a  septiformi  Spiritu, 
qui  simplex  quidem  est  per  naturam,  septiformis  per  gra- 
tiam ; '  and  compare  Delitzsch,  Bibl.  Psychologie,  pp.  34, 
147.  The  manifold  gifts,  operations,  energies  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  are  here  represented  under  the  number  seven,  being, 
as  it  is,  the  number  of  completeness  in  the  Church,     We 


10  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.         [l.   5- 

have  anticipations  of  this  in  the  Old  Testament.  When 
the  prophet  Isaiah  would  describe  how  the  Spirit  should 
be  given  not  by  measure  to  Him  whose  name  is  '  The 
Branch,'  the  enumeration  of  the  gifts  is  sevenfold  (xi.  2)  ; 
and  the  seven  eyes  which  rest  upon  the  stone  which  the 
Lord  has  laid  can  mean  nothing  else  but  this  (Zech.  iii.  9. 
cf.  iv.  10  ;  Eev.  v.  6).  On  the  number  '  seven,'  and  its 
significance  in  Scripture  and  elsewhere,  above  all  in  this 
Book,  there  will  be  something  to  be  said  presently. 

Ver.  5.  '  And  from  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  the  faithful 
Witness.'' — In  the  last  of  these  seven  Epistles  He  calls 
Himself  '  the  faithful  and  true  Witness  '  (iii.  14) ;  as, 
therefore,  we  shall  meet  these  words  again,  and  they  will 
be  there  more  conveniently  dealt  with,  I  shall  content  my- 
self now  with  quoting  Eichard  of  St.  Victor's  noble  comment 
upon  them :  '  Testis  fidelis,  quia  de  omnibus  quae  per  Eum 
testificanda  erant  in  mundo  testimonium  fidele  perhibuit. 
Testis  fidelis,  quia  quaecunque  audivit  a  Batre  fideliter  dis- 
cipulis  suis  nota  fecit.  Testis  fidelis,  quia  viam  Dei  in  veri- 
tate  docuit,nec  Ei  cura  de  aliquo  fuit,nec  personas  hominum 
respexit.  Testis  fidelis,  quia  reprobis  damnationem,  et 
electis  salvationem  nunciavit.  Testis  fidelis,  quia  verita- 
tem  quam  verbis  docuit,  miraculis  confirmavit.  Testis 
fidelis,  quia  testimonium  Sibi  a  Batre  nee  in  morte  negavit. 
Testis  fidelis,  quia  de  operibus  malorum  et  bonorum  in  die 
judicii  testimonium  verum  dabit.' — A  reference  to  the 
original,  where  the  nominative  6  fidprvs  6  ttlcttos  is  in 
apposition  to  the  genitive  'I^crou  XpLcrrov,  will  show  that 
we  have  here  one  of  the  many  departures  from  the 
ordinary  grammatical  construction,  with  which  this  Book 
abounds.  The  officious  emendations  of  transcribers  have 
caused  very  many  of  these,  though  not  this  one,  to  dis- 
appear from  our  received  text ;  but  in  any  critical  edition 


I.   5-]  INTRODUCTION,    REV.    I.    4- 20.  11 

of  the  Greek  original  the  multitude  of  such  is  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  of  the  external  features  of  the  Book.  To 
regard  them,  which  some  have  done,  as  evidences  of  St. 
John's  helplessness  in  the  management  of  Greek,  his  'un- 
beholfenheit'  therein,  as  Ewald  terms  it,  is  to  regard  them 
altogether  from  a  wrong  point  of  view.  Thus,  to  take  the 
case  immediately  before  us,  it  is  not  this  which  is  to 
explain  anything  anomalous  and  unusual  here,  but  rather 
that  the  doctrinal  interest  here  overbears  the  grammatical. 
Diisterdieck  very  well :  '  Das  Gewicht  der  Vorstellungen 
selbst  durchbricht  die  Schranken  der  regelrechten  Form  ; 
die  abrupte  Eedeweise  hebt  die  gewaltige  Selbst  standigkeit 
aller  drei  Predicate.'  At  all  costs  that  all-important  o 
fidpTvs  6  ttkttos,  with  the  other  two  titles  of  the  Lord 
which  follow,  shall  be  maintained  in  the  dignity  and  em- 
phasis of  the  casus  rectus.  Compare  xiv.  1 2  ;  and  xx.  2, 
where  6  6(pts  6  dp^alos  (changed  in  the  received  text  into 
tov  6<piv  rbv  dpyalov),  is  in  like  manner  in  apposition  to 
rov  SpaKovra ;  but  above  all,  and  as  making  quite  clear  that 
St.  John  adopted  these  constructions  with  his  eyes  open, 
and  for  a  distinct  purpose,  the  remarkable  diro  6  mv  k.  t.  X. 
of  the  verse  preceding  that  now  under  consideration.1 

'  And  the  first  begotten  of  the  dead? — Cf.  Col.  i.  1 8, 
where  very  nearly  the  same  language  occurs,  and  the  same 
title  is  given  to  the  Lord  :  6  TrpwToroKos  twv  veicpoiv  here, 
irpcoroTOKos  sk  twv  vsKpwv  there.  The  phrases  are  not 
precisely  identical  in  meaning  ;  and  even  were  they  so, 
the  suggestion  of  Hengstenberg,  that  St.  John  here  builds 
upon  St.  Paul,  setting  his  seal  to  the  prior  Apostle's  word, 


1  There  is  a  good  discussion  on  these  grammatical  anomalies  in 
the  Apocalypse  in  Lucke's  Einleitung  zur  Offenb.  2d  edit.  pp.  458-464. 
For  an  exactly  parallel  case  in  English,  and  from  the  same  motives, 
see  Paradise  Lost,  vi.  900. 


12  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.        [i.  5. 

seems  to  me  highly  unnatural.  Glorious  as  this  language 
is,  who  does  not  feel  how  easily  two  Apostles,  quite  in- 
dependent of  one  another,  might  have  arrived  at  it  to  ex- 
press the  same  blessed  truth  ?  Christ  is  indeed  '  the  first 
begotten  of  the  dead,''  notwithstanding  that  such  raisings 
from  the  grave  as  that  of  the  widow's  son,  and  Jairus's 
daughter,  and  Lazarus,  and  his  who  revived  at  the  touch  of 
Elisha's  bones  (2  Kin.  xiii.  2 1 ),  went  before.  '  None  of  them 
could  be  truly  said  to  be  "  begotten  from  the  dead,"  but 
rather  begotten  to  die  again ;  for  to  be  born  and  begotten 
from  the  dead  includes  an  everlasting  freedom  from  the 
power  and  approach  of  death  '  (Jackson).  There  was  for 
them  no  repeal  of  the  sentence  of  death,  but  a  respite 
only ;  not  to  say  that  even  during  their  period  of  respite 
they  carried  about  with  them  a  body  of  death.  Christ  first 
so  rose  from  the  dead,  that  He  left  death  for  ever  behind 
Him ;  did  not,  and  could  not,  die  any  more  (Rom.  vi.  9) ; 
in  this  respect  was  '  the  first-fruits  of  them  that  slept ' 
(1  Cor.  xv.  20,  23),  '  the  Prince  of  life  '  (Acts  iii.  15).  Al- 
cuin  :  '  Primogenitus  ideo  dicitur  quia  nullus  ante  Ipsum 
non  moriturus  surrexit.'  In  this  'first  begotten  of  the  dead ' 
(or  '  first  born  from  the  dead,'  as  it  is  at  Col.  i.  1 8),  I  do 
not  see  the  image  of  the  grave  as  the  womb  that  bare 
Him  (\vcras  ras  doBlvas  rov  davdrov,  Acts  ii.  24)  ;  but, 
remembering  how  often  riKT£iv  =  ysvvav,  I  should  rather 
put  this  passage  in  connexion  with  Ps.  ii.  7,  '  Thou  art  my 
Son  ;  this  day  have  I  begotten  Thee.'  It  will  doubtless  be 
remembered  that  St.  Paul  (Acts  xiii.  33  ;  cf.  Heb.  i.  5) 
claims  the  fulfilment  of  these  words  not  in  the  eternal 
generation  before  all  time  of  the  Son  ;  still  less  in  his 
human  conception  in  the  Blessed  Virgin's  womb  ;  but 
rather  in  his  resurrection  from  the  dead  ;  '  declared  to 
be  the  Son  of  God  with  power  by  the  resurrection  from 


I.  5.]  INTRODUCTION,    REV.    I.    4~20.  13 

the  dead '  (Rom.  i.  4).  On  that  verse  in  Ps.  ii.,  and  with 
reference  to  Acts  xiii.  32,  Hilary  (the  depth  and  theologi- 
cal value  of  whose  commentaries  on  Scripture  seem  to  me 
at  this  day  very  imperfectly  recognized),  has  these  words : 
'  Filius  meus  es  Tu,  Ego  hodie  genui  Te ;  non  ad  Virginis 
partum,  neque  ad  earn  quse  ante  tempora  est  generationem, 
sed  ad  primogenitum  ex  mortuis  pertinere  apostolica  auc- 
toritas  est.'  To  Him  first,  to  Him  above  all  others,  God 
said  on  that  day  when  He  raised  Him  from  the  dead, 
and  gave  Him  glory,  '  Thou  art  my  Son  ;  this  day  have  I 
begotten  Thee.' 

'  And  the  Prince  of  the  Icings  of  the  earth.'' — A  mani- 
fest reference  to  Ps.  ii.  2,  where  the  '  kings  of  the  earth ' 
(cf.  Rev.  vi.  15,  for  the  same  phrase  used  in  the  same 
sense)  appear  in  open  rebellion  against  the  Christ  of  God  ; 
cf.  Acts  iv.  26 ;  Ps.  ex.  5  ;  lxxxix.  27 ;  Isai.  Hi.  15  ;  Matt. 
xxviii.  18.  Such  a  '  Prince  of  the  kings  of  the  earth  '  He 
becomes  in  the  exaltation  which  follows  on  his  humiliation, 
and  which  is  directly  connected  with  it  (Phil.  ii.  9;  Ps. 
lxxxix.  27)  ;  and  shows  Himself  such  at  his  glorious  com- 
ing, as  set  forth  in  the  later  parts  of  this  Book,  '  Lord  of 
lords,  and  King  of  kings  '  (xvii.  14  ;  xix.  16)  ;  breaking  in 
pieces  all  of  those  '  kings  of  the  earth''  who  set  themselves 
in  battle  array  against  Him,  receiving  the  homage  of  all 
who  are  wise  in  time  (Ps.  ii.  10-12),  and  bring  their  glory 
and  honour  to  lay  them  at  his  feet,  and  to  receive  them 
back  at  his  hands  (Rev.  xxi.  24). 

'  Unto  Him  that  hath  loved  us,  and  washed  us  from 
our  sins  in  his  oivn  blood.' — The  words  are  richer  still  in 
comfort,  when  we  read,  as  we  ought,  a^airwvri  and  not 
a<yaTn'](javTL :  'Unto  Him  that  loveth  us,'  whose  love  rests 
evermore  on  his  redeemed.  There  is  in  the  theology  of 
the  Greek  Church  an  old  and  often-recurring  play  on  the 


14  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.        [i.   5. 

words  Xvrpov  and  Xovrpov,  words  so  nearly  allied  in  sound, 
and  both  expressing  so  well,  though  under  images  entirely 
diverse,  the  central  benefits  which  redound  to  us  through 
the  sacrifice  of  the  death  of  Christ.  It  is  indeed  older 
than  this,  and  is  implicitly  involved  in  the  etymology  of 
Apollo,  which  Plato,  in  jest  or  in  earnest,  puts  into  the 
mouth  of  Socrates  (C7'atylus,  405  b)  :  6  cittoXovwv  rs  ical 
cnroXvwv  rcov  /catcwv,  these  nana  being  impurities  of  the 
body  and  of  the  soul.  This  near  resemblance  between 
Xvuv  and  Xovsiv  has  given  rise  to  a  very  interesting  variety 
of  readings  here.  Whichever  reading  we  adopt,  Xvaavrc 
or  Xovaavri,  '  who  hath  released  its,'  or  '  ivho  hath  toashed 
us,'  the  words  yield  a  beautiful  meaning,  as  in  either  case 
they  link  themselves  on  to  a  whole  circle  of  imagery  already 
hallowed  and  consecrated  by  Scripture  use.  If  we  adopt 
Xvcravri,  as  does  the  E.  V.,  the  passage  connects  itself 
then  with  all  those  which  speak  of  Christ  having  given 
Himself  as  a  Xvrpov  (Matt.  xx.  28),  as  an  avTiXyrpov  for 
us  (1  Tim.  ii.  6.  cf.  I  Pet.  i.  18  ;  Heb.  ix.  12);  as  redeem- 
ing or  purchasing  us  (Gal.  iii.  13  ;  iv.  5  ;  Kev.  v.  9;  xiv. 
3,  4) ;  and  somewhat  more  remotely  with  as  many  as 
describe  the  condition  of  sin  as  a  condition  of  bondage, 
sinners  as  servants  of  sin  (John  vi.  17,  20;  viii.  34; 
2  Pet.  ii.  19),  and  Christ  as  having  obtained  freedom  for 
us  (John  viii.  33,  36;  Eom.  viii.  21  ;  Gal.  v.  1).  If  on 
the  other  hand  we  read  Xovcravri,  then  the  passage  con- 
nects itself  with  such  other  as  Ps.  Ii.  4;  Isai.  i„  16,  18; 
Ezek.  xxxvi.  25  ;  Kev.  vii.  14  ;  as  Acts  xxii.  16;  Ephes. 
v.  26 ;  Tit.  iii.  5  ;  so,  too,  with  all  those  which  describe  the 
KaOapi&iv  as  the  object  (Eph.  v.  26;  Tit.  ii.  14;  Heb. 
ix.  14),  the  KaOapia-puos  as  the  fruit,  of  Christ's  death 
(Heb.  i.  3  ;  2  Pet.  i.  9) ;  and  somewhat  more  remotely 
with  as  many  as  under  types  of  the  Levitical  law  set 


I.  6.]  INTKODUCTION,    KEY.    I.    4-20.  15 

forth  the  benefits  of  this  heavenly  washing  (Num.  xix. 
17-21).  The  weight  of  external  evidence  is  so  nearly 
balanced  that  it  is  very  difficult  to  say  on  which  side  it 
predominates.  The  equilibrium  of  the  scale  is  clearly 
marked  by  the  way  in  which  the  critical  editions  are 
divided  here.  The  R.  V.  which,  as  we  have  seen,  has 
adopted  Xvaavrt,  has  yet  thought  it  right  to  append 
these  words,  '  Many  authorities,  some  ancient,  read  Xov- 
aavrt.'  Keeping  in  view  the  poetic  character  of  this 
Book,  XovcravrL  certainly  seems  preferable  to  the  compara- 
tively prosaic  Xvaravn.  Then,  too,  while  it  is  quite  true 
that  redemption  may  be  contemplated  as  a  \vsiv  kv  too 
aifiart,  by  better  right,  and  with  imagery  livelier  still,  it 
may  be  set  forth  as  a  Xoveiv  h  r<p  ai^art.  Nor  can  it  be 
denied,  if  we  interpret  this  Book,  as  clearly  we  ought, 
from  itself  rather  than  from  any  other  part  even  of  Scrip- 
ture itself,  that  Rev.  vii.  14  points  strongly  this  way. 

Ver.  6.  '  And  hath  made  us  kings  and  priests  unto 
God  and  his  Father.' — Or  rather,  and  according  to  the 
reading  which  must  be  preferred,  *  And  hath  made  us  a 
kingdom  [siroirjasv  fjfias  fiaaiXsiav],  priests  unto  God 
and  his  Father '  (' Et  fecit  nos  regnum,  [et]  sacerdotes 
Deo,'  Vulgate).  There  is  a  certain  apparent  inconcinnity 
in  the  abstract  ftaaiXsiav  joined  with  the  concrete  Ispsls, 
but  there  can  be  no  question  about  the  reading,  and  the 
meaning  remains  exactly  the  same  ;  except,  indeed,  that 
instead  of  the  emphasis  being  equally  distributed  between 
the  two  words,  the  larger  portion  of  it  now  falls  on  the 
first ;  and  this  agrees  with  the  prominence  given  to  the 
reigning  of  the  saints  in  this  Book  (v.  10  ;  xx.  4,  6 ;  xxii. 
5.  cf.  Dan.  vii.  18,  22). — The  royal  priesthood  of  the  re- 
deemed (see  Exod.  xix.  6 ;  I  Pet.  ii.  9)  flows  out  of  the 
royal  priesthood  of  the  Redeemer,  a  Priest  for  ever  after 


16  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.        [i.  6. 

the  order  of  Melchizedek  (Ps.  ex.  4;  Zech.  vi.  13  ;  Heb.  v. 
10;  vii.  17).  That  the  whole  number  of  the  redeemed 
shall  in  the  world  of  glory  have  been  made  'priests  unto 
God '  is  the  analogue  as  regards  persons  to  the  new  Jeru- 
salem being  without  temple,  or,  in  other  words,  being  all 
temple,  which  is  declared  further  on  (xxi.  22  ;  cf.  Tsai.  iv. 
5,  6).  It  is  the  abolition  of  every  distinction  between 
holy  and  profane  (Zech.  xiv.  20,  21),  nearer  and  more 
remote  from  God,  not  through  all  being  henceforward  pro- 
fane, which  will  be  Antichrist's  reconciliation  of  the  con- 
tradictions between  the  flesh  and  the  spirit,  but  through 
all  being  henceforth  holy,  all  being  brought  the  nearest 
whereof  it  is  capable,  to  God. 

'  To  Him  be  glory  and  dominion  for  ever  and  ever. 
Amen.'' — A  few  words  on  the  doxologies,  or  ascriptions  of 
glory  to  God,  which  are  found  in  the  New  Testament,  and 
in  which  the  Book  of  Eevelation  is  pre-eminently  rich,  may 
here  fitly  find  place.  Great  variety  reigns  in  these.  Some 
are  much  fuller  than  others  ;  nor  is  this  the  only  way  in 
which  they  assert  their  liberty,  and  make  plain  that  they 
are  not  restricted  to  any  fixed  words  or  order  of  words. 
Not  seldom  the  doxology  is  single ;  thus  at  Eom.  xi.  36  ; 
xvi.  27  ;  at  both  which  places  86%a  by  itself  comprehends 
all  of  glorious  which  is  ascribed  to  God  ;  while  at  Eev.  vii. 
10,  (TcoTrjpia  stands  single  in  the  same  way.  Sometimes  it 
is  twofold :  thus,  at  1  Tim.  i.  17,  ripJ]  and  So£a. ;  at  I  Pet. 
iv.  11,  Soga  and  Kpdros ;  at  v.  1 1  and  at  Eev.  v.  13,  the 
same  ;  at  1  Tim.  vi.  16,  rifir/  and  Kpdros.  We  have  next 
the  threefold  ascription.  Of  this  we  have  an  example  at 
Eev.  xix.  1,  crcoTrjpia,  86%a  and  Svva/Ais,  and  another  at 
Eev.  iv.  11.  Sometimes  the  doxology  is  fourfold  :  thus, 
at  Eev.  v.  13,  sv\oyla,  rip,rj,  Z6%a,  Kpdros  ;  and  again  at 
Jude  25,  Sctja,  fisyaXcoaivrj,  Kpdros,  i^ovaia.     Sometimes 


I.  7.]  INTRODUCTION,    KEY.    I.    4.-20.  17 

the  ascription  is  sevenfold.  It  is  so  at  Eev.  v.  12  : 
hvva/jus,  7t\ovtos,  aocf^ta,  sv^aptaTta,  tc/jl/],  86£ja,  svXoyia  ; 
and  again  at  vii.  1 2  ;  with  a  noticeable  change  in  the  suc- 
cession of  the  words,  as  well  as  the  introduction  of  a  new 
word  in  each  :  svXoyla,  86£a,  cro<pta,  zvyapuxria,  Tijxr), 
SvvapLis,  la^us.  When  we  count  up  these,  and  the  fre- 
quency of  their  several  recurrence,  86ga,  which  St.  Basil 
does  but  poorly  define  as  6  airo  ttoWoop  snraivos,  appears, 
as  might  be  expected,  the  oftenest — no  less  than  ten  times  ; 
rtfii],  six  times ;  /cpdros,  as  many;  Suvap,ts,  three  times; 
evXojia,  as  often ;  crocpia,  twice ;  au^apccrrLa,  as  often  ; 
crcDTrjpLa,  f^syaXwauvi],  s^ovcrta,  7t\outos,  la^vs,  each  of 
these  but  once.1  A  study  of  doxological  words,  or  of  words 
doxologically  used,  with  an  accurate  comparison  of  them 
one  with  the  other,  would  very  amply  repay  the  pains 
bestowed  upon  it ;  above  all  as  it  served  to  remind  us  of 
the  prominence  which  the  doxological  element  assumes 
in  the  highest  worship  of  the  Church,  the  very  subordi- 
dinate  place  which  it  oftentimes  takes  in  ours.  We  can 
perhaps  make  our  requests  known  unto  God ;  and  this  is 
well,  for  it  is  prayer;  but  to  give  glory  to  God,  quite 
apart  from  anything  to  be  directly  gotten  by  ourselves  in 
return,  to  give  thanks  to  Him  for  his  great  glory,  this  is 
better,  for  it  is  adoration  ;  but  if  better,  it  is  rarer  too. 

Ver.  7.  '  Behold,  He  cometh  with  clouds,'  or  '  with  the 
clouds.'' — The  constant  recurrence  of  this  language  in  all 
descriptions  of  our  Lord's  second  advent  is  very  remark- 
able (Dan.  vii.  13;  Matt.  xxiv.  30;  xxvi.  64;  Mark  xiv. 
62),  and  all  the  meaning  of  the  announcement  will  scarcely 
be  attained  till  that  great  day  of  the  Lord   shall  have 


1  In  the  doxology  at  1  Ohron.  xxix.  11,  12,  the  only  one  which  I 
know  of  with  a  fivefold  ascription,  three  terms,  Kavxnpa,  vUrj,  dvpaareia, 
not  found  in  any  of  those  of  the  New  Testament,  occur. 

C 


18  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.        [i.  J. 

itself  arrived.  This  much  seems  certain,  namely,  that 
this  accompaniment  of  clouds  (it  is  fierce  iwv  vsfyskiov) 
belongs  not  to  the  glory  and  gladness,  hut  to  the  terror 
and  anguish,  of  that  day  ;  as  indeed  the  context  of  the 
present  passage  would  indicate.  These  clouds  have 
nothing  in  common  with  the  light-cloud,  the  vsfyskr) 
(fxorstv/]  (Matt.  xvii.  5),  'the  glorious  privacy  of  light' 
into  which  the  Lord  was  withdrawn  for  a  while  from  the 
eyes  of  his  disciples  at  the  Transfiguration,  but  are  rather 
the  symbols  of  wrath,  fit  accompaniments  of  judgment : 
'  Clouds  and  darkness  are  round  about  Him ;  righteousness 
and  judgment  are  the  habitation  of  his  throne  '  (Ps.  xcvii. 
2  ;  cf.  xviii.  II  ;  Nah.  i.  3  ;  Isai.  xix.  1  ;  cf.  Rev.  xi.  12). 
'  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.'  The  E.  V.  has  here 
for  *  kindreds '  '  tribes,''  and  for  '  wail '  '  mourn.' — It  will 
sometimes  happen  that  a  prophecy,  severe  in  the  Old 
Testament,  by  some  gracious  turn  will  be  transformed  from 
a  threat  to  a  promise  in  the  New ;  thus,  the  '  day  of  visita- 
tion '  of  the  Apostle  (1  Pet.  ii.  12),  and  of  his  Lord  (Luke 
xix.  44),  is  another  from  the  '  day  of  visitation '  of  the 
prophets  (Isai.  x.  3  ;  Jer.  viii.  1 2  ;  Hos.  ix.  7), — the  one 
a  day  to  be  hoped  for,  the  other  to  be  feared.  But  it 
is  not  so  here.  There  is  indeed  a  turn,  yet  not  from  the 
severe  to  the  gracious,  but  the  contrary.  The  words  of 
the  prophet  Zechariah  (xii.  10),  on  which  this  passage  and 
John  xix.  37  in  common  rest,  are  words  of  grace  :  '  They 
shall  look  upon  Me,  whom  they  have  pierced,  and  they 
shall  mourn  for  Him.'  They  express  the  profound  repent- 
ance of  the  Jews,  when  the  veil  shall  be  at  length  taken 
from  their  hearts,  and  they  shall  behold  in  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth, whom  they  crucified,  the  Son  of  God,  the  King  of 


I.  8.]  INTRODUCTION,    REV.    I.    4-20.  19 

Israel.  But  it  cannot  be  denied  that  in  their  adaptation 
here  they  speak  quite  another  language.  They  set  forth 
the  despair  of  the  sinful  world,  of '  all  the  tribes  of  the 
earth  '  (cf.  Matt.  xxiv.  30),  when  Christ  the  Judge  shall 
come  to  execute  judgment  on  all  that  obeyed  not  his 
gospel,  who  pierced  Him  with  their  sins ;  they  describe 
their  remorse  and  despair ;  but  give  no  hint  of  their  re- 
pentance. The  closing  words,  '  Even  so,  Amen,'  are  not 
to  be  taken  as  the  prophet's  devout  acquiescence  in  the 
terribleness  of  that  judgment-day, — a  comparison  with 
xxii.  20  might  easily  lead  an  English  reader  into  this  mis- 
understanding of  them, — but  as  (rod's  own  seal  and  ratifi- 
cation of  his  own  word. 

Ver.  8.  '  I  am  Alpha  and  Omega,  the  beginning  and 
the  ending,  saith  the  Lord.'' — Cf.  xxi.  6,  where  the  words 
'  the  beginning  and  the  ending '  have  a  right  to  a  place 
in  the  text ;  but  not  here ;  having  been  transferred  from 
thence,  without  any  authority  at  all.  He  who  is  '  Alpha 
and  Omega  '  (or  better, '  Alpha,  and  12 '),  and  thus  indeed 
'  the  beginning  and  the  ending  J  and  *  the  first  and  the 
last '  (i.  17  ;  ii.  8),  leaves  no  room  for  any  other ;  is  indeed 
the  only  I  AM  ;  and  beside  Him  there  is  no  God  (Isai. 
xli.  4;  xliii.  10;  xliv.  6;  xlviii.  12).  Thus  Clement  of 
Alexandria  (Strom,  iv.  25):  kvk\os  yap  6  Tibs  iraaS)v  rav 
Svvdfiscov  sis  sv  si\ovjjbsvcov  icai  kvovfisvcov  81a  tovto  "A\<pa 
Kal  Tfl  s'iprjrai :  and  Tertullian,  bringing  out  the  unity  of 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  and  the  manner  in  which 
the  glorious  consummations  of  the  latter  attach  themselves 
to  the  glorious  commencements  of  the  former  (De  Monog. 
5) :  '  Sic  et  duas  Graecise  litteras  summam  et  ultimam  sibi 
induit  Dominus,  initii  et  finis  concurrentium  in  se  figuras; 
uti  quemadmodum  a  ad  co  usque  volvitur,  et  rursus  a>  ad 
a  explicatur,  ita  ostenderet  in  se  esse  et  initii  decursum 

c  2 


20  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.        [i.  8. 

ad  finem,  et  finis  recursum  ad  initium  ;  ut  omnis  dispositio 
in  Eum  desinens,  per  quern  coepta  est,  per  Sermonem 
scilicet  Dei  qui  caro  factus  est,  proinde  desit  quemadmo- 
duni  et  ccepit' 

'  Which  is,  and  which  ivas,  and  which  is  to  come,  the 
Almighty.'' — Cf.  ver.  4.  Uavro/cpdrcop  occurs  several 
times  in  this  Book  (as  at  iv.  8 ;  xi.  17;  xxi.  22);  else- 
where only  once  in  the  New  Testament,  and  then  as  a 
quotation  from  the  Old  (2  Cor.  vi.  18).  We  have  always 
translated  it  '  Almighty,'  except  at  Kev.  xix.  6,  where  with 
a  very  sublime  effect  our  Saxon  '  Almighty '  is  exchanged 
for  the  Latin  '  Omnipotent.'  In  the  Septuagint  iravro- 
/cpdrayp  does  duty  for  two  Hebrew  words.  In  the  Book  of 
Job,  but  in  that  exclusively  (v.  17;  xv.  2  5  ;  xxvii.  2,  and 
often),  it  stands  for  ''W,  in  which  word  is  expressed  the 
strength,  force,  or  power  by  which  God  is  able  to  do  all 
things.  Elsewhere  it  is  used  by  the  Septuagint  Transla- 
tors as  one,  the  most  frequent,  but  by  no  means  the  only, 
rendering  of  niNIiy  nirr  (as  at  Jer.  iii.  19;  Amos  iii.  13  ; 
Hab.  ii.  13),  which  at  other  times  they  have  rendered  by 
icvpios  Bvvdfxscov,  or  arpcniwv,  or  crajSaoiO,  this  last  pre- 
ferred by  St.  Paul  (Kom.  ix.  29)  and  St.  James  (v.  4),  a 
title  expressing  the  rule  and  dominion  which  God  has  over 
all.  If  it  be  asked,  which  of  these  divine  titles  Christ  is 
claiming  here,  which  of  these  attributes  He  is  here  chal- 
lenging for  his  own,  omnipotence,  or  universal  dominion, 
— of  course  they  run  into  one  another,  but  still  are  capable 
of  being  distinguished — a  comparison  of  Rev.  iv.  8  with 
Isai.  vi.  3  leaves  no  doubt  that  it  is  the  last ;  '  dominion 
over  all,  and  the  rule  and  government  of  all '  (see  Pearson, 
On  the  Creed,  Art.  1  ;  Suicer,  Thes.  s.  v.).  In  the  Arian 
controversy  the  word  was  frequently  appealed  to  and  urged 
by  the  Catholics  in  proof  of  the  equal  divinity  of  the  Son, 


I.  9.]  INTRODUCTION,    REV.    I.    4--20.  21 

who  did  not  count  it  robbery  to  claim  it  for  his  own  ;  thus 
see  Gregory  of  Nyssa,  Con.  Eunom.  i.  2. 

Ver.  9.  '  /  John,  who  also  am  your  brother,  and  com- 
panion 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  testimony  of  Jesus 
Christ.'' — Daniel  alone  among  the  Prophets  of  the  Old 
Testament  uses  this  style — '  I  Daniel  '  (vii.  28 ;  ix.  2  ; 
x.  2) ;  it  is  one  of  the  many  points  of  resemblance,  small 
and  great,  between  this  Book  and  that  of  Daniel.  The  /cat, 
represented  by '  who  also  am '  in  our  Version,  and  modify- 
ing this  whole  clause,  should  have  no  place  in  the  text. 
It  may  have  been  suggested  by  1  Pet.  v.  1  ;  and  was  pro- 
bably inserted  by  some  who  esteemed  6  a8s\cf)6s  v/icov  too 
humble  a  title  for  one  of  the  chief  '  pillars '  of  the  Church ; 
and  by  that  ical  would  make  him  to  say,'  '  who,  being  an 
Apostle,  am  also  a  brother.' — It  has  been  sometimes 
asked,  When  was  that  prophecy  and  promise  fulfilled  con- 
cerning John,  that  he  should  drink  of  his  Lord's  cup,  and 
be  baptized  with  his  Lord's  baptism  (Matt.  xx.  22)?  The 
fulfilment,  so  far  as  his  brother  James  was  concerned,  is 
plain ;  when  the  sword  of  Herod  was  dyed  with  his  blood 
(Acts  xii.  2).  But  for  John  it  may  not  be  so  plain.  Origen, 
however,  no  doubt  gave  the  right  answer  long  ago  (in  Matt. 
torn.  xvi.  §  6,  in  fine):  that  threat  or  that  promise,  for  we 
may  call  it  either,  found  its  fulfilment  in  this  his  banish- 
ment to  Patmos  ;  not  thereby  denying  that  there  must 
have  been  a  life-long  dXlyjris  for  such  an  one  as  the  Apostle 
John,  but  only  affirming  that  the  words  obtained  their 
most  emphatic  and  crowning  fulfilment  now.  Let  us  not 
fail  to  observe  the  connexion  and  the  sequence — '  tribu- 
lation '  first,  and  '  the  kingdom  '  afterwards  ;  on  which 
Richard  of  St.  Victor  well  :  '  Recte  prsemisit,  in  tribu- 


22  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHUKCHES    IN    ASIA.        [1.9. 

latlone,  et  post  addit,  in  regno,  quia  si  compatimur,  et 
corregnabimus '  (2  Tim.  ii.  12.  cf.  Eom.  viii.  17;  I  Pet.  iv. 
13).  As  yet,  however,  while  the  tribulation  is  present, 
the  kingdom  is  only  in  hope ;  therefore  he  adds  to  these, 
as  that  which  is  the  link  between  them,  '  and  patience  of 
Jesus  Christ ; '  compare  Acts  xiv.  22,  where  exaetly  these 
same  three,  the  '•tribulation]  the  ' patience,1  and  the 
'  kingdom  '  occur.  'T7rofAovij,  which  we  have  rendered 
4  patience,''  being  exactly  opposed  to  vttocttoXiJ  (Heb.  x. 
36,  39),  is  not  so  much  the  '  patientia  '  as  the  '  perseve- 
rantia'  of  the  Latin;  which  last  word  Cicero  (De  Invent. 
ii.  54)  thus  defines  :  '  In  ratione  bene  considerata  stabilis 
et  perpetua  mansio;'  and  Augustine  (Qucest.  lxxxiii.  qu. 
31):'  Honestatis  aut  utilitatis  causa  rerum  arduarum  ac 
difncilium  voluntaria  ac  diuturna  perpessio.'  It  is  indeed 
a  beautiful  word,  expressing  the  brave  and  persistent  en- 
durance of  the  Christian — fiaaiXis  to)v  dpsrow,  Chrysostom 
does  not  fear  to  call  it  (see  my  Synonyms  of  the  Neiv 
Testament,  §  53). — Patmos,  now  Patmo  or  Palmosa,  one  of 
the  Sporades,  a  rocky  island  in  the  Icarian  Sea,  S.-W.  of 
Ephesus,  might  have  remained  through  all  the  ages  with 
faintest  notice  or  with  none,  if  its  mention  here  had  not 
drawn  it  from  its  insignificance  and  given  to  it  a  name 
and  a  fame  in  the  Church  for  ever.  This  its  entire  pre- 
vious insignificance  is  slightly,  yet  unmistakably,  indicated 
in  the  words  '  that  is  called  Patmos.''  St.  John  does  not 
assume  his  readers  to  be  familiar  with  it,  any  more  than 
St.  Mark,  writing  for  those  living  at  a  distance  from 
Palestine,  with  the  Jordan  (cf.  Mark  i.  5  with  Matt.  iii.  5). 
It  is  otherwise  that  a  well-known  island,  Crete  or  Cyprus, 
is  introduced  (Acts  xiii.  4).  The  deportation  of  criminals, 
or  those  accounted  as  such,  to  rocky  and  remote  islands 
was,  as  is  well  known,  a  common  punishment  among  the 


I.  9.]  INTRODUCTION,    REV.    I.    4 -20.  23 

Romans.  Titus,  according  to  Suetonius,  banished  some 
delators  'in  asperrimas  insularum'  (Tit.  8;  cf.  Juvenal, 
i.  73  ;  Philo,  in  Flacc.  §  1 8,  19).  There  is  a  description 
of  this  island  written  up  to  the  present  date,  and  not 
without  a  certain  idyllic  grace  of  its  own,  in  Kenan's 
L 'Antechrist,  pp.  372-379.  At  the  same  time  very  cha- 
racteristic of  the  man  are  his  regrets  that  some  '  delicious 
romance,'  such  as  Longus  might  have  written,  had  not 
here  been  composed,  so  far  preferable  as  this  would  have 
been  to  the  work  of  the  gloomy  enthusiast  ('  visionnaire 
tenebreux"),  which  we  actually  possess. 

The  unprejudiced  reader  will  hardly  be  persuaded  that 
St.  John  sets  himself  forth  here  as  any  other  than  one  of 
those  constrained  dwellers  in  Patmos,  one  dwelling  there 
not  by  his  own  choice,  but  who  had  been  banished  thither 
'for  the  word  of  God,  and  for  the  testimony  of  Jesus 
Christ ; '  thus  compare  vi.  9  ;  xx.  4 ;  and  a  possible  re- 
ference to  what  he  himself  was  undergoing,  at  xiii.  10. 
Some  modern  interpreters  find  in  these  words  no  refer- 
ence to  any  such  suffering  for  the  truth's  sake,  but  only 
a  statement  on  the  writer's  part  that  he  was  in  the  isle 
of  Patmos  for  the  sake  of  preaching  the  Word  of  God, 
or,  as  others,  for  the  sake  of  receiving  a  communica- 
tion of  the  Word  of  God,  that  is,  of  the  Book  of  this 
prophecy  ;  so  Bleek,  Liicke  (Offenbarung  d.  Johannes,  pp. 
5  10-5  14),  and  others  ;  but  these  refuse  the  obvious  mean- 
ing, which  moreover  a  comparison  with  vi.  9  ;  xx.  4, 
seems  to  render  imperative,  in  favour  of  one  which,  if  it 
also  may  possibly  lie  in  them,  has  nothing  but  this  bare 
possibility  to  plead.  These  expositors,  it  is  difficult  not 
to  think,  have  been  unconsciously  influenced  by  a  desire 
to  get  rid  of  the  strong  testimony  to  St.  John's  authorship 
cf  the  Book  which  lies  in  the  consent  of  this  declaration 


24  EPISTLES    TO    TEE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.     [i.    IO. 

with  that  which  early  ecclesiastical  history  tells  us  about 
him,  namely,  that  for  his  steadfastness  in  the  faith  of 
Christ  he  was  by  Domitian  banished  to  Patmos,  and  only 
allowed  to  return  to  his  beloved  flock  at  Ephesus  on  the 
accession  of  Nerva  (Tertullian,  De  Prcesc.  Hceret.  36  ; 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  Quis  Div.  Salv.  42 ;  Eusebius, 
H.  E.  iii.  23  ;  Jerome,  De  Vir.  Illus.).  The  Apocalypse, 
it  is  worth  observing  by  the  way,  has  all  internal  evidence 
of  having  been  thus  written  in  time  of  persecution  and  by 
a  confessor  of  the  truth.  It  breathes  throughout  the  very 
air  of  martyrdom.  Oftentimes  slighted  by  the  Church  in 
times  of  prosperity,  it  is  made  much  of,  and  its  precious- 
ness,  as  it  were,  instinctively  discovered,  in  times  of  adver- 
sity and  fiery  trial.  This  Bengel  has  noted  well :  '  In 
tribulatione  fidelibus  maxime  hie  liber  sapit.  Asiatica 
Ecclesia,  prsesertim  a  floridissimo  Constantini  tempore, 
minus  magni  aestimavit  hunc  librum.  Africana  Ecclesia, 
cruci  magis  obnoxia,  semper  hunc  librum  plurimi  fecit.' 
Tertullian  may  be  quoted  in  proof  of  this  assertion.  How 
often  does  he  seek,  now  to  strengthen  the  faithful  with 
the  promises,  and  now  to  terrify  the  fearful,  the  SsiXol  of 
Eev.  xxi.  8,  those  who  out  of  fear  of  man  go  back  from 
Christ,  with  the  threatenings,  of  this  Book  (Scorp.  12  ; 
De  Cor.  15;  cf.  Cyprian,  De  Exhort.  Mart,  passim). 

Ver.  10.  '  I  ivas  in  the  Spirit  on  the  Lord's  day.'' — In 
one  sense  the  faithful  are  always  '  in  the  Spirit ; '  they 
are  '  spiritual '  ( I  Cor.  iii.  1 ,  15);  are  '  led  by  the  Spirit ' 
(Rom.  viii.  14);  'walk  in  the  Spirit'  (Gal.  v.  16,  25). 
But  here,  and  at  iv.  2;  xxi.  10  (cf.  Ezek.  xl.  2,  'in  the 
visions  of  God '),  the  words  are  used  in  an  eminent  and 
peculiar  sense  ;  they  describe  not  the  habitual  condition 
of  faithful  men,  but  an  exceptional  state,  differing  from 
the  other  not  in  degree  only,  but  in  kind ;  a  condition  in 


I.    10.]  INTRODUCTION,    REV.    I.    4-2 0.  25 

which  there  is  a  suspension  of  all  the  motions  and  faculties 
of  the  natural  life  ;  that  a  higher  life  may  be  called,  during 
and  through  this  suspension,  into  a  preternatural  activity. 
It  is  the  state  of  trance  or  ecstasy,  that  is,  of  standing  out 
of  oneself,  dsia  i^aWayrj  rcov  slwOorwv  vo/xtficov  Plato 
(Phcedrus,  265  a)  calls  it,  and  on  its  positive  side,  hdov- 
atd^siv  (Apol.  22  c),  the  man  being  s/ccppcov  that  he  may 
be  evOeos  (Ion,  533  e)  ;  constantly  described  in  Scripture  as 
the  condition  of  those  to  whom  God  would  speak  more 
directly  (Acts  x.  10;  cf.  xi.  5  ;  xxii.  17);  the  antithesis  to 
it,  or  the  return  out  of  it,  being  a  ysvofisvos  iv  savrco  (Acts 
xii.  n),  or  iv  raj  voi  (1  Cor.  xiv.  15).1  St.  Paul  exactly 
describes  the  experience  of  one  who  has  passed  through  this 
state,  2  Cor.  xii.  2-4.  That  world  of  spiritual  realities  is 
one  from  which  man  is  comparatively  estranged  so  long  as 
he  dwells  in  this  house  of  clay  ;  he  has  need  to  be  trans- 
ported out  of  himself,  before  he  can  find  himself  in  the 
midst  of  it,  and  come  into  direct  contact  with  it.  Here  we 
have  the  explanation  of  the  fact  that  the  Lord  never  was 
'  in  the  Spirit,'  namely,  because  He  was  always  '  in  the 
Spirit,'  because  He  always  moved  in  that  region  as  his 
proper  haunt  and  home. 

Separated  in  body  from  the  fellowship  of  the  faithful, 
the  beloved  Apostle  was  yet  keeping  with  them  the  weekly 
feast  of  the    Eesurrection   on  the  day  which   the  Lord, 


1  Augustine  {Enarr.  in  Ps.  ciii.  11):  '  Illo  orante  [Acts  x.  10] 
facta  est  illi  mentis  alienatio,  quani  Grreci  ecstasiu  dicurit ;  id  est, 
aversa  est  mens  ejus  a  consuetudine  corporali  ad  visum  quendarn  con- 
templandum,  alienata  a  prsesentibus  ; '  cf.  in  Ps.  Ixvii.  28  ;  Qucest.  in 
Gen.  1.  I,  qu.  80  ;  and  De  Div.  Qucest.  1.  2,  qu.  1  :  '  Mentis  alienatio 
a  sensibus  corporis,  ut  spiritus  hominis  divino  Spiritu  assumptus 
capiendis  atque  intuendis  imaginibus  vacet.'  Cf.  Aquinas,  Su?n.  Theol, 
2a  2ffi,  qu.  175. 


26  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.     [i.  10. 

giving  to  it  his  own  name,  had  made  peculiarly  his  own.  It 
was,  as  St.  John  is  careful  to  declare  to  us,  '  on  the  Lord's 
Day,'  which  occupied  for  the  Church  the  place  occupied  by 
the  Sabbath  for  the  Jews,  that  he  thus  passed  out  of  him- 
self, and  was  brought  within  the  veil,  and  heard  unspeak- 
able words,  and  beheld  things  which,  unless  shown  by  God, 
must  have  remained  for  ever  hidden  from  mortal  gaze. 
Some  have  assumed  from  this  passage  that  rjfiepa  icvpiatc>} 
was  a  designation  of  Sunday  already  familiar  among 
Christians.  This,  however,  seems  a  mistake.  The  name 
had  probably  its  origin  here.  See  generally  on  the  sub- 
ject the  article  '  Lord's  Day '  in  Smith's  Dictionary  of 
Christian  Antiquities.  A  little  later  we  find  /cvpia/crj 
employed  by  Ignatius  to  designate  Sunday  (ad  Magnes. 
§  9),  and  by  Melito  of  Sardis  (Kouth,  Reliq.  Sac.  vol.  i. 
pp.  1 14,  129),  as  '  Dominica  solemnia  '  (De  Anima,  c.  9), 
'dies  Dominicus'  {Be  Idol.  14)  by  Tertullian;  cf.  Dio- 
nysius  of  Corinth,  quoted  by  Eusebius,  //.  E.  iv.  23,  8  ; 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  Strom,  vii.  1 2  ;  Origen,  Con.  Cels. 
viii.  22.  But  though  the  name,  '  the  Lord's  Day,  will 
very  probably  have  had  here  its  rise  (the  actual  form  of 
the  phrase  may  have  been  suggested  by  icvpia/cbi>  Zslirvov, 
1  Cor.  xi.  20), — the  thing,  the  celebration  of  the  first  day 
of  the  week  as  that  on  which  the  Lord  brake  the  bands 
of  death,  and  became  the  head  of  a  new  creation,  called 
therefore  sometimes  dvaardaL/jbos  ryxspa,  this  was  as  old 
as  Christianity  itself  (John  xx.  24-29 ;  I  Cor.  xvi.  2 ;  Acts 
xx.  7  ;  Ep.  of  Barnabas,  c.  1 5  :  ayofisv  ryv  ryxipav  rrjv 
oySoTjv  sis  svcppoavvyv ;  cf.  Suicer,  Thes.  s.  v.  Kvpia/cy). 
The  strange  fancy  of  some  that  yp,ipa  KvptaKrj  means 
here  '  the  day  of  the  Lord,'  in  the  sense  of  '  the  day  of 
judgment'  (as  at  Joel  i.  15  ;  iii.  14),  intended  as  it  is  to 
subserve  a  scheme  of  Apocalyptic  interpretation   which 


I.  II.]  INTRODUCTION,    REV.    I.    4~20.  27 

certainly  needs  all  support  which  it  can  anywhere  find, 
has  been  abundantly  refuted  by  Alford. 

'  And  I  heard  behind  me  a  great  voice,  as  of  a  trum- 
pet.'— The  wondrous  vision  which  the  Seer  shall  behold 
does  not  break  upon  him  all  at  once ;  he  first  hears  behind 
him  (cf.  Ezek.  i.  12)  'a  voice,  great  as  of  a  trumpet,' 
summoning  his  attention,  and  preparing  him  for  the  still 
greater  sight  which  he  shall  see.  It  is  a  '  great  voice,'  as 
the  voice  of  the  Lord  must  ever  be  (Ps.  xxix.  3-9 ;  lxviii. 
33  ;  Dan.  x.  6;  Matt.  xxiv.  31  ;  1  Thess.  iv.  16) :  a  voice 
penetrating  and  clear,  'as  of  a  trumpet ;'  cf.  Sophocles, 
Ajax,  17,  where  Ulysses  compares  in  like  manner  the 
voice  of  Athene  to  the  sound  of  a  trumpet.  In  the  com- 
parison there  may  be  allusion,  as  Hengstenberg  is  sure 
there  is,  to  the  divinely-instituted  rule  of  calling  together 
by  a  trumpet  the  congregation  of  the  Lord,  when  He  had 
any  thing  to  impart  to  them  (Num.  x.  2  ;  Exod.  xix.  1 6, 
19;  Joel  ii.  1,  15  ;  Matt.  xxiv.  31;  1  Thess.  iv.  16);  al- 
though this  to  me  does  not  seem  very  probable. 

Ver.  11.  'Saying,  I  am  Alpha  and  Omega,  the  first 
and  the  last :  and,  What  thou  seest,  write  in  a  booh,  and 
send  it  to  the  seven  Churches  which  are  in  Asia ;  unto 
Ephesus,  and  unto  Smyrna,  and  unto  Pergamos,  and 
unto  Thyatira,  and  unto  Sarclis,  and  unto  Philadelphia, 
and  unto  Laodicea.' — Omit  '  I  am  Alpha  and  Omega,  the 
first  and  the  last,'  which  has  no  right  whatever  to  stand 
in  the  text.  Over-busy  transcribers  have  transferred  the 
first  of  these  clauses  from  ver.  8,  the  second  from  ver.  17. 
Omit  also  '  which  are  in  Asia,"  as  the  E.  V.  has  done. 
Of  the  several  cities  I  will  say  something  when  we  come 
to  treat  of  them  one  by  one.  It  is  disputed  whether  the 
'  book '  which  St.  John  is  to  write,  and  having  written,  to 
send  to  the   seven  Churches,  is  this  whole  Book  of  the 


23  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.     [i.  II. 

Apocalypse,  or  only  the  seven  shorter  Epistles  contained 
in  chapters  ii.  and  iii.  Hengstenberg  affirms  the  last ; 
but  I  am  persuaded  wrongly,  and  he  has  against  him  the 
great  body  of  interpreters.  '  What  thou  seest '  must  in 
that  case  be  restrained  to  ver.  12-16  of  this  present  chap- 
ter. All  the  rest,  to  the  end  of  chapter  iii.,  he  will  have 
heard;  but  will  have  seen  nothing;  and  moreover  ver.  19 
is  decisive  that  what  he  is  to  write  of  is  more  than  that 
which  he  has  then  seen :  '  Write  the  things  which  thou 
hast  seen,  and  the  things  which  are,  and  the  things  which 
shall  be  hereafter.' 

Doubtless  it  is  not  for  nothing  that  seven  Chinches, 
neither  more  nor  fewer,  are  here  named.  The  reason  of 
this  lies  deeper  than  some  suggest,  who  will  have  these 
seven  to  include  and  exhaust  all  the  principal  Churches  of 
Asia ;  whatever  other  Churches  there  were  being  merely 
annexed  and  subordinate  to  these.  But  taking  into  ac- 
count the  rapid  spread  of  the  Gospel  in  the  regions  of 
Asia  Minor,  as  recorded  in  Scripture  (Acts  xix.  9 ;  I  Cor. 
xvi.  9),  and  in  other  historical  documents  of  a  date  very 
little  later,  we  cannot  doubt  that  towards  the  end  of  the 
life  of  St.  John  there  were  flourishing  and  important 
Churches  in  many  other  cities  of  that  region  besides 
these  seven ;  that  if  the  first  purpose  of  the  great  as- 
cended Bishop  of  the  Church  had  been  to  bring  under 
spiritual  review  the  whole  Church  of  Asia,  in  this  case 
Colosse,  to  which  St.  Paul  addressed  an  Epistle,  and 
Hierapolis,  where  was  already  the  nucleus  of  a  Church 
in  the  same  Apostle's  time  (Col.  iv.  13),  and  where  a  little 
later  Papias  was  bishop,  and  Miletus,  the  scene  of  apostolic 
labours  (Actsxx.  17),  and  Tralles,  called  by  Cicero  'gravis, 
ornata  et  locuples  civitas,'  to  the  Church  in  which  city 
Ignatius  wrote  an  epistle  some  twenty  years  later,  as  he 


I.  II.]  INTRODUCTION,    REV.    I.    4~20.  29 

did  to  that  in  Magnesia  as  well,  these  with  others  would 
scarcely  have  been  passed  by.1  But  what  we  may  call  the 
mystical  or  symbolic  interest  overbears  and  predominates 
over  the  actual.  No  doubt  this  actual  was  sufficiently 
provided  for  in  another  way,  and  these  seven  words  of 
warning  and  encouragement  so  penetrated  to  the  heart  of 
things  that,  meeting  the  needs  of  these  seven  Churches, 
they  also  met  the  needs  of  all  others  subsisting  in  similar, 
or  nearly  similar  conditions.  Typical  and  representative 
Churches,  these  embodied,  one  or  another  of  them,  I  will 
not  say  all  the  great  leading  aspects  of  the  Church  in  her 
faithfulness  orher  unfaithfulness ;  but  they  embodied  agreat 
many,  the  broadest  and  the  oftenest  recurring.  Grotius  : 
'  Sub  earum  nomine  tacite  comprehendit  et  alias  Ecclesias, 
quia  earum  status  et  qualitates  ad  septem  quasi  genera  pos- 
sunt  revocari,  quorum  exemplum  prsebent  ilia?  Asiaticse.' 
The  seven  must  in  this  point  of  view  be  regarded  as  consti- 
tuting a  complex  whole,  as  possessing  an  ideal  completeness. 
Christ,  we  feel  sure,  could  not  have  placed  Himself  in  the 
relation  which  He  does  to  them,  as  holding  in  his  hand 
the  seven  stars,  walking  among  the  seven  golden  candle- 

1  An  instructive  chapter  in  Tacitus  (Annal.  iv.  55),  throws  much 
light  on  the  relative  dignity  and  position,  at  a  period  a  little  earlier 
than  this,  of  the  chief  cities  in  proconsular  Asia.  He  is  describing  a 
contention  which  found  place  among  eleven  of  them,  which  should 
have  the  honour  of  erecting  a  statue  and  temple  to  Tiberius.  Among 
the  eleven  contending  for  this  glorious  privilege,  which  involved  as 
well  the  maintaining  as  the  founding  of  this  cult,  five  out  of  our 
seven  appear.  Two,  namely  Philadelphia  and  Thyatira,  do  not  enter 
the  lists.  Laodicea,  with  others  not  included  in  our  seven,  is  set 
aside,  as  unequal  in  wealth  and  dignity  to  the  task  ;  Pergamum  as 
havisg  already  a  temple  to  Augustus,  Ephesus  as  devoted  to  Diana, 
and  other  cities  for  various  causes  ;  till  at  length  Smyrna  and  Sardis 
are  the  only  competitors  which  remain.  Of  these  Smyrna  is  preferred, 
mainly  on  account  of  its  greater  devotedness  to  the  interests  of  Rome 
in  times  when  as  yet  the  fortunes  of  the  Imperial  City  were  not  so 
completely  in  the  ascendant  as  now  they  were. 


30  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHUECHES    IN    ASIA.     [i.  12. 

sticks,  these  stars  being  the  Angels  of  the  Churches,  and 
the  candlesticks  the  Churches  themselves,  unless  they 
ideally  represented  and  set  forth,  in  some  way  or  other, 
the  universal  Church,  militant  here  upon  earth. 

But  this,  which  I  have  here  rather  assumed  than 
proved,  together  with  another  question,  namely,  whether 
besides  possessing  this  typical  and  representative  character, 
these  seven  Epistles  are  not  also  historico-prophetical,  do 
not  unfold  the  future  of  the  Church's  fortunes  to  the  end 
of  time,  seven  successive  stages  and  periods  of  its  growth 
and  history,  has  been  so  eagerly  discussed,  has,  strangely 
enough,  roused  so  much  theological  passion,  that  I  am 
unwilling  to  treat  the  subject  with  the  brevity  which  a 
place  in  this  Exposition  would  require.  I  must  therefore 
refer  the  reader  to  an  Excursus  at  the  end  of  the  volume, 
in  which  I  have  traced,  rapidly  indeed,  but  with  some 
attempt  at  completeness,  a  sketch  of  the  controversy,  and 
have  stated,  and  sought  to  justify,  the  conclusions  on  the 
points  in  debate  at  which  I  have  myself  arrived. 

Ver.  12.  '  And  I  turned,  to  see  the  voice  that  spake  with 
me.  And  being  turned,  I  saw  seven  golden  candlesticks. ,' 
— Av^via  is  a  word  condemned  by  the  Greek  purists,  who 
prefer  \i>xviov  (Lobeck, Phrynichus,]).  313).  The  'seven 
candlesticks ' — the  rendering  is  not  a  very  happy  one, 
though  it  is  not  easy,  perhaps  impossible,  to  better  it — 
send  us  back,  and  are  intended  to  send  us  back,  to  the 
seven-branched  candlestick,  or  candelabrum,  which  bears 
ever  the  same  name  of  Xv-^yla  in  the  Septuagint  (Exod. 
xxv.  31;  cf.  Heb.  ix.  2  ;  Philo,  Quis  Rer.  Div.  Hwr.  44 ; 
Josephus,  B.  J.  v.  5.  5) ;  or  Xv^vla  rov  cfxaros  (i  Mace.  i. 
21);  the  six  arms  of  which  with  the  central  shaft  (/caka- 
fiia/coi,  Exod.  xxv.  31  ;  ic\d.8oi,  Philo,  Vit.  Mos.  iii.  9) 
made  up  the  mystical  seven,  each  with  its  several  lamp 


I.  12.]  INTRODUCTION,    REV.    I.    4~20.  81 

(\v%vos,  Zech.  iv.  2).  Nor  is  this  the  first  occasion  when 
that  portion  of  the  furniture  of  the  tabernacle  has  had  a 
higher  mystical  meaning  ascribed  to  it.  Already  in  the 
candlestick  all  of  gold,  which  Zechariah  saw  (iv.  2),  there 
was  an  anticipation  of  this  image  ;  being  one  of  the  many 
remarkable  points  of  contact  between  his  prophecies  and  the 
Apocalypse.  Here,  however,  it  is  not  one  candlestick  with 
seven  branches  which  St.  John  beholds :  but  rather  seven 
separate  candlesticks.  Nor  is  it  without  a  meaning  that  the 
seven  thus  take  the  place  of  the  one.  The  Jewish  Church 
was  one ;  for  it  was  the  Church  of  a  single  people  ;  the 
Christian  Church,  that  too  is  one,  but  it  is  also  many ;  at 
once  the  '  Church  '  and  the  '  Churches.'  These  may  be 
quite  independent  of  one  another,  the  only  bond  of  union 
with  one  another  which  they  absolutely  require  being  that 
of  common  dependence  on  the  same  Head,  and  derivation 
of  life  from  the  same  Spirit ;  and  are  fitly  represented  by 
seven,  the  number  of  mystical  completeness. 

In  the  image  itself  by  which  the  Churches  are  sym- 
bolised there  is  an  eminent  fitness.  The  candlestick,  or 
lamp-stand,  as  we  must  rather  conceive  it  here,  is  not 
light,  but  it  is  the  bearer  of  light,  that  which  diffuses  it, 
that  which  holds  it  forth  and  causes  it  to  shine  throughout 
the  house  ;  being  the  appointed  instrument  for  this.  It 
is  thus  with  the  Church.  God's  word,  God's  truth,  in- 
cluding in  this  all  which  He  has  declared  of  Himself  in 
revealed  religion, is  its  light  (Ps.  cxix.  105  ;  Prov.  vi.  23); 
the  Church  is  the  light-bearer,  light  in  the  Lord  (Ephes. 
v.  8),  not  having  light  of  its  own,  but  diffusing  that  which 
it  receives  of  Him.  Each  too  of  the  faithful  in  particular, 
after  he  has  been  illuminated  (Heb.  vi.  4),  is  a  bearer  of 
the  light;  'ye  are  the  light  of  the  world'  (Matt.  v.  14- 
16);  'lights  in  the  world,  holding  forth  the  word  of  life ' 


32  EriSTLES    TO    THE   SEVEN    CHUECHES    IN    ASIA.     [i.  12. 

(Phil.  ii.  15).  In  agreement  with  this  aspect  of  the 
matter,  in  the  Levitieal  tabernacle  the  seven-branched 
candlestick  stood  in  the  Holy  Place  (Exod.  xxvi.  35;  xl. 
4),  which  was  the  pattern  of  the  Church  upon  earth,  as 
the  Holy  of  Holies  was  the  pattern  of  the  Church  in 
heaven  ;  and  the  only  light  which  the  Holy  Place  received 
was  derived  from  the  candlestick ;  the  light  of  common 
day  being  quite  excluded  from  it,  in  sign  that  the  Lord 
God  was  the  light  thereof,  that  the  light  of  the  Church  was 
not  the  light  of  nature,  but  of  grace.  Compare  Irenceus, 
v.  20.  1  :  '  Ubique  enim  Ecclesia  prasdicat  veritatem,  et 
hsec  est  sirrd/iy^os  lucerna,  Christi  bajulans  lumen.' l 

These  candlesticks  are  of  gold  (cf.  Exod.  xxv.  31  ; 
Zech.  iv.  2),  as  so  much  else  in  this  Book;  the  'golden 
girdle  '  (i.  13) ;  '  golden  crowns '  (iv.  4)  ;  '  golden  vials  ' 
(v.  8);  * golden  censer  '  (viii.  3);  'golden  altar'  (ibid.); 
'golden  reed'  (xxi.  15);  'the  city  of  pure  gold''  (xxi. 
18) ;  '  the  street  of  the  city  of  pure  gold  '  (xxi.  21).  No 
doubt  the  preciousness  of  all  belonging  to  the  Church  of 
God  is  indicated  by  the  predominant  employment  of  this 
the  costliest  and  most  perfect  metal  of  all.  A  hint  no  doubt 
we  have  here  of  this,  exactly  as  in  the  Ark  and  furniture 
of  the  Ark  so  much  in  like  manner  is  of  pure  gold,  the 
mercy-seat,  the  cherubim,  the  dishes,  spoons,  covers, 
tongs,  snuff-dishes  (Exod.  xxv.  17,  18,  29,  38),  the  pot 
which  had  manna  (Exod.  xvi.  33),2  everything  in  short 
which  did  not  by  its  bulk  and  consequent  weight  abso- 


1  cE7rro^u£os  is  a  rare  Church  word  :  but  '  myxa  '  is  in  Martial, 
and  the  following  quotation  from  him  is  apt,  and  tells  its  own  story  : 

'  Illustrem  cum  tota  meis  convivia  flammis, 
Totque  geram  myxas,  una  lucerna  vocor.' 

2  So  much  is  not  here  said,  bat  that  this  was  a  golden  pot  we  learn 
from  Heb.  ix.  4:  cf.  LXX.  in  loc,  and  Philo,  O-ng.  Erud.  Gent.  §  18. 


I.  13.]  INTRODUCTION,    REV.    I.    4-20.  33 

lutely  preclude  this,  and  even  that  was  for  the  most  part 
overlaid  with  gold  (Exod.  xxv.  10,  II,  23,  24). '  But  the 
mere  costliness  of  gold,  that  it  was  of  all  metals  the  rarest, 
and  therefore  the  dearest,  this  was  not  the  only  motive 
for  the  predominant  employment  of  it.  Throughout  all 
the  ancient  East  there  was  a  sense  of  sacredness  attached 
to  this  metal,  such  as  still  to  a  great  extent  survives. 
Thus  '  golden '  in  the  Zend-Avesta  is  throughout  synony- 
mous with  heavenly  or  divine.  So  also  in  many  Eastern 
lands  while  silver  might  be  degraded  to  profane  and  every- 
day uses  of  common  life,  might  as  money  pass  from  hand 
to  hand,  '  the  pale  and  common  drudge  'twixt  man  and 
man,'  it  was  not  permitted  to  employ  gold  in  any  services 
except  only  royal  and  divine  (see  Bahr,  Symbolik,  vol.  i. 
pp.  273,  282,  292).  The  permission  to  drink  out  of  gold 
was  a  special  favour  vouchsafed  to  few  (1  Mace.  xi.  58) ;  so 
too  the  permission  to  wear  gold  (1  Mace.  xiv.  43)  is  re- 
ported as  a  peculiar  honour  and  privilege. 

Ver.  13.  '  And  in  the  midst  of  the  seven  candlesticks 
One  like  unto  the  Son  of  man,  clothed  with  a  garment 
down  to  the  foot.'' — Some  translate  '  like  unto  a  son  of 
man,''  that  is  to  say,  '  like  unto  a  man,'  the  words  merely 
for  them  expressing  that  He  who  was  seen  was  in  human 
shape,  and,  so  far  as  the  appearance  warranted  the  con- 
clusion, the  sharer  of  a  human  nature  (Ezek.  xxxvii.  3,  16 ; 
xxxix.  1 ).  The  absence  of  the  articles,  however,  does  not 
require  this  either  here  or  at  xiv.  14  ;  any  more  than  vibs 


1  Oocceius :  '  Aurum  in  figuris  et  symbolicis  locutionibus  signifi- 
cat  id  quod  est  omnium  optimum,  quod  omnia  perficit,  et  a  nullo 
perficitur ;  sed  in  se  est  perfectissiinum  et  purissinium,  nullique  mu- 
tationi  obnoxium ;  quemadmodum  aurum  omnium  metallorum  per- 
fectissimum  est,  et  ab  aliis  non  perficitur ;  sed  quibus  accedit  ea 
perficit,  et  nee  temporis,  nee  ignis,  omnium  destructoris,  violentiam 
injuriamque  sentit.' 

D 


34  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASTA.     [i.    1 3. 

%zov  (Matt,  xxvii.  54)  demands  to  be  translated,  '  a  son  of 
God,'  or  Trvsvfxa  ©sou,'  a  Spirit  of  God.'  The  beloved  Apostle 
by  this  '  like  unto  the  Son  of  man '  would  imply  that  in 
this  sublime  apparition  he  recognized  Him  whom  he  had 
once  known  on  earth,  the  born  of  the  Virgin  Mary ;  who 
even  in  those  days  of  his  flesh  had  claimed  to  be  executor 
of  all  judgment,  because  He  was  the  Son  of  man  (John  v. 
27;  cf.  Dan.  vii.  13,  where  this  title  first  appears). — We 
are  again  reminded  of  Daniel's  vision,  where  in  like 
manner  He  whom  the  prophet  saw  on  the  banks  of  Hidde- 
kel  was  '  clothed  in  linen '  (x.  5  ;  xii.  6,  7),  or,  as  it  would 
be  more  rightly  translated,  '  in  a  long  linen  garment.' 
Uo&ijprjs,  from  irovs  and  cipsiv,  the  '  poderis '  of  ecclesias- 
tical Latin,  is  properly  an  adjective  here,  with  -^ircov  or 
<rro\r)  understood ;  thus  7ro8f]pcs  evSv/ia,  Wisd.  xviii.  24, 
aairls  iroSi]prjs,  Xenophon,  Gyrop.  vi.  2.  10,  a  shield 
reaching  down  to  the  feet,  such  as  the  Ovpsos  (Ephes.  vi. 
16),  and  covering  the  whole  person;  see  my  Synonyms 
of  the  Neiv  Testament,  §  50.  The  long  robe  or  stole  is 
everywhere  in  the  East  the  garment  of  dignity  and  honour 
(Gen.  xxxvii.  3  ;  Mark  xii.  38  ;  Luke  xv.  22) — the  asso- 
ciation of  dignity  with  it  probably  resting  originally  on  the 
absence  of  the  necessity  of  labour,  and  thus  of  loins  girt 
up,  which  it  seemed  to  imply :  see,  on  the  other  hand, 
2  Sam.  x.  4.  The  word  nowhere  else  occurs  in  the  New 
Testament,  but  several  times  in  the  Old  ;  and  designates 
there  sometimes  the  long  linen  garment  common  to  all  the 
priests,  the  chetoneth,  or  '  holy  linen  coat '  (Lev.  xvi.  4 ; 
Exod.  xxxix.  27),  sometimes  the  High  Priest's  'robe  of 
the  ephod  '  (Exod.  xxviii.  31;  Zech.  iii.  4;  Wisd.  xviii. 
24) ;  a-ToiXr)  So^tjs,  as  it  is  called,  Ecclus.  xlviii.  7.  Yet 
these  passages  must  not  lead  us,  as  they  have  led  some, 
to  regard  this  as  a  manifestation  of  Christ  in  his  priestly 


I.    13.]  INTRODUCTION,    EEV.    I.    4-2O.  35 

character  alone.  The  Kheims  version,  indeed,  renders 
7ro8/]pr]s  here  '  a  priestly  garment,'  but  has  no  warrant 
for  this.  Any  stately  garment,  any  '  vestis  talaris,'  may 
be  indicated  by  the  word  (Ecclus.  xxvii.  8),  as  for  instance, 
that  worn  by  the  Angel  of  the  covenant  (Ezek.  ix.  2,  3). 
So  too  in  Isaiah's  magnificent  vision  (vi.  1 ),  He  was  clothed 
with  a  irohrjpris,  though  the  word  does  not  there  occur, 
whom  the  prophet  beheld  sitting  as  a  King  upon  his 
throne,  and  ivhose  train  filled  the  temple.  The  iroh^p^s, 
in  fact,  is  quite  as  much  a  kingly  garment  as  a  priestly, 
even  as  Christ  presents  Himself  here  not  only  as  the 
Priest,  but  the  King,  and  so  far  as  there  is  any  predomi- 
nance, more  the  King  than  the  Priest,  ruling  in  the  midst 
of  his  Church. 

'  And  girt  about  the  paps  with  a  golden  girdle.'' — We 
read  in  like  manner  of  the  Angels  who  carry  out  the 
judgments  of  (rod,  as  '  having  their  breasts  girded  with 
golden  girdles  '  (xv.  6 ;  ef.  Ovid :  '  cinctseque  ad  pectora 
vestes  ').  The  ordinary  girding  for  one  actively  engaged 
was  at  the  loins  (i  Kin.  ii.  5  ;  xviii.  46 ;  Isai.  xlv.  1  ;  Jer. 
i.  17  ;  xiii.  11  ;  cf.  Luke  xii.  35  ;  Ephes.  vi.  14;  1  Pet.  i. 
13)  ;  but  Josephus  (Antt.  iii.  7.  2)  expressly  tells  us  that 
the  Levitical  priests  were  girt  higher  up,  about  the  breast, 
or  as  it  is  here  '  about  the  paps '  {Itti^vvvvtcu  Kara 
o-Trjdos) — favouring,  as  this  higher  cincture  did,  a  calmer, 
more  majestic  movement  (see  Braun,  Be  Vest.  Hebr.  p. 
402).  The  girdle,  as  knitting  up  into  a  compact  unity 
all  the  scattered  forces  of  a  man,  is  often  contemplated  as 
the  symbol  of  strength  and  activity  (Isai.  xxii.  21  ;  xlv. 
5  ;  Jer.  xiii.  1 1  ;  Job  xii.  18) ;  and  as  nothing  is  so  strong 
as  righteousness  and  truth,  therefore  the  prophet  foretells 
of  Messiah,  '  Kighteousness  shall  be  the  girdle  of  his  loins, 
and  faithfulness  the  girdle  of  his  reins  '  (Isai.  xi.  5  ;  cf. 

D  2 


36  EPISTLES   TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.    [i.  1 4. 

Ephes.  vi.  1 4).  The  girdle  here  is  '  golden  ; '  not  merely 
with  a  golden  clasp  or  buckle,  as  Hengstenberg,  relying 
on  1  Mace.  x.  89;  xi.  58;  xiv.  44,  where  such  appears  as 
the  ensign  of  royalty,  would  have  it ;  but  all  of  gold  ;  cf. 
xv.  7  ;  and  Dan.  x.  5  :  '  His  loins  were  girded  with  fine 
gold  of  Uphaz.'  It  is  quite  true  that  the  '  curious  girdle  ' 
of  the  High  Priest  was  not  golden,  but  only  wrought  and 
interwoven  with  gold(Exod.  xxviii.  8  ;  xxxix.  5)  ;  but  this, 
with  other  departures  in  this  appearance  of  the  Lord  from 
the  investiture  of  the  High  Priest,  only  helps  to  confirm 
what  was  just  asserted,  namely,  that  we  have  to  do  with 
Him  here  not  as  the  Priest  only,  but  as  also  the  King,  in 
his  Church  ;  for  it  is  in  this  direction  that  all  the  varia- 
tions tend. 

Yer.  14.  'His  head  and  his  hairs  were  white  like  wooV 
[or  '  as  white  wool]  so  the  E.  V.],  'as  white  as  snow.' — Cf. 
Dan.  vii.  9 :  '  The  hair  of  his  head  was  like  the  pure  wool ;' 
wool  and  snow  being  joined  together  on  the  score  of  their 
common  whiteness  both  there  and  at  Isai.  i.  18.  Those 
interpreters  are  altogether  astray  who  see  in  this  whiteness 
of  the  Lord's  hairs  the  symbol  of  age,  the  hoary  head  as 
of  the  Ancient  of  Days,  which  should  inspire  honour  and 
respect.  Clement  of  Alexandria  has  not  escaped  this  error 
(Pwdag.  1.  iii.  p.  262) ;  nor  Augustine  {Exp.  ad  Gal.  iv. 
21):  '  Dominus  non  nisi  ob  antiquitatem  veritatis  in 
Apocalypsi  albo  capite  apparuit ; '  nor  Vitringa,  who  gives 
a  reference  to  Lev.  xix.  32.  That  it  is  an  error  a  moment's 
consideration  must  convince.  The  white  hairs  of  old  age 
are  at  once  the  sign  and  the  consequence  of  the  decay  of 
natural  strength,  in  other  words,  of  death  commencing  ; 
the  hair  blanching  because  the  blood  refuses  to  circulate 
any  longer  in  these  extremities,  as  it  will  one  day  refuse  to 
circulate  in  any  part  of  the  frame.     Being  then  this  token 


I.  14.]  INTRODUCTION,    REV.    I.    4- 20.  37 

of  decay,  how  can  the  white  hairs,  the  hoary  head  which 
is  the  sign  of  weakness  and  of  the  approach  of  death,  be 
ascribed  to  Him  who,  as  He  is  from  everlasting,  so  also  is 
He  to  everlasting  ?  Even  the  Angel  at  the  sepulchre 
appears  as  a  veavicrfcos,  '  a  young  man '  (Mark  xvi.  5  ;  cf. 
Zech.  ii.  4);  so  in  Paradise  Lost  (iv.  845)  the  cherub  is 

*  severe  in  youthful  beauty  ; '  what,  then  the  Angel's  Lord 
(cf.  2  Esdr.  ii.  43,  47)?  How  then  shall  we  explain  this 
hair  '  white  like  white  wool '  ?  It  is  a  part  of  the  trans- 
figuration in  light  of  the  glorified  person  of  the  Redeemer  ; 
a  transfiguration  so  complete  that  it  reaches  to  the  ex- 
tremities, to  the  very  hairs  of  the  head.  A  comparison 
with  the  passage  in  Daniel,  already  referred  to  (vii.  9), 
will  leave  no  doubt  of  this.  Fire  at  its  highest  intensity 
is  white  ;  the  red  in  fire  is  of  the  earth  earthy,  implies 
something  which  the  fire  has  not  yet  thoroughly  subdued 
and  transmuted,  while  the  pure  flame  is  absolutely  white. 

*  Das  Weiss  ohne  alle  Beimischung  von  Finsterniss  den 
reinen  absoluten  Triumph  des  Lichtes  darstellt '  (De- 
litzsch,  on  Isai.  i.  18).  This  must  be  kept  in  mind 
whenever  we  read  of  white  as  the  colour  and  livery  of 
heaven. 

'And  his  eyes  were  as  aflame  of  fire? — Cf.  Dan.  x.  6  : 
'  His  eyes  [were]  as  lamps  of  fire.'  This  too  has  been 
understood  by  some,  of  the  clearsightedness  of  Christ, 
all  things  being  open  and  manifest  to  the  eyes  of  Him  with 
whom  we  have  to  do ;  thus  Vitringa :  '  Significant  per- 
spicaciam  divinse  et  purse  mentis  omnia  arcana  pervaden- 
tis.'  The  explanation  is  insufficient;  and  Cocceius  much 
better  :  '  Significat  hoc  iram  airapalrvTov  in  adversarios.' 
The  words  do  not  say  merely  that  nothing  can  escape  his 
searching  penetrative  glance  ;  that  'his  eyes  behold  and  his 
eyelids  try  the  children  of  men  '  (Ps.  xi.  4) ;  they  express 


38  EPISTLES   TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.      [i.  1 5. 

much  more  than  this — the  indignation  of  the  Holy  One  at 
the  discoveries  of  evil  which  He  thus  makes.  These  '  eyes 
of  fire '  do  not  merely  look  through  the  hypocrite  and  the 
sinner,  but  consume  him,  him  and  his  sins  together, — un- 
less indeed  he  will  suffer  them  to  consume  his  sins,  that  so 
he  may  live.  For  indeed  in  the  symbolism  of  Scripture 
fire  is  everywhere  the  expression  of  the  divine  anger  ;  and, 
seeing  that  nothing  moves  that  anger  but  sin,  of  the  divine 
anger  against  sin  (Gen.  xix.  24  ;  Lev.  x.  2  ;  Num.  xi.  1  ; 
xvi.  35  ;  Deut.  xxxii.  22  ;  Ps.  xi.  6 ;  xxi.  9 ;  1.  3  ;  xcvii.  3  ; 
2  Kin.  i.  IO,  12;  Isai.  ix.  18,  19;  x.  17;  xxx.  27;  xxxi. 
9;  xxxiii.  14;  xlvii.  14;  lxvi.  15,  16,  24;  Ezek.  xxxviii. 
19,  22  ;  xxxix.  6;  Dan.  vii.  9,  10  ;  Zeph.  i.  18;  Mai.  iv. 
1  ;  Luke  ix.  54 ;  xvi.  24 ;  2  Thess.  i.  8  ;  Heb.  x.  27  ; 
xii.  29 ;  Jude  7 ;  Rev.  xi.  5  ;  xx.  9).  It  need  hardly  be 
observed,  as  confirming  this  interpretation,  that  the  eyes 
flashing  fire  are  evermore  the  utterance,  the  outward 
tokens  of  indignation  and  wrath  ;  thus  Homer  (II.  xiii. 
474)  :  6(f)6a\/Lia)  8'  apa  01  irvpl  Xu/xttstov  :  cf.  Lucretius, 
iii.  290;  Virgil,  JSn.  xii.  10 1,  102;  Ovid,  Met.  iii.  33. 
If  any  hesitation  existed  in  ascribing  this  meaning  to  the 
symbol  here,  it  must  be  removed  by  a  comparison  with 
xix.  11,  12.  The  whole  imagery  there  is  of  Christ  as  a 
man  of  war  coming  forth  in  his  anger  to  fight  against 
and  destroy  his  enemies,  and  the  '  eyes  as  a  flame  of  fire  ' 
are  again  ascribed  to  Him  there.  In  Plato  (Legg.  v. 
739  c),  we  have  (pcocrtpopa  o/xLiara. 

Ver.  15.  '  And  his  feet  like  unto  fine  brass,  as  if  they 
burned  in  a  furnace.' — For  ifine  '  the  R.  V.  has  '  bur- 
nished^ and  for  '  as  if  they  burned,'  i  as  if  it  had  been 
refined.'  The  iroh^p^s,  reaching,  as  the  name  indicates, 
to  the  feet,  yet  did  not  fall  so  low  but  that  it  permitted 
these  to  be  seen.     They  were  no  doubt  bare  ;  as  were  the 


I.   15.]  INTRODUCTION,    REV.    I.    4~20.  39 

feet  of  the  Levitical  priesthood  ministering  in  the  sanc- 
tuary. We  are  nowhere  indeed  expressly  told  of  these 
that  they  ministered  barefoot,  but  everything  leads  to 
this  conclusion.  Thus,  while  all  other  parts  of  the  priestly 
investiture  are  described  with  the  utmost  minuteness, 
and  Moses  is  accurately  instructed  how  they  should  be 
made,  there  is  no  allusion  to  any  covering  for  the  feet. 
Then  again  the  analogy  of  such  passages  as  Exod.  iii.  5  ; 
Josh.  v.  15  ;  Acts  vii.  33,  and  the  fact  that  the  moral  idea 
of  the  shoe  is  that  of  a  protection  against  the  defilements  of 
the  earth,  of  which  defilements  there  could  be  none  in  the 
Holy  Place,  all  this  irresistibly  points  to  the  same  conclu- 
sion. Plutarch's  assertion  to  the  contrary  (Symp.  iv.  6. 
2),  who  ascribes,  to  the  High  Priest  at  least,  buskins 
{ico66pvovs\  cannot  be  regarded  as  of  the  slightest  weight 
on  the  other  side.  It  is  only  one  little  blunder  more,  added 
to  the  heap  of  other  blunders  which  he  makes  about  the 
worship  of  the  Jews  ;  and  over  against  this  we  may  set  the 
testimony  of  Juvenal  {Sat.  vi.  158)  :  *  Observant  ubifesta 
mero  pede  sabbata  reges.'  Uncovered  at  all  events  the  feet 
on  the  present  occasion  were  ;  for  St.  John  seeing,  is  able 
to  compare  them  to  '  fine  brass ' — so  we  have  rendered 
the  word. 

~Ka\Ko\ifiavos — for  there  is  no  reason  why  we  should 
assume  a  neuter,  yaXicoXifiavoV)  for  the  nominative,  as 
very  commonly  is  done — occurs  only  here  and  at  ii.  18  ; 
being,  in  all  probability,  a  word  of  St.  John's  own  com- 
pounding. It  has  much  perplexed,  one  might  say  has 
hitherto  defied,  interpreters  to  give  any  certain  account 
of  it — to  do  more  than  guess  at  its  etymology  and  its 
meaning.  Some  have  suggested,  and  the  suggestion  is  as 
old  as  Arethas, — it  is  indeed  older,  for  the  Syriac  and  the 
Ethiopia  Versions  assume  it, — that  we  are  to  find  Alfiavos, 


40  EPISTLES    TO    THE   SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.     [i.    1 5. 

or  Lebanon,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  word,  and  that  %aX- 
KoXiftavos  means  '  brass  of  Mount  Lebanon,''  such  as  was 
there  found  ;  or  more  generally  '  mountain-brass,'  '  auri- 
chalcum,'  as  it  is  in  the  Vulgate  ;  in  the  first  syllable  of 
which,  as  need  hardly  be  observed,  we  are  not  to  find 
'  aurum,'  as  though  this  mixed  metal  were  of  gold  and 
brass,  and  the  word  designating  it  a  hybrid,  partly  Latin, 
partly  Greek,  but  opos,  '  orichalcum  '  (Virgil,  JEn.  xii.  87) 
=  opsixak/cos.  So  one  quoted  by  Wolf :  '  Libanus  pro 
monte  quolibet,  fortasse  quod  Libanus  dederit  ejusmodi 
genus  metalli ; '  which  it  has  been  further  sought  to  prove 
by  putting  together  the  promise  to  Asher,  '  Thy  shoes 
shall  be  iron  and  brass'  (Deut.  xxxiii.  25),  and  the  fact 
that  Lebanon  was  within  the  borders  of  this  tribe.  It  is 
hardly  fair  to  urge  against  this  etymology  the  objection 
that  it  violates  the  law  which  holds  good  in  Greek  com- 
posite words,  namely,  that  the  more  important  word  should 
come  last,  and  the  merely  qualitative  first  (see  Donaldson, 
Gr.  Gram.  §§  370,  372)  ;  an  objection  holding  good 
quite  as  much  in  our  own  language,  in  which  '  brass- 
mountain  '  would  signify  something  very  different  from 
'mountain-brass,'  and  '  rose-tree  '  from  '  tree-rose.'  It  is,  I 
say,  hardly  fair  to  urge  this,  that  the  word  should  be  rather 
XifiavoxaXKos  than  ^aXKo\l/3avos,  because  the  same  ob- 
jection may  be  urged  against  every  other  attempted 
explanation,  including  that  which  seems  to  me  the  most 
probable  of  all.  Another  suggestion,  first  made  by  Sal- 
masius,  and  which  Ludolf  {Lex.  jfithiop.  p.  234)  has 
adopted,  to  the  effect  that  this  mysterious  word  is  a  some- 
what euphonic  form  of  xa\fcoic\i/3avos,  brass  of  the  fur- 
nace (/cXifiavos),  is  scarcely  likely  to  find  favour,  and  is 
not  worthy  of  any  serious  notice.  As  little,  I  confess, 
does  the  solution  of  the  riddle  of  this  word,  which  Bishop 


I.   15.]  INTRODUCTION,    EEY.    I.    4-2O.  41 

Wordsworth  has  allowed  (see  too  Ewald,  Johan.  Script. 
vol.  ii.  p.  118),  commend  itself  to  me,  namely,  that  the 
second  part  of  the  word  is  \l(3avos,  frankincense,  brass  of 
the  colour  of  frankincense,  that  is,  brass  of  a  dark  copper 
hue ;  for,  to  say  nothing  of  the  extreme  unlikelihood  of 
frankincense  being  sought  out  to  suggest  what  the  colour 
was,  this  part  of  the  description  is  thus  put  in  direct 
opposition  with  all  the  rest.  Everything  else  is  light,  fire, 
of  a  white  shining  brightness  ;  the  feet  must  be  so  as 
well. 

The  explanation  which  satisfies  this,  as  well  as  other 
conditions,  and  commends  itself  above  any  other,  is  one 
first  proposed  by  Bochart  (in  a  learned  disquisition,  De 
Animal.  S.  Script,  pars  ii.  c.  xvi.  p.  883);  and  since 
adopted  by  Grotius,  Vitringa,  Hengstenberg,  Bleek,  and 
others.  Bochart  sees  in  ^a\Ko\lj3avos,  a  hybrid  formation, 
the  combination  of  a  Greek  word  and  a  Hebrew,  ^oKkos, 
and  }3?=:'  albare,'  to  make  white;  brass  which  in  the  fur- 
nace has  attained  what  we  call  '  white  heat.'  In  this  word 
on  a  small  scale,  as  in  the  Apocalypse  itself  on  a  larger, 
the  two  sacred  tongues,  Greek  and  Hebrew,  will  thus  be 
wonderfully  married.  If  this  be  the  key  of  the  word,  it 
will  then  exactly  correspond  to,  and  the  Seer  will  have  in- 
tended to  express  by  it,  the  '  burnished  brass '  of  the  feet 
of  the  four  living  creatures  (Ezek.  i.  7  ;  cf.  ver.  27  ;  viii. 
2  ;  xl.  3);  the  'polished  brass'  of  the  feet  of  Him  whom 
Daniel  saw  on  the  banks  of  Hiddekel  (Dan.  x.  6),  neither 
'  burnished  '  nor  '  polished '  in  those  passages  of  our  Trans- 
lation exactly  expressing  the  force  of  the  original ;  which 
the  LXX  by  i^ao-TpaTrrcov  in  the  first  passage,  <tti\/3cov  in 
the  second  (the  Vulgate  has  well  '  candens '  in  both),  had 
more  precisely  seized.  If  this  be  correct,  the  xa\fco\i'f3avos 
will  not  be  the  'fine  brass,'  of  our  A.  V.,  nor  yet  the  '  bur- 


42  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.      [i.    1 5. 

nished '  of  the  E.  V.,  but  the  '  glowing  brass.' '  This 
conclusion  is  very  much  strengthened  by  the  epexegesis, 
'  as  if  they  burned  in  a  furnace  ; '  words  of  explanation 
immediately  added  by  St.  John,  as  probably  knowing  the 
difficulty  which  his  readers  would  find  in  this  unusual 
term.  A  further  confirmation  we  may  draw  from  a  com- 
parison with  x.  1 ,  where  feet  as  '  pillars  of  fire ,'  which  can 
only  be  feet  as  glowing  or  burning  brass,  are  ascribed  to 
the  mighty  Angel  who  there  appears.  This  grand  and 
terrible  image  sets  forth  to  us  Christ  in  his  power  to  tread 
down  his  enemies  ;  at  once  to  tread  down  and  to  consume 
them — '  ut  potentissimum  in  conculcandis  hostibus  ' 
(Marckius). 

'  And  his  voice  as  the  sound  of  many  waters^ — 
Hitherto  St.  John  has  trodden  closely  on  the  footsteps  of 
Daniel  in  his  delineation  of  Him  whom  his  eyes  beheld  ; 
but  grand  as  is  the  imagery  which  Daniel  offers  ('the 
voice  of  his  words  [was]  like  the  voice  of  a  multitude,' 
Dan.  x.  6),  the  Seer  of  the  New  Testament,  leaving  this, 
draws  now  his  comparison  from  another  quarter,  from  Ezek. 
xliii.  2 :  '  his  voice  was  like  a  noise  of  many  waters ; '  cf. 
xiv.  2  ;  xix.  6  ;  Ezek.  i.  24 ;  Jer.  1.  42  ;  Isai.  xvii.  12.  "We 
may  note  herein  a  special  characteristic  of  this  wonderful 
Book.  Were  it  not  that  the  term  *  mosaic  '  always  seems 
to  imply,  or  to  suggest,  something  artificial,  we  might  in 
many  parts  liken  the  Apocalypse  to  such  a  costly  mosaic  ; 
the  stones  of  which,  polished  and  wrought  into  novel  com- 
binations of  beauty,  have  been  gathered  from  all  the 
richest  mines  of  the  Old  Testament  and  the  New. — By 


1  Of  an  atblete  in  perfect  health  and  highest  training,  Dio  Chry- 
sostom  says  (Or at.  28),  ei^e  8e  to  xpu>Pa  ofxoiov  xo\k(3  KeKpa/jLevco:  but 
something  more  is  intended  here. 


I.  1 6.]  INTRODUCTION,    REV.    I.    4~-20.  43 

this  comparison  of  the  voice  of  the  Lord  to  '  the  sound  of 
many  waters,'  is  not  to  be  understood  the  'prasdicatio 
Evangelii '  (Vitringa),  but  the  terribleness  of  the  voice 
with  which  He  will  rebuke  his  foes  within  the  Church  and 
without. 

Ver.  1 6.  i  And  He  had  in  his  right  hand  seven  stars.' 
— Cf.  ver.  20  ;  ii.  I  ;  iii.  I .  How  and  in  what  combination 
we  are  to  conceive  that  the  Lord  thus  '  had  in  his  right 
hand '  these  '  seven  stars,'  has  been  often  asked,  and  the 
question  variously  answered.  Was  it  as  so  many  jewelled 
rings  on  the  fingers  ?  The  threatened  rejection  of  the 
Laodicean  Angel  (iii.  16)  would  then  find  a  remarkable 
parallel  in  Jer.  xxii.  24  :  '  Though  Coniah,  king  of  Judah, 
were  the  signet  upon  my  right  hand,  yet  would  I  pluck 
thee  thence.'  But,  not  to  mention  other  objections,  the 
seven  stars  would  ill  distribute  themselves  on  four  fingers. 
Better  therefore  to  represent  them  to  our  mind's  eye  as  a 
wreath  or  garland  which  He  grasped  in  his  right  hand. 
'  Tlie  mystery  of  the  seven  stars '  we  shall  return  to  before 
long  (ver.  20) ;  and  on  two  occasions  shall  have  need  to 
consider  what  is  the  spiritual  signification  of  his  having 
or  holding  these  stars  in  his  right  hand  (ii.  I  ;  iii.  1) ;  all 
which  may  therefore  for  the  present  be  passed  over. 

'  And  out  of  his  mouth  ivent  a  sharp  two-edged 
sword.' — Cf.  ii.  12;  xix.  15;  Isai.  xlix.  2.  '¥on<paia, 
sometimes  pofifiaia,  in  artificial  Grreek-Latia  ;  rhom- 
phsea,'  but  in  Latin  proper,  '  rumpia  '  (Ennius,  Annal.  14 
[the  passage  has  not  reached  us]  ;  Valerius  Flaccus,  vi.  96), 
is  a  Thracian  word  for  a  Thracian  weapon  (A.  Gellius,  x.  25  ; 
cf.  Diefenbach,  Origines  Europcece,  p.  409).  It  is  properly 
the  '  framea,'  the  long  and  heavy  broadsword  {po/x^aia 
(3apvalhr)pos,  Plutarch,  jEmil.  Paul.  18;  cf.  Livy,  xxxi. 
39),  with  which  the  Thracians  and  other  barbarous  nations 


44  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.      [i.  1 6. 

were  armed  ;  very  much  resembling  the  Gaelic  claymore ; 
and  as  such  distinguished  from  the  /ubd-^acpa,  the  sacrificial 
knife,  or  short  stabbing  sword ;  though  the  Septuagint  does 
not  recognize  any  such  distinction  (Judg.  i.  8,  25).  The 
word,  occurring  six  times  in  the  Apocalypse,  only  occurs 
once  besides  in  the  New  Testament  (Luke  ii.  35).  This 
sword  is  '  two-edged '  here  (hlaropuos,  cf.  Heb.  iv.  1 2, 
fxd^aipa  SlcrTOfjios  =  djX(plaTOfi09^dju,(f)/]Kr]s,  Homer,  11.  x. 
256  ;  Sophocles,  Antig.  121 2)  ;  the  sharpness  of  it  being 
reckoned  as  its  mouth  ;  cf.  Heb.  xi.  34,  aropbara  fia^aipas, 
and  Judg.  iii.  16;  Ps.  cxlix.  6;  Prov.  v.  4;  Ecclus.  xxi. 
4;  Trpocrwirov  fxa-^alpas,  Isai.  xxxi.  8.  The  phrase,  'the 
devouring  sword'  (2  Sam.  xviii.  8;  Isai.  i.  20;  xxxi.  8; 
Jer.  ii.  30),  rests  on  the  same  image.  Yet  it  is  not  a  mere 
Hebraism ;  but  may  be  met  in  classical  Greek  poetry,  and 
indeed  in  Greek  prose  as  well ;  thus  Zlarofia  (fxiayava 
(Euripides),  7ts\skvs  Sio-rofios.  As  it  is  from  the  mouth 
that  man's  word  proceeds,  so  this  sword,  not  wielded  in 
the  hand,  but  proceeding  from  the  mouth,  of  the  Son  of 
God,  is  his  Word  (cf.  Isai.  xlix.  2  :  '  He  hath  made  my 
mouth  like  a  sharp  sword  ') ;  but  his  Word  as  it  is  also 
Spirit ;  '  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  Word  of 
God'  (Ephes.  vi.  17  ;  cf.  Heb.  iv.  12  ;  Isai.  xi.  4).  They 
fall  short  of  the  full  meaning  of  this  emblem,  who  press 
mainly  as  the  tertium  coiwparationis  here  the  pene- 
trative searching  power  of  the  Word  of  God,  amputating 
our  vices,  convincing  us  of  our  sins  ;  as  does  Tertullian 
(Adv.  Marc.  iii.  14) ;  Cocceius  :  '  Notatur  vis  verbi  in 
conscientiam ; '  and  Henry  More  (Mystery  of  Iniquity, 
ii.  xiv.  6) :  '  A  prophetic  symbol  of  that  wonderful  con- 
trition of  heart  that  the  powerful  Word  of  God  makes 
when  sincerely  and  seasonably  evibrated  against  the 
enemies  of  his  kingdom.'     The  whole  feeling  and  sense  of 


I.  1 6.]  INTRODUCTION,    REV.    I.    4-2O.  45 

this  passage  requires  that  we  should  regard  this  sword  from 
the  mouth  as  expressing  rather  the  punishing  than  the 
convincing  power  of  God's  Word ;  as  Delitzsch,  on  Heb.  iv. 
1 2,  says  well : '  Ein  Bild  des  sichtenden,  richtenden,  vernich- 
tenden  Werkes  des  Wortes  der  Worte.'  With  this  sword  from 
his  mouth  He  fights  against  his  enemies  and  destroys  them 
(cf.  ii.  12,  16  ;  xix.  15,  21)  ;  for  the  Word  of  the  Lord  is 
no  empty  threat,  but  having  in  readiness  to  avenge  all  dis- 
obedience (cf.  Hos.  vi.  5  ;  Isai.  xi.  4  ;  2  Thess.  ii.  8  ;  Wisd. 
xviii.  15,  16). — Shall  we  give  any  spiritual  significance  to 
the  two-edgedness  of  this  sword  ?  Of  course  it  indicates 
the  power  which  it  has  to  pierce  and  to  penetrate  ;  but 
many  have  seen  in  it  more  than  this  ;  Tertullian  for 
instance  {Adv.  Jud.):  'Bis  acutus  duobus  Testamentis, 
legis  antiquse,  et  legis  novse  ; '  cf.  Augustine,  Enarr.  in  Ps. 
cxlix.  6 ;  De  Civ.  Dei,  xx.  21.2;  and  Eichard  of  St.  Victor : 
'  Qui  gladius  utraque  parte  dicitur  acutus,  quia  in  Veteri 
Testamento  amputavit  vitia  carnalia,  in  Novo  etiam  spiri- 
tualia.  Utraque  parte  acutus  est,  quia  qui  foris  in  nobis 
amputat  luxuriam  carnis,  intus  resecat  malitiam  cordis. 
Utraque  parte  acutus  est,  quia  in  his  qui  contemnunt  quae 
prsecepit,  corpus  et  animam  punit.  Utraque  parte  acutus 
est,  quia  malos  et  a  bonis  discernit,  et  singulis  quod 
merentur  reddit.'  Philo  (De  Cher.  9)  likens  the  Aoyos-, 
thus  quick  and  piercing,  to  the  (pXojivv  potato,  (Gen.  iii. 
24)  with  which  the  Cherubim  kept  the  way  of  the  tree  of 
life. 

'  And  his  countenance  was  as  the  sun  shineth  in  his 
strength.'' — Of  the  Angel  who  stood  by  the  vacant  tomb  on 
the  Resurrection  morn  it  is  said,  '  His  countenance  was  like 
lightning '  (Matt,  xxviii.  3  ;  cf.  Judg.  xiii.  6 ;  Dan.  x.  6)  ; 
here  the  countenance  of  the  Lord  is  compared  to  the  sun 
*  in  his  strength''  (cf.  x.  1),  at  his  brightest  and  clearest, 


46  EHSTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.       [l.  1 6. 

in  the  splendour  of  his  highest  noon,  no  veil,  no  mist,  no 
cloud  obscuring  his  brightness  ( Judg.  v.  31).  When  He 
shall  appear,  they  that  are  his  shall  be  like  Him,  for  they 
shall  see  Him  as  He  is ;  therefore  of  them  too  it  can  be  said 
that  in  that  day  '  they  shall  shine  forth  as  the  sun  in  the 
kingdom  of  their  Father  '  (Matt.  xiii.  43  ;  cf.  Wisd.  iii.  7). 
No  doubt  if  there  had  been  aught  in  nature  brighter  than 
the  sun,  the  Seer  would  have  chosen  it  to  set  forth  the 
transcendant  and  intolerable  brightness  of  that  countenance 
which  he  now  beheld. 

This  description  of  the  glorified  Lord,  which  has  now 
been  brought  to  a  conclusion,  sublime  as  a  purely  mental 
conception,  but  unendurable,  if  we  give  it  an  outward  form 
and  expression,  and  picture  Him  to  ourselves  or  to  others 
with  this  sword  proceeding  from  his  mouth,  these  feet  as 
glowing  brass,  this  hair  white  as  wool,  and  the  rest,  may 
suggest  a  few  reflections  on  the  apocalyptic,  and  generally 
the  Hebrew  symbolism,  and  on  the  very  significant  rela- 
tions of  difference  and  opposition  in  which  it  stands  to  the 
Greek.  Religion  and  Art  for  the  Greek  ran  into  one  an- 
other with  no  very  signal  preponderance  of  the  claims  of 
the  former  over  the  latter.  Even  in  his  religious  sym- 
bolism the  sense  of  beauty,  of  form,  of  proportion,  over- 
rules every  other,  and  must  at  all  costs  find  its  satisfaction  ; 
so  that  the  first  necessity  of  the  symbol  is  that  it  shall 
not  affront,  that  it  shall  satisfy  rather,  the  sesthetic  sense. 
Rather  than  it  should  offend  this,  it  would  be  moulded  and 
modified  even  to  the  serious  injury  of  the  idea  of  which  it 
was  intended  to  be  the  exponent  (Renan,  Antechrist,  p. 
378).  But  with  the  Hebrew  symbolism  it  is  altogether 
different.  The  first  necessity  there  is  that  the  symbol 
should  set  forth  truly  and  fully  the  religious  idea  of  which 
it  is  intended  to  be  the  vehicle.     Thus  the  New  Jeru- 


I.  1 6.]  INTRODUCTION,    REV.    I.    4-20.  47 

salem  '  lieth  foursquare  ;  the  length  and  the  breadth  and 
the  height  of  it  are  equal'  (Rev.  xxi.  16).  A  city,  con- 
stituting thus  a  perfect  cube,  is  simply  inconceivable  to 
us  ;  but  the  divine  Seer  did  not  care  that  we  should  Gon- 
ceive  it ;  he  was  only  careful  to  express  the  fact  that  this 
was  a  City  which  should  never  be  moved ;  and  of  this 
fact  the  tetragon  was  the  aptest  symbol.  In  the  present, 
as  in  so  many  other  cases,  how  the  idea  would  appear 
when  it  clothed  itself  in  an  outward  form  and  shape, 
whether  it  could  clothe  itself  in  this  at  all,  and,  if  it 
could,  whether  it  would  find  favour  and  allowance  at 
the  bar  of  taste,  as  satisfying  the  conditions  of  beauty, 
this  all  was  a  secondary  consideration.  JNay,  we  may 
affirm  that  this  was  not  a  consideration  at  all ;  for  in- 
deed, with  the  one  exception  of  the  Cherubim,  there  was 
no  intention  that  the  symbol  should  embody  itself  out- 
wardly, but  rather  that  it  should  remain  ever  and  only 
a  purely  mental  conception,  the  unembodied  sign  of  an 
idea ; — I  may  observe,  by  the  way,  that  no  skill  of  deliu ca- 
tion can  make  the  Cherubim  themselves  other  than  un- 
sightly objects  to  the  eye.  Thus  in  this  present  description 
of  Christ,  sublime  and  majestic  as  it  is  beyond  all  concep- 
tion of  ours,  it  is  only  such  so  long  as  we  keep  it  wholly 
apart  from  any  external  embodiment.  Produce  it  out- 
wardly, the  sword  going  forth  from  the  mouth,  the  eyes  as 
a  flame  of  fire,  the  hair  white  as  wool,  the  feet  as  molten 
brass ;  and  each  and  all  of  these  images  in  one  way  or 
another  violate  and  offend  our  sense  of  dignity  and  beauty. 
Bengel,  missing  this  important  distinction,  has  ventured 
to  give  a  picture  of  the  Lord  Jesus  according  to  this  de- 
scription, prefixing  it  to  his  German  Commentary  on  the 
Apocalypse  ;  a  picture  which  is  almost  degrading,  and 
only  not  deeply  offensive  to  every  sentiment  of  reverence 


48  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.     [i.  l6. 

and  religious  awe,  because  we  are  sure  that  it  could  not 
have  been  so  intended  by  this  admirable  man.1 

The  explanation  of  the  difference  does  not  lie  alto- 
gether in  the  fact  that  the  Greek  created  his  symbol,  and 
therefore  could  do  what  he  pleased  with  his  own  ;  while 
the  Hebrew  received  his  from  God,  and  could  not  there- 
fore venture  to  touch  it.  It  would  have  existed  more  or 
less  without  this  distinction  between  the  given  and  the 
invented,  the  inspired  and  uninspired.  The  unsightli- 
ness,  often  the  repulsiveness,  of  the  symbol  so  long  as  it 
is  judged  merely  by  the  laws  of  aesthetic  beauty,  is  com- 
mon to  all  the  religions  of  the  East.  What  an  ugly  sight 
is  the  '  Artemis  multimammia,'  the  Artemis  with  many 
breasts,  of  Ephesus, — an  Oriental  deity,  it  need  ha,rdly  be 
said,  and  not  a  Greek ;  what  monstrous  forms  the  Indian 
idols,  with  their  many  heads  and  their  hundred  arms, 
present;  expressing  as  these  many  heads  do,  thought,  and 
these  hundred  arms,  power  to  embody  that  thought  in  act. 
With  all  this  we  should  altogether  err  if  we  accepted  this 
as  the  mark  of  an  inferiority  of  these  nations  to  the 
Greeks.  Inferiority  in  one  aspect  no  doubt  it  does  indi- 
cate, a  slighter  perception  of  the  beauty  of  form ;  but 
superiority  in  other  and  more  important  matters,  a  deeper 
religious  earnestness,  a  feeling  upon  their  part  that  the 
essence  was  above  the  form.,  a  conviction  that  truth,  such 
as  they  conceived  it,  was  more   than   beauty,  and  that 


1  Others  have  done  the  same,  though  with  quite  a  different  ohject 
aud  aim.  I  can  perfectly  remember  seeing;  exposed  in  Oarlile's  shop- 
window  a  blasphemous  picture  with  the  title,  '  The  God  of  the 
Bible,'  or,  '  The  God  of  the  Old  Testament,'  constructed  according 
to  a  similar  scheme.  Two  or  three  days  after,  a  Jew  was  brought 
before  the  magistrates,  a  '  zealot,'  who  in  a  righteous  indignation  had 
dashed  his  hand  through  the  window,  seized  and  destroyed  it ;  and  I 
do  not  think  it  appeared  again. 


I.  17.]  INTRODUCTION,    REV.    I.    4 -20.  49 

everything  else,  as  of  inferior  moment,  was  to  be  sacrificed 
to  this. 

Ver.  17.  '  And  when  I  saiv  Him,  I  fell  at  his  feet  as 
dead.'  On  this  second  aorist  (sTrsaa)  with  a  termination 
of  the  first,  an  Alexandrian,  and  afterwards  a  Byzantine, 
form,  see  Lobeck,  Phrynichus,  p.  724,  and  Sturz,  De 
Dialecto  Alexandrind,  p.  61.  See  also  Westcott's  Neiv 
Testament,  p.  164. — This  falling,  as  is  evident,  is  no 
voluntary  act  of  homage  on  the  part  of  St.  John,  but  an 
involuntary  expression  of  the  effect  produced  upon  him 
by  that  awful  vision  which  he  saw.  Finding,  as  it  does, 
its  parallel  in  almost  all  manifestations  of  a  divine,  or 
even  an  angelic,  presence,  it  must  be  owned  to  contain  a 
mighty,  because  an  instinctive  witness  for  the  sinfulness 
of  man's  nature  ;  out  of  which  it  comes  to  pass  that  any 
very  near  revelation  from  the  heavenly  world  fills  the 
children  of  men,  even  the  holiest  among  them,  with 
terror  and  amazement,  yea,  sometimes  with  the  expecta- 
tion of  death  itself.  Examples  innumerable  make  evident 
that  this  holds  true  of  good  men  quite  as  much  as  of  bad 
(Gen.  iii.  8;  xvii.  3;  Exod.  iii.  6;  Num.  xvi.  22;  xxii. 
31  ;  Josh.  v.  14;  Judg.  vi.  22;  xiii.  6,  20,  22;  I  Chron. 
xxi.  20  ;  2  Chron.  vii.  3  ;  Job  iv.  12-15  5  xni-  5>  6  ;  Isai. 
vi.  5  ;  Ezek.  i.  28  ;  iii.  23  ;  xliii.  3  ;  xliv.  4 ;  Dan.  vii.  1 5  ; 
viii.  1 7  ;  x.  7-9,  1 5  ;  Tob.  xii.  1 6 ;  Matt.  xvii.  6  ;  xxviii.  4, 
5  ;  Mark  xvi.  5,8;  Luke  i.  12,  29  ;  ii.  9 ;  v.  8  ;  xxiv.  5  ; 
John  xviii.  6  ;  Acts  ix.  4 ;  x.  4).  The  unholy,  and  all  flesh 
is  such,  cannot  endure  immediate  contact  with  the  holy, 
the  human  with  the  divine.  Heathen  legend,  so  far  as 
the  homage  of  its  testimony  may  be  accepted,  consents 
here  with  Christian  truth.  Semele  must  perish,  if  Jupiter 
reveals  himself  to  her  in  his  glory,  being  consumed  in  the 
brightness  of  that  glory;  cf.  Exod.  xxxiii.  18,  20:  '  Thou 

E 


50  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.       [i.  \J . 

canst  not  see  my  face ;  for  there  shall  no  man  see  Me, 
and  live.'  And  for  examples  in  art  of  this  overwhelming 
terror  as  an  accompaniment  of  all  very  near  revelations  of 
the  higher  world,  see  such  passages  as  these  in  Virgil,  jEn. 
ii.  774 ;  iii.  29,  30  ;  47,  48  ;  175  ;  iv.  279,  280 ;  vii.  458, 
459  ;  xii.  867.  For  every  man  it  is  a  dreadful  thing  to 
stand  face  to  face  with  God.  The  beloved  disciple,  who 
looked  upon,  and  whose  hands  had  handled,  the  Word  of 
life  (1  John  i.  1),  who  had  lain  in  his  Lord's  bosom  in  the 
days  of  his  flesh,  could  as  little  as  any  other  endure  the 
revelation  of  his  majesty,  or  do  without  that  '  Fear  not,'' 
with  which  that  Lord  at  once  reassures  him. 

'  And  He  laid  his  right  hand  upon  me,  saying  unto 
me,  Fear  not.'' — '  Unto  me '  should  be  omitted.  This 
same  '  Fear  not '  is  uttered  on  similar  occasions  to  Daniel 
(x.  12),  to  Peter  (Luke  v.  1),  to  the  Three  at  the  Trans- 
figuration, of  whom  John  himself  was  one  (Matt.  xvii.  7) ; 
to  the  holy  women  at  the  sepulchre  (Matt,  xxviii.  5  ;  Mark 
xvi.  6).  Nor  is  this  reassurance  confined  to  words  only  ; 
the  Lord  at  the  same  time  lays  his  hand  upon  him, — 
something  parallel  to  which  goes  along  with  more  than 
one  '  Fear  not '  of  those  referred  to  just  now  (cf.  Jer.  i.  9  ; 
Isai.  vi.  7) ;  and  from  the  touch  of  that  hand  the  Seer 
receives  strength  again,  and  is  set,  no  doubt,  upon  his 
feet  once  more  (Ezek.  i.  28  ;  ii.  1,2;  Acts  xxvi.  16).  The 
right  hand  being  ever  contemplated  in  Scripture  as  the 
hand  of  power  alike  for  God  (Deut.  xxxiii.  2  ;  Isai.  xlviii. 
13  ;  Acts  vii.  55)  and  for  man  (Gen.  xlviii.  14  ;  Zech.  iii. 
I  ;  Matt.  v.  30),  it  is  only  fit  that  with  the  right  hand  of 
the  Lord  he  should  be  thus  strengthened  and  revived  (cf. 
Isai.  xli.  10). 

'  I  am  the  first  and  the  last.' — This  prerogative  is  three 
times  claimed  for  the  Lord  Jehovah  in  Isaiah  (xli.  4 ;  xliv. 


I.   I  8.]  INTRODUCTION,    REV.    I.    4-20.  51 

6  ;  xlviii.  1 2)  ;  and  in  like  manner  three  times  in  this 
Book  (here,  and  ii.  8;  xxii.  13).  It  is  the  expression  of 
absolute  Godhead  :  *  I  am  the  first  and  the  last,  and 
beside  Me  there  is  no  God  '  (Isai.  xliv.  6).  He  is  from 
eternity  to  eternity,  so  that  there  is  no  room  for  any 
other.  All  creation  comes  forth  from  Him  (John  i.  1-3), 
all  creation  returns  to  Him  again,  as  from  whom  and  by 
whom  and  to  whom  are  all  things.  Not  the  semi-Socinian 
expositors  alone,  as  Grotius  and  Wetstein,  but  others 
who  lie  under  no  such  suspicion,  Cocceius  for  instance,  and 
Vitringa,  have  here  gone  astray,  making  ' first '  to  mean 
the  first  in  glory,  and  'last'  the  last  in  humiliation  ;  'I 
am  He  who,  being  the  foremost  and  first  in  all  honour, 
became  the  lowest  and  last  in  dishonour,  sounding  the 
lowest  depths  of  ignominy  and  shame.'  This,  which  itself 
is  true  (Phil.  ii.  7,  8),  is  yet  not  the  truth  of  this  place. 
That  truth  is  nobly  expressed  in  the  comment  of  a  medi- 
eval theologian,  Kichard  of  St.  Victor,  more  than  once 
quoted  already :  '  Ego  sum  primus  et  novissimus.  Primus 
per  creationem,  novissimus  per  retributionem.  Primus, 
quia  ante  Me  non  est  format  us  Deus  ;  novissimus,  quia 
post  Me  alius  non  erit.  Primus,  quia  a  Me  sunt  omnia  ; 
novissimus,  quia  ad  Me  sunt  omnia  ;  a  Me  principio,  ad 
Me  finem.  Primus,  quia  Ego  sum  causa  originis  ;  novissi- 
mus, quia  Ego  judex  et  finis.' 

Ver.  18.  lI  am  He  that  liveth  and  was  dead,  and  be- 
hold, I  am  alive  for  evermore.  Amen.'' — Translate  rather 
*  And  the  living  One,  and  I  became  dead,  and  behold,  I 
am  living  for  evermore."1  Gain,  as  it  appears  to  me,  will 
thus  accrue  to  every  clause  of  the  sentence.  In  the  first 
place,  Kai,  connecting  this  verse  so  closely  with  the  one 
preceding,  will  have  its  rights,  which  are  wholly  overlooked 
in  our  Version.     Then  6  £cov  expresses  not  so  much  that 

E   2 


52  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.        [i.  1 8. 

He,  the  speaker,  '  lived,'  as  that  He  was  *  the  Living  One,' 
the  Life  (John  i.  4 ;  xiv.  6),  avro^corj,  having  life  in  Him- 
self, and  being  the  fountain  and  source  of  life  to  others  ; 

0  tyjs  airslpov  irpvravis  ^(jotjs,  as  Clement  of  Alexandria 
grandly  calls  Him  (Quis  Div.  Salv.  25).  It  is  true 
lhat  in  one  sense  it  is  the  exclusive  prerogative  of  the 
Father  to  have  life  in  Himself,  but  a  prerogative  which 
He  has  communicated  with  the  Son  (John  v.  26)  ;  of  Him 
too  it  maybe  said,  in  the  words  of  the  Psalmist,  irapa  Sot 
7T7?7>7  ^wrjs  (Ps.  xxxvi.  10,  LXX.).  To  Him  belongs  abso- 
lute being  (ovrcos  slvat),  as  contrasted  with  the  illative 
being  of  the  creature,  with  the  life  which  may  be  no  life, 
seeing  that  it  inevitably  falls  under  the  dominion  of  cor- 
ruption and  death,  so  soon  as  it  is  separated  from  Him, 
the  source  from  which  it  was  derived  ;  for  others  may 
share,  but  He  only  hath,  immortality  ( I  Tim.  vi.  16),  being 
ovala  addvaros,  ov  fierovaia  (Theodoret).  All  this  is 
included  in  Christ's  assertion  here  of  Himself  as  6  %<ov. 
Being  thus  The  Living  One,  He  goes  on  to  say,  '  i"  yet 
became  (syevoftTjv)  dead  ;  I  the  source  of  all  life  stooped 
even  to  taste  of  death.'  Such  is  the  second  clause,  and 
then  follows  the  glorious  third.  '  This  state  of  death  en- 
dured for  Me  but  for  an  instant.    I  laid  down  my  life  that 

1  might  take  it  again.  I  drank  of  the  brook  in  the  way, 
and  therefore  have  I  lifted  up  my  head  (Ps.  ex.  7);  death 
has  now  in  Me  been  so  swallowed  up  in  life,  that  behold, 
I  am  living  for  evermore.'' 

'  And  have  the  keys  of  hell  and  of  death.' — We  should 
read  rather  '  of  death  and  of  hell,'  for  so  all  the  best 
MSS.  and  Versions  have  it,  while  the  reading  of  our 
Translation  inverts  the  natural  and  logical  order ;  for  it  is 
death  which  peoples  hell  or  Hades ;  it  is  a  king  Death  who 
makes  possible  a  kingdom  of  the  dead  (vi.  8 ;  xx.  13,  14); 


I.  1 8.]  INTRODUCTION,    REV.    I.    4-20.  53 

for  by  '  hellS  or  Hades,  this  invisible  kingdom  or  dominion 
of  the  dead  is  intended,  and  that  in  all  its  extent,  not 
merely  in  one  dark  province  of  it,  the  region  assigned  to 
the  lost.  Hengstenberg  indeed  affirms  in  his  own  con- 
fident way  that  ' death''  here  means  the  second  death,  and 
as  a  consequence  that  '  hell,'  or  Hades,  can  mean  only 
gehenna  ;  observing  that  in  the  New  Testament  this 
second  death  is  alone  set  forth  as  an  object  of  fear.  But 
why  is  it  that  the  other  death,  itself  the  outward  sign  and 
seal  of  God's  extreme  indignation  against  sin,  has  ceased 
to  be  an  object  of  terror,  has  been  robbed  for  the  faithful 
of  its  sting?  Why,  except  for  that  fact  which  we  find 
proclaimed  in  these  words,  namely,  that  the  Son  of  God 
has  gone  down  into  the  dark  realm  of  shadows  and  re- 
turned from  it  again — and  not  this  only,  but  returned 
from  it  a  conqueror,  having  overcome  death,  and  burst, 
like  another  Samson  (Judg.  xvi.  3),  the  gates  of  the  city 
of  the  grave  which  shut  Him  in  ;  and  in  pledge  of  this 
having  the  keys  uf  both,  the  absolute  Lord  Avho  opens  and 
shuts  them  at  his  will  for  all  the  children  of  men.  For 
myself  I  cannot  doubt,  above  all  when  I  look  at  the  words 
which  immediately  go  before,  that  Christ  sets  Himself  forth 
here  as  the  overcomer  of  death  natural ;  which  it  must 
always  be  remembered  is  rather  death  unnatural ;  for 
man  was  made  for  immortality  (Gen.  ii.  17),  and  death 
is  the  denial  and  reversal  of  the  true  law  of  his  creation 
(Rom.  v.  12  ;  Wisd.  i.  13-16).  He  who  is  the  Prince  of 
life  is  indeed  but  saying  here  what  already  He  had  been 
bold  to  say,  while  the  victory  was  yet  unwon  :  '  I  am  the 
Resurrection,  and  the  Life'  (John  xi.  25);  life,  that  is,  in 
conflict  with  death,  and  overcoming  it.  The  keys  are  the 
emblems  of  authority  (cf.  iii.  7) ;  to  have  the  keys  is  to 
have  the  power  of  Himself  going  in  and  out  as  He  pleases, 


54  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.       [i.  1 8. 

of  admitting  and  excluding,  shutting  up  and  delivering 
others  :  cf.  Deut.  xxxii.  39,  '  I  kill  and  I  make  alive  ; ' 
and  1  Sam.  ii.  6.  The  metaphor  rests  on  the  conception  of 
Hades  as  a  city  with  walls  and  gates  ;  Christ  had  spoken 
in  his  earthly  life  of  the  '  gates  of  hell '  (Matt.  xvi.  1 8  ; 
cf.  Isai.  xxxviii.  10;  Job  xxxviii.  17;  Ps.  cvii.  18). 

Let  me  express  here,  before  leaving  this  subject,  the 
regret  which  all  who  have  thoughtfully  compared  our  Ver- 
sion with  the  original  must  feel  that  the  one  word  '  hell' 
covers  in  it  two  words  so  different  in  meaning  as  aSijs  and 
yssvva,  the  first  '  Sheol,'  the  gathering-place  of  all  de- 
parted souls  (Prov.  xxvii.  20),  the  second  the  XifAvrj  rov 
irvpos  of  this  Book  (xix.  20  ;  xx.  10),  the  final  abode  of 
the  lost.  All  must  lament  the  manifold  confusions  which 
out  of  this  have  arisen  ;  the  practical  loss,  indeed,  among 
our  people  of  any  doctrine  about  Hades  at  all.  In  the 
K.  V.  the  error  is  corrected ;  but  who  can  measure  the 
years  which  must  pass  before  the  correction  of  the  error 
makes  itself  popularly  felt  among  us,  if  ever  it  does  this? 
The  relations  of  aSrjs  to  <yssvva,  and  also  to  irapdhsiaos, 
are  well  put  in  this  extract  from  a  funeral  sermon  of 
Jeremy  Taylor  :  '  The  word  "AiBrjs  signifies  indefinitely 
the  state  of  separation,  whether  blessed  or  accursed  ;  it 
means  only  "  the  invisible  place,"  or  the  region  of  dark- 
ness, whither  whoso  descends  shall  be  no  more  seen.  For 
as  among  the  heathens  the  Elysian  fields  and  Tartara  are 
both  sv  "AiSov,1  so  among  the  Jews  and  Christians  para- 
disus  and  gehenna  are  the  distinct  states  of  Hades.'' 
Compare  Konig,  Die  Lehre  von  Christi  Hollenfahrt,  1842, 


1  As  witness  the  lines  of  the  comic  poet : 

Kai  yap  Kaff  "Aiftijv  8vo  Tpiflovs  vo/xi^ofxev, 
fiiav  diKaiaov,  ^arepav  aaefitov  686v. 


I.   19,  20.]  INTRODUCTION,    REV.    I.    4.-20.  55 

a  very  complete  monograph  on  its  subject ;  and  an  article 
Niedergefahren  zur  Holle,  by  Laible,  in  the  Zeitschrift 
fur  Luth.  Theol.  1863,  pp.  22-92. 

Ver.  19.  '  Write  the  things  vohich  thou  hast  seen,  and 
the  things  which  are,  and  the  things  which  shall  be  here- 
after? — It  was  certainly  a  piece  of  carelessness  on  the  part 
of  our  Translators  to  have  omitted,  which  none  of  the  pre- 
vious translators  had  done,  the  ovv  ('Write  therefore'), 
about  the  right  of  which  to  a  place  in  the  text  no  question 
has  been  ever  made.  With  what  intention  the  illative 
particle  is  used,  is  not  so  easy  to  determine  ;  perhaps  it  is 
best  referred  to  what  goes  immediately  before :  '  Seeing 
that  I  am  this  mighty  One,  the  first  and  last,  who  was 
dead  and  am  alive,  do  thou  therefore  write ;  for  the  things 
declared  by  Me  are  all  steadfast  and  sure.' 

Ver.  20.  '  The  mystery  of  the  seven  stars  which  thou 
saivest  in  my  right  hand,  and  of  the  seven  golden  candle- 
sticks. The  seven  stars  are  the  Angels  of  the  seven  Churches, 
and  the  seven  candlesticks  which  thou  saivest  are  the  seven 
Churches.'' — We  may  either  regard  the  first  sentence  as 
governed  by  the  '  Write '  of  the  verse  preceding ;  so  no 
doubt  our  Translators,  who  place  only  a  comma  at  the 
conclusion  of  that  verse  ;  or  else,  placing  a  full-stop  there, 
regard  these  words  as  a  sort  of  nominative  absolute,  the 
statement  of  the  '  mystery?  or  spiritual  riddle,  of  which 
the  solution  follows  in  the  latter  half  of  the  verse — a 
distribution  which  to  my  mind  seems  preferable  to  the 
other. — A  '  mystery  '  in  the  constant  language  of  Scripture 
is  something  which  man  is  capable  of  knowing,  but  only 
when  it  has  been  revealed  to  him  by  God  (Matt.  xiii.  1 1  ; 
Rom.  xi.  25  ;  Ephes.  vi.  19;  I  Cor.  xiii.  2),  and  not  through 
any  searching  of  his  own.  Thus  '  mystery '  and '  revelation,' 
fjbvarrjpLov  and  airoKuXv^ns,  are  correlative  terms  (Rom. 


56  EPISTLES   TO    THE   SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.       [i.   20. 

xvi.  25) ;  and  as  in  the  former  clauses  of  the  present  verse 
there  is  the  fivcmjpiov,  so  in  the  latter  the  cnroKaXvtyis 
fxvcmjpiov.  From  this,  the  revelation  of  the  mystery,  we 
learn  that  '  the  seven  stars  are  the  Angels  of  the  seven 
Churches.'  In  all  the  typical  language  of  Scripture  stars 
are  symbols  of  lordship  and  authority,  ecclesiastical  or  civil. 
Thus  a  star  is  the  symbol  of  the  highest  dominion  of  all : 
'There  shall  come  «  Star  out  of  Jacob'  (Num.  xxiv.  7)  ; 
and  the  actual  birth  of  Him  whom  Balaam  prophesied  of 
here,  is  announced  by  a  star  (Matt.  ii.  2  ;  cf.  Isai.  xiv.  12). 
Faithful  teachers  are  stars  that  shall  shine  for  ever  (Dan. 
xii.  3);  false  teachers  are  wandering  stars  (Jude  13),  or 
stars  which  fall  from  heaven  (Eev.  viii.  10;  vi.  13  ;  xii.  4). 
But  only  when  we  know  exactly  what  '  the  Angels  of  the 
seven  Churches  '  mean,  shall  we  feel  perfectly  sure  that  we 
have  interpreted  the  '  stars '  aright ;  or  rather  that  we  have 
apprehended  aright  the  interpretation  of  them  given  here 
by  the  Spirit. 

These  '  Angels '  have  given  rise  to  much  discussion 
and  debate.  Some  have  understood  by  them  the  heavenly 
messengers  who  bear  this  name.  They  urge  that,  often 
elsewhere  in  this  Book  as  the  word  '  Angel '  recurs,  it  is 
never  employed  in  any  other  sense ;  therefore  that  in  these 
we  are  to  recognize  the  guardian  Angels  over  the  several 
Churches,  '  their  Angels ; '  that  if  single  persons  had  thus 
their  Angels  (Matt,  xviii.  10;  cf.  Acts  xii.  15),  much  more 
the  same  might  be  j)redicated  of  Churches  (Dan.  xii.  I ). 
Thus  Origen  {Horn.  xiii.  in  Luc.) :  '  Si  audacter  expedit 
loqui  Scripturarum  sensum  sequenti,  per  singulas  Eccle- 
sias  bini  sunt  Episcopi,  alius  visibilis,  alius  invisibilis  ;  ille 
visui  carnis,  hie  sensui  patens.  Et  quomodo  homo,  si 
commissam  sibi  dispensationem  bene  egerit,  laudatur  a 
Domino,  si  male,  culpse  et  vitio  subjacet,  sic  et  Angelus.' 


I.  20.]  INTRODUCTION,    REV.    I.    ZJ.-20.  57 

And  again  {Horn.  xx.  in  Num.) :  '  Secundum  ea  qua?  Jo- 
hannes in  Apocalypsi  scribit,  unicuiqueEcclesise  generaliter 
Angelus  praeest,  qui  vel  collaudatur  pro  bene  gestis  populi, 
vel  etiam  pro  delictis  ejus  culpatur.  In  quo  etiam  stu- 
pendi  mysterii  admiratione  permoveor,  quod  infantum  Deo 
cura  de  nobis  sit,  ut  etiam  Angelos  suos  culpari  pro  nobis 
et  confutari  patiatur.  Sic  enim  cum  pgedagogo  traditur 
puer,  si  forte  minus  dignis,  nee  secundum  paternam  nobi- 
litatem  imbutus  appareat  disciplinis,  continuo  culpa  ad 
psedagogum  refertur,  nee  ita  puer  a  patre  ut  psedagogus 
arguitur.'  Cf.  Jerome  {In  Mich.  vi.  I,  2),  who  here  fol- 
lows close  in  the  footsteps  of  Origen. 

The  preoccupation  of  an  obvious  objection  is  in  the 
words  just  quoted  ingeniously  attempted,  but  not  success- 
fully accomplished.  Indeed  the  objection  is  one  which  it 
is  impossible  to  surmount  :  this,  namely,  How  could  holy 
Angels  be  charged  with  such  delinquencies  as  are  laid  to 
the  charge  of  some  of  the  Angels  here  (ii.  4 ;  iii.  1,  15)  ? 
There  are  some  good  observations  on  this  point  in  Au- 
gustine (Ep.  43,  §  22)  :  '  Angelo  Ecclesire  Ephesi  scribe  ; 
Quod  si  de  Angelo  superiorum  ccelorum,  et  non  de  prre- 
positis  Ecclesise  vellet  intelligi,  non  consequenter  diceret : 
Sed  habeo  adversum  te,  quod  caritatem  primam  reliquisti. 
Hoc  de  superioribus  Angelis  dici  non  potest,  qui  perpetuam 
retinent  caritatem,  unde  qui  defecerunt  et  lapsi  sunt,  dia- 
bolus  est  et  angeli  ejus.'  Moreover,  as  Eothe  well  asks, 
if  these  Angels  are  heavenly  ones,  what  meaning  would 
the  injunction  '  Write '  in  this  case  possess  (Anfange  der 
Kirche,  p.  423)  ? 

This  then  of  the  '  Angels  '  meaning  heavenly  Angels 
may  certainly  be  dismissed.  All  which  Alford  has  urged 
in  its  favour  will  fail  to  produce  any  wide  acceptance  for 
it.     The  Angel  must  be  some  person  or  persons  in  the 


58  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.       |_I.  20. 

Church  on  earth,  not  one  overlooking  it  from  heaven.  1 
say  some  person  or  persons,  not  as  myself  thinking  it 
possible  that  he  can  represent  a  plurality,  but  having  in 
view  explanations  which  by  some  have  been  offered,  and 
on  which  something  will  need  to  be  said. 

But  if  some  human  person  in  the  Church,  who  but  the 
chief  shepherd,  in  other  words,  the  bishop  ?  To  whom 
else  would  all  which  we  here  in  these  Epistles  find  ascribed 
to  the  Angel  apply  ?  For  myself,  I  cannot  but  think  that 
the  argument  for  the  existence  of  the  episcopate  in  the 
later  apostolic  times,  and  that  as  a  divinely  recognized 
institution,  which  may  be  drawn  from  the  position  of  the 
Angels  in  the  several  Churches,  and  from  the  language 
in  which  they  are  addressed,  is  exceedingly  strong.  The 
Angel  in  each  Church  is  one ;  but  surely  none  can  sup- 
pose for  an  instant  that  there  was  only  one  presbyter,  or 
other  minister  serving  in  holy  things,  for  the  whole  flour- 
ishing Church  of  Ephesus,  or  of  Smyrna  ;  and  that  we  are 
in  this  way  to  account  for  the  single  Angel  of  the  several 
Churches.  Thirty  years  before  this  time  St.  Paul  had 
uttered  his  parting  words  at  Miletus  to  the  elders  of  the 
Ephesian  Church  (Acts  xx.  17),  and  certainly  addressed 
them  even  then  as  many  (ver.  25).  Taking  into  account 
what  we  know  of  the  spread  of  the  Christian  faith  in  these 
parts  during  the  intermediate  time,  it  is  probable  that 
their  number  was  at  this  time  largely  increased.  And 
yet,  numerous  as  by  this  time  the  presbyters  must  have 
been,  there  is  only  one  Angel  in  each  of  these  Churches. 
What  can  he  be  but  a  bishop? — a  bishop  too  with  the 
prerogatives  which  we  ascribe  to  one.  His  preeminence 
cannot  be  explained  away,  as  though  he  had  been  merely 
a  ruling  elder, primus  inter  pares,  with  only  such  authority 
and  jurisdiction  as  the  others,  his  peers,  may  have  agreed 


I.  20.]  INTRODUCTION,    REV.    I.    4-2O.  59 

to  lend  him.  For  the  great  Bishop  of  souls  who  is  here 
on  his  spiritual  visitation,  everywhere  holds  the  Angel 
responsible  for  the  spiritual  condition  of  his  Church  ;  for 
the  false  teaching  which  he  has  not  put  down,  for  the  false 
teachers  whom  he  has  not  separated  off  from  the  communion 
of  the  faithful, — in  short,  for  every  disorder  in  doctrine  or 
discipline  which  has  remained  unrepressed.  But  Christ 
could  not  so  deal  with  them,  could  not  charge  them  per- 
sonally with  these  negligences  and  omissions,  unless  upon 
the  ground  that  they  had  been  clothed  with  power  and 
authority  sufficient  to  prevent  them,  so  that  these  evils 
could  only  exist  through  their  neglect  or  connivance. 

I  am  very  far  from  affirming  that  bishops  were  com- 
monly called  Angels  in  the  primitive  Church  ;  or  called  so 
at  all,  except  with  a  more  or  less  conscious  reference  to  this 
use  of  the  word  in  the  Apocalypse.  There  is  a  certain 
mysteriousness,  and  remoteness  from  the  common  language 
of  men,  in  the  adoption  of  this  term,  and  such  there  is 
intended  to  be.  It  belongs  to  the  enigmatic  symbolic 
character  of  the  Book,  elevated  in  its  language  throughout 
above  the  level  of  daily  life.  Those  to  whom  this  title  is 
ascribed  are  herein  presented  to  the  Church  as  clothed  with 
a  peculiar  dignity,  and  are  herein  themselves  reminded 
that  they  stand  before  One,  whose  ministries  of  grace  and 
love  they  should  be  swift  to  fulfil  on  earth,  even  as  those 
whose  names  they  bear  are  swift  to  fulfil  them  in  heaven. 
There  is  then  a  certain,  though  very  partial  right  in  what 
Origen  taught ;  and  '  Angel '  is  a  heavenly  title  here  ; 
but  a  heavenly  title  which  has  been  borrowed  by  earth, 
which  has  been  transferred  and  applied  to  men ;  a  transfer 
not  without  its  analogies  in  the  Old  Testament  (Eccles. 
v.  6  ;  Hagg.  i.  13  ;  Mai.  ii.  7  ;  iii.  1)  ;  and  rendered  more 
easy  by  the  fact  that  Angel  is  a  name  not  designating  the 


60  EPISTLES   TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.       [i.  20. 

personality,  but  only  the  office,  of  those  heavenly  beings 
by  whom  it  properly  is  borne.  Thus  the  author  of  the 
Commentary  once  ascribed  to  Augustine:  'Nam  quia  etiam 
Angelas  nuntius  interpretatur,  quicumque  aut  episcopus, 
aut  presbyter,  aut  etiam  laicus  frequenter  de  Deo  loquitur, 
et  quomodo  ad  vitam  seternam  perveniatur  annunciat, 
merito  angelus  Dei  dicitur.' 

It  is  nothing  wonderful  that  those  who  maintain  the 
government  of  the  Church  to  have  been  presbyterian  at 
the  first,  and  who  see  in  the  episcopate  a  result  of  declen- 
sion from  apostolic  purity,  and  of  the  springing  up  of  a 
sinful  cf)iXo7rpa)TSv£iv  (3  John  9)  in  the  Church,  should 
refuse  to  accept  these  conclusions.  At  the  same  time 
they  are  far  from  being  at  one  in  the  method  whereby 
they  have  sought  to  escape  the  argument  for  primitive 
episcopacy  which  we  believe  that  we  are  here  justified  in 
finding- 

Thus  some  affirm  that  the  Angel  is  not  any  one  person, 
but  stands  for  and  represents  the  whole  body  of  the 
wposaTwrss,  the  collective  presbytery,  contemplated  and 
addressed  as  this  single  person.  So  for  the  most  part  the 
early  anti-episcopal  Protestants,  Brightman  for  example. 
That  such  commentators  as  Hengstenberg  have  been  able 
to  satisfy  themselves  with  such  an  explanation,  has  always 
filled  me  with  wonder.  The  mere  statement  that  the 
Angel  means  '  das  gesammte  Kirchenregiment '  (his  own 
words),  seems  to  involve  its  own  condemnation.  Vitringa 
{De  Synag.  Vet.  p.  91 1)  with  more  candour  mentions  this 
explanation  only  to  reject  it,  and  finds  a  clear  testimony 
here  for  the  superior  dignity  of  one  in  these  several 
Churches ;  though  naturally  the  episcopate  which  he  thus 
recognizes  is  of  the  mildest  form,  of  the  Ussherian  type  ; 
and  Beza  in  like  manner  glosses  t&5  ayysXw,  i.  e.  irpoe- 


I.  20.]  INTRODUCTION,    REV.    I.    4~20.  61 

a-ToiTi ;  though,  curiously  enough,  he  considers  that  the 
upgrowth  of  the  tyrannous  hierarchy  of  Eome  is  evidence 
sufficient  that,  however  there  were  these  7rposar(OTSs  in 
the  apostolic  Churches,  it  was  never  intended  of  God 
that  such  should  always  continue. 

But  those  who  are  determined  that  at  any  rate  there 
shall  be  no  bishop  here,  are  not  all  agreed  among  them- 
selves how  they  shall  get  rid  of  him  ;  and  this  resolving  of 
the  Angel  into  a  presbyterian  board  has  appeared  to  some, 
to  Ebrard  for  instance,  so  poor  an  escape  from  the  em- 
barrassment, that  they  have  devised  another,  but  if  possi- 
ble a  poorer  still.  The  explanation  they  offer  rests  on  the 
entirely  gratuitous  assumption  that  the  seven  Churches 
had  sent  their  messengers  to  St.  John  at  Patmos,  therefore 
called  the  'Angels  (cf.  Luke  ix.  52)  of  the  Churches?  as 
having  been  sent  by  them.  These  in  these  Epistles  are 
now  successively  addressed,  that  they  may  carry  back  his 
word,  or  rather  the  word  of  Christ,  to  the  congregations 
from  which  they  had  been  deputed.  But  in  answering  a 
letter  by  a  messenger,  men  write  by  him,  they  do  not 
usually  write  to  him  ;  nor  is  it  easy  to  see  where  is  the 
correspondency  between  such  messengers,  subordinate  offi- 
cials of  the  Churches,  and  stars;  or  what  the  '  mystery  , 
of  the  relation  between  them  then  would  be ;  or  how  the 
Lord  should  set  forth  as  an  eminent  prerogative  of  his, 
that  He  held  the  seven  stars,  that  is,  the  seven  messengers, 
in  his  right  hand  (ii.  1).  The  scheme  breaks  down  at 
every  point,  and  among  many  lame  and  impotent  ex- 
planations must  needs  be  regarded  as  the  lamest  and  most 
impotent  of  all. 

I  will  take  the  opportunity  of  a  pause  between  this,  the 
Introduction  to  the  seven  Epistles,  and  the  seven  Epistles 


62  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.       [i.  20. 

themselves,  to  say  a  few  needful  words  on  the  mystery  of 
the  number  seven ;  which  only  I  have  left  unsaid  so  long, 
because  unwilling  to  interrupt  the  exposition  by  any  thing 
in  the  shape  of  a  dissertation  ;  not  to  say  that  I  found  it 
difficult  to  attach  particularly  to  any  one  of  those  impor- 
tant sevens  which  have  already  occurred,  considerations 
which  properly  belonged  to  them  all. 

Even  the  most  careless  reader  of  the  Apocalypse  must 
be  struck  with  the  manner  in  which  almost  every  thing 
there  is  ordered  by  sevens.  Thus,  besides  the  seven 
Churches,  and  their  seven  Angels,  we  have  already  in  this 
first  chapter  the  seven  Spirits  (ver.  4),  the  seven  candle- 
sticks (ver.  12),  the  seven  stars  (ver.  16) ;  and  further  on, 
seven  lamps  of  fire  (iv.  4),  seven  seals  (v.  1),  seven  horns 
and  seven  eyes  of  the  Lamb  (v.  6),  seven  heavenly  Angels 
with  their  seven  trumpets  (viii.  2),  seven  thunders  (x.  3), 
seven  heads  of  the  dragon,  and  seven  crowns  upon  these 
heads  (xii.  3 ),  the  same  of  the  beast  rising  out  of  the  sea 
(xiii.  1),  seven  last  plagues  (xv.  1),  seven  vials  (xv.  7), 
seven  mountains  (xvii.  9),  seven  kings  (xvii.  10)  ;  not  to 
speak  of  other  recurrences,  not  so  obvious,  of  this  number 
seven  as  the  signature  of  the  Book ;  as,  for  instance,  the 
distribution  of  the  entire  Book  into  seven  visions,  the  seven- 
fold ascription  of  glory  to  the  Lamb  (v.  12),  and  to  Grod 
(vii.  12). 

But  indeed  the  recurrence,  and,  I  shall  seek  to 
show,  the  symbolic  dignity  of  the  number  seven  runs 
through  the  whole  of  Scripture  from  first  to  last, — to  say 
nothing  of  the  echoes  of  this  sense  of  its  significance  which 
abound  in  every  religion  of  heathendom ; l  and  if  this  is 


1  '  Die  allgemeine  Heiligkeit  der  Siebenzahl  kaben  die  Alten  schon 
in  alien  Beziehungen  bemerkt '  (Oreuzer,  Symbolik,  vol.  ii.  p.  161, 
where  see  a  large  collection  of  the  literature  on  tbe  subject). 


I.  20.]  INTRODUCTION,    RET.    I.    4~20.  63 

more  strongly  marked  in  the  Apocalypse  than  in  any  other 
book  of  Scripture,  it  is  only  that  this,  like  so  much  else, 
has  culminated  here.  Should  it  be  asked,  What  is  the 
special  significance,  and  what  the  sacredness  and  peculiar 
dignity  of  seven,  and  of  what  is  it  the  signature  ?  the 
answer  is  not  very  hard  to  give.  A  careful  induction  from 
all  the  passages  where  this  number  cannot  be  regarded  as 
fortuitous,  but  is  evidently  of  Divine  ordinance  and  ap- 
pointment (I  call  fortuitous  such  sevens  as  occur,  Acts  xix. 
14  ;  xx.  6),  will  leave  no  doubt  that  it  claims  throughout 
Scripture  to  be  considered  as  the  covenant  number,  the 
sign  and  signature  of  God's  covenant  relation  to  man- 
kind, and  above  all  to  that  portion  of  mankind  with  which 
this  relation  is  not  potential  merely,  but  actual,  namely, 
the  Church. 

The  evidences  of  this  reach  back  to  the  very  beginning. 
We  meet  them  first  in  the  hallowing  of  the  seventh  day, 
in  pledge  and  token  of  the  covenant  of  God  with  man 
(Gen.  ii.  3  ;  cf.  Ezek.  xx.  12).1  So  too  circumcision,  being 
the  sign  of  a  covenant,  is  accomplished  on  the  eighth,  or 
after  seven  days  (Gen.  xvii.  12  ;  Lev.  xii.  3).  And  as 
seven  is  the  signature  of  God's  covenant  with  man,  so  of 
all  man's  covenants  with  his  fellows,  resting  as  these  do, 
and  must,  on  the  anterior  covenant  with  God  ;  thus  of 
treaties  of  peace  (Gen.  xx.  20),  of  marriages  (Judg.  xiv. 


1  It  was  therefore  a  true  instinct  of  hatred  against  a  divine  insti- 
tution which  led  those  who  in  the  first  French  Revolution  proclaimed 
the  abolition  of  the  Christian  religion,  to  make  war  also  on  the  Chris- 
tian week,  the  distribution  of  time  by  sevens,  and  to  substitute  that 
by  decades  in  its  stead.  They  felt  that  here  was  a  witness  for  God 
in  the  world,  a  witness  that  He  was  the  measurer  out  of  our  times  to 
us,  and  of  our  duty  to  sanctify  to  Him  the  times  that  He  had  thus 
measured  out,  which  must  not  be  allowed  to  continue. 


64  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.       [i.  20. 

12).  Nor  should  it  be  left  unnoticed  that  the  word  seven 
is  bound  up  in  the  Hebrew  word  signifying  an  oath,  or  a 
covenant  confirmed  with  an  oath.  Seven  is  the  number  of 
sacrifice,  by  aid  of  which  the  covenant,  once  established,  is 
continually  maintained  in  its  first  vigour  and  strength,  and 
the  relations  between  (rod  and  man,  which  sin  is  evermore 
disturbing,  and  threatening  to  bring  to  an  end,  are  restored 
(1  Kin.  viii.  65  ;  2  Chron.  xxix.  21  ;  Job  xlii.  8  ;  cf.  Num. 
xxiii.  1,  14,  29).  It  is  the  number  of  purification  and 
consecration,  as  the  fruit  of  the  sacrifice  (Lev.  iv.  6,  17; 
viii.  11,  33  ;  xiv.  9,  51  ;  xvi.  14,  19  ;  Num.  xix.  12,  19), 
of  forgiveness  (Matt,  xviii.  21,  22  ;  Luke  xvii.  4).  Then, 
again,  seven  is  the  number  of  every  grace  ^  and  benefit 
bestowed  upon  Israel ;  these  being  thus  marked  as  flowing 
out  of  the  covenant  and  resulting  from  it  (2  Kin.  iv.  35). 
The  priests  compass  Jericho  seven  days,  and  on  the  seventh 
day  seven  times,  that  all  Israel  may  know  that  the  city  is 
given  into  their  hands  by  their  Grod  ;  and  that  its  conquest 
is  a  direct  and  immediate  result  of  their  covenant  relation 
to  Him  (Josh.  vi.  4,  15,  16  ;  Heb.  xi.  30).  It  is  the  num- 
ber of  reward  to  those  that  are  faithful  in  the  covenant 
(Deut.  xxviii.  7;  1  Sam.  ii.  5  ;  Prov.  xxiv.  16;  Ecclus. 
xxxii.  13);  of  punishment  to  those  who  are  fro  ward  in 
the  covenant  (Lev.  xxvi.  21,  24,  28;  Num.  xii.  14,  15  ; 
Deut.  xxviii.  25  ;  2  Sam.  xii.  18;  xxi.  6;  xxiv.  13),  or 
to  those  who  injure  the  people  in  it  (Gen.  iv.  15,  24; 
Ps.  lxxix.  12  ;  Exod.  vii.  25);  or  again  of  punishment, 
regarded  in  the  light  of  a  making  of  amends,  a  readjusting 
of  the  disturbed  balances  of  justice,  and  so  a  restoring  of 
harmony  between  the  sinner  and  the  outraged  law  of  God 
(Prov.  vi.  31  ;  Ecclus.  vii.  3  ;  xl.  8).  All  the  feasts,  as  is 
obvious,  are  ordered  by  seven,  or  else  by  seven  multiplied 
into  seven  (7x7),  and  so  made  intenser  still.    Thus,  not  to 


I.  20.]  INTRODUCTION,    REV.    I.    4~20.  65 

recur  again  to  the  Sabbath,  the  mother  of  all  feasts,  it  is 
with  the  Passover  (Exod.  xii.  15,  16),  the  feast  of  weeks 
(Deut.  xvi.  9),  of  tabernacles  (Deut.  xvi.  13,  15),  the 
sabbath-year  (Lev.  xxv.  2,3;  Deut.  xv.  1 ),  and  the  jubilee 
(Lev.  xxv.  8) ; 1  thus  also  with  Solomon's  feast  of  dedication 
(i  Kin.  viii.  65  ;  cf.  2  Chron.  xxx.  22,  23). 

Further  we  may  observe  that  wherever  God  is  at  work 
in  the  history  of  other  nations  outside  of  the  covenant, 
while  yet  He  would  make  it  plainly  to  appear  that  it  is  for 
Israel's  sake,  and  having  respect  to  the  covenant,  that  He 
is  so  working,  this  signature  of  seven  in  his  dealing  with 
those  nations  is  never  wanting.  Thus  it  is  the  number  of 
the  years  of  plenty  and  of  the  years  of  famine,  in  sign 
that  these  were  sent  not  so  much  for  Egypt's  sake,  as  for 
Israel's,  and  as  conducing  to  the  divine  preparation  through 
which  the  chosen  people  were  to  pass  (Gen.  xli.  26,  27). 
Naaman  is  to  wash  in  Jordan  seven  times,  that  he  may 
acknowledge  in  the  God  of  Israel  the  author  of  his  cure 
(2  Kin,  v.  10).  Seven  times  pass  over  Nebuchadnezzar, 
that  he  may  learn  in  his  abasement  that  the  God  of  his 
Jewish  captives  is  indeed  the  King  over  all  the  earth 
(Dan.  iv.  16,  23,  25).  But  the  subject  is  inexhaustible, 
the  significance  of  the  number  seven  meeting  us  at  every 
turn  in  Scripture.  When  St.  Jude  reminds  us  that  Enoch, 
in  whom  the  patriarchal  piety  reached  its  highest  bloom, 
was  *  the  seventh  from  Adam '  (ver.  14),  it  is  surely  some- 
thing more  than  a  mere  genealogical  notice  which  he  is 
giving ; 2  as  certainly  it  is  not  by  accident  that  in  Lamech, 


1  See  Philo,  De  Sentenario,  De  Abrah.  §  5  ;  and  again  Legg.  Alleg. 
§  4,  the  passage  beginning  xa'LP*1  h  <}>vo-is  e@80fj.d81,  and  indeed  his 
works,  throughout,  on  the  Upa  f@80fj.ds,  as  he  constantly  calls  it. 
Compare  Gfrorer,  Alexandr.  Theosoph.  vol.  ii.  pp.  98  sqq. 

2  Gregory  of  Nyssa  (In  Verb.  Faciam  Horn.  Orat.  2)  :  "E@80fj.os 

F 


66  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.       [i.  20. 

he  too  the  seventh  from  Adam,  the  impiety  of  the  apostate 
race  of  Cain  reached  its  highest  height  (Gen.  iv.  23).  Who 
again  will  venture  to  affirm  it  an  accident  that  there  are 
seven  beatitudes,  seven  petitions  in  the  Lord's  Prayer, 
that  the  parables  in  Matthew  xiii.  are  seven,  that  the  woes 
denounced  in  twenty-third  chapter  of  St.  Matthew  against 
the  Pharisees  are  seven,1  that  the  Lord  spake  seven  words 
from  his  cross,  that  by  seven  words  He  brought  his  discourse 
with  the  Samaritan  woman  to  its  glorious  termination 
(John  iv.  7,  10,  13,  16,  18,  21,  26)  ?  St.  Matthew  ascribes 
such  a  virtue  to  the  number,  that,  as  might  almost  seem, 
he  employs  a  certain  violence  that  he  may  distribute  our 
Lord's  genealogy  into  three  groups  of  fourteen,  that  is,  of 
double  sevens  (i.  17). 

Leaving  then  the  fact,  which  is  sufficiently  evident,  let 
us  inquire  into  the  reason  of  the  fact.  To  the  question, 
Why  does  seven  take  this  place,  what  are  the  grounds  of 
its  adoption  to  this  high  dignity  and  honour,  the  answer  is 
not  very  difficult  to  give.  It  is  true  that  in  all  speculations 
upon  numbers  we  may  very  profitably  lay  to  heart  the  wise 
caution  of  Fuller,2  clothed,  as  is  ever  the  case  with  his 
wisdom,  in  witty  words :  '  For  matter  of  numbers  fancy  is 
never  at  a  loss,  like  a  beggar  never  out  of  his  way,  but 
hath  some  haunts  where  to  repose  itself.  But  such  as  in 
expounding  of  Scripture  reap  more  than  Grod  did  sow  there, 
never  eat  what  they  reap  thence,  because  such  grainless 
husks,  when  seriously  threshed  out,  vanish  all  into  chaff.' 


anb   yevecreats    ovk  ei$e   Gavarov   'Efo>x,  fivarrjpiov   cKKkrjalas.      He  has 
much  of  interest  on  the  mystery  of  seven. 

1  In  our  Authorized  Version  they  are  eight ;  hut  the  woe  of  verse 
14  has  heen  brought  here  by  transcribers,  who  have  transferred  it  from 
Mark  xii.  40  and  Luke  xx.  47.     It  has  here  no  proper  place. 

2  A  Pisgah  Sight  of  Palestine,  b.  iii.  c.  6. 


I.  20.]  INTRODUCTION,    REV.    I.    4--20.  67 

And  yet  I  feel  very  sure  that  in  this  matter  which  is  now 
before  us,  we  need  not  fear  lest  we  should  be  threshing 
barren  ears,  with  only  chaff  for  our  pains. 

To  the  question  then  asked  above  it  may  be  replied  by 
first  calling  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  number  seven 
results  from  the  combination  of  three  and  four  ;  for  we 
may  observe  that  whenever  this  sacred  seven  falls  of  itself, 
or  is  divided,  into  two  groups,  it  is  never  into  five  and  two, 
or  six  and  one ;  but  always  into  three  and  four,  or  four  and 
three;  thus  the  Lord's  Prayer  (Matt.  vi.  9-15)  contains 
three  sv^ai,  having  to  do  with  the  glory  of  God,  and  four 
alrrjfiara,  relating  to  the  needs  of  men  ;  while  on  the 
other  hand  the  seven  parables  of  Matthew  xiii.  are  divided 
into  groups  ;  first  of  four,  spoken  on  the  sea-side  and  to 
the  multitude  (ver.  1),  and  then  of  three,  spoken  after  a 
considerable  pause  in  the  house  and  to  the  disciples  (ver. 
36).  It  is  the  same  in  this  Book  with  the  trumpets  (viii. 
13),  and  the  vials  (xvi.  3-7).  But  can  it  be  shown  that 
this  three  and  four  in  Scripture  have  severally  any  sym- 
bolic significance  of  their  own  ?  Assuredly  yes  :  three, 
the  signature  of  God ;  four,  that  of  the  world ;  and  thus 
seven,  or  these  numbers  brought  into  contact  and  relation, 
the  token  and  signature  of  the  covenant  between  the 
two. 

That  three  is  the  number  of  God,  of  the  ever-blessed 
Trinity,  this  of  itself  needs  no  proof.  And  it  is  so  recog- 
nized in  Scripture.  There  are  vestiges  of  this  in  the  Old 
Testament ;  in  the  three  mysterious  angel-visitors  who  ap- 
pear to  Abraham  in  the  plains  of  Mamre  (Gen.  xviii.  1 ) 
in  the  blessing  as  from  three  distinct  persons,  Num.  vi. 
24-26  ;  in  the  Trisagion  of  Isai.  vi.  3  ;  in  the  prominent 
position  assumed  throughout  by  the  Angel  of  the  Covenant, 
hereafter  to  be  acknowledged  as  the  second  Person  of  the 


68  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.        [i.  20. 

Trinity ;  in  the  often  mention  not  of  God,  but  of  the  Spirit 
of  God,  hereafter  to  be  acknowledged  as  the  third  Person 
therein  (Gen.  i.  2  ;  Ps.  li.  1 1 ).  These  footprints  of  the 
Trinity  are  purposely  more  or  less  obscure,  and  only  clear 
when  they  are  traced  in  the  light  of  a  later  revelation  ; 
for  the  office  of  the  Church  of  the  Old  Testament  was  to 
guard  the  truth  oijthe  unity  of  the  Godhead,  not  to  de- 
clare the  Trinity ;  which,  indeed,  so  long  as  polytheism 
was  not  overcome,  but  still  had  its  roots  even  in  the 
minds  and  hearts  of  the  chosen  people  itself,  could  not  yet 
have  been  safely  declared.  Here  is  explanation  amply 
sufficient  of  the  reserve  with  which  the  number  three  is 
employed  in  the  Old  Testament  as  the  signature  of  Deity  ; 
the  reason  why  this  is  only  perfectly  plain  and  clear  in  the 
New  (Matt,  xxviii.  19  ;   I  John  v.  7). 

Four,  the  next  number  to  three,  and  growing  imme- 
diately out  of  it,  is  the  signature  of  the  world — of  the 
world,  not  indeed  as  a  rude  undigested  mass,  but  as  a 
kogt/aos,  as  the  revelation,  so  far  as  nature  can  be  the  re- 
velation, of  God.  Four  is  stamped  everywhere  on  this 
organized  world.  Thus,  not  to  speak  of  the  four  elements, 
the  four  seasons,  neither  of  which  are  recognized  in  Scrip- 
ture, we  have  there  the  four  winds  (Ezek.  xxxvii.  9  ;  Dan. 
vii.  2  ;  Matt.  xxiv.  3 1  ;  Eev.  vii.  I ) ;  the  four  corners  of  the 
earth  (Isai.  xi.  12  ;  Ps.  cvii.  3  ;  Rev.  vii.  I  ;  xx.  8)  ;  the 
four  living  creatures,  emblems  of  all  creaturely  life  (Rev. 
iv.  6),  and  each  of  these  with  four  faces  and  four  wings 
(Ezek.  i.  5,  6) ;  the  four  beasts  coming  up  from  the  sea, 
and  representing  the  four  great  world-empires  which  in 
the  providence  of  God  should  succeed  one  another  (Dan. 
vii.  3 ) ;  the  four  metals  composing  the  image  which  sets 
forth  the  same  phases  of  empire  (Dan.  ii.  32,  33)  ;  the 
four  forms  of  the  judgments  of  God,  namely  the  sword, 


I.  20.]  INTRODUCTION,    REV.    I.   4-20.  69 

the  famine,  the  pestilence,  the  wild  beasts  (Eev.  vi.  8 ; 
Jer.  xv.  3)  ;  the  four  Gospels,  or  the  four- sided  Gospel 
(svayysXiov  rsrpd<y(ovov,  as  one  called  it  of  old),  in  sign  of 
its  destination  for  all  the  world  ;  the  sheet  tied  at  the  four 
corners  (Acts  x.  II  ;  xi.  5);1  the  four  carpenters,  and  the 
four  horns,  the  sum  total  of  the  forces  of  the  world  as 
arrayed  against  the  Church  (Zech.  i.  18,  20)  ;  the  enume- 
ration, wherever  this  is  wished  to  be  exhaustive,  of  the  in- 
habitants of  the  world  by  four,  kindreds,  tongues,  peoples, 
and  nations  (Eev.  v.  9 ;  cf.  vii.  9 ;  x.  11;  xi.  9 ;  xiv.  6  ; 
xvii.  15).  For  other  significant  enumerations  by  four,  see 
Ezek.  xiv.  21  ;  Matt.  xv.  31  ;  Kev.  vi.  8  ;  John  v.  3.  Of 
the  number  twelve,  which  is  also  obtained  by  aid  of  three 
and  four,  but  by  these  in  another  combination  (not  as 
3  +  4,  but  as  3x4=12)  there  is  no  need  here  to  speak. 
It  is  only  in  later  parts  of  the  Book  that  its  full  signi- 
ficance appears  (vii.  5  ;  xxi.  12  ;  xxii.  2,  and  elsewhere). 

There  are  reasons  then  amply  sufficient  why  seven,  be- 
ing thus,  as  it  is,  made  up  of  three  and  four,  should  be 
itself  the  signature  of  the  covenant.  No  mere  accident  or 
caprice  dictated  the  selection  of  it.  And  if  this  be  the 
number  of  the  covenant,  then  we  can  account  for  its  con- 
stant recurrence  in  this  Book ;  for  admitting,  as  few  would 
refuse  to  do,  that  the  idea  of  God's  covenant  with  his 
Church  as  the  key  to  all  history,  comes  to  its  head  in  the 
Apocalypse,  it  is  nothing  wonderful  that  this  Book  should 
be  more  markedly  ordered  by  seven,  and  have  this  num- 


1  Augustine  {Enarr.  in  Ps.  ci.  Sertn.  iii.)  :  '  Discus  qui  quatuor 
lineis  continebatur  orbis  terrarum  erat  in  quatuor  partibus.  Has 
quatuor  partes  seepe  Seriptura  commemorat,  orientem  et  occidentem, 
aquilonem  et  meridiem.  Ideo  quia  totus  orbis  per  Evangelium  voca- 
batur,  quatuor  Evangelia  conscripta  sunt.' 


70  EPISTLES    TO    THE   SETEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.        [i.  20. 

ber  stamped  upon  it  even  more  strongly,  than  any  other 
portion  of  Scripture.1 


1  On  this  whole  subject  of  the  symbolic  worth  and  dignity  of 
numbers  in  Scripture,  see  Biihr,  Symbolik  des  Mas.  Cultus,  vol.  i. 
pp.  128-209;  Ziillig,  Offenb.  Johannis  Erkliirt,  vol.  i.  pp.  115-127; 
Delitzsch,  Genesis,  2nd  edit.  p.  225;  in  Herzog,  Encyclopcedie,  art. 
Zahlen;  and  Kurtz,  Theoll.  Stud.  u.  Krit.  1844,  pp.  315-370. 


THE    SEVEN  EPISTLES. 

Kev.  ii.  iii. 

Before  proceeding  to  consider  these  seven  Epistles  in  de- 
tail, it  may  be  well  worth  while  to  invite  the  reader's  atten- 
tion to  the  symmetry,  to  what  we  should  call  in  any  human 
composition  the  remarkable  art,  to  be  traced  in  the  con- 
struction of  them  all :  quite  justifying  the  words  of 
Henry  More  :  '  There  never  was  a  book  penned  with  that 
artifice  as  this  of  the  Apocalypse.'  They  are  all  constructed 
precisely  on  the  same  model.  They  every  one  of  them 
contain — 

a.  A  command  in  exactly  the  same  terms  to  the  Seer 
that  he  should  write  to  the  Angel  of  the  Church. 

/3.  One  or  more  glorious  titles  which  Christ  claims  for 
Himself,  as  exalting  the  dignity  of  his  person,  and  thus 
adding  weight  and  authority  to  the  message  which  He 
sends  ;  these  titles  being  in  almost  every  case  drawn  more 
or  less  evidently  from  the  attributes  ascribed  to  Him,  or 
claimed  by  Him,  in  the  manifestation  of  Himself  which 
has  just  gone  before  (i.  4-20). 

7.  The  actual  message  from  Christ  to  the  Angel  of  the 
Church,  declaring  his  intimate  knowledge  of  its  condition, 
good,  or  bad,  or  mixed,  with  a  summons  to  steadfastness 
in  the  good,  to  repentance  from  the  evil — all  this  brought 
home  by  the  fact  that  He  was  walking  up  and  down  in 


72  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES   IN   ASIA.       [il.  III. 

the  midst  of  his  Churches,  having  in  readiness  to  punish, 
and  also  no  less  to  reward. 

8.  A  promise  to  the  faithful,  to  him  that  should  '  over- 
come'— the  heavenly  blessedness  being  presented  under 
the  richest  variety  of  the  most  attractive,  and  often  the 
most  original,  images. 

s.  Finally,  the  whole  is  summed  up  with  an  exhorta- 
tion which  shall  give  an  universal  character  to  these  par- 
ticular addresses,  a  summons  to  every  one  with  a  spiritual 
ear  that  he  should  give  earnest  heed  to  the  things  which 
were  indeed  spoken  to  all.  In  the  addresses  to  the  four 
last  Churches  the  positions  of  8  and  s  are  reversed. 

On  comparing  these  Epistles  one  with  another,  we  may 
observe  that  in  two  Churches,  namely  in  Smyrna  and 
Philadelphia,  the  great  Shepherd  and  Bishop  of  souls  finds 
matter  only  for  praise ;  in  two,  Sardis  and  Laodicea,  with 
very  smallest  exception  in  the  former,  matter  only  for 
rebuke.  In  three  of  the  Churches,  Ephesus,  Pergamum, 
and  Thyatira,  the  spiritual  condition  is  a  mixed  one,  so 
that  with  some  things  to  praise,  there  are  also  some,  more 
in  one,  fewer  in  another,  to  condemn.  It  will  be  perceived 
at  once  what  far-looking  provision  is  made  in  the  selection 
of  these  particular  Churches  to  be  addressed,  as  in  the 
scheme  of  the  addresses  to  them,  for  the  most  varied  in- 
structions ;  for  reproof,  for  praise,  for  reproof  and  praise 
mingled  together  and  tempering  one  another ;  for  pro- 
mises and  threatenings.  The  spiritual  condition  of  the 
several  Churches  gives  room  and  opportunity,  nay,  consti- 
tutes a  necessity,  for  each  and  all  of  these. 

I  take  this  opportunity  of  mentioning  that  one  who 
probably  knew  by  experience  how  easily  we  lose  sight  of 
the  fact  that  it  is  Christ  Himself  who  speaks  in  these 


II.  III.]  THE    SEVEN    EPISTLES.  73 

Epistles — Thomas  Allen  is  his  name — has  written  a  book 
not  further  known  to  me,  but  with  the  following  title : 
The  Christian's  Sure  Guide  to  Eternal  Glory,  or  Living 
Oracles  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  from  Heaven  in  his 
Royal  Embassy  to  the  Seven  Churches  of  Asia,  8vo., 
London,  1733.  Certainly  the  title  promises  well,  and 
seems  to  invite  a  closer  acquaintance  with  the  body  of 
the  book. 


EPISTLE    TO   THE   CHURCH    OF    EPHESUS. 
Rev.  ii.  1-7. 

Ver.  1.  '  Unto  the  Angel  of  the  Church  of  Ephesus 
write? — Ephesus,  the  chief  city  of  Ionia,  irpu>TT)  ttjs 
'Acrlas,  as  the  Ephesians  themselves  styled  it,  asserting 
in  this  style  that  primacy  for  Ephesus  which  Smyrna  and 
Pergamum  disputed  with  it,  had  now  so  far  outstripped 
both  its  competitors  that  it  was  at  once  the  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  centre  of  that  '  Asia '  with  which  we  have  to 
do.  Wealthy,  prosperous,  and  magnificent, '  Asise  lumen,' 
as  it  was  called,  a  meeting-place  of  oriental  religions  and 
Greek  culture,  and  famous  on  many  grounds  in  heathen 
antiquity,  it  was  most  famous  of  all  for  the  celebrated 
temple  of  Diana,  one  of  the  seven  wonders  of  the  world, 
about  which  in  Acts  xix.  we  read  so  much  (cf.  Creuzer's 
Symbolik,  vol.  ii.  p.  515;  Wood's  Discoveries  at  Ephesus  ; 
Edinburgh  Revieiv,  Jan.  1877  ;  Lewin's  St.  Paul,  vol.  i. 
p.  320  sqq. ;  Falkener's  Ephesus  and  the  Temple  of  Diana ; 
Kenan's  St.  Paul,  p.  333  sqq.).1     But  Ephesus  had  better 


1  For  more  about  Ephesus,  see  Bishop  Alexander's  Introduction 
to  the  First  Epistle  of  John  {Speakers  Bible,  vol.  iv.  p.  275). 


II.   I.]  EPIIESUS,  REV.  II.    I-1/.  75 

titles  of  honour  than  these.  It  was  a  city  greatly 
favoured  of  God.  St  Paul  laboured  there  during  three 
years  (Acts  xx.  31);  he  ordained  Timothy  to  be  bishop 
there  (I  Tim.  i.  3;  cf.  Eusebius,  H.  E.  iii.  4) ;  Aquila, 
Priscilla,  Apollos  (Acts  xviii.  19,  24,  26),  Tychicus  (Ephes. 
vi.  21),  all  contributed  to  build  up  the  Church  in  that 
city.  And  if  we  may  judge  from  St.  Paul's  Epistle  to  the 
Ephesians,  and  from  his  parting  address  to  the  elders  of 
that  Church  (Acts  xx.  17-38),  nowhere  did  the  word  of 
the  Gospel  find  a  kindlier  soil,  strike  root  more  deeply,  or 
bear  fairer  fruits  of  faith  and  love.  St.  John  too  had 
made  it  the  chief  seat  of  his  ministry,  his  metropolitan 
throne,  during  the  closing  years  of  his  protracted  life ; 
from  whence  he  exercised  a  wide,  though  not  wholly  un- 
questioned, jurisdiction  (for  see  3  Ep.  9,  10)  over  the 
whole  of  'Asia.'  How  early  that  ministry  there  began 
it  is  impossible  to  say,  the  date  of  his  withdrawal  from 
Jerusalem  being  itself  uncertain,  and  uncertain  also 
whether  he  at  once  chose  Ephesus  for  the  middle  point  of 
his  spiritual  activity.  From  a  Church  to  which  so  much 
was  given,  much  would  be  required.  How  far  it  had 
profited  as  it  might  by  these  signal  advantages,  how  far 
it  had  maintained  itself  at  those  spiritual  heights  to 
which  it  had  once  attained,  will  presently  be  seen. 

'  These  things  saith  He  that  holdeth  the  seven  stars  in 
his  right  hand.'' — Cf.  i.  20,  where  '  the  mystery  of  the 
seven  stars '  is  unfolded.  It  is  only  when  all  the  titles 
furnished  by  chap.  i.  4-20  are  exhausted,  that  Christ 
seeks  them  from  any  other  quarter.  At  the  same  time 
there  is  a  significant  alteration  here.  There  He  is  6  s^cov, 
'  He  that  hath ' — here  more  emphatically  0  Kparwv,  '  He 
that  holdeth,  the  seven  stars ' — this  being  stronger  and 
more  emphatic  than  that,  '  He  that  holdeth  '  (cf.  ii.  25  ; 


76  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.         [ll.  2. 

iii.  14),  than  '  He  that  hath.''  Christ  holds  these  stars  in 
his  grasp, — an  announcement  full  of  comfort  for  them,  if 
only  they  are  true  to  Him  ;  none  shall  pluck  them  out  of 
his  hand  (John  x.  28)  ;  none  shall  harm  them  in  the 
delivery  of  their  message  (Matt.  x.  30 ;  Acts  xviii.  9,  10); 
or  if  the  malice  of  their  enemies  is  so  far  permitted  that 
they  are  able  to  kill  the  body,  they  shall  only  in  this  way 
prepare  for  them  an  earlier  and  a  speedier  passage  to 
glory  (Acts  vii.  56,  60;  Eev.  xi.  7,  12)  ;  but  an  announce- 
ment full  of  fear  for  the  unfaithful,  for  the  idol  shepherds 
(Zech.  xi.  17),  who  feed  themselves  and  not  the  flock 
(Ezek.  xxxiv.  1-10).  Them  too  He  holds  in  his  grasp, 
and  none  can  deliver  them  from  his  hand. 

'  Who  walketh  in  the  midst  of  the  seven  golden  candle- 
sticks.'— '  Who  walketh '  is  new.  The  Seer  had  indeed 
already  beheld  the  Lord  '  in  the  midst  of  the  seven  candle- 
sticks' (i.  13),  but  not  '  walking'  in  their  midst.  The 
word  expresses  the  unwearied  activity  of  Christ  in  his 
Church,  moving  up  and  down  in  the  midst  of  it ;  be- 
holding the  evil  and  the  good ;  evermore  trimming  and 
feeding  with  oil  of  grace  the  golden  lamps  of  the  sanc- 
tuary. Marckius  :  '  Ad  innuendam  clarius  perpetuitatem 
actus  et  curam  Christi  contra  conatus  oppositos  Satanse.' 
It  is  impossible  not  to  admire  the  appropriateness  of  these 
titles,  expressing  as  they  do  the  broader  and  more  general 
relations  of  Christ  to  his  Church,  for  the  first  Epistle  in 
this  series  ;  which  constitutes,  as  this  and  a  thousand 
other  tokens  declare,  not  an  accidental  aggregate,  but  a 
divinely-ordered  complex,  with  all  its  parts  mutually  up- 
holding and  completing  one  another. 

Ver.  2.  lI  know  thy  ivorks.' — In  considering  these 
and  all  the  following  words  of  Christ,  we  must  never  leave 
out  of  sight  what  an  old  interpreter  has  so  well  expressed, 


II.  2.]  EPHESUS,    RET.    II.   I- J.  77 

'  unam  facit  Angeli  Ecclesiaeque  personam.'  Any  attempt 
to  distinguish  between  them  is  futile,  and  contrary  to  the 
intention  of  the  Lord.  This  formula,  '  /  knoiv  thy  ivories, 
is  common  to  all  the  Epistles,  serving  as  the  introduction 
to  all; — which  being  so,  '  works  '  are  not,  as  some  inter- 
preters understand  them,  good  works  ;  for  Christ  uses 
this  language  where  there  were  no  works  which  He  could 
count  good  (iii.  15);  as  little  are  they  bad  works  (iii.  8); 
but  the  word  is  used  with  the  same  freedom  here  as  in 
other  parts  of  Scripture,  now  for  good  (John  vii.  2 1  ;  I  Cor. 
iii.  14),  and  now  for  evil  (Isai.  lxvi.  18  ;  I  Cor.  iii.  15  ; 
Tit.  i.  16).  '  I  know  thy  ivories  J  therefore  has  another 
intention  than  to  express  either  praise  or  blame.  It  de- 
clares the  omniscience  of  Him  who  walks  up  and  down 
amoug  the  candlesticks  of  gold,  whom  nothing  escapes 
(Amos  iv.  13  ;  Ps.  xi.  4,  5  ;  John  ii.  24,  25  ;  Heb.  iv.  13  ; 
Kev.  ii.  23  ;  Acts  i.  24 ;  xv.  8)  ;  an  assurance  of  comfort 
and  strength  for  all  them  who,  amid  infinite  weaknesses 
and  failures,  are  yet  able  to  say,  '  Search  me,  0  Lord,  and 
know  my  heart ;  try  me,  and  know  my  thoughts,  and  see  if 
there  be  any  wicked  way  in  me  '  (Ps.  exxxix.  23,  24),  or  with 
St.  Peter,  '  Lord,  Thou  knowest  all  things,  Thou  knowest 
that  I  love  thee  '  (John  xxi.  17) ;  but  words  full  of  terror 
and  alarm  for  every  one  who  would  fain  keep  back  any- 
thing in  his  outer  or  inner  life  from  the  Lord.  All  things 
are  naked  and  opened  unto  the  eyes  of  Him  with  whom 
we  have  to  do  (Heb.  iv.  13) ;  and  this  in  these  words  He 
declares. 

'  And  thy  labour,  and  thy  patience.'' — There  was  an 
earlier  Angel  of  this  same  Church  of  Ephesus,  on  whom 
as  on  his  son  St.  Paul  had  urged  that  he  should  not  fail 
in  this  'labour  and  patience'' {2  Tim.  ii.  24,25);  and 
Christ's  commendation  here   shows  that  the  holy  lesson 


78  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.        [il.  2. 

had  been  laid  to  heart  by  him  who  had  now  stept  into  his 
place.  The  kottos,  occasioned  probably  by  the  earnest 
resistance  which  it  was  necessary  to  oppose  to  the  false 
teachers  in  the  Ephesian  Church,  would  naturally  fall 
chiefly  on  the  bishop  and  presbyters — above  all,  on  the 
first. — Kottos  and  KOTridco  are  frequently  used  in  reference 
both  to  apostolic  and  ministerial  labours  (Rom.  xvi.  12  ; 
1  Cor.  xv.  10;  Gal.  iv.  11);  kottos  often  in  connexion 
with  /i6%dos  (1  Thess.  ii.  9;  2  Thess.  iii.  8;  2  Cor.  xi. 
27} ;  the  latter  perhaps  marking  the  toil  on  the  side  of 
the  magnitude  of  the  obstacles  which  it  has  to  surmount, 
as  the  derivation  /xoyts,  and  the  possible  connexion  with 
/j,syas,  seems  to  suggest  (Ellicott)  ;  the  former  alluding  to 
the  toil  and  suffering  which  in  these  labours  strenuously 
and  faithfully  performed  is  involved.  Thus  see  my 
Synonyms  of  the  New  Testament,  §  102.  For  indeed 
this  word  kottos,  signifying  as  it  does  not  merely  labour, 
but  labour  unto  tveariness,  may  suggest  some  solemn 
reflections  to  every  one  who  at  all  affects  to  be  working 
for  his  Lord,  and  as  under  his  great  Taskmaster's  eye, 
and  as  looking  for  his  '  Well  done.'  This  is  what  Christ 
expects,  this  is  what  Christ  praises,  in  his  servants.  But 
how  often  does  labour,  which  esteems  itself  labour  for 
Him,  stop  very  short  of  this,  take  care  for  itself  that  it 
shall  never  arrive  at  this  point ;  and  perhaps  in  our  days 
none  are  more  tempted  continually  to  measure  out  to 
themselves  tasks  too  light  and  inadequate,  than  those  to 
whom  an  office  and  ministry  in  the  Church  has  been  com- 
mitted. Indeed,  there  is  here  to  them  an  ever-recurring 
temptation,  derived  from  the  fact  that  they  do  for  the  most 
part  measure  out  their  own  day's  task  to  themselves. 
Others  in  almost  every  other  calling  or  profession  have 
this  measured  out  to  them  ;  if  not  the  zeal,  earnestness, 


II.  2.]  EPHESUS,    REV.  II.    I-/.  79 

sincerity  which  they  are  to  put  into  the  performance  of  it, 
yet  at  any  rate  its  form  and  frame,  the  amount  of  time 
which  they  shall  devote  to  it,  and  often  the  definite 
amount  of  work  which  they  shall  accomplish.  It  is  not 
so  with  us.  We  give  to  it  exactly  the  number  of  hours 
which  we  please  ;  we  are  for  the  most  part  responsible  to 
no  man ;  and  when  toilers  thus  apportion  their  own 
burdens,  and  do  this  day  after  day,  how  near  the  danger 
lies  that  they  should  unduly  spare  themselves,  and  make 
their  burdens  far  lighter  than  they  should  have  been. 
We  may  well  keep  this  word  K07ros,  and  all  that  it  signi- 
fies, namely  labour  unto  weariness,  in  mind  ;  and  remem- 
ber ever  that  it  is  this  which  the  Lord  praises  and  allows. 
— For  virofiovrj  see  p.  22. 

'  And  how  thou  canst  not  bear  them  which  are  evil.' — 
Christ  has  good  things  to  say  of  the  Church  of  Ephesus, 
and  He  who,  as  highest  Love,  avy^acpst  777  aXrjOsia,  has 
pleasure  in  and  with  the  truth  (1  Cor.  xiii.  6),  dwells  on 
these  good  things  first ;  He  graciously  puts  in  the  fore- 
most place  all  which  He  can  find  to  approve  ;  and  only 
after  this  has  received  its  meed  of  praise,  notes  the  short- 
comings which  He  is  also  compelled  to  rebuke.  Many 
graces  had  decayed  at  Ephesus  ;  of  this  we  may  be  sure  ; 
seeing  that  the  grace  of  all  graces,  namely,  love,  had 
decayed  (ver.  4) ;  but  in  the  midst  of  this  decay  there 
survived  an  earnest  hatred  of  certain  evil-doers  and  evil 
deeds.  The  Kaicoi  here  are  not  exactly  equivalent  to  the 
kcikoI  ipydrai  of  Phil.  iii.  2.  These  last  are  the  promi- 
nent workers  of  mischief  in  the  Church,  false  apostles, 
false  prophets,  and  the  like  ;  but  the  Katcoi  will  include 
the  whole  rabble  of  evil-doers  as  well.  It  is  not  a  little 
remarkable  that  the  grace  or  virtue  here  ascribed  to  the 
Angel  of  the  Ephesian  Church,  and  still  more  strongly 


80  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.        [il.  2. 

at  ver.  6,  should  have  a  name  in  later  heathen  Greek, 
fu<ro7rov7)pia  (Plutarch,  Quom.  Am.  ah  Adul.  12),  the 
person  of  whom  the  grace  is  predicated  being  fj,ia-o7r6vr}pos, 
while  neither  of  these  words,  nor  yet  any  equivalent  to 
them,  occurs  in  the  N.  T.  This  is  the  stranger,  as  this 
hatred  of  evil  purely  as  evil,  however  little  thought  of,  or 
admired  now,  is  eminently  a  Christian  grace  (Rom.  xii.  9  : 
cf.  Gen.  xxxvii.  2  ;  xlix.  6  ;  Ps.  cxxxix.  2 1  ;  2  Pet.  ii.  7, 
8).  The  sphere  in  which  the  Angel  of  Ephesus  had  the 
chief  opportunity  of  manifesting  a  holy  intolerance  of  evil- 
doers was,  no  doubt,  that  of  Church-discipline,  separating 
off  from  fellowship  with  the  faithful  those  who  named  the 
name  of  Christ,  yet  would  not  depart  from  iniquity  (2  Tim. 
ii.  19).  The  infirmities,  even  the  sins,  of  weak  brethren, 
are  burdens  which  may  be  borne,  nay,  which  those  that 
are  spiritual  are  commanded  to  bear  (cf.  Gal.  vi.  2,  where 
the  same  word  fiao-rd&iv  is  used) ;  but  these  offenders 
here  are  not  weak  brethren,  but  false ;  and  there  must 
be  no  such  toleration  of  them  (Ps.  ci.  7,  8 ;  cxix.  115; 
1  Cor.  v.  11). 

'  And  thou  hast  tried  them  which  say  they  are  apostles 
and  are  not,  and  hast  found  them  liars^ — We  translate 
by  the  same  word  the  irsipd^siv  here  and  the  So/ci/xd^siv 
of  1  John  iv.  1.  What  this  Angel  at  Ephesus  had  done, 
and  effectually  done,  St.  John  there  bids  the  faithful  to  do 
— namely,  to  prove  the  spirits  of  those  who  came  to  them 
claiming  to  teach  as  with  authority,  and  to  bring  a  direct 
message  from  God  (cf.  I  Thess.  v.  21  ;  I  Tim.  iv.  1).  The 
touchstone  which  he  there  gives,  the  Ithuriel's  spear 
which  should  compel  each  false  teacher  to  start  up  and 
show  himself  in  his  proper  shape,  is  the  acknowledgment 
or  denial  of  the  true  humanity  of  the  Son  of  God,  that 
Jesus  Christ  was  come  in  the  flesh  (ver.  2,  3 ;  2  John  7 ; 


II.  2.]  EPHESUS,    REV.    II.    I -7.  81 

and  Ignatius,  passim).  At  the  same  time  we  must  not 
regard  this  as  so  absolutely  the  touchstone,  that  other 
times  and  other  conditions  of  the  Church  might  not  de- 
mand other  tests.  Thus,  in  the  fourth  century  and  during 
the  Arian  conflict,  the  Homoousion,  *  of  one  substance  with 
the  Father,'  was  that  by  which  the  spirits  were  to  be  tried ; 
a  little  later,  during  the  Nestorian  controversy,  it  was  the 
Osotokos.  And  when  our  Lord,  warning  against  false 
prophets,  lays  down  this  rule,  '  Ye  shall  know  them  by 
their  fruits'  (Matt.  vii.  16),  He  adds  another  test  by 
which  all  such,  sooner  or  later,  may  be  known.  By  what 
methods  the  Angel  of  this  Church  had  tried  these  pre- 
tenders to  the  apostolate,  and  discovered  the  falsehood  of 
their  claims,  we  are  not  told ;  but  probably  by  a  union  of 
both  these  tests.  If  these  false  prophets  were,  as  is 
generally  assumed,  the  chiefs  and  leaders  of  the  Nicolai- 
tan  wickedness,  which  is  presently  named  by  its  name 
(ver.  6),  then  doctrinally  he  will  have  tried  them  by  the 
touchstone  of  Christ's  true  humanity,  whether  they  would 
confess  this  or  deny  it ; — we  may  be  sure  that  they  had 
that  in  common  with  all  other  Gnostics,  which  led  them 
to  the  denial  of  it ; — and  'practically,  by  the  fruits  which 
they  bore ;  which,  being  works  of  shame  and  darkness, 
avouched  that  the  workers  of  them  were  not,  and  could 
not  be,  sent  of  Him  who  is  light,  and  in  whom  is  no  dark- 
ness at  all.  And  even  were  they  not  precisely  identical 
with  the  Nicolaitans,  on  which  there  will  be  something  to 
say  at  ver.  6,  these  tests  would  not  the  less  effectually 
have  revealed  of  what  spirit  they  were,  and  to  what  king- 
dom they  belonged. 

We  must  not  press  '  apostles '  here,  as  though  it 
implied  a  claim  on  their  parts  to  have  seen  and  been 
immediately  sent  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  which  was 

G 


82  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES   IN    ASIA.        [il.   3. 

necessary  for  an  Apostle  in  the  highest  sense  of  the  word 
(Acts  i.  21,  22  ;  1  Cor.  ix.  1),  nor  even  by  the  mother 
Church  at  Jerusalem.  It  was  now  too  late  for  either.  St. 
John  alone  of  living  men  could  claim  the  first  prerogative, 
and  Jerusalem  had  long  ago  been  destroyed.  As  little  are 
these  'which  say  they  are  apostles'  identical  in  the  actual 
form  of  their  resistance  to  the  truth  with  those  "  false 
apostles,  deceitful  workers,'  who  everywhere  sought  to 
hinder  the  labours  of  St.  Paul,  and  everywhere  denied  the 
apostolic  authority  and  commission  which  he  claimed 
(2  Cor.  x.  11).  Those  and  these  had  indeed  this  in  common, 
that  they  alike  opposed  the  truth ;  but  those  were  Ju- 
daizers,  seeking  to  bring  back  the  ceremonial  law  and  the 
obligations  of  it  (see  Acts  xv.  I  ;  Phil.  iii.  2  ;  1  Tim.  i.  7 ; 
Gal.  ii.  12  ;  iii.  2;  v.  2,  6,  and  indeed  passim)  ;  these,  on  the 
other  hand,  do  not  judaize,  but  heathenize,  seeking  to 
throw  off  every  yoke,  to  rid  themselves  not  of  the  cere- 
monial law  only,  but  also  of  the  moral ;  and  to  break 
down  every  distinction  separating  the  Church  from  a 
world  lying  in  the  Wicked  one.1 

Ver.  3.  '  And  hast  borne,  and  hast  patience,  and  for 
my  name's  sake  hast  laboured,  and  hast  not  fainted.' — 


1  This  intolerance  of  error,  this  resolution  to  hold  fast  the  pre- 
cious deposit  of  the  truth,  to  suffer  nothing  to  he  added  to  it,  nothing 
to  he  taken  from  it,  nothing  to  he  altered  in  it,  was  still  the  mark 
and  glory  of  the  Ephesian  Church  at  a  date  somewhat  later  than  this. 
It  is  a  remarkahle  testimony  to  this  which  Ignatius,  writing  not  many 
years  after,  hears,  and  it  admirably  agrees  with  the  testimony  which 
the  Lord  Himself  hears  here  to  its  zeal  for  doctrinal  purity  (ad  Ephes. 
vi.)  :  avros  fiiv  ovv  'Ovrjcripos  vntpeTraivel  Vfxmv  rf]v  iv  Gew  evra^iav, 
on  iv  vp.1v  ovSi/J-ia  aipeais  KaroiKtl'  aXX'  oi8e  aKovere  tivos  TrXeov  rjnep 
'l7jcrov  Xptcrrou  XaXovvros  tv  dXr/dtia.  And  again,  C.  ix.  :  eyvav  8e  nap- 
oftevaavras  Tivas  €Kel6ev,  e^ovras  KaKrjv  btbax^V  ovs  ovk  elaaare  (nre'ipui 
ets   vpas,  ftvcravres  ra   ara,   els  to  p.f/  TTapaSe^ao-dat  to.  o-neiop-fva  vit 

OVTODV. 


ii.  3-]  epiiesus,  eev.  ii.  1-7.  83 

There  is  a  good  deal  of  filling  up  by  transcribers  here,  and 
more  than  one  phrase  to  be  omitted.  The  following  ver- 
sion will  represent  more  truly  the  original  as  it  stands  in 
the  best  critical  editions  :  '  And  hast  patience,  and  didst 
bear  for  ray  name's  sake,  and  hast  not  groivn  weary?  It 
is  not  hard  to  see  the  inducements  which  led  transcribers 
to  meddle  with  the  text,  and  in  the  last  clause  of  the  verse 
to  change  ical  ov  KSKoirlaKas  into  KstcoTricucas  kcu  ov  ke- 
fcfjir)fcas.  They  took  the  verb  icornaw  only  in  the  sense  of 
*  to  labour ; '  but  how  could  it  be  said  in  praise  of  the 
Ephesian  Angel  that  he  had  not  laboured ;  above  all  when 
his  koitos  had  just  before  (ver.  2)  been  the  especial  object 
of  the  Lord's  commendation,  as  indeed  it  is  throughout  the 
Epistle  ?  so  they  changed  the  word  to  what  we  have  in  the 
received  text  and  in  our  Version ;  '  thou  hast  laboured, 
and  hast  not  fainted.''  But  kottlclw  is  not  only  to  labour, 
but  implying,  as  we  have  seen  it  does,  strenuous  and  ex- 
hausting labour,  will  often  mean  farther,  to  grow  weary 
with  labour  (thus  John  iv.  6;  Matt.  xi.  28:  KoinoivTss  ical 
TrscfropTio-fAsvoi)  ;  and  it  is  this  for  which  the  Lord  here 
praises  the  Angel  and  in  him  the  Church  at  Ephesus,  that 
he  was  fapeirovos  (Marc.  Antoninus,  v.  5),  that  he  and 
the  others  had  borne  the  burden  and  heat  of  a  long  day's 
toil  without  fainting  under  it,  or  waxing  weary  of  it  (Gal. 
vi.  9).  This  recurrence  to  the  koitos  of  the  verse  pre- 
ceding is  very  instructive,  though  it  is  hard,  if  not 
impossible,  to  reproduce  it  in  English.  '  Thou  knowest,' 
He  would  say,  '  what  kottos  is,  without  knowing  what 
Koiriav  is  ; '  and  that  this  is  not  accidental  seems  evident 
from  the  exactly  similar  recurrence  of  ftao-rd^siv  in  both 
verses  :  '  There  are  things  which  thou  canst  not  bear,  and 
things  which  thou  canst  bear ;  thou  canst  not  bear  the 
wicked,  such  false  brethren  as  name  the  name  of  Christ 

g  2 


84  EPISTLES   TO    THE   SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.         [il.  4. 

only  to  bring  shame  and  disgrace  upon  it ;  thou  hast 
something  of  the  spirit  of  him  who  declared,  "  He  that 
telleth  lies  shall  not  tarry  in  my  sight"  (Ps.  ci.  10;  cf. 
2  John  10)  ;  but  thou  canst  bear  my  reproach,  my  cross ; ' 
cf.  Luke  xiv.  27,  where  the  same  word  ftaard^eiv  is  used 
as  here;  so  also  John  xix.  17.  Wetstein  :  '  Elegant  er 
opponuntur :  ov  Bvvr)  /3a<rrd(7ai  et  s^daracras.  Ferre 
jjotes  molestias  propter  Christum  et  vexationes  ;  at  non 
jjotes  ferre  pseudapostolos.' 

Ver.  4.  '  Nevertheless  I  have  somewhat  against  thee,  be- 
cause thou  hast  left  thy  first  love.' — "E^co  Kara  aov  :  cf. 
for  the  same  phrase  Matt.  v.  23  ;  Mark  xi.  25  ;  and  for  a 
similar,  Col.  iii.  13.  This  is  one  of  three  occasions  (see 
ver.  14,  20) -on  which  Christ  has  to  make  a  like  exception, 
and  to  dash  and  qualify  his  praise  with  blame.  In 
neither,  however,  of  the  other  cases  is  the  blame  so  severe 
as  here,  the  '  somewhat,''  which  appears  in  part  to  mitigate 
the  severity  of  this  judgment,  having  nothing  correspond- 
ing with  it  in  the  original.  It  is  indeed  not  a  '  some- 
what,'' which  the  Lord  has  against  the  Ephesian  Church  ; 
it  threatens  to  grow  to  be  an  '  everything ; '  for  see  the 
verse  following,  and  compare  I  Cor.  xiii.  1-3.  The  great 
passage  on  'first  love'  is  Jer.  ii.  2:  'I  remember  thee, 
the  kindness  of  thy  youth,  the  love  of  thine  espousals, 
when  thou  wentest  after  Me  in  the  wilderness,  in  a  land 
that  was  not  sown,' — words  which  set  forth  the  first 
warmth  of  gratitude,  the  first  devotion  of  heart  on  the 
part  of  Israel  to  its  Eedeemer  and  Lord  (Exod.  xiv.  31; 
xv.  1),  when  it  seemed  as  if  the  high  flood-tides  of  a 
thankful  love  would  never  ebb,  but  would  bear  it  tri- 
umphantly over  every  obstacle,  that  the  heart  of  the  people 
was  knit  for  ever,  by  bands  which  could  never  be  broken, 
to  Him  that  had  brought  them  out  of  the  iron  furnace  of 


II.  4-]  EPHESDS,    REV.    II.   l-J .  85 

Egypt.  Such  a  ' first  love '  of  the  Bride  to  the  heavenly 
Bridegroom,  and  in  Him  to  all  that  were  his,  dwelt  largely 
in  the  Ephesian  Church  when  St.  Paul  wrote  his  Epistle 
to  it ;  he  gives  God  thanks  for  their  love  unto  all  the 
saints  (i.  15);  he  introduces  them  without  a  misgiving 
into  the  deepest  mysteries  of  human  love  and  divine  (v. 
23-33).  The  suggestion  that  this  leaving  of  the  first 
love  can  refer  to  the  abating  of  any  other  love  but  that  to 
Grod  and  Christ,  grows  out  of  an  entire  ignorance  of  the 
whole  spiritual  life,  the  ways  by  which  it  travels,  and  the 
dangers  to  which  it  is  inevitably  exposed,  and  which, 
alas !  only  too  often  prove  fatal  to  it.  See  Maurice, 
Lectures  on  the  Apocalypse,  pp.  62,  63. 

On  the  question,  When  the  Apocalypse  was  given,  we 
have  a  certain  amount  of  implicit  evidence  here,  in  this 
reproach  with  which  the  Lord  reproaches  the  Ephesian 
Angel ;  such  as  has  its  value  in  confirming  the  ecclesias- 
tical tradition  which  places  it  in  the  reign  of  Domitian,  as 
against  the  more  modern  view  which  gives  the  reign  of 
Nero  as  the  date  of  the  composition  of  this  Book.  It  has 
been  well  observed  that  in  St.  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Church 
of  Ephesus,  there  are  no  signs,  nor  even  presentiments,  of 
this  approaching  spiritual  declension  with  which  the  great 
Searcher  of  hearts  upbraids  it  here.  Writing  to  no  Church 
does  he  treat  of  higher  spiritual  mysteries.  There  is  no 
word  in  the  Epistle  of  blame,  no  word  indicating  dissatis- 
faction with  the  spiritual  condition  of  his  Ephesian  con- 
verts. He  warns  them,  indeed,  in  his  parting  charge  given 
at  Miletus,  against  dangers  threatening  them  at  once  from 
within  and  from  without  (Acts  xx.  29,  30) ;  but  no  word 
indicates  that  they  by  any  fault  of  theirs  were  laying  them- 
selves open  to  these.  As  many  as  place  the  Apocalypse  in 
the  reign  of  Nero  hardly  allow  ten  years  between  that 


86  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.        [il.  4. 

condition  and  this — too  brief  a  period  for  so  vast  and  la- 
mentable a  change.  It  is  inconceivable  that  there  should 
have  been  such  a  letting  go  of  first  love  in  so  brief  a  time. 
No :  what  is  here  described  marks,  as  Hengstenberg  has 
excellently  urged,  the  rise  of  another  generation— a  con- 
dition analogous  to  that  of  the  children  of  Israel,  when 
Joshua  and  the  elders  who  had  seen  the  great  wonders  of 
Egypt  and  of  the  desert  were  gathered  to  their  fathers 
(Josh.  xxiv.  31  ;  Judg.  ii.  7,  10,  11).  With  their  disappear- 
ance from  the  scene  another  order  of  things  commences. 
A  second  generation  rises  up  with  the  traditions  rather  of 
earnest  religion  than  with  its  living  power.  The  forms, 
which  were  once  instinct  with  life,  still  survive ;  but  the 
life  itself  has,  not  indeed  altogether,  yet  in  good  part,  de- 
parted from  them.  Place  the  Apocalypse  under  Domitian, 
and  thirty  years  will  have  elapsed  since  St.  Paul  wrote  his 
Epistle  to  Ephesus — exactly  the  interval  which  we  require, 
exactly  the  life  of  a  generation.  The  outlines  of  the  truth 
are  still  preserved  ;  but  the  truth  itself  is  not  for  a  second 
generation  what  it  was  for  the  first.  The  later  has  the  same 
watchwords  as  had  the  earlier,  but  they  do  not  rouse  as 
they  did  once.  The  virtue  which  they  once  had  has  gone 
from  them.  In  appearance  there  is  nothing  changed ; 
while  in  fact  everything  is  changed.  How  often  has  some- 
thing of  this  kind  repeated  itself  in  the  Church.1     Thus, 


1  A  passage  in  Bishop  Burnet's  History  of  his  own  Times  has 
always  seemed  to  me  to  throw  light  on  this  picture  of  the  Ephesian 
Church,  active,  laborious,  resolute  to  maintain  in  forms  of  sound  words 
the  truth  once  delivered,  and  yet  with  its  inner  principle  of  love  so 
far  decayed.  He  is  describing  the  state  of  the  Protestant  communi- 
ties of  Switzerland,  Germany,  and  Holland,  and  of  the  French  Pro- 
testant refugees  who  had  found  shelter  among  them  from  the  dragon- 
nades,  the  '  mission  bottee,'  as  it  is  so  facetiously  called  by  some  Roman 
Catholic  writers,  of  Louis  XIV.     His  words,  written  in  the  year  1680, 


II.  $.]  EPHESUS,    REV.    II.   I -7.  87 

not  to  look  nearer  home,  how  remarkably  was  all  this  ful- 
filled in  the  great  Pietist  revival  in  Grermany,  which 
Franck  and  Spener  so  gloriously  commenced  ;  and  those 
who  succeeded  them  so  feebly  carried  forward  ;  offering 
as  they  did  the  faintest  and  feeblest  resistance  to  the 
rationalism  and  infidelity  which  a  little  later  invaded  the 
Church.  Gerhard  Grroot  was  wont  to  say  of  the  Fratres 
Communis  Vita?,  an  Order  which  he  founded,  and  which 
wrought  much  and  well  in  the  matter  of  preparing  the 
way  for  the  Eeformation,  '  The  first  generation  will  be 
holy,  the  second  learned,  the  third  worldly.' 

Ver.  5.  '  Remember  therefore  from  whence  thou  art 
fallen,  and  repent,  and  do  the  first  works.' — There  are  ever 
goads  in  the  recollection  of  a  better  and  a  nobler  past,  goad- 
ing him  who  has  taken  up  with  meaner  things  and  lower, 
and  urging  him  to  reclaim  and  recover  what  he  has  lost ; 
as,  to  take  an  extreme  instance,  it  is  the  prodigal's  recol- 
lection of  the  '  bread  enough  and  to  spare '  in  his  father's 
house,  which  makes  the  swine's  husks  and  the  famine  even 
among  them  so  intolerable  to  him  (Luke  xv.  17  ;,cf.  Heb. 

are  as  follows :  '  I  was  indeed  amazed  at  the  labours  and  learning  of 
the  ministers  among  the  Reformed.  They  understood  the  Scriptures 
well  in  the  original  tongues,  they  had  all  the  points  of  controversy 
very  ready,  and  did  thoroughly  understand  the  whole  body  of  divinity. 
In  many  places  they  preached  everjr  day,  and  were  almost  constantly 
employed  in  visiting  their  flock.  But  they  performed  their  devotions 
but  slightly,  and  read  their  prayers,  which  were  too  long,  with  great 
precipitation  and  little  zeal.  Their  sermons  were  too  long  and  too 
dry.  And  they  were  so  strict,  even  to  jealousy,  in  the  smallest  points 
in  which  they  put  orthodoxy,  that  one  who  could  not  go  into  all  their 
notions,  but  was  resolved  not  to  quarrel  with  them,  could  not  converse 
much  with  them  with  any  freedom.'  Speaking  of  the  French  refugees 
from  the  dragonnades,  he  says :  '  Even  among  them  there  did  not  ap- 
pear a  spirit  of  piety  and  devotion  suitable  to  their  condition,  though 
persons  who  have  willingly  suffered  the  loss  of  all  things  rather  than 
sin  against  their  consciences,  must  be  believed  to  have  a  deeper  prin- 
ciple in  them  than  can  well  be  observed  by  others.' 


88  EPISTLES   TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN   ASIA.        [il.  5. 

x.  32).  And  therefore  is  it  that  this  Ephesian  Angel  is 
bidden  to  remember  the  glorious  heights  of  grace,  the  hea- 
venly places,  whereupon,  though  yet  on  earth,  he  once 
walked  with  Christ  during  the  fervency  of  his  first  love. 
Perhaps  the  desire  shall  thus  be  kindled  in  him  to  scale 
these  heights  again.  In  this  *  from  whence  thou  art 
fallen  '  an  allusion  may  possibly  lie  to  Isai.  xiv.  12,  '  Hoav 
art  thou  fallen  from  heaven,  0  Lucifer,  son  of  the  morn- 
ing.'— *  And  repent,  and  do  the  first  ivories.'  Christ  does 
not  say, '  Feel  thy  first  feelings  ; '  that  perhaps  would  have 
been  impossible,  and  even  if  possible,  might  have  had 
but  little  value  in  it ;  but  '  Do  the  first  works,''  such  as 
thou  didst  in  the  time  of  thy  first  devotedness  and  zeal. 
Not  so  much  the  quantity,  as  the  quality,  of  his  works 
was  now  other  and  worse  than  once  it  had  been. 

'  Or  else  I  will  come  unto  thee  quickly,  and  will  re- 
move thy  candlestick  out  of  his  place,  except  thou  repent.'' 
— The  '  quickly '  is  wanting  in  most  MSS.,  and  has  pro- 
bably found  its  way  here  from  ver.  16  ;  iii.  1 1 ;  xxii.  7,  12, 
20.  The  removing  of  the  candlestick  from  a  place  im- 
plies the  entire  withdrawal  of  Christ's  grace,  of  his  Church 
with  all  its  blessings,  from  that  spot,  with  the  transfer  of 
it  to  another;  for  it  is  removal  of  the  candlestick,  not 
extinction  of  the  candle,  which  is  threatened  here — judg- 
ment for  some,  but  that  very  judgment  the  occasion  of 
mercy  for  others.  And  so  it  has  proved.  The  Churches 
of  Asia  Minor  are  now  no  more,  or  barely  and  hardly  exist ; 
but  the  grace  of  God,  withdrawn  from  them,  has  been 
bestowed  elsewhere.  The  seat  of  the  Church  has  been 
changed,  but  the  Church  itself  still  survives.  The  candle- 
stick has  been  removed,  but  the  candle  has  not  been 
quenched ;  and  what  the  East  has  lost  the  West  has 
gained.     How  awful  for  Ephesus  the  fulfilment  of  the 


II.  6.]  EPHESUS,    REV.    II.   I-7.  89 

threat  has  been  every  modern  traveller  who  has  visited 
the  ruins  of  that  once  famous  city  has  borne  witness.  One 
who  did  so  not  long  ago  found  only  three  Christians  there, 
and  these  sunken  in  such  ignorance  and  apathy  as  scarcely 
to  have  heard  the  names  of  St.  Paul  or  St.  John.  This 
same  transfer  of  the  Church's  privileges  from  some  to 
others  more  worthy  of  them  is  expressed  elsewhere  under 
other  images  (Matt.  xxi.  41  ;  Eom.  xi.  17);  while  some- 
times the  image  expresses  only  the  judgment,  and  not  the 
mercy  as  well  which  is  behind  the  judgment (Isai.  v.  5,7; 
Luke  xiii.  6- 10). 

Ver.  6.  '  But  this  thou  hast,  that  thou  hatest  the  deeds 
of  the  Nicolaitans,  which  I  also  hate.'' — Very  beautiful  is 
the  tenderness  of  the  Lord  in  thus  bringing  forward  a 
second  time  some  good  thing  which  He  had  found  at 
Ephesus.  Having  been  compelled  to  speak  sharp  severe 
words,  He  yet  will  not  leave  off  with  these  ;  but  having 
wounded,  He  will,  so  far  as  it  is  safe  to  do  so,  also  heal.1 
It  is  no  slight  praise  to  love  that  which  Christ  loves,  and 
to  hate  that  which  Christ  hates ;  and  this  praise  the  Lord 
will  not  withhold  from  the  Angel  of  Ephesus. 

But  the  Nicolaitans,  whose  deeds  were  the  object  of 
the  earnest  hate  of  Christ's  servants,  as  also  of  his  own, 


1  On  tbis  mingling  of  praise,  so  far  as  truth  will  allow,  with  the 
necessary  blame,  and  the  leaving  off  not  with  blame,  but  with  praise, 
Plutarch  has  much  to  say  in  his  delightful  treatise,  '  How  to  discern 
a  Flatterer  from  a  Friend,'  which  is  full  of  instruction  on  the  true 
spirit  of  Christian  rebuke.  On  this,  which  the  Lord  so  notably  prac- 
tises here,  namely  the  not  leaving  off  with  rebuke,  but  if  possible 
with  praise,  he  beautifully  says  (c.  xxxvii.)  :  'Ewei  roiwv,  wcrnep  ei'p^rai, 
TToWaKis  f]  irapprjcria  rw  Ofpanevopiva  Xvnrjpa  vndpx'i,  8et  pipelcrdai 
tovs  larpovs-  ovTe  yap  (Ke'ivoi  repvovTa,  ev  rat  iroveiv  Ka\  akyciv  Kara- 
XeiTrovai  to  neirovdbs,  dXX  evef3pe£av  Trpoo-rji'ats  <a\  Karrjovrjo-av  '  ovre  01 
i>ovdfTuvvTfs,do-Tfia>s,To  TTiKpbv  xai  Stjktikov  npocrfiaXovTes  aTroTpt)(ivo-iv, 
dXX'  opiXiais  erepais  kcu  Xuyois  inuiKto-iv  (KTrpaivovcri  /cat  8ta^fov<jtv. 
Of.  c.  xxxiii. 


90  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CIIUKCHES    IN    ASIA.        [il.  6. 

who  were  they  ?  It  is  not  an  easy  question  to  answer. 
Was  there,  in  the  first  place,  any  sect  existing  at  the  time 
when  these  words  were  uttered,  which  actually  bore  this 
name  ?  I  believe  not.  The  other  names  of  this  Book, 
Egypt,  Babylon,  Sodom,  Jezebel,  in  agreement  with  its 
apocalyptic  character,  are  predominantly  mystical  and 
symbolic  ;  and  in  all  probability  this  is  so  as  well ;  while 
the  key  to  the  right  understanding  of  it  is  given  us  at  ii. 
14,  15;  where  those  '  that  hold  the  doctrine  of  Balaam ' 
(ver.  14)  are  evidently  identical  with  those  ithat  hold  the 
doctrine  of  the  Nicolaitans  '  (ver.  15).  We  are  here  set 
upon  the  right  track.  It  is  probable  that  we  hardly  rate 
highly  as  we  ought  the  significance  of  Balaam  as  an  Anti- 
Moses,  and  therefore  as  an  Antichrist,  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. But  without  entering  more  into  this,  it  may  be 
observed  that  his  name,  according  to  the  best  etymology, 
signifies  '  Destroyer  of  the  people  '  (fc  qui  absorpsit  popu- 
lum,'  from  V?3  and  Dy  ) ;  and  Nuco\ao$  (vikclv  top  \aov) 
is  no  more  than  a  grecizing  of  this  name  (see  Hengsten- 
berg,  Die  Gesch.  Bileams,  pp.  20-25) — such  alternation,  or 
duplication,  presenting  a  word,  now  in  its  Greek,  now  in  its 
Hebrew  aspect,  being  altogether  in  the  character  of  the 
Book,  Greek  in  language,  but  Hebrew  in  form  and  spirit, 
and  several  times  recurring  in  it ;  thus,  'AttoWikov  and 
'A/3a88(ov  (ix.  11);  AidftoXos  and  Xaravas  (xii.  9 ;  xx. 
2)  ;  vat  and  cifnjv  (i.  7).  The  genesis  of  the  name,  which, 
so  understood,  will  almost  exactly  correspond  to  Armillus 
(  =  ipr]fi6\aos),  the  name  under  which  the  final  Antichrist, 
according  to  Jewish  fables,  shall  seduce  the  followers  of 
Christ  to  their  ruin  (see  Eisenmenger,  Entd.  Judenth. 
vol.  ii.  p.  705,  sqq.),  may  be  accounted  for  in  this  way. 
The  Nicolaitans,  as  we  have  seen,  are  the  Balaamites ;  no 
sect  bearing  the  one  name  or  the  other ;  but  those  who 


II.  6.]  EPHESUS,    REV.    II.    l-J .  91 

in  the  New  Dispensation  repeated  the  sin  of  Balaam,  and 
sought  to  overcome  or  lay  waste  the  people  of  God  by  the 
same  temptations  whereby  Balaam  had  sought  to  overcome 
them  in  the  Old.  But  it  was  into  the  fleshly  sins  of 
heathenism  that  he  had  sought  to  lead  them,  to  introduce 
such  among  the  people  of  God,  to  draw  them  to  eat  idol 
meats  and  to  commit  fornication  (Num.  xxv.  1-9;  xxxi. 
16);  and  this  the  leading  character  of  his  wickedness 
must  be  the  leading  one  also  of  theirs. 

The  Nicolaitans,  then,  or  Balaamites,  are  those  who, 
after  the  pattern  of  Balaam's  sin,  sought  to  introduce  a 
false  freedom,  the  freedom  of  the  flesh,  into  the  Church 
of  God.  These  were  the  foremost  tempters  of  the  Church 
in  the  later  apostolic  times  when  the  Apocalpyse  was 
written,  and  in  the  times  immediately  succeeding.  The 
first  great  battle  which  the  Church  had  to  fight  was  with 
Jewish  legalism.  This  came  to  its  head  historically,  and 
found  its  condemnation,  in  the  Council  of  Jerusalem  (Acts 
xv.  1-3 1 ),  dogmatically  in  St.  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Gala- 
tians  ; — those  who  refused  to  accept  the  Church's  decisions 
on  the  matter  of  the  relations  of  the  Christian  man  to  the 
law  gradually  forming  themselves  more  and  more  into  a 
body  at  once  schismatical  and  heretical,  known  by  the 
name  of  Ebionites  ;  not  any  longer  within,  but  henceforth 
without,  the  Church's  pale.  But  this  danger  overcome, 
St.  Paul  lived  to  see  before  the  close  of  his  ministry  the 
rise  of  another,  and  that  exactly  the  opposite  error — that, 
namely,  of  heathen  false  freedom  and  libertinism  ;  while 
in  the  later  writings  of  the  New  Covenant,  in  the  Epistle 
of  St.  Jude,  in  the  second  of  St.  Peter,  and  in  the  Apoca- 
lypse of  St.  John,  we  find  these  libertine  errors  already 
full  blown.  These  all  speak  of  lawless  ones  (2  Pet.  ii.  19), 
who  abused  St.  Paul's  doctrine  of  grace  (iii.    16),  who 


92  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.         [il.  6. 

promised  liberty  to  others,  being  themselves  servants  of 
corruption  (ii.  19),  who  turned  the  grace  of  God  into  las- 
civiousness  ( Jude  4)  ;  or,  as  these  Nicolaitans,  would  fain 
entice  the  servants  of  God  to  eat  idol  meats  and  commit  for- 
nication. It  is  not  indeed  a  little  remarkable,  as  attesting 
the  identity  of  those  whose  works  the  Lord  here  declares 
that  He  hates  with  them  whom  his  Apostles  denounce, 
that  Balaam,  whose  name,  as  we  have  seen,  is  the  key- 
word to  the  title  which  these  Nicolaitans  bear,  and  to  the 
works  which  they  do,  is  set  forth  alike  by  St.  Peter  (ii. 
15)  and  St.  Jude  (ver.  11)  as  the  seducer  in  whose  path 
of  error  these  later  seducers  were  themselves  running  and 
enticing  others  to  run. 

But  it  may  be  urged  against  this  explanation  of  the 
matter  that  we  find  actual  Nicolaitans  in  the  second 
century.  Doubtless  we  do  so.  That  there  existed  in  the 
second  and  third  centuries  a  sect  of  antinomian  Gnostics, 
who  bore  this  name,  has  been  denied  by  some  ;  but  on 
grounds  quite  insufficient.  Irenaeus  (i.  26.  3  ;  compare 
Hippolytus,  Con.  Hcer.  vii.  36)  is  probably  in  error  when 
he  makes  the  founder  of  this  sect  to  have  been  Nicolas, 
the  proselyte  of  Antioch,  whom  we  find  in  such  honour- 
able company  in  the  Acts  (vi.  3,  5) ;  and  who,  if  this  were 
true,  must  afterwards  have  miserably  fallen  away  from  the 
faith  ; '  while  yet  the  fault  of  Irenseus  is  probably  no  more 
than  that  he  too  lightly  admitted  the  claim  which  they 
made  to  Nicolas  as  the  author  of  their  heresy.  It  is 
certainly  difficult  to  see  what  authority  any  statement  of 


1  At  the  same  time  it  is  certainly  significant,  as  Ewald  (Gesck. 
das  Volkes  Israel,  vol.  vii.  p.  173)  lias  observed,  that  he  should  occupy 
the  last  place  in  the  enumeration  of  the  Deacons  (Acts  vi.  5) ;  com- 
pare the  place  invariably  assigned  in  lists  of  the  Apostles  to  Judas 
Iscariot  (Matt.  x.  4  ;  Mark  iii.  19). 


II.  6.]  EPHESUS,    REV.    II.    I -7.  93 

Irenasus  would  retain  with  us,  if  we  felt  at  liberty  to  set 
aside  his  distinct  assertion  of  such  a  sect  as  existing  in 
his  own  time.  But  still  more  explicit  are  the  references 
made  to  Nicolaitans  by  Tertullian  (De  Prcesc.  Hcer.  46). 
It  cannot  be  urged  of  him,  as  it  sometimes  is  of  Irenseus, 
that  he  knows  nothing  about  them  except  what  he  has 
drawn  from  these  passages  of  Scripture  ;  for  he  gives  an 
account  of  their  doctrines,  not  merely  libertine,  but 
Gnostic,  at  considerable  length.  Clement  of  Alexandria 
also  (Strom,  ii.  20)  speaks  without  hesitation  of  claimants 
to  be  followers  of  Nicolas  (ol  (pdcrKovrss  eavrovs  NiKoXdw 
sTrscrOal)  who  existed  as  a  body  in  his  day ;  and  elsewhere 
(ib.  iii.  4)  records  their  unbridled  and  excessive  lusts. 
He,  indeed,  entirely  acquits  Nicolas  the  deacon  of  any 
share  in  the  authorship  of  this  heresy,  giving  no  credit  to 
this  boasted  genealogy  of  theirs.  The  Apostolic  Constitu- 
tions (vi.  8)  do  the  same.  With  such  distinct  notices  of 
Nicolaitans  as  existing  in  the  second  century,  it  seems  a 
piece  of  unwarrantable  and  excessive  scepticism  to  deny 
the  historic  existence  of  such  a  sect  (see  Neander,  Kirch. 
Gesch.  i.  2,  p.  774).  At  the  same  time,  there  is  no  need 
to  suppose  that  they  were  the  spiritual  descendants  of 
actual  Nicolaitans,  of  libertines  I  mean,  bearing  this  name 
in  the  times  of  St.  John.  Rather,  springing  up  at  a  later 
day,  one  of  the  innumerable  branches  of  the  Grnostic  heresy, 
they  assumed  a  designation  which  they  found  ready  made 
for  them  in  the  Apocalypse.1 

It  may  seem  indeed,  at  the  first  showing,  almost  in- 
conceivable that  a  sect,  professing  to  stand  even  in  the 
remotest  relation  to    Christianity,   should  appropriate  to 


1  The  fullest  collection  of  all  passages  of  antiquity  bearing  on  the 
Nicolaitans  which  I  know,  is  in  Stern's  Commentar  iiber  die  Offen- 
baruvf/,  1854,  pp.  141 -145. 


94  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.        [il.  6. 

itself  a  name  so  branded  with  infamy  as  in  Holy  Scripture 
is  this.  But  we  must  remember  that  with  many  of  the 
Gnostics  this  was  a  relation  of  absolute  and  entire  opposi- 
tion to  nearly  all  of  the  Scripture  ;  and  the  history  of  these 
daring  fighters  against  God  would  supply  many  parallel 
instances  of  blasphemous  impiety.  Thus,  not  to  speak  of 
the  Ophites,  there  were  the  Cainites  (Tertullian  identifies 
them  and  the  Nicolaitans,  Be  Prcesc.  Hcer.  33),  all  whose 
saints  and  heroes  were  selected  from  among  those  whom 
the  Scripture  had  stamped  with  deepest  reprobation,  the 
list  beginning  with  Cain  and  ending  with  Judas  Iscariot 
(ib.  47).  When  too  we  keep  in  mind  the  intense  anta- 
gonism of  the  antinomian  Gnostics  to  St.  John  as  a  judaiz- 
ing  Apostle,  contradistinguishing  these  from  St.  Paul,  who 
with  their  own  Marcion  was  to  sit,  Paul  on  the  right  hand, 
and  Marcion  on  the  left  hand,  of  Christ  in  his  kingdom, 
being  those  for  whom  this  was  reserved  of  the  Father 
(Matt.  xx.  23  ;  Origen,  in  Luc.  Horn.  25  ;  cf.  Irenseus,  iii. 
13);  assuredly  there  is  nothing  strange  that  a  name  which 
St.  John,  or  the  Saviour  by  his  lips,  branded  with  worst 
dishonour,  they,  glorying  in  their  shame,  should  assume 
as  one  of  chiefest  honour  ; — just  as  in  an  infidel  publica- 
tion of  the  present  day  which  has  sometimes  come  under 
my  eye,  there  are  letters  signed  in  blasphemous  earnest 
with  the  signature  of  '  Antichrist.' 

One  point  still  remains.  Is  the  hating  of  the  deeds  of 
the  Nicolaitans  of  this  verse  identical  with  the  not  being 
able  to  '  bear  them  which  are  evil '  of  ver.  2  ?  or,  being  a 
grace  growing  out  of  the  same  holy  impatience  of  evil,  is 
there  for  all  this  a  certain  difference  between  them,  so 
that  while  that  was  rather  a  hatred  of  error  in  doctrine, 
of  departure  from  the  faith  once  delivered,  an  unmasking 
of  them  that  said  they  were  apostles  and  were  not,  this  is 


II.  7-]  EPHESUS,    REV.    II.   \-J .  95 

more  a  hatred  of  evil  done,  of  the  deeds  of  the  Xicolaitans  ? 
In  other  words,  is  the  Lord  here  recurring  to  that  good 
thing  which  He  has  already  found  and  praised  in  Ephesus  ? 
or  is  this  new  praise,  and  the  recognition  of  a  further 
grace  ?  Most  expositors  take  for  granted  that  Christ  here 
reverts  to  and  repeats  his  commendation  already  uttered, 
that  the  Nicolaitans  therefore  of  this  are  identical  with 
'  them  that  are  eviV  of  the  former  verse.  I  cannot  think 
it ;  hut  must  see  here  not  the  repetition  of  praise  bestowed 
before,  which  would  be  somewhat  flat,  but  a  further  merit 
which  Christ  is  well  pleased  to  find  and  to  acknowledge  in 
his  Church  at  Ephesus.  The  *  deeds  of  the  Nicolaitans  ' 
were,  no  doubt,  the  crowning  wickedness  there,  the  bitter 
fruit  growing  out  of  that  evil  root  of  false  doctrine ;  but 
whether  in  root,  as  He  testified  before,  or  in  fruit,  as  He 
testifies  now,  this  evil  was  equally  hated  by  the  Angel  and 
Church  of  Ephesus. 

Ver.  7.  '  He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear  what  the 
Spirit  saith  unto  the  Churches.'' — These  words  recur  in  all 
the  Epistles ;  with  only  this  difference,  that  in  the  earlier 
three  they  occur  before,  in  the  later  four  after,  the  final 
promise.  Is  there  any  meaning  in  this  change  of  place  ? 
It  is  difficult  to  believe  that  there  is  none.  The  Apoca- 
lypse is  a  work  of  such  consummate  art,  a  device  of  such 
profound  wisdom,  so  penetrated  through  and  through  with 
what  we  might  call  a  divine  cabala,  and  fashioned  accord- 
ing to  its  laws,  that  one  is  slow  to  assume  anything  acci- 
dental in  it,  or  that  any  departure  in  it  from  a  rule  which 
has  been  once  admitted  is  without  a  purpose.  Still  I  must 
own  that  I  have  never  seen  any  satisfactory  explanation  of 
this  transposition.  That  in  every  case  the  words  usher 
in,  or  commend,  truths  of  the  deepest  concernment  to  all, 
there  can  be  no  doubt.     This  we  might  confidently  argue 


96  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHUKCHES    IN    ASIA.        [il.  /. 

from  the  very  form  of  the  exhortation ;  but  we  further 
gather  it  from  a  comparison  of  the  passages,  all  of  them  of 
deepest  significance,  where  the  same  summons  to  attention 
recurs  (Matt.  xi.  15  ;  xiii.  9,  43;  Mark  vii.  16;  Eev.  xiii. 
9) ;  so  that  Irving  {Expos,  of  the  Revelation,  vol.  i.  p. 
354)  has  perfect  right  when  he  affirms,  '  This  form  always 
is  used  of  radical,  and  as  it  were  generative,  truths,  great 
principles,  most  precious  promises,  most  deep  fetches  from 
the  secrets  of  God,  being  as  it  were  eyes  of  truth,  seeds 
and  kernels  of  knowledge.'  It  is  always  a  matter  of 
weightiest  concernment  to  the  whole  Church  of  (rod, 
which  these  words  usher  in  or  seal. 

But  let  us  look  a  little  closer  at  them,  and  see  what 
other  lessons  this  summons,  in  the  form  which  it  here 
takes,  is  capable  of  yielding.  And  first  the  '  ear'  here  is 
not  a  natural  ear,  neither  is  this  a  summons  to  every 
man,  for  every  man  has  such  a  natural  ear,  to  attend  to 
the  words  now  spoken ;  but  rather  the  words  are  an  equi- 
valent to  the  6  hwapevos  ^oopslv  -^aypsiTco  of  Matt.  xix.  12, 
and  imply  that  spiritual  truth  needing  a  spiritual  organ 
for  its  reception,  only  he  will  be  able  to  hear  to  whom 
(rod  has  given  the  hearing  ear  (Deut.  xxix.  4),  whose  ear 
He  has  wakened  (Isai.  1.  4,  5) ;  of  others  it  is  true,  '  their 
ear  is  uncircumcised,  and  they  cannot  hearken '  ( Jer.  vi. 
10).  And  yet  for  all  this  the  words  are  in  another  sense 
addressed  to  every  one,  inasmuch  as  he  who  has  not  this 
hearing  ear,  who  discovers  from  the  failure  of  these  words 
of  Christ  to  reach  the  depths  of  his  spirit,  that  he  has  it 
not,  is  implicitly  bidden  to  seek  it  of  Him  who  can  alone 
give  it  to  any,  and  who  would  be  well  pleased  to  give  it  to 
all.  But  secondly  we  are  taught  by  these  words  how  ab- 
solute is  the  identity  between  the  workings  of  the  Son  and 
of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  how  truly  the  Spirit  is  the  Spirit  of 


II.  7-]  EPHESUS,    REV.    II.   I -7.  97 

speaking  throughout ;  but  now  without  a  word  of  explana- 
tion, what  He  speaks  is  declared  to  be  what  the  Spirit  speaks. 
It  is  the  Spirit  who  declares  these  things  to  the  Churches. 
And  in  that  phrase,  'the  Churches,''  we  are  further  reminded 
of  the  universal  character  which  this  Epistle  and  those  that 
follow  it  possess.  It  might  seem  that  all  which  had  hitherto 
been  uttered  had  been  uttered  only  to  one  Church,  to  that 
of  Ephesus  ;  nor  would  I  in  the  least  deny  this  primary  de- 
stination, nor  that  all  the  reproofs,  encouragements,  warn- 
ings, promises  which  it  contains  were  designed  for  Ephesus. 
But  they  are  not  limited  to  it.  He  who  utters  these  words 
will  allow  of  no  such  limitation.  In  a  form  somewhat 
more  solemn  he  virtually  repeats  what  He  once  spoke  in 
the  days  of  his  flesh,  *  What  I  say  unto  you,  I  say  unto  all ; ' 
for,  standing  as  He  does  at  the  central  heart  of  things,  in 
his  particular  there  ever  lies  involved  an  universal ;  and 
therefore  is  it  that  heaven  and  earth  may  pass  away,  but 
his  words  can  never  pass  away.  This  universal  character 
of  these  addresses,  that,  addressed  to  one  they  were  at  the 
same  time  spoken  to  all,  was  recognised  long  ago.  Thus 
in  the  famous  Muratori  fragment  we  find  it :  '  Johannes  in 
Apocalypsi  licet  septem  Ecclesiis  scribat,  tamen  omnibus 
dicit.' 

'  To  him  that  overcometh  will  I  give  to  eat  of  the  tree 
of  life,  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  Paradise  of  God.'' — It 
is  deeply  interesting  and  instructive  to  observe  how  in  this, 
and  probably  in  every  other  case,  the  character  of  the  pro- 
mise corresponds  to  the  character  of  the  faithfulness  dis- 
played. They  who  have  abstained  from  the  idol-meats, 
from  the  sinful  dainties  of  the  flesh  and  world,  shall,  in 
return,  '  eat  of  the  tree  of  life ; '  or,  as  it  is  in  the  Epistle 
to  Pergamum,  '  of  the  hidden  manna  '  (ii.  17) ;  the  same 
law  of  correspondency  and  compensation  reigning  in  most, 

H 


98  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.        [il.  'J. 

if  not  all  the  other  promises  as  well.  They  who  have  not 
feared  those  who  can  kill  the  body  only,  who  have  given, 
where  need  was,  their  bodies  to  the  flame,  shall  not  be 
hurt  by  the  second  death  (ii.  1 1 ).  They  whom  the  world 
has  not  vanquished,  shall  have  dominion  over  the  world 
(ii.  26,  27).  They  who  keep  their  garments  here  unde- 
filed,  shall  be  clad  in  the  white  and  shining  garments  of 
immortality  there  (iii.  4,  5).  They  who  overcome  Jewish 
pretensions  (and  the  earnest  warnings  of  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews  show  us  that  this  for  some  was  not  done 
without  the  hardest  struggle),  shall  be  made  free,  not  of 
an  earthly,  but  of  an  heavenly,  Jerusalem  (iii.  12).  The  only 
Church  in  which  any  difficulty  occurs  in  tracing  the  cor- 
relation between  the  form  of  the  victory  and  the  form  of 
the  reward,  is  the  last. 

But  this  much  said  by  way  of  general  introduction  to 
all  the  promises,  the  promise  here  may  well  claim  closer 
attention.  The  image  of  the  Christian  as  a  conqueror,  one 
'  that  overcomeihf  is  frequent  with  St.  Paul  (2  Tim.  ii.  5  ; 
1  Cor.  ix.  24,  25) ;  even  as  on  the  other  hand  he  contem- 
plates sin  as  an  77TT17 fia,  a  being  worsted  or  overcome  ( I  Cor. 
vi.  7) ;  but  such  phrases  as  vitcav  tov  koct/xov,  vlkclv  rbv 
irovrjpov,  or  simply  vlkclv  as  here,  nowhere  occur  in  his 
Epistles — the  only  passage  in  them  which  in  the  least 
resembles  these,  or  where  the  word  is  employed  to  express 
the  moral  victory  over  sin  and  temptation,  is  Rom.  xii.  21. 
This  use  of  vikclv,  with  that  single  and  partial  exception, 
is  exclusively  St.  John's ;  and  the  frequent  recurrence  of 
it  on  the  one  side  in  his  Gospel  and  Epistles,  and  on  the 
other  in  the  Apocalypse  (thus  compare  John  xvi.  33  ;  I  Ep. 
ii.  13,  14;  v.  4,  5,  with  Rev.  ii.  11,  17,  26;  iii.  5,  12,21; 
xii.  1 1 ;  xxi.  7),  constitutes  an  interesting  point  of  contact 
between  the  language  of  this  Book  and  of  those  others 


II.  7-]  EPHESUS,    REV.    II.   I-7.  99 

whereof  lie  is  the  author  as  well ;  and,  for  those  who  need 
such  evidence,  an  evidence  for  the  identity  of  the  author 
of  those  and  of  this.     It  occurs  in  the  ethical  terminology 
of  heathen  philosophy  at  its  best.     Thus  Plato  (Lege/,  i. 
626  E)  :  to  viKav  avrov  iraaoiv  vucwv  Trpcorrj  te  KaldplcrTi]. 
It  is  very  noteworthy, — and  this '  I  will  give,''  recurring 
as  it  does   so  constantly   in  all   these   Epistles,   bids  us 
to  note, — how  absolutely  without  reserve  or  qualification 
Christ  assumes  for  Himself  throughout  them  all  the  dis- 
tribution of  rewards,  as  supreme  and  sole  /xiadairoSorrjs 
(Heb.  xi.  6)  in  the  kingdom  of  glory  (ii.   10,  17,  26,  28  ; 
ii.  21  :  cf.  xxi.  6  ;  2  Tim.  iv.  8;  Matt.  xx.  8).     Elsewhere 
St.  Paul  has  said,  '  The  gift  of  God  is  eternal  life  '  (Rom. 
vi.  23)  ;  here  it  appears  eminently  as  the  gift  of  Christ. 
And  his  '  I  will  give,''  though  still  in  the  future,  is  sure. 
It  has  nothing  in  it  of  the  hooaw  of  that  ever  promising  but 
never  performing  king  of  Macedon  ;  who,  having  ever  this 
same  Scoaco  on  his  lips,  but  never  the  Bcopov  in  his  hands, 
acquired  the  name  of  Doson,  fastened  as  no  honourable 
distinction   upon  him  who,   being  rich  in  promises,  yet 
never  crowned  the  promise  with  the  performance. 

The  use  of  %v\ov,  the  dead  timber  in  classical  Greek, 
for  BsvBpov,  the  living  tree,  is  Hellenistic  ;  not  indeed  ex- 
clusively confined  to  the  Septuagint  and  the  N.T.,  being 
found  in  the  Alexandrian  poets,  Callimachus  for  instance, 
as  well ;  indeed,  there  is  an  anticipation  of  it  in  Hero- 
dotus, iii.  47.  In  '  the  tree  of  life '  there  is  manifest 
allusion  to  Gen.  ii.  9.  The  tree  which  disappeared  with 
the  disappearance  of  the  earthly  Paradise,  reappears  with 
the  reappearance  of  the  heavenly,  Christ's  kingdom  being 
in  the  highest  sense  '  the  restitution  of  all  things '  (Acts 
iii.  2 1 ).  Whatever  had  been  lost  through  Adam's  sin  is 
won  back,  and  that  too  in  a  higher  shape,  through  Christ's 

H    2 


100        EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.        [ll.   7. 

obedience.  That  the  memory  of  '  the  tree  of  life '  had  not 
in  the  mean  time  perished,  we  gather  from  such  refer- 
ences to  it  as  Prov.  iii.  18  ;  xi.  30  ;  xiii.  12  ;  xv.  4.1  '  To 
eat  of  the  tree  of  life '  is  a  figurative  phrase  to  express 
participation  in  the  life  eternal ;  cf.  Gen.  iii.  22  ;  Ezek. 
xlvii.  12  ;2  Eev.  xxii.  2,  14;  2  Esdr.  ii.  12;  vii.  53; 
and  Ecclus.  xix.  19:'  They  that  do  things  that  please 
Him  shall  receive  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  immortality ' 
(ddavacrlas  SsvSpov  Kapirovvrai).  Compare  the  words  of 
the  Christian  Sibyl : 

Oi  8e  0eoi>  Tifx£)VTes  aki]6ivbv  aevaovTt 
■Zoorjv  K\qpovop.ov&i  rbv  atcovns  xpvvov,  avroi 
OIkovvtcs  Ilapa8eiaov  Sfxc'os  epiBrjXea  k'iTtov, 
Aaivvpevoi  ykvicvv  iiprov  cm   ovpavov  dorepdeiToy. 

We  meet  with  echoes  and  reminiscences  of  this  itree  of 
life '  in  the  mythologies  of  many  nations ;  or,  if  not  actual 
reminiscences  of  it,  yet  Teachings  out  after  it,  as  in  the 
Yggdrasilof  our  own  northern  mythology  (Grimm,  Deutsche 
Mythol.  p.  756) ;  and  still  more  remarkable  in  the  Persian 
Horn.  This  Horn  is  the  king  of  trees,  is  called  in  the 
Zend-Avesta  the  Death-destroyer ;  it  grows  by  the  fountain 
of  Arduisur,  in  other  words,  by  the  waters  of  life  ;  while 
its  sap  drunken  imparts  immortality  (Creuzer,  Symbolik, 
vol.  i.  p.  187,  and  often). 

For  the  words,  '  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  Paradise 
■of  God,'  we  should  read,  '  tvhich  is  in  the  Paradise  of 


1  The  Rabbis,  of  course,  know  a  great  deal  about  this  '  tree  of  life.'1 
Its  boughs  overshadow  the  whole  of  Paradise.  It  has  five  hundred 
thousand  fragrant  smells,  and  its  fruit  as  many  pleasant  tastes,  not 
one  of  them  resembling  any  other  (Eisenmenger,  Entdecktes  Judenthum, 
vol.  ii.  p.  311  ;  which  book  also  see,  pp.  260-320,  for  much  on  the 
Upper  and  the  Under  Paradise,  as  the  Jews  were  wont  to  call  them). 

2  Lucian's  words  (Ver.  Hist.  ii.  14),  in  his  account  of  the  Island 
of  the  Blest,  sound  very  much  like  a  scoff  at  this  :  al  p.ev  afxnikoi  So- 
8eKa(j)opoi  eicri,  Kai  Kara  p.?]va  kKU<TTov  Kap7ro<popoi(ri. 


II.  7-]  EPHESU?,    EEY.    II.   I-/.  101 

'God  '  — transcribers  having  brought  their  '  in  the  midst ' 
from  Gren.  ii.  9.  UapdSsLcros  is  a  word  whose  history  is 
well  worth  tracing.  The  word  and  the  thing  which  it 
designated  are  both  generally  said  to  be  Persian  ;  though 
this  is  now  earnestly  denied  by  some,  who  claim  for  it  a 
Semitic  origin  (see  Tuch,  Genesis,  p.  68 ;  Delitzsch, 
Genesis,  p.  137,  2nd  edit.).  It  was  first  naturalized  in 
Greek  by  Xenophon,  who  designated  by  it  the  parks  or 
pleasure-gardens  of  Persia,  in  which  wild  beasts  were  kept 
or  stately  trees  grown  {Hell.  iv.  1.  15  ;  (Econ.  iv.  13  ; 
Cyrop.  i.  4.  11),  being  at  once  the  '  vivarium  '  and  t lie 
'viridarium'  (Augustine,  Serm.  343;  '  leporarium '  Varro 
calls  it)  of  the  Romans ;  for  classical  Latin,  it  may  be 
observed  by  the  way,  did  not  know  the  word  '  paradisus  ' 
(see  A.  Gfellius,  ii.  20.  4,  and  the  long  circumlocution  by 
which  Cicero,  De  Senect.  17,  is  compelled  to  express  the 
thing).  Where  the  Septuagint  Translators  employ  irapd- 
Bsiaos,  it  is  commonly  to  designate  the  garden  of  Eden 
(Gren.  ii.  8;  iii.  I  ;  Ezek.  xxviii.  13),  though  sometimes 
it  stands  there  for  any  stately  garden  of  delight  whatever 
(Isai.  i.  30 ;  Jer.  xxix.  5  ;  Eccl.  ii.  5  :  siroi^ad  [xot  k^ttovs 
kcli  irapahslaovs).  Philo  refers  to  it  often  as  such,  de- 
scribing it  in  language  which  has  an  Homeric  touch  about 
it :  ywpov  ovrs  o/M^pots  ovts  vicpsrots,  ovrs  Kv/iacrt  ftapv- 
v6[isvov,  dW  bv  e£  Qicsavov  irpavs  dsl  ^scpvpos  sirLTrvslcov 
dva-^fvyzi.  The  word,  by  the  time  that  it  appears  in  the 
N.T.,  has  taken  a  great  spring.  The  ideal  beauty  of  that 
dwelling-place  of  our  first  parents,  perhaps  also  the  fact 
that  it  had  now  vanished  from  the  earth,  has  caused  the 
name  '  Paradise '  to  be  transferred  to  that  region  and  pro- 
vince in  Hades,  or  the  invisible  world,  where  the  souls  of 
the  faithful  are  gathered,  waiting  for  their  perfect  consum- 
mation and  bliss.  'Their  [the  Jews']  meaning  therefore  was 


102  EPISTLES   TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.        [il.  7. 

this  :  that  as  paradise,  or  the  garden  of  Eden,  was  a  place 
of  great  beauty,  pleasure,  and  tranquillity,  so  the  state  of 
separate  souls  was  a  state  of  peace  and  excellent  delights ' 
(so  Jeremy  Taylor  in  his  beautiful  Sermon  at  the  Funeral 
of  Sir  George  Dalstone).  It  is  in  this  sense,  as  a  place  of 
rest  after  the  storms  of  life,  that  Christ  allowed  and  em- 
ployed the  term,  when  to  the  penitent  malefactor  He 
said,  '  This  day  shalt  thou  be  with  Me  in  Paradise  ' 
(Luke  xxii.  43).1  But  even  this  is  not  all.  The  word 
takes  a  higher  meaning  yet ;  for  this  inferior  Paradise 
is  not  to  be  confounded  with  the  superior  or  heavenly, 
'  the  Paradise  of  God,''  as  it  is  here  called  (the  phrase  has 
already  occurred  in  the  Septuagint,  Ezek.  xxxi.  7,  8), '  the 
third  heaven,'  where  is  the  immediate  presence  and  glory 
of  God  (2  Cor.  xii.  2,  4).  We  may  thus  trace  irapahsiaos 
passing  through  an  ascending  scale  of  meanings.  From 
any  garden  of  delight,  which  is  its  first  meaning,  it  comes 
to  be  predominantly  applied  to  the  garden  of  Eden  ; 
then  to  the  resting-place  of  separate  souls  in  joy  and 
felicity ;  and  lastly,  to  the  very  heaven  itself ;  and  we 
see  eminently  in  it,  what  we  see  indeed  in  so  many  words, 
how  revealed  religion  assumes  them  into  its  service,  and 
makes  them  vehicles  of  far  higher  truth  than  any  which 
they  knew  at  first,  transforming  and  trans  figuring  them, 
as  in  this  case,  from  glory  to  glory. 

This  '  tree  of  life,''  with  the  privilege  to  the  faithful  of 
eating  of  its  fruits,  appears  again  at  the  close  of  this 
Book  (xxii.  2,  14).  It  is  very  interesting  to  note,  and 
no  fitter  opportunity  than  this  for  noting,  the  fine  and 
subtle  bands  which  knit  one  part  of  the  Apocalypse  to 


1  The  two  chief  passages  in  the  Fathers  on  Paradise  contemplated 
as  this  middle  state,  are  Tertullian,  De  Animd,$$  (his  hook  De  Para~ 
diso  has  not  reached  us)  ;  and  Origen,  De  Princ.  ii.  II.  6. 


II.  7-]  EPHESUS,    REV.    II.   l-J.  103 

another,  the  marvellous  art,  if  we  may  dare  to  use  an 
earthly  word  speaking  of  a  heavenly  fact,  with  which 
this  Book  is  constructed.  Especially  these  seven  Epistles, 
which  at  first  sight  might  seem,  which  to  some  have 
seemed,  to  be  but  slightly  attached  to  the  other  parts  of 
the  Book,  do  yet  on  nearer  examination  prove  to  be  bound 
to  them  by  the  closest  possible  bands.  There  is  not  one 
of  the  promises  made  to  the  faithful  in  these  second  and 
third  chapters,  which  does  not  look  on  to,  and  perhaps 
first  find  its  full  explanation  in,  some  later  portion  of  the 
Book.  Thus  the  eating  of  the  tree  of  life,  as  unfolded 
farther  at  xxii.  2,  14,  19;  deliverance  from  the  second 
death  (ii.  11)  receives  its  solemn  commentary,  xx.  14; 
xxi.  8  ;  the  writing  of  the  new  name  of  ii.  17  reappears 
xiv.  1  ;  the  dominion  over  the  heathen  of  ii.  26  at  xx.  4 ; 
the  morning  star  of  ii.  28  at  xxii.  16;  the  white  gar- 
ments of  iii.  5  at  iv.  4  ;  vii.  9,  13;  the  name  found 
written  in  the  book  of  life  of  iii.  5  at  xiii.  8  ;  xx.  1 5  ;  the 
New  Jerusalem  and  the  citizenship  in  it  of  iii.  12  at  xxi. 
10  ;  xxii.  14 ;  the  sitting  upon  the  throne  of  iii.  21  at  iv.  4.1 


1  Very  beautifully  Bengel  on  this  matter,  though  his  words  refer 
not  to  the  seven  Epistles  only,  but  to  the  whole  Book  :  '  Partes 
hujus  libri  passim  inter  se  respiciunt.  Omnino  structura  libri  hujus 
prorsus  artem  divinam  spirat ;  estque  ejus  quodam  modo  proprium, 
ut  res  futuras  multas,  et  in  multitudine  varias,  proximas,  interme- 
dias,  remotissimas,  maximas,  minimas,  terribiles,  salutares,  ex  veteri- 
bus  prophetis  repetitas,  novas,  longas,  breves,  easque  inter  se  con- 
textas,  oppositas,  compositas,  seque  mutuo  involventes  et  evolventes, 
ad  se  invicem  ex  intervallo  parvo  aut  magno  respicientes,  adeoque 
interdum  quasi  disparentes,  abruptas,  suspensas,  et  postea  de  impro- 
viso  opportunissime  sub  conspectum  redeuntes,  absoluto  compendio 
complectatur ;  atque  his  rebus,  quse  complectitur  liber,  structura 
libri  exacte  respondet.  Itaque  in  omnibus  suis  partibus  admira- 
bilem  habet  varietatem,  spirasque  pulcerrimas,  simulque  summam 
harnioniam,  per  ipsas  anomalias,  quae  illam  interpellare  videntur,  valde 
illustratam.' 


II. 

EPISTLE   TO    THE    CHUECH    OF    SMYRNA. 
Rev.  ii.  8— 1 1. 

Ver.  8.  '  And  unto  the  Angel  of  the  Church  in  Smyrna 
write.9 — The  next  in  order  to  Ephesus  of  the  seven 
Churches  is  Smyrna ;  the  next  not  only  in  the  spiritual 
order  here,  but  in  the  natural  as  well,  lying  as  it  does  a 
little  to  the  north  of  that  city.  Smyrna,  *  the  ornament 
of  Asia'  (dyaX/xa  rrjs  'Acrias,  as  it  has  been  called),  was 
one  of  the  fairest  and  noblest  cities  of  Ionia  (77  fcaWio-Tw 
tcov  'IcovLfcoov  7t6\s(ov,  Lucian,  Imagg.  2),  most  favour- 
ably placed  upon  the  coast  to  command  the  trade  of  the 
Levant,  which  equally  in  old  and  modern  times  it  has 
enjoyed.  In  ecclesiastical  history  it  is  chiefly  famous  as 
the  Church  over  which  Polycarp  presided  as  bishop  for  so 
many  years.  This  Church  must  have  been  founded  at  a 
very  early  date,  though  there  is  no  mention  of  it  either 
in  the  Acts  or  in  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul. 

Tertullian  indeed  distinctly  tells  us  that  Polycarp  was 
consecrated  bishop  of  Smyrna  by  St.  John  (7)e  Prcesc. 
Hceret.  32);  and  Irenseus,  who  affirms  that  he  had  him- 
self in  his  youth  often  talked  with  him,  declares  the  same 
(Eusebius,  H.  E.  iv.  14:  cf.  iii.  36;  Jerome,  Catal. 
Script,  s.  v.  Polycarpus  ;  Jacobson,  Patt.  Apostoll.  p.  564 ; 


II.  9-]  SMYRNA,  EEV.  II.  8-1  I.  105 

Rothe,  Die  Anfdnge  d.  Christl.  Kirche,  p.  429).  His 
martyrdom  belongs  to  the  principate  of  Antoninus  Pius, 
and  to  the  year  a.d.  154,  or  1 5 5.1 

'  These  things  saith  the  first  and  the  last,  which  tvas 
dead,  and  is  alive.'' — Being  addressed,  as  this  Epistle  is, 
to  a  Church  exposed,  and  hereafter  to  be  still  more  exposed, 
to  the  fiercest  blasts  of  persecution,  it  is  graciously  ordered 
that  all  the  attributes  which  Christ  here  claims  for  Himself 
should  be  such  as  would  encourage  and  support  his  ser- 
vants in  their  trials  and  distress.  Bright  man :  '  Titulos 
sibi  sumit  [Christus]  qui  praesenti  rerum  conditioni  con- 
veniunt.  Unde  varium  suae  gloria?  radium  in  singulis 
Epistolis  spargit,  pro  varia  fortuna  qua  sunt  Ecclesice.' 
For  these  titles  of  Christ,  '  the  first  and  the  last,''  and 
'  which  was  dead,  and  is  alive,'  or  rather,  '  who  became, 
dead,  and  lived  again,'  see  i.  17,  18.  "E&aev  here  is  not 
'  vixit,'  but  'revixit'  (cf.  Ezek.  xxxvii.  3;  John  v.  25  ; 
Rev.  xiii.  14) ;  death  having  been  for  Him  only  the  passage 
to  a  more  glorious  life.  How  then  should  his  servants  fear 
them  who  could  kill  the  body,  and  then  had  nothing  more 
which  they  could  do  ?  what  misgivings  should  they  have 
in  committing  their  souls  to  One,  who  had  so  triumphantly 
redeemed  and  rescued  his  own  ? 

Ver.  9.  '  I  knoiv  thy  works,  and  tribulation,  and  po- 
verty ;  but  thou  art  rich.' — For  the  first  cliuse  see  what 
has  been  said  already  on  ver.  2  ;  the  words  of  themselves 


1  An  important  communication  recently  made  by  M.  Waddington 
to  the  French  Academie  des  Inscriptions  has  put  it  beyond  all  doubt 
that  the  date  of  Polycarp's  death  usually  given, — some  time,  that  is, 
falling  within  the  years  a.d.  166-169, — is  too  late  by  more  than  ten 
years.  The  best  scholars  alike  in  England  and  abroad  have  assented 
to  the  conclusions  at  which  on  this  matter  he  has  arrived.  Thus 
Bishop  Lightfoot,  see  the  Contemporary  Review,  May,  1875,  P-  838  ; 
and  Renan,  L'Antechrist,  p.  566. 


106         EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.        [il.  9. 

express  neither  praise  nor  blame.  The  '  tribulation '  re- 
fers out  of  all  doubt  to  the  affliction  which  the  Church  of 
Smyrna  endured  at  the  hands  of  its  Jewish  and  heathen 
persecutors  and  oppressors,  6\l/3slv  and  6\li]rt,s  being  con- 
stant words  to  express  this  ( 1  Thess.  iii.  4 ;  Heb.  xi.  37  ; 
Acts  xx.  23  ;  Rev.  i.  9,  and  often).  So  too  their  '  poverty  ' 
will  probably  have  come  upon  them  through  the  spoiling 
of  their  goods  (Heb.  x.  34),  and  the  various  wrongs  in 
their  worldly  estate  which  the  profession  of  the  faith  of 
Christ  will  have  brought  with  it — '  But  thou  art  rich.' 
How  much  better  this,  poor  in  the  esteem  of  the  world, 
but  rich  before  Christ,  than  the  condition  of  the  Laodicean 
Angel,  rich  in  his  own  esteem,  but  most  poor  in  the  sight 
of  Christ  (iii.  17).  There  can,  of  course,  be  no  doubt  that 
'  rich''  here  means  rich  in  grace  (cf.  Rom.  viii.  32 ;  Col. 
ii.  3 ;  1  Tim.vi.  1 8),  having  treasure  in  heaven  (Matt.  vi.  20; 
xix.  21  ;  Luke  xii.  21),  as  the  same  word  irXovacos  ex- 
presses in  a  similar,  but  yet  a  far  higher  sense,  rich  in  glory 
elsewhere  (2  Cor.  viii.  9).  These  words,  to  which  Jam. 
ii.  5-7  furnishes  a  remarkable  parallel,  constitute  a  very 
beautiful  parenthesis,  declaring  as  they  do  the  judgment 
of  heaven  concerning  this  Church  of  Smyrna,  as  contra- 
distinguished from  the  judgment  of  earth.  Men  saw  no- 
thing there  save  the  poverty,  but  He  who  sees  not  as  man 
seeth,  saw  the  true  riches  which  this  seeming  poverty  con- 
cealed, even  as  He  too  often  sees  the  real  poverty  which 
may  he  behind  the  show  of  riches ;  for  there  are  both 
poor  rich-men  and  rich  poor-men  in  his  sight.  Very 
beautifully,  though  of  course  moving  in  altogether  a 
different  and  lower  sphere  of  thought,  the  Greek  comic 
poet  writes  (Meineke,  Fragm.  Com.  p.  765): 

■fyvxijv  €\eiv  del  Trkovaiav  tcl  he  xprjfjLara 
ravr    icrriv  o^ty,  napaTreTacrfia  rov  j3iov. 


II.  9«]  SMYRNA,  KEY.  II.  8-1 1.  107 

*  And  1  know  the  blasphemy  of  them  which  say  they  are. 
Jews,  and  are  not,  but  are  the  synagogue  of  Satan.' — 
The  most  important  question  which  presents  itself  here  is 
this — in  what  sense  shall  we  take  the  term  '  Jews "  ?  By 
'  those  which  say  they  are  Jews,  and  are  not,'  shall  we 
understand  Jews  literally  so  called,  who,  being  the  natural 
seed  of  Abraham,  claimed  also  to  be  the  spiritual ;  or, 
accepting  '  Jews  '  here  as  the  designation  of  the  true  cir- 
cumcision not  made  with  hands,  that  is,  of  Christians, 
shall  we  see  in  these  some  who  claimed  to  be  Christians, 
but  whose  right  to  belong  to  his  Church  Christ  here 
denies  ?  The  former  appears  to  me  the  preferable  inter- 
pretation. The  analogy  of  such  passages  as  Eom.  ii.  28, 
29  ;  ix.  6  ;  Phil.  iii.  2,  3,  points  this  way.1  Then,  again, 
these  opposers  and  blasphemers  were  evidently  persecu- 
tors to  bonds  and  death  of  the  faithful  at  Smyrna ;  but, 
extreme  shame  and  disgrace  as  some  of  the  heretical  sects 
were  bringing  on  the  true  Church  at  this  time,  there  is 
no  tittle  of  evidence  that  they  had  the  power  or  the  desire 
to  persecute  it  with  the  weapons  of  outward  persecution. 
It  was  otherwise,  however,  with  the  Jews  literally  so 
named.  What  their  'blasphemy''  against  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth, against  the  Lord  of  glory,  but  known  to  them  as 
'  the  hanged  one,'  was,  and  still  is,  we  are  only  too  well 
aware  (see  Eisenmenger,  Entdecktes  Judenthum,  vol.  i. 
pp.  61-188).  While  too  the  opposition  of  the  heathen 
was  still  languid  and  fitful,  the  jealousy  of  the  Eoman 
state  being  hardly  awakened,  the  fierceness  of  their 
enmity,  the  eagerness  with  which  they  sought  to  stimulate 
the  enmity  of  the  heathen,  almost  every  page  in  the  Acts 


1  There  is  a  long  discussion  in  one  of  Augustine's  letters  (Ep. 
cxcvi.  §  6-16),  how  far  Christians,  as  the  true  circumcision,  might 
rightfully  be  called  Jews. 


108        EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.         [il.  9. 

declares  (xiii.  50;  xiv.  2,  5,  19  ;  xvii.  5  ;  xxiv.  2  ;  I  Thess. 
ii.  14)  ;  and  many  a  page  of  early  ecclesiastical  history  no 
less.  Moreover,  this  blasphemy  and  malignant  antagonism 
of  the  Jews  against  the  truth  displayed  itself  in  bitterest 
enmity  against  this  very  Church  of  Smyrna.  We  learn 
from  that  precious  document,  the  Epistle  of  the  Church  of 
Smyrna  recording  the  martyrdom  of  Polycarp,  that  Jews 
joined  with  heathens  in  crying  out  in  the  amphitheatre 
that  the  Christian  bishop  should  be  cast  to  the  lions  ;  and 
when  there  was  a  difficulty  about  this,  that  he  should  be 
burned  alive  ;  which  being  granted,  the  Jews,  as  was  their 
wont  (coy  Wos  avrols),  were  foremost  and  forwardest  in 
bringing  logs  for  the  funeral  pile  ;  they,  too,  doing  all 
that  lay  in  their  power  to  hinder  the  remains  of  the 
martyr  from  being  delivered  to  his  followers  for  burial 
(cap.  12,  13,  17). 

In  the  words  which  follow,  '  but  are  the  synagogue  of 
Satan?  I  find  another  proof  that  Jews,  literally  so  called, 
are  intended.  To  them  belonged  the  synagogue,  to  Chris- 
tians the  Church.  Through  all  the  N.  T.  avvaycoyyj  is 
only  once  used  for  a  Christian  place  of  assembly  (Jam.  ii. 
2),  never  for  the  body  of  the  faithful  in  Christ  Jesus. 
With  this  one  exception,  capable  of  an  easy  explanation 
(see  my  Synonyms  of  the  N.  T.,  §  i),  the  word  is  aban- 
doned to  the  Jews.  And  that  congregation  of  theirs, 
which  might  have  been  the  Church  of  the  living  God,  is 
now  '  the  synagogue  of  Satan ' — a  hard  saying,  a  terrible 
designation  on  the  lips  of  Him  who  uses  not  such  words  at 
random,  but  a  title  which  they,  once  the  chosen  people  of 
the  Lord,  had  wrought  with  all  their  might  to  deserve. 
Nothing  else  indeed  was  possible  for  them,  if  they  would 
not  be  his  people  indeed  ;  they  could  not  be  as  the  heathen, 
merely  wcm-Christian,  they  must  be  tw£i-Christian.     The 


II.    I  O.J  SMYRNA,  REY.  II.  8    II.  109 

measure  of  then*  former  nearness  to  God  was  the  measure 
of  their  present  distance  from  Him.  In  the  height  to 
which  they  were  lifted  up  was  involved  the  depth  to 
which,  if  they  did  not  continue  at  that  height,  they  must 
inevitably  fall ;  and  this,  true  for  them,  is  true  also  for 
all,  for  as  many  as,  inheriting  their  privileges,  are  there- 
fore exposed  to  their  dangers. — As  nothing  is  accidental 
in  this  Book,  so  it  is  worth  remarking  that  as  we  have 
here  '  the  synagogue  of  Satan,''  so  presently  *  the  throne 
of  Satan'  (ii.  13),  and  then  lastly,  '  the  depths  of  Satan  ' 
(ii.  24) ;  *  the  synagogue  of  Satan '  representing  the 
Jewish  antagonism  to  the  Church,  '  the  throne  of  Satan  ' 
the  heathen,  and  '  the  depths  of  Satan  '  the  heretical. 

Ver.  10.  '  Fear  none  of  those  things  which  thou  shalt 
suffer.'' — The  great  Captain  of  our  salvation  never  keeps 
back  or  conceals  what  those  who  faithfully  witness  for  Him 
may  have  to  bear  for  his  name's  sake  ;  never  entices  re- 
cruits into  his  service,  or  seeks  to  retain  them  under  his 
banner,  by  the  promise  that  they  shall  find  all  things  easy 
and  pleasant  there.  So  far  from  this,  He  says  of  St.  Paul 
at  the  outset  of  his  apostolic  career,  '  I  will  show  him  how 
great  things  he  must  suffer  for  my  name's  sake '  (Acts 
ix.  16  ;  cf.  Matt.  x.  16-31  ;  Luke  ix.  23  ;  John  xvi.  2,  33  ; 
Ezek.  ii.  3-7  ;  Jer.  i.  19)  ;  and  in  like  manner  He  announces 
to  the  Angel  of  Smyrna  that  bonds,  and  tribulation,  and 
death  itself,  are  before  him  and  before  others,  as  many  as 
at  Smyrna  shall  continue  faithful  to  the  end.  But  for  all 
this  they  are  not  to  fear.  Presently  He  will  declare  to 
them  why  they  should  not  fear ;  but  first  He  further  un- 
rolls in  their  sight  the  scroll  of  their  sufferings. 

'  Behold,  the  devil  shall  cast  some  of  you  into  prison, 
that  ye  may  be  tried.'' — rO  8id/3o\os  (  =  Kar^ycop,  Rev. 
xii.  10  ;  '  criminator '  as  an  old  Latin  version ;  '  accusator  ' 


110        EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.      [ll.    10. 

in  the  Vulgate),  a  name  given  to  Satan  by  the  Alexandrian 
translators  with  reference  to  the  work  of  accuser  ascribed 
to  him,  accusing  men  to  God  (Job.  i.  9  ;  ii.  5  ;  Zech.  iii. 
1,  2;  Wisd.  ii.  24),  and  also,  which  is  less  often  urged, 
accusing  God  to  men  (Gen.  iii.  1,  5)  :  '  Sed  et  diaboli 
nomen  meretur,  cos  rbv  ®eov  irpos  roiis  avOpooirovs  ctvko- 
(pavrojv,  ut  loquitur  Suidas  '  (Rhenferd).  How  well  at  his 
instigation  the  Jews  played  the  secondary  role  of  8idf3o\oi, 
first  against  the  Lord  Himself,  and  then  against  his  ser- 
vants, appears  in  the  Gospels  (Luke  xxiii.  2  ;  John  xix. 
12),  in  the  Acts  (xvii.  5-8  ;  xxiv.  2),  and  in  all  the  early 
Church  history.  From  a  multitude  of  passages  in  Justin 
Martyr's  Dialogue  with  TrypJto,  as  from  Origen's  answer 
to  Celsus  (iii.  1  ;  vi.  27),  it  is  clear  that  they  were  the 
main  authors  of  the  calumnies  against  the  Christians 
with  which  the  malice  of  the  heathen  world  was  stimu- 
lated and  fed,  and  by  which  that  world  sought  to  justify 
itself  in  the  cruelties  practised  against  them. 

The  manner  in  which  this  persecution  of  the  saints 
is  here  traced  to  the  direct  agency  of  Satan,  is  very  well 
worthy  of  observation.  We  sometimes  assume  that  Chris- 
tians were  persecuted,  because  the  truth  for  which  they 
bore  witness  traversed  the  interests,  affronted  the  pride, 
would  have  checked  the  passions  of  men  ;  and  this  is  most 
true ;  but  we  have  not  so  reached  to  the  ground  of  the 
matter.  There  is  nothing  more  remarkable  in  the  records 
which  have  come  down  to  us  of  the  early  persecutions, 
and  in  this  point  they  singularly  illustrate  the  Scripture 
before  us,  than  the  sense  which  the  confessors  and  martyrs, 
and  those  who  afterwards  narrate  their  sufferings  and 
their  triumphs,  entertain  and  utter,  that  these  great 
fights  of  affliction  through  which  they  were  called  to  pass, 
were  the  immediate  work  of  the  devil,  and  no  mere  result 


H.   10.]  SMYRNA,  REV.  II.  8-1 1.  Ill 

of  the  offended  passions,  prejudices,  or  interests  of  men. 
The  enemies  of  flesh  and  blood,  as  mere  tools  and  instru- 
ments, are  nearly  lost  sight  of  by  them  in  a  constant 
reference  to  Satan  as  the  invisible  but  most  real  author 
of  all.  And  assuredly  they  had  right.  So  much  we 
might  boldly  say,  even  if  we  had  not  the  warrant  of  such 
Scriptures  as  this.  Thus,  who  that  reads  that  story  of  the 
persecution  of  the  saints  at  Lyons  and  Vienne,  a.d.  177, 
happily  preserved  for  us  by  Eusebius  (H.  E.  v.  i)  in  the 
very  words  of  the  survivors  (see  Kenan,  Marc-AurUe, 
p.  302  sqq.),  that  wondrous  tale  of  persistent  inventive 
cruelty  on  the  part  of  the  heathen,  overmatched  by  a 
superhuman  patience  on  the  part  of  the  faithful,  but  must 
feel  that  there  is  infinitely  more  here  than  a  conflict  of 
bad  men  with  good  ?  There  is  rather  on  the  one  side  an 
outbreak  from  the  bottomless  pit,  the  might  and  malice 
of  the  devil,  making  war  against  God  in  the  person  of  his 
saints  ;  on  the  other  a  victory,  not  over  evil  men  alone, 
but  over  Satan,  so  transcendant  that  it  could  only  have 
been  surpassed  when  Christ  Himself  beheld  him  fall  as 
lightning  from  heaven  (Luke  x.  18).  This  reference  to 
the  devil  as  the  primary  author  of  all  assaults  upon  the 
Church,  the  sense  of  which  speaks  out  so  strikingly  in 
these  Acts  of  the  Gallic  martyrs,  speaks  out  hardly  less 
strongly  in  others  ;  thus  see  the  Ep.  de  S.  Poly  carpi 
Mart.  iii.  17,  19  ;  Mart.  Ignat.  7. 

From  the  fact  that  our  Translators  have  rendered  iva 
TrsipaaOrjTs,  '  that  ye  may  be  tried,''  we  may  certainly  con- 
clude that  they  contemplated  these  rn-sipao-fioi  rather  as  the 
gracious  trials  of  God  (cf.  Jam.  i.  2,  3  ;  1  Pet.  i.  7)  than  the 
temptations  of  the  devil  (Job  i.  5  ;  ii.  6;  Luke  xxii.  31). 
Yet  assuredly  this  is  not  so ;  and  Tyndale  and  Cranmer, 
who  translate,  *  to  tempt  you,'  are  to  be  preferred  ;   so 


112         EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CTIURCHES    IN    ASIA.      [il.    10. 

Marckius  :  '  Ut  tentemini ;  non  simplici  probatione  con- 
stantise,  quo  pacto  Deus  tentat  suos,  sed  incitatione  ad 
malum  et  infidelitatem,  quo  pacto  Deus  neminem  tentat.' 
Temptation  from  the  devil,  not  trial  or  proof  from  a 
Heavenly  Father's  hand,  is  that  which,  according  to  this 
warning  word  of  the  Lord,  was  in  store  for  tbem.  It  is 
indeed  perfectly  true  that  the  same  event  is  oftentimes 
both  the  one  and  the  other — God  sifting  and  winnowing  the 
man  to  separate  his  chaff  from  his  wheat,  the  devil  sifting 
and  winnowing  him  in  the  hope  that  nothing  else  but  chaff 
will  be  found  in  him  (Luke  xxii.  31).  It  is  quite  true  also 
that  7T£cpd^£iv  is  used  in  both  senses  ;  sometimes  in  a  sense 
closely  bordering  upon  that  of  Soki/jlcI^siv,  and  then  ascribed 
to  (rod,  who,  as  the  supreme  ZoKifxacnrjs  rcov  /cap&iwv, 
tempts  and  proves  his  servants  to  show  them  what  of  sin, 
of  infirmity,  of  unbelief  is  yet  in  their  hearts  ;  and  showing 
them  this,  to  leave  them  holier  than  before  this  temptation 
He  found  them  (Heb.  xi.  17  ;  cf.  Gen.  xxii.  1  ;  Exod.  xv.  25  ; 
Deut.  xiii.  3).  At  the  same  time  irstpd^siv  is  much  oftener 
used  of  temptation  by  the  devil,  solicitation  on  his  part 
to  evil  (Matt.  iv.  1  ;  1  Cor.  x.  1 3  ;  Gal.  vi.  1  ;  1  Thess. 
iii.  5  ;  Heb.  ii.  18  ;  Jam.  i.  13)  ;  and  the  words  going  im- 
mediately before,  '  Behold  the  devil  will  cast  some  of  you 
into  prison,''  are  decisive  that  the  Lord  is  here  warning 
his  servants,  as  He  did  in  the  days  of  his  personal  ministry 
upon  earth,  against  fierce  assaults  of  their  ghostly  enemy 
which  were  close  at  hand,  that  so  by  watchfulness  and 
prayer  they  might  be  able  to  stand  in  the  evil  day  that 
was  so  near. 

The  temptations  of  imprisonment  He  especially  adduces 
here.  In  the  records  of  the  Church's  early  conflicts  with 
the  heathen,  we  constantly  find  the  prison  doing  its  part ; 
those  who  endured  torture  bravely  being  returned  to  prison, 


II.   10.]  SMYRNA,  REV.  II.  8-1 1.  113 

that  so  it  might  be  seen  whether  hunger  and  thirst,  dark- 
ness and  chains,  would  not  be  effectual  in  breaking  down 
by  little  and  little  the  courage  and  the  steadfastness  which 
had  resisted  manfully  the  first  and  more  violent  onset  of 
the  foe.  Sometimes  it  would  prove  so.  The  Church's 
early  story,  furnishing  in  the  main  a  glorious  commentary 
on  these  words,  furnishes  a  mournful  commentary  as  well 
When  temptations  such  as  the  Lord  here  speaks  of  arrived, 
it  would  be  ever  seen  that  there  were  many  weak  brethren , 
and  some  false  ;  and  the  Church,  rejoicing  over  the 
steadfastness  of  multitudes  among  her  children,  had  yet  to 
mourn  over  the  faltering  infirmity  of  some,  and  the  shame- 
less apostasy  of  others  (Eusebius,  H.  E.  v.  I.  10;  Cyprian, 
Be  Laps,  i,  2). 

*  And  ye  shall  have  tribulation  ten  days.'  For  s^sts 
(*ye  shall  have')  Lachmann  and  others  have  received 
into  the  text  syrjrs  ('  ye  may  have '),  which  word  equally 
with  Trsipao-QrjTS  will  then  depend  on  Xva.  These  Hen 
days,''  during  which  the  tribulation  of  Smyrna  shall  endure, 
have  been  very  variously  interpreted,  some  understanding 
by  them  a  very  long  period  (cf.  Gren.  xxxi.  41  ;  Job  xix.  3  ; 
Num.  xiv.  22);  and  some  a  very  short  (Gren.  xxiv.  55  ; 
Num.  xi.  19).  Those  who  interpret  in  the  former  sense 
have  very  commonly  seen  here  allusion  to  the  ten  perse- 
cutions which  the  Church  is  often  said  to  have  passed 
through,  during  the  three  hundred  years  of  its  conflict 
with  heathen  Eome.  It  has  been  objected  that  this  enu- 
meration of  exactly  ten  persecutions  is  altogether  arbi- 
trary ;  that,  if  we  include  in  our  list  only  those  which  had 
some  right  to  be  called  general,  as  extending  over  the 
whole  Eoman  empire,  the  persecutions  would  not  be  so 
many ;  if  all  those  which  reached  any  single  city  or  pro- 
vince, they  would  be   many  more.      But,    setting   this 

1 


114         EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEYEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.     [il.    10. 

objection  aside,  I  am  persuaded  we  must  look  for  some- 
thing very  different  here  from  an  announcement  of  the 
great  length  of  time  over  which  the  persecution  would 
extend  ;  the  '  ten  days  '  declaring  not  the  length,  but  the 
shortness  of  time  within  which  all  this  tyranny  would  be 
overpast.  I  conclude  this  from  the  fact  that  only  so  will 
the  words  fall  in  with  the  whole  temper  and  spirit  of  this 
verse,  which  is  encouraging  and  consolatory  throughout. 
Here,  as  so  often  elsewhere,  the  briefness  of  the  trial  is 
urged  as  a  motive  for  its  patient  endurance  (cf.  Isai.  xxvi. 
20  ;  liv.  8;  Ps.  xxx.  5  ;  Matt.  xxiv.  22  ;  2  Cor.  iv.  17  ; 
1  Pet.  i.  6;  v.  10). 

*  Be  thou  faithful  unto  death,  and  I  will  give  thee  a 
crown  of  life.'' — More  than  one  of  the  early  Fathers  have 
written  an  Exhortatio  ad  Martyrium,  but  what  are  they 
all,  as  compared  with  this  ?  '  Unto  death '  here  is  an  in- 
tensive, not  an  extensive,  term.  Christ  does  not  mean, 
'  to  thy  life's  end,'  contemplating  life  under  aspects  of 
time  ;  but '  to  the  sharpest  and  worst  which  the  enemy  can 
inflict  upon  thee,  even  to  death  itself.'  Dare  and  endure, 
the  words  would  say,  the  worst  which  evil  men  can  threa- 
ten and  inflict,  even  death  itself  (Matt.  x.  22  ;  xxiv.  13  ; 
Ecclus.  iv.  28).  Marckius  :  '  Quam  exigit  [fidelitatem] 
usque  ad  mortem,  non  tarn  terminum  temporis  notans, 
quanquam  et  ad  metse  nostrse  finem  sit  perseverandum, 
quam  quidem  gradum  mali,  in  quo  fidelitas  nostra  demon- 
stranda  est,  ut  mortem  ipsam  in  causa  fidei  et  pietatis 
subire  non  detractemus.' 

With  the  words  of  the  promise  which  follow,  '  and  I 
will  give  thee  a  crown  of  life,'  compare  2  Esdr.  ii.  42-47, 
which,  however,  it  can  hardly  be  doubted  is  the  interpola- 
tion of  some  later  Christian  hand  (see  Liicke,  Offenb.  d. 
Johan.  p.   155,  2d  edit.).     This  '  crown  of  life,''  always 


II.    10.]  SMYRNA,    REV.    II.    8-1 1.  115 

remaining  in  its  essence  the  same,  is  not  the  less  desig- 
nated by  a  rich  variety  of  images.  Here,  and  with  St. 
James  (i.  12),  it  is  'a  crown  of  life  ;'  with  St.  Paul,  'a 
crown  of  righteousness '  (2  Tim.  iv.  8 ;  cf.  Plutarch, 
Philop.  et  Flam.  3  :  SiKaioavirrjs  kol  ^prjcrTorrjros  crri- 
<pavos),  i  a  crown  of  rejoicing '  {Kav^a-sws,  I  Thess.  ii. 
]  9)  ;  with  St.  Peter,  '  a  crown  of  glory  '  ( 1  Pet.  v.  4  ;  cf. 
Heb.  ii.  9);  with  Isaiah,  'a  crown  of  beauty '  (lii.  3, 
ars<pavos  koXKovs,  LXX.  ;  cf.  StdSrjpia  rou  /cdWovs, 
Wisd.  v.  17)  ;  with  Solomon,  '  a  crown  of  graces  '  {^api- 
rwv,  Prov.  i.  9) ;  with  the  same  '  a  crown  of  rich  abund- 
ance '  (rpvcpfjs)  ;  with  the  Son  of  Sirach,  '  a  crown  of 
exultation '  {dyaWidfiaTos,  Ecclus.  vi.  31);  with  the 
same  '  a  crown  of  wisdom  '  (aocpias,  i.  18);  in  the  M art.  S. 
Polycarpi,  '  a  crown  of  incorrwption '  (dcpdapaia?,  xvii. 
19  ;  cf.  Eusebius,  H.  E.  v.  I  :  /xsyas  rrjs  cupdapaias  <tts- 
(pavos)  ;  for  Ignatius,  '  a  crown  of  conflict '  (dOX-tjascos, 
Mart.  5,  with  probable  reference  to  2  Tim.  ii.  5);  for 
Philostratus,  Vit.  Apoll.  7,  14,  'a  crown  of  virtue  ' 
{dperrjs) ;  for  Clement  of  Alexandria  '  a  crown  of  ama- 
ranth '  (Pcedag.  2)  ;  for  Sophocles  '  a  crown  of  fair  fame  ' 
(svKXstas,  Ajax,4$7).  Whether  Lucian  intended  a  sneer 
at  these  glorious  promises  of  the  Scripture,  when  he  intro- 
duces the  impostor  Peregrinus,  who  had  been  among  the 
Christians,  though  he  died  a  Cynic,  to  declare  his  inten- 
tion of  setting,  by  a  voluntary  death,  a  golden  crown  on  a 
golden  life  (j^pvcrcp  /3/<w  ^pvcrr/v  Kopcovrjv  sTriOsivai,  De 
Mort.  Pereg.  §  33),  may  be  questionable.  That  he  has 
many  such  scoffs  at  the  promises  of  Scripture,  as  at  its 
miracles  and  other  facts,  no  one  who  has  at  all  studied 
the  subject  will  be  disposed  to  deny. 

But  a  question  offers  itself  here,  Is  this  '  crown  '  the 
diadem  of  royalty  (fiaaiXziov,  2  Sam.  i.   10;  2  Chron. 

1  2 


116         EPISTLES    TO    THE   SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.     [il.   10. 

xxiii.   II,  lxx.),  or   the  garland  of  victory,  'Krone'  or 
'  Kranz  '  ?     I  believe  the  former.     It  is  quite  true  that 
crrscpavos   is    seldom    used   in  this   sense,  much  oftener 
SuiBrjfxa  (see  my  Synonyms  of  the  New  Testament,  §  23)  ; 
yet  the  '  golden  crowns  '  (a-rscpavoi)  of  ch.  v.  can  only  be 
royal  crowns  (cf.  ver.  10)  ;  crrefyavos  too  is  the  word  by 
which  all  the  Evangelists  designate  the  crown  of  thorns, 
evidently  a  caricature  of  royalty,  which  was  planted  on 
the  Saviour's  brows.     Did  we  indeed  meet  these  words, 
i  a  crown  of  life,'  in  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  we  should  be 
justified  in  saying  that  in  all  likelihood  the  wreath  or 
garland  of  the  victor  in  the  games,  the  '  crown  '  in  thig 
sense,  was  intended.    St.  Paul  was  familiar  with  the  Greek 
games,  and  freely  drew  his  imagery  from  them  ( 1  Cor.  ix. 
24-27  ;  Phil.  iii.  12  ;   I  Tim.  vi.  12  ;  2  Tim.  ii.  5  ;  iv.  7) ; 
does  not  fear  to  contemplate  the  faithful  under  the  aspect 
of  runners  (dsoBpo/xoi,  as  Ignatius,  ad  Philad.  c.  ii.,  calls 
them)  and  wrestlers  in  the  games.    His  universal  culture, 
his  Hellenic  as  well  as  Jewish  education,  exempted  him 
from  any  scruples  in  the  employment  of  illustrations  like 
these.     In  the  same  manner  he  speaks  on  two  occasions 
of  being  poured  out,  and   poured  out  as  a  libation ;  in 
which  passages  (Phil.  ii.   1752  Tim.  iv.  6)  it  is  difficult 
not  to  think  that  he  had  the  heathen  sacrifices  in  his  eye  ; 
at  the  same  time  this  cannot  be  regarded  as  certain.    Not 
so,  however,  the  Christians  of  Palestine.      Greek  games 
and  Greek  sacrifices  were  strange  to  them,  or  only  not 
strange,  as  they  were  the  objects  of  their  deepest  abhor- 
rence.    This  is  sufficiently  attested  in  the  tumults  and 
troubles  which  accompanied  the  introduction  of  the  games 
by  Herod  the  Great  at  Jerusalem,  recorded  at  length  by 
Josephus  (Antt.  xv.  8.  1-4).     Nor  indeed  was  this  then 
for  the  first  time  seen.    A  similar  attempt  at  an  earlier  day 


II.   10.]  SMYRNA,    REV.  II.    8-1 1.  117 

helped  not  a  little  to  fill  up  the  cup  of  wrath  which  at 
length  ran  over  in  the  rising  of  the  Maccabees,  and  over- 
throw of  the  Greco-Syrian  rule  (i  Mace.  i.  14 ;  2  Mace.  iv. 
12-20).  Tertullian's  point  of  view,  who  styles  them 
(Scorp.  6)  '  contentiosa  solemnia  et  superstitiosa  certamina 
Grascarum  et  religionum  et  voluptatum,'  would  very  much 
have  been  theirs.  And  then,  to  me  at  least,  decisive  on 
this  point  is  the  fact,  that  nowhere  else  in  the  Apocalypse 
is  there  found  a  single  image  drawn  from  the  range  of 
heathen  antiquity.  The  Book  moves  exclusively  in  the 
circle  of  Jewish  imagery — either  sacred  or  cabalistic ;  of 
imagery  derived  mainly  from  the  inmost  recesses  of  the 
temple  service.  The  palms  in  the  hands  of  the  redeemed 
who  stand  before  the  throne  (vii.  9)  may  seem  an  excep- 
tion to  the  universality  of  this  rule ;  but  really  are  far 
from  so  being.  It  is  quite  true  that  the  palm  was  for 
Greek  and  Koman  a  token  of  victory,  but  this  '  palmife- 
rous  company,'  to  use  Henry  More's  words,  these  happy 
palmers,  do  not  stand  before  the  throne  as  conquerors, — 
Tertullian's  exposition, '  albati  etpalmis  victoria?  insignes ' 
(Scorp.  12),  being  at  fault, — but  as  those  who  keep  the 
true  Feast  of  Tabernacles,  the  feast  of  rest,  of  all  the  weary 
toil  in  the  wilderness  accomplished  and  ended.  As  such, 
and  to  mark  them  for  what  they  are,  they  bear,  according 
to  the  injunctions  of  the  Old  Testament,  the  branches  of 
palms  in  their  hands  (Lev.  xxiii.  40  ;  cf.  Neh.  viii.  1 5  ; 
2  Mace.  x.  7;  John  xii.  13  ;  Josephus,  Antt.  xii.  13.  5); 
see  some  beautiful  remarks  on  this  point  by  Hengstenberg 
(in  loc.\  in  part  anticipated  by  Vitringa.  I  must  needs 
then  believe  that  these  are  royal  crowns  (cf.  Ps.  xxi.  3  ; 
exxxii.  18),  not  victorious  garlands,  which  the  great 
Kewarder  is  promising  here.1 


1  The  use  on  two  occasions  of  Ipis  for  the  rainbow  (Rev.  iv.  3  ; 


118         EPISTLES    TO    THE    SETEX    CZUECHES    IX    ASIA.     [n.   II. 

Ver.  ii.  i  He  that  hath  an  ear.  let  him  hear  ichat  the 
"  -  "    '.he  Churches :  He  that  oi-.  shall 

:  urt  of  the  see  leathJ — This  '  second  cL 

setting  forth,  as  it  does,  the  '  vita  non  vitalis,'  the  death 
in  life  of  the  lost,  as  contrasted  with  the  life  in  death  of 
the  saved,  is  a  phrase  peculiar  to  the  Apocalypse  |  cf.  xx. 
6.  14  :  xxi.  S  1 :  but  is  not  uncommon  in  the  later  Jewish 
theology ;  indeed  frequent  in  the  Chaldee  Paraphrase  ; 
Vitringa  :  '  Phrasis  nata  haud  duhie  in  schola  sanctorum 
virorum  qui  fidem  et  spem  Ecclesia?  post  reditum  ex  exilio 
Babylonico  explicarunt."  But  though  the  o:ord  is  not  on 
the  lips  of  the  Lord  during  his  earthly  life,  He  does  not 
shrink  from  proclaiming  the  fearful  th  ing.  The  Bevrspos 
Oararos  of  this  Book  is  the  yeanm  of  Matt.  v.  29;  Mark 
43-48  :  Luke  xii.  5  :  the  /c6\a<ris  aldivios  of  Matt.xxv. 
46  ;  and  from  this  Book  itself  receives  this  awful  inter- 
pretation, namely,  that  it,  the  second  death,  is  the  lake  of 

20.  14).  The  phrase  is  itself  a  solemn  witness  and 
protest  against  the  Sadduceeism  and  Epicureanism,  which 
would  make  death  natural  the  end-all  of  mans  existence. 
As  there  is  a  life  beyond  this  present  life  for  the  faithful, 
so  a  death  beyond  the  death  which  falls  under  our  eye  for 
the  wicked  :  0  Svrms  tPuvaros,  as  it  is  called  in  the  Ej 
to  I)  -.10.      'Vita  damnatorum  mors  est,' is  the 

fearful  gloss  of  Augustine ;  and  ag.v.       -       v.  ccevi.       5 
'  Mors   vocatur,  et  nemo  ibi  moritur  ;    satius  et  melius 
dixerim,  nemo  ibi  vivit.'     And  Philo,  though,  so  far  as 
I  am  aware,  he  does  not   know  this  phrase,  '  tf.  -    - 
'has  a  terrible  commentary  upon  it  <Be  Pro. 

■   '.  2    :   ai'6pct)7roi  fief  yap  Tspas  n/u»ptmi    s '.:  m  iop.i- 
Koveri   6a.va.T0:  '    h     ok    n     ~-  <acrTrjpiu)   pui-fis    =7-.: 

instead  of  the  more  usual  rogor  {Gen.  ix.  13;  Ezefc    .     :. 

a  nearer  to  an  exception  from  the  general  rale 


ii.  ii.~  -     :.:"..  uet.  n.  S-n.  119 

-  i  ap-^rj.     And  going  on  to  ask  wh  il     -  the  pa 
ment  of  the  ungodly,  he  answers,  ^fjv  dm vOpijamwwm 

Km  -,:  —  ::  _.:a  ^azaror  a^ai^aroi'  inro/iewea  a  -;.-.- 
7-77-01-,  with  more  to  the  same  effect  :   ::.  L-  L  33. 

S    mnch  has  been  idly  written  upon  names,  not  a  little 
most  idly  on  the  names  of  \h  Ten  Churches,  and  the 

mystical  meanings  which  they  contain,  that  one  shrinks 
from  any  seeming  fellowship  in  such  slight  and  unprofit- 
able fancies ;  and  yet  it  is  difficult  not  to  remember  here 
that  rmvprm,  the  name  of  this  suffering  Church  which 
should  give  out  its  sweetness  in  persecution  and  in  death, 
is      -ubform  of  p.vppa  1  Lobeck.  J    -  .  :_:    ;  and  that 

myrrh,  an  aromatic  gum  of  Arabia,  served  for  embalming 
the  dead  (John  xi't.  39  :  •::.  Her>i::,:s.  ii.  40,  S6),  went  up 
as  incense  before  the  Lord  (Exod.  xtt.  2  ~-  .  -  ne  of  the 
perfumes  of  the  bridegroom  Pa  -  .  B  .  and  of  the  bride 
(Cant.  iii.  6).  All  this  Vitringa  has  excellently  u:  _ 
•  Myrrha  itaque  nobis  hie  symboHce  flgurat  grav:  :--  Bc- 
clesise  afflictiones,  a  ma  ras  equidem  et  ingratas  carni.  — _- 
-     -::.:.  quod  ad  tempus  pne--:.-.  —  I  ex  quibus  fro 

oh     etc  -       "       ;.     >olet  enim  ea;  Deos  sua  proci- 
dentia Ecclesiae  immittere.  ut  electos  et  elect orum  fidem 
-   a  corr  - .  rt  illos  hoc  etiam  medio  ~ 

"  id  immortalitatem,  et  fragrant  ._?  conciliet 

jiam   virtutum    Christianarum,    quarum    esrr: :::ui_ 
peraeenlaones  '-.  .  -      nleni  -   - 


III. 

EPISTLE  TO  THE   CHUECH  OF  PEEGAMUM. 
Eev.  ii.   12-17. 

Ver.  12.  '  And  to  the  Angel  of  the  Church  in  Pergamos 
write.' — A  word  or  two  may  fitly  find  place  here  on  the 
name  of  this  city,  as  it  appears  in  our  Authorized  Version. 
In  the  first  place,  why  do  our  Translators,  writing  '  Per- 
gamos^ and  not '  Pergamus,'  retain  a  Greek  termination 
for  it,  and  for  it  alone,  among  similar  proper  names  ? 
'  Assos '  (Acts  xx.  13,  14)  is  not  a  parallel  case,  for  the 
Eomans  wrote  '  Assos  '  as  frequently  as  '  Assus  ; '  and 
always  wrote  '  Chios,'  which  therefore  is  quite  correct 
(Acts  xx.  15).  But  if  'Pergamos,'  then,  by  the  same 
rule,  *  Ephesos,'  '  Miletos,'  '  Timotheos,'  and  many  more. 
And  even  against  '  PergamusJ  though  preferable  to  Per- 
gamos f  there  would  still  be  something  to  object.  In- 
stances of  the  feminine,  rj  Ylepyafios  (Ptolemy,  i.  2),  are 
excessively  rare  (see  Lobeck,  Phrynichus,  p.  422)  ;  while 
the  neuter,  to  Uspyafiov  in  Greek,  and  '  Pergamum '  in 
Latin,  occur  innumerable  times  (Xenophon,  Anab.  vii.  8. 
8  ;  Polybius,  iv.  48.  2  ;  Strabo,  xiii.  4 ;  Pliny,  H.  N.  v.  33). 
I  shall  speak  throughout  of  the  city  under  this  its  more 
usual  designation ;  being  that,  therefore,  which  St.  John,  had 
the  word  been  employed  by  him  in  the  nominative,  which, 


II.   13.]  PEKGAMUM,  KEY.    II.    1 2- 1 7.  121 

however,  it  is  not,  would  in  all  likelihood  have  used.  It  was 
another  illustrious  city  of  Asia ;  sir^avr^s  ttoXls  in  the  lan- 
guage of  Strabo  (xiii.  4);  'longe  clarissimum  Asise  Perga- 
mum  '  in  that  of  Pliny  (H.N.  v.  33).  Although  of  high 
antiquity,  its  greatness,  splendour,  and  dignity  did  not  date 
very  far  back.  It  only  attained  these  under  the  AtaSo^ot, 
of  whom  one  made  Pergamum  the  capital  of  his  kingdom — 
the  same  kingdom  which  a  later  of  his  dynasty,  Attalus  III., 
bequeathed  to  the  Eomans  (b.c.  133).  It  was  famous  as 
the  birthplace  of  Galen,  next  to  Hippocrates  the  most 
illustrious  physician  of  the  ancient  world  ;  famous  too  for 
its  splendid  library,  collected  in  rivalry  with  that  of 
Alexandria;  our  'parchment'  (pergamenum)  deriving  its 
name  from  thence  ;  for  magnificent  temples  of  Zeus,  of 
Athene,  and  of  Apollo ;  but  most  of  all  for  the  worship 
of  iEsculapius  (Tacitus,  Annal.  iii.  63  ;  Xenophon,  Anab. 
vii.  8.  23),  the  remains  of  whose  temple  outside  the  walls 
of  the  city  with  not  a  few  other  magnificent  ruins,  may 
still  be  seen.  On  the  architectural  splendours  of  the  city 
which  still  survive  there  is  a  most  interesting  paper  in 
the  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes,  April  1881,  while  a  letter 
in  the  Times,  Dec.  28  of  the  same  year,  is  full  of  informa- 
tion on  several  of  the  ruined  cities  of  Asia  Minor,  this 
included  ;  and  on  all  the  costly  treasures  of  art  which  still 
wait  an  ingathering  there. — '  These  things  saithHe  which 
hath  the  sharp  sword  with  two  edges,''  or,  not  to  make  a 
variation  in  the  English  wherein  the  Greek  there  is  none, 
for  '  the  sharp  sivord  with  two  edges '  read  '  the  sharp  two- 
edged  sivord  ; '  cf.  i.  16. 

Ver.  13.  i  1  knoiv  thy  works,  and  where  thou  divellest, 
even  where  Satan's  seat  is.' — This  may  not  sound,  at  the 
first  hearing,  a  reassuring  word  ;  and  yet  indeed  it  is  emi- 
nently such.    None  of  the  peculiar  difficulties  and  dangers 


122         EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHU11CHES   IN   ASIA.     [il.   1 3. 

which  beset  the  Church  at  Pergamum  are  concealed  from 
Christ.  We  indeed  ask  now,  and  it  is  not  easy  to  answer 
the  question,  Why  should  Pergamum  more  than  any  other 
corrupt  heathen  city  have  been '  Satan's  seat,'  or  '  Satan  s 
throne,'  as  in  the  E.  V.  it  more  accurately  is  rendered ;  for 
as  Opovos  is  constantly  in  this  Book  translated  '  throne  ' 
when  applied  to  the  powers  of  heaven  (iv.  2,  4,  5,  6,  9, 
1  o ;  v.  1 ,  and  often),  it  should  be  so  also  when  applied  to 
the  hellish  caricature  of  the  heavenly  kingdom ;  to  the 
kingdom  which  the  rulers  of  the  darkness  of  this  world 
seek  to  set  up  over  against  the  kingdom  of  light.  The 
question  has  been  variously  answered.  Ewald,  and  many 
before  him,  find  allusion  here  to  the  fane  of  iEsculapius, 
— ©sos  'SwTijp  he  was  called, — where  lying  miracles  of 
healing  were  vaunted  to  be  performed,  Satan  seeking  by 
the  aid  of  these  to  counterwork  the  work  of  the  Gospel. 
His  worship  no  doubt  was  very  prevalent  here  ('  Pergameus 
Deus  '  Martial  calls  him) ;  yet  for  all  this  the  explanation 
is  quite  insufficient.  All  which  we  can  securely  conclude 
from  this  language  is  that  from  one  cause  or  another  Per- 
gamum enjoyed  the  bad  pre-eminence  of  being  the  head- 
quarters in  these  parts  of  resistance  to  Christ  and  his 
Gospel.  Why  it  should  have  thus  deserved  the  name  of 
'  Satan's  throne,'  so  emphatically  repeated  a  second  time 
at  the  end  of  this  verse,  '  tvhere  Satan  dwelleth,'  must 
remain  one  of  the  unsolved  riddles  of  these  Epistles. 
Some  circumstances,  of  which  no  certain  notice  has  reached 
us,  may  have  especially  stirred  up  the  fanaticism  of  the 
heathen  there. 

*  And  thou  holdest  fast  my  name,  and  hast  not  denied 
my  faith,  even  in  those  days  wherein  Antipas  was  my 
faithful  martyr,  who  was  slain  among  you,  where  Satan 
divelleth.' — There  is  a  confused  multitude  of  small  \aria- 


II.   I  3.]  PEEGAMUM,    KEV.    II.    I  2- 1 7.  123 

tions  of  reading  here,  though  none  seriously  affecting  the 
sense.  There  was  probably  an  anacoluthon  in  the  sen- 
tence originally,  which  transcribers  would  not  let  be ;  but 
attempted  by  various  devices  to  palliate  or  remove  (see 
H.  Ewald,  Johan.  Script,  vol.  ii.  p.  67).  It  is  evident 
from  the  testimony  borne  here  to  the  Pergamene  Church, 
that  many  there,  probably  the  Angel  himself,  had  shown 
an  honourable  steadfastness  in  the  faith ;  had  been  con- 
fessors of  it ;  though  possibly  only  one,  Antipas,  had 
resisted,  or  had  been  called  to  resist,  unto  blood.  Eusebius 
(H.  E.  iv.  15)  records  several  martyrs  who  at  a  somewhat 
later  day  were  at  Pergamum  faithful  to  death,  and  received 
a  crown  of  life.  Attalus  also,  it  may  be  mentioned,  who 
played  so  valiant  a  part  in  the  persecutions  of  Lyons  and 
Vienne,  and  won  a  foremost  place  in  that  noble  company 
of  Grallic  martyrs,  was  a  Pergamene  (ib.  v.  I,  14,  38,  47). 
Of  Antipas,  except  from  the  glorious  record  which  the 
Lord  bears  to  him  here,  we  know  absolutely  nothing.  It 
is  difficult  to  understand  the  silence  of  all  ecclesiastical 
history  respecting  so  famous  a  martyr,  one  singled  out  by 
Christ  to  such  honour  as  this ;  for  silent  in  regard  of  him 
ecclesiastical  history  must  be  confessed  to  be ;  that  which 
Tertullian  (Scorp.  12)  and  other  early  writers  tell  us 
about  him,  being  merely  devised  in  fugam  vacui,  and 
drawn  exclusively  from  the  passage  before  us.  They 
manifestly  know  nothing  about  him  except  what  they 
find  here.  Later  Latin  martyrologies,  of  course,  know  a 
great  deal.  According  to  these  he  was  Bishop  of  Perga- 
mum, and  by  command  of  Domitian  was  shut  up,  Perillus- 
like,  in  a  brazen  bull,  afterwards  made  red-hot ;  and  by 
this  painful  passage  entered  into  life.  Hengstenberg  has 
a  curious  explanation  of  this  name,  though  it  is  not  per- 
fectly original ;  he  has  derived  at  least  the  hint  of  it  from 


124         EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.     [il.    1 4. 

Aretius.     Pressing  the  fact  that  almost  all  other  names, 
he  would  say  all,  are  symbolic  in  this  Book,  as  Jezebel, 
Balaam,  Egypt,  Sodom,  Babylon,  Jerusalem,  he  urges  that 
this  must  be  symbolic  too.    But  'Aim7ra?,  what  is  it  but  a 
word  formed  on  the  same  model  as  'Azm'xpio-Tos  ?  and  as 
this  is  made  up  of  avri  and  ^picrros,  so  'AvtIttcis  of  avri 
and  iras,  and  Antipas  is   one  who  for  Christ's  sake  has 
dared  to  stand  out  against  all,  an  avrUocrpLos  :  cf.  Jer.  xx. 
10;  xv.  10,  '  Woe  is  me,  my  mother,  that  thou  hast  borne 
me  a  man  of  strife  and  a  man  of  contention  to  the  tvhole 
earth  ; '  which  must  be  the  character  and  condition  of  an 
eminently  godly  man  set  in  the  midst  of  a  world  which 
lieth  in  the  wicked  one  (Jam.  iv.  4;  Acts  iv.  19;  v.  29). 
A  later  commentator  contemptuously  dismisses  this  with 
the  observation  that  W.vTiTras  is  only  an  abbreviation  of 
'AvTLTrarpos,  as  Ni/cofxas  of  Nt/co/i^'S^s,   M.r]va$  of  Mtjvo- 
Scopos,  and  the  like.     I  am  certainly  not  disposed  to  rate 
this  explanation  higher  than  an  ingenious  fancy,  a  lusus 
of  the  critic's  art,  but  see  little  or  no  force  in  this  argu- 
ment against  it.    Antipas,  once  formed,  enters  into  all  the 
rights  which  its  new  form  confers  upon  it,  irrespective  of 
the    process  by  which  it   may   have  attained  this  form. 
But  it  is  not  worth  while  to  vindicate  from  an  insufficient 
objection   what  will  not  commend  itself  a  whit  the  more, 
even  after  this  objection  is  set  aside. 

Ver.  14.  '  But  I  have  a  few  things  against  thee,  because 
thou  hast  there  therm  that  hold  the  doctrine  of  Balaam,  who 
taught  Balac  to  cast  a  stumbling  block  before  the  children 
of  Israel,  to  eat  things  sacrificed  unto  idols,  and  to  commit 
fornication.' — Those  '  that  hold  the  doctrine  of  Balaam  ' 
must  be  identical  with  the  Nicolaitans  of  ver.  6,  1 5  ;  the 
latter  verse  seems  to  leave  no  doubt  on  the  matter.  The 
mention  of  Balaam  as  the  tempter  and  seducer  would  of 


IT.    I4.]  PERGAMTJM,    REV.    II.    I2-I7.  125 

itself  sufficiently  explain  the  nature  of  the  sins  to  which 
he  tempted  and  seduced  (Num.  xxv.  1-9  ;  xxxi.  15,  16); 
but  the  sins  are  here  expressly  named.  First,  however, 
something  may  be  said  on  the  words  bs  iStSaa/ce  rS  Ba\d/c, 
which  we,  and  I  believe  rightly,  have  rendered,  '  who 
taught  Balac.''  Hengstenberg  indeed,  and  Bengel  before 
him,  on  the  strength  of  this  dative,  a  dativus  commodi  as 
they  regard  it,  joined  with  the  fact  that  BiBdcr/csiv  habitually 
governs  an  accusative  of  the  person  who  is  the  object  of 
the  teaching  (thus  ver.  20  in  this  very  chapter),  argue 
that  we  ought  to  translate  '  who  taught  for  Balac,'  that 
is,  in  the  interests  of  Balac,  to  please  him.  They  allege 
in  support  of  this,  that  there  is  no  hint  in  Scripture  of 
Balaam  having  suggested  to  Balac  to  put  these  temptations 
in  the  way  of  the  children  of  Israel ;  the  parting  of  the  two 
is  recorded  Num.  xxiv.  25,  nor  is  there  any  reason,  they 
urge,  to  suppose  that  they  ever  met  again ;  it  was  to  the 
Moabitish  women  themselves,  to  Balac's  people,  but  not  to 
Balac  himself,  that  Balaam  suggested  the  placing  these 
stumbling  blocks  in  their  way.  Assuredly  this  is  a  mis- 
take. The  construction  proposed  is  much  too  artificial 
for  the  Apocalypse ;  the  dative  after  eSiSaa/csv  is  the 
penetrating  of  a  Hebrew  idiom  through  the  forms  of  the 
Greek  language;  and  there  is  nothing  at  Num.  xxxi.  16 
to  compel  us  to  understand  that  Balaam's  communication 
with  the  daughters  of  Moab  was  immediate,  and  not 
through  the  intervention  of  the  king ;  cf.  Josephus,  Antt. 
iv.  6.  6,  who  takes  this  intervention  for  granted ;  and 
Vitringa,  Obss.  Sac.  iv.  9.  29. 

Two  words  claim  attention  here,  a/cavSaXov  and 
£iBco\6$vtov.  %/cdv8akov,  a  later  form  of  aKav8d\r)0pov 
(Aristophanes,  Acharnen.  686),  and  o-fcavSa\i£siv  (there  is 
no  <Tfcav8a\T]0pi&w,  see  Host  and  Palm,  Lex.),  occur  only 


126         EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.     [il.    14. 

in  the  Septuagint  and  the  New  Testament,  and  in  writings 
immediately  dependant  upon  these  (see  Suicer,  Thes. 
s.  v.) ;  being  almost  always  in  them  employed  in  a  tropi- 
cal sense;  Lev.  xxix.  14  and  Judith  v.  I  are  exceptions. 
^icdvhaXov  is  properly  a  trap  (joined  often  with  irayis, 
Josh,  xxiii.  13  ;  Ps.  cxl.  9;  Eom.  xi.  9),  or  more  precisely 
that  part  of  the  trap  on  which  the  bait  is  laid,  and  the 
touching  of  which  causes  the  trap  to  close  upon  its  prey 
('  mobile  decipulae  tigillum,'  Fritzsche  on  Eom.  xiv.  13)  ; 
then  generally  any  loop  or  noose  set  in  the  path,  which 
should  entangle  the  foot  of  the  unwary  walker,  and  cause 
him  to  stumble  and  fall;  thus  cncdv8a\ov=7rp6crtcofAfia 
(Rom.  xiv.  13)  and  cncav8a\l££iv  =  7rpo(Tfc67rTEiv  (Matt.  iv. 
6  ;  Rom.  ix.  32)  ;  and  next  any  stone,  or  hindrance  of  any 
kind  (Hesychius  explains  it  by  s/j,7ro8i,cr/j.6$\  which  should 
have  the  same  effect  (i  Pet.  ii.  7).  Satan,  then,  as  the 
Tempter,  is  the  great  putter  of  '  scandals,'  '  stumbling 
blocks,'  or  '  offences,'  in  the  path  of  men  ;  his  sworn 
servants,  a  Balaam  or  a  Jeroboam  (1  Kin.  xiv.  16),  are  the 
same  consciously ;  while  all  of  us,  by  careless  walking,  by 
seeking  what  shall  please  ourselves  rather  than  what  shall 
edify  others  (Rom.  xiv.  15-23  ;  I  Cor.  viii.  10),  or  by 
counselling  our  brethren  in  the  same  sense  (Matt.  xvi.  23), 
are  in  danger  of  unconsciously,  but  not  unguiltily,  being 
the  same ;  there  is  none  that  is  not  deeply  concerned  in 
the  warning  of  Matt,  xviii.  7.  All  have  need  to  ask  that 
they  may  be  what  St.  Paul  prayed  that  the  Philippians 
(i.  10)  might  be,  dirpocncoTroL  themselves  (the  airrataroi  of 
Jude  24  rests  on  the  same  image),  and  that  they  may  put 
no  7rp6<TKo/jifia,  no  cncdv8a\ov,  in  the  path  of  others. 

Fi18o)\66vtov  is  a  New  Testament  word  to  express  what 
the  heathen  sacrifices  were,  as  they  presented  themselves 
to  the  eye  of  a  Christian  or  a  Jew,  namely  things  offered, 


II.   I4-]  PERGAMUM,    REV.    II.    1 2-1 7.  127 

not  to  God,  but  to  idols.1  The  Gentiles  themselves  ex- 
pressed the  same  by  IspcOvrov  (which  at  I  Cor.  x.  28  is 
the  better  reading,  St.  Paul  there  assuming  a  Gentile  to 
be  speaking,  and  employing,  if  not  an  honourable,  yet  at 
any  rate  a  neutral,  word),  or  by  dzodvrov,  which  the  Greek 
purists  preferred  (Lobeck,  Phrynichus,  p.  139).  It  will 
be  worth  while  here  to  consider  under  what  plea  any  who 
so  much  as  named  the  name  of  Christ  could  consent  to 
eat  of  these  idol-meats,  and  yet  claim  to  retain  allegiance 
to  that  name.  The  temptation  to  this  was  one  which 
addressed  itself  exclusively  to  the  converts  from  heathen- 
dom. Of  those  who  attached  themselves  to  the  Church  of 
Christ  from  the  stock  of  Abraham,  we  may  be  quite  sure 
that  there  was  not  one  who  was  so  much  tempted  to  this 
sin ;  their  whole  previous  education,  training  them  into  an 
abhorrence  of  such  defilement,  was  for  them  a  sufficient 
safeguard  against  it  (Num.  xxv.  2  ;  Ps.  cvi.  28  ;  Dan.  i.  8 ; 
Tob.  i.  10,  11).  It  was  otherwise  with  the  proselytes 
from  the  heathen  world ;  with  the  Gentile  Christians 
gathered  in,  it  might  be,  to  the  Church  of  Christ  out  of 
some  corrupt  and  luxurious  Greek  city,  as  Corinth  for 
example.  Eefusal  to  partake  in  the  idol-meats  was  for 
one  of  these  refusal  to  partake  not  merely  in  the  idolatry 
which  he  had  renounced,  but  in  very  much  else  which  he 
was  not  at  all  so  entirely  prepared  to  forego.  It  involved 
abstinence  from  almost  every  public  and  every  private 
festivity,  a  withdrawal  in  great  part  from  the  whole  social 


1  It  is  a  notable  example  of  the  extreme  inconsistency  of  our 
Authorized  Version  in  rendering  the  same  'word  in  different  places, 
that  tl8cciXo8vTa  is  rendered  in  four  different  ways :  it  is  '  meats  offered 
to  idols  '  (Acts  xv.  29)  ;  it  is  '  things  offered  to  idols  '  (Acts  xxi.  25) ; 
it  is  '  things  that  are  offered  in  sacrifice  unto  idols '  (1  Cor.  viii.  4)  ;  it 
is  '  things  sacrificed  unto  idols'  (Eev.  ii.  14). 


128         EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHUECHES    IN    ASIA.     [il.   14. 

life  of  his  time ;  for  sacrifice  had  in  one  way  or  other 
bound  itself  up  in  almost  every  act  of  this  social  life.  We 
have  a  singular  evidence  of  this  in  the  fact  that  '  to  kill ' 
and  '  to  sacrifice  '  had  in  Greek  almost  become  identical ; 
dvsiv,  which  had  originally  meant  the  latter,  meaning  the 
former  now.  The  poor  man,  offering  a  slain  beast,  after 
the  priest  and  the  altar  had  received  their  shares,  would 
sell  the  remainder  in  the  market ;  the  rich  would  give  this 
which  remained  over  away.  From  one  cause  or  another 
there  was  a  certainty  at  many  entertainments  of  meeting 
these  sacrificial  meats,  there  was  a  possibility  of  meeting 
them  at  all.  The  question  therefore  was  one  which,  like 
that  of  caste  at  the  present  day  in  India,  would  continually 
obtrude  itself,  which  could  not  be  set  aside  and  its  pre- 
sence ignored.1 

Already  we  find  at  the  Council  of  Jerusalem  the  Apo- 
stles resolving  that  among  the  few  '  necessary  things '  (Acts 
xv.  28)  which  must  be  imperatively  required  of  the  Gen- 
tile converts,  abstinence  from  '  the  pollutions  of  idols  ' 
(ver.  20),  or,  as  in  the  more  formal  decree  it  is  expressed, 
1  meats  offered  to  idols '  (ver.  29),  was  one.  Some  two 
years  later  various  cases  of  conscience  have  occurred  ex- 
actly in  that  Church  where  beforehand  we  might  have 
looked  for  them,  namely  at  Corinth,  and  St.  Paul  has 
been  called  upon  to  give  his  judgment  about  them.  Some 
it  would  seem  there,  who  boasted  of  their  yvaxris,  affirmed 
that  they  saw  through  the  whole  heathen  idolatry,  saw 
that  it  was  a  fraud  and  a  lie  ;  to  them  an  idol  was  nothing ; 
what  fear  then  that  they  should  become  partakers  with  the 
idol  through  partaking  of  the  idol-meats  ?  and  these,  in 


1  See  an  excellent  Essay  on  this  subject  in  Dean  Stanley's  Com- 
mentary on  the  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  with  this  title,  The 
Sacrificial  Feasts  of  the  Heathen,  vol.  i.  pp.  149-152. 


II.    1 4.]  PERGAMUM,    EEV.    II.    1 2-1 7.  129 

an  exaggerated  assertion  of  their  liberty,  sat  openly  at 
meat  in  the  very  idol-temple  itself  (1  Cor.  viii.  10).     So 
too  at  a  somewhat  later  date,  in  Justin  Martyr's  Dialogue 
with  Trypho,  the  Jew  Trypho  makes  it  a  charge  against 
the  Christians  that  many  of  them  partook  of  idol-sacrifices, 
affirming  that  they  were  in  no  way  injured  by  them  (c. 
35);  to  whom   the  Christian  Father  replies   that  these 
Marcionites,  Valentinians,  and  the  rest,  might  usurp  the 
name  of  Christian,  but  that  the  Catholic  Church  repu- 
diated them  utterly,  in  no  way  acknowledged  them  as  her 
children.    From  Irenseus  (i.  6.  3)  we  learn  that  they  not 
merely  thus  ate  of  the  idol-meats,  boasting  that  they  were 
in  nothing  defiled  by  them,  but  took  a  foremost  share  in 
the  celebration  of  the  heathen  festivals.     Others,  in  an 
opposite  extreme  and  excess  of  scrupulosity,  were  greatly 
troubled   lest   the  meat  they   innocently  bought   in  the 
market,  or  partook  of  at  the  house  of  a  heathen  friend, 
might  have  been  offered  in  sacrifice,  and  so  they  unwit- 
tingly defiled  (i  Cor.  x.  25,  27).    All  will  no  doubt  re- 
member the  wonderful  wisdom  and  love  wherewith  St. 
Paul  treats  these  various  cases,  strengthening  and  guiding 
the  weak,  rebuking  and  restraining  the  strong  or  those 
that  thought  themselves  strong.     Some,  however,  of  these 
latter  continued  to  allow  themselves  in  these  dangerous 
liberties,    degenerating  only   too    easily  into    scandalous 
excesses  ;  although,  after  such  decisions,  first  of  the  Council 
at  Jerusalem,  and  afterwards  of  St.  Paul,  not  any  longer 
within  the  bosom  of  the  Church,  but  without  it ;  and  one 
may   see  in  the  Nicolaitans  the  legitimate   spiritual  de- 
scendants of  those  Gnostics  (Gnostics  at  least  in  the  bud), 
who  were  not  brought  back  to  humbler,  more  loving,  more 
self-denying  courses  by  the  earnest  remonstrances  of  the 
Apostle. — In  the  same  way  as  we  have  at  Acts  xv.  20,  the 

K 


130         EPISTLES    TO    THE   SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.     [il.   1 6. 

prohibition  of  fornication,  joined  with  that  of  eating 
things  offered  to  idols,  so  here  the  two  sins  are  linked 
together.  The  impure  character  of  the  heathen  festivals 
caused  that  the  two  constantly  went  hand  in  hand  (Euse- 
bius,  H.  E.  iv.  7.  10). 

Ver.  15.  '  So  hast  thou  also  them  that  hold  the  doctrine 
of  the  Nicolaitans.'  The  concluding  words  of  this  verse, 
'  which  thing  I  hate,'  have  no  right  to  a  place  in  the  text, 
having  been  transferred  from  ver.  6  of  this  same  chapter. 
As  Balac  had  Balaam,  a  false  prophet  and  seducer,  so 
had  the  Angel  of  Pergamum  some  that  held  the  doctrine 
of  the  Nicolaitans  ;  and  whom  he  notwithstanding  en- 
dured. In  this  matter  the  Angel  of  Ephesus  had  more 
of  the  mind  of  Christ  than  he  had  (ver.  6) ;  wanting  as 
he  did  that  earnest  hatred  of  evil,  which  should  have  made 
such  a  presence  and  such  a  teaching  intolerable  to  him  ; 
while  of  that  other  Ephesian  Angel  it  could  be  said,  that 
what  Christ  hated,  he  hated  too. 

Ver.  1 6.  '  Repent ; '  or  '  Repent  therefore, — or  else  I  will 
come  unto  thee  quickly,  and  will  fight  against  them  with 
the  sivord  of  my  mouths — Out  of  this  feebleness  of  moral 
indignation  against  evil  it  had  come  to  pass  that  this  Angel 
had  not  testified  with  sufficient  energy  against  the  Nico 
laitans  and  their  doctrine ;  he  could  not  say  with  Paul,  '  I 
am  pure  from  the  blood  of  all  men '  (Acts  xx.  26).  But 
now  repenting  and  faithfully  witnessing  against  their 
errors,  he  would  either  recover  them  for  the  truth,  or  else 
drive  them  wholly  from  the  communion  of  the  Church, — 
in  either  case  a  gain.  But  this  if  he  fail  to  do,  the  Lord 
will  come  quickly,  and  fight  against  them  with  the  sword 
of  his  mouth.  We  have,  I  am  persuaded,  another  allusion 
here  to  the  history  of  Balaam,  namely  to  Num.  xxxi.  8  (cf. 
Josh.  xiii.  22) :  '  Balaam  also,  the  son  of  Beor,  they  slew 


II.   1 7.]  PEEGAMUM,    KEY.    II.    I  2- 1 7.  131 

with  the  sword  ; '  this  sword  of  the  children  of  Israel 
being  indeed  the  sword  of  God ;  cf.  Num.  xxii.  3 1 .  Vi- 
tringa :  '  Verba  haec  manifeste  respiciunt  historiam  Bi- 
leami :  in  qua  habemus,  primo  quidem,  Angelum  Domini 
stricto  ense  se  Bileamo,  populo  Dei  maledicere  medi- 
tanti,  in  via  opposuisse,  et,  si  instituto  perseveraret, 
exitium  illi  minatum  esse ;  deinde  Bileamum,  et  Israel- 
ites qui  consilium  illius  secuti  fuerant,  jussu  Dei  gladio 
periisse.* 

In  that,  *  I  will  fight  against  them,'  it  might  seem  at 
first  sight  as  if  there  was  only  a  threat  for  these  ungodly 
workers ;  and  not  for  the  Angel  who  had  been  faithful  in 
the  main,  nor  for  the  better  portion  of  the  Church.  But 
this  is  not  so.  When  God  has  a  controversy  with  a  Church 
or  with  a  people,  the  tribulation  reaches  all,  however  the 
judgment  may  be  only  for  his  foes.  The  gold  and  the 
dross  are  cast  alike  into  the  furnace,  the  dross  to  be 
consumed  in  it,  the  gold  to  come  out  from  it  purer  than 
before.  The  holy  prophet  is  entangled  outwardly  in  the 
same  doom  with  the  ungodly  king  ( Jer.  xxxix.  4 ;  xliii.  6  ; 
cf.  Matt.  xxiv.  20,  21).  There  may  be,  there  assuredly 
will  be,  on  the  part  of  the  faithful,  a  separation  from  the 
sin — there  is  seldom  an  exemption  from  the  suffering  -  of 
such  a  time.  This  suffering  finds  out  all.  It  is  well 
that  it  should  be  so  ;  that  there  should  be  nothing  in  the 
usual  course  of  God's  judgments  to  flatter  in  any  the  self- 
ish hope  of  avoiding  a  share  in  the  woe.  Enough  for  any 
to  escape  the  woe  within  the  woe,  namely,  the  sense  of 
this  suffering  as  the  utterance  of  the  just  wrath  of  God. 

Ver.  1 7.  '  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  hidden  manna.' — Omit  the  words 
'  to  eat.' — Doubtless  allusion  is  here  to  the  manna  which 

X  2 


5  32         EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.     [il.   \J. 

at  God's  express  command   Moses  caused  to  be  laid  up 
before    the    Lord  in  the  Sanctuary   (Exod.    xvi.   32-34; 
cf.  Heb.  ix.  4).     This  manna,  as  being  thus  laid  up  in  the 
Holy  Place,  obtained  the  name  of '  hidden,' — '  occultatum  ' 
or'  reconditum,'   as   Cocceius  presses  that  it   should  be 
rendered,  not  '  occultum ; '  for  it  is  not  /cpvirrov  in  the 
original,  but  /csfcpv/A/xevov  ;  not  therefore  '  latens  manna  ' 
as  in  Tertullian  (Scorp.  12),  but  '  absconditum'  as  in  the 
Vulgate.     It  is  true  that  many  commentators,  as  Heng- 
stenberg,  omit  any  reference  to  this,  and  some  expressly 
deny  that  any  such  reference  exists ;  but  Vitringa  rightly  : 
'  Ducit  autem  phrasis  nos  manifeste  ad  cogitandum   de 
manna  illo,  quod  ex  jussu  Dei  in  urna  reponendum  erat  in 
sacratissimo  Tabernaculi  conclavi,  per  divinam  providen- 
tiam  ab  omni  corruptione   praeservandum  ;  quod    manna 
vere  symbolum  fuit  Christi  virtute  obedientiae  suae  in  cae- 
lum translati,  et    ibi    delitescentis,  usque    quo  Ecclesia 
ipsius  luctam  suam  in  his  terris  absolverit.'  The  question, 
what  we  shall  exactly  understand  by  this  '  hidden  manna,' 
and  the  eating  of  it,  has  not  always  been  answered  with 
precision.     Origen  characteristically  understands  by  it  the 
inner  mystical  sense  of  Scripture  as  distinguished  from 
the  outward  form  and  letter  (Horn.  9  in  Exod?) :  '  Urna 
mannas  reposita,  intellectus  Verbi  Dei  subtilis  et  dulcis.' 
For  the  Mystics  it  is  in  general  that  grace  and  goodness  of 
God  which  can  only  be  known  by  those  who  have  themselves 
actually  tasted  it ;  thus  one  of  these  :  '  Hujus  spiritualis 
et  occulti  mannae  sapor  latet  in  occulto,  nisi  gustando  sen- 
tiatur.'     I  take  it,  however,  that  this   '  hidden  manna ' 
represents  a  more  central  benefit  even  than  these  ;  more- 
over, like  all  the  other  promises  of  these  Epistles,  it  repre- 
sents a  benefit  pertaining  to  the  future  kingdom  of  glory, 
and  not  to  the  present  kingdom  of  grace.     I  would  not 


II.   1 7. J  PERGAMUM,    EEV.    II.     I  2- 1 7.  133 

indeed  affirm  that  this  promise  has  not  prelibations  which 
will  be  tasted  in  the  present  time  ;  for  the  life  eternal 
commences  on  this  side  of  the  grave,  and  not  first  on  the 
other ;  and  here  in  the  wilderness  Christ  is  the  bread 
from,  heaven,  the  bread  of  God,  the  true  manna,  of  which 
those  that  eat  shall  never  die  (John  vi.  31-33,  48-51). 
Nay,  more  than  this ;  since  his  Ascension  He  is  in  some 
sort  a  '  hidden  manna '  for  them  now.  Like  that  manna 
laid  up  in  the  Sanctuary  before  the  Testimony,  He  too, 
withdrawn  from  sight,  but  in  a  human  body,  and  bearing 
our  flesh,  is  yet  exempted  from  the  law  of  corruption 
under  which  all  other  children  of  men  have  lain  (Exod. 
xvi.  20,  33,  34;  Acts  ii.  27,  31).  But  this  promise  of  the 
gift  of  '  the  hidden  manna '  is  misunderstood,  or  at  any 
rate  is  scanted  of  its  full  meaning,  unless  we  look  on  to 
something  more  and  higher  than  this.  The  words  imply 
that,  however  hidden  now,  it  shall  not  remain  hidden  ever- 
more ;  and  the  best  commentary  on  them  is  to  be  found 
at  1  Cor.  ii.  9  ;  I  John  iii.  2.  The  seeing  of  Christ  as  He 
is,  of  the  latter  passage,  and  through  this  beatific  vision  the 
being  made  like  to  Him,  is  identical  with  this  eating  of 
the  hidden  manna ;  which  shall,  as  it  were,  be  then  brought 
forth  from  the  sanctuary,  the  Holy  of  Holies  of  God's  im- 
mediate presence,  where  it  was  withdrawn  from  sight  so 
long,  that  all  may  partake  of  it ;  the  glory  of  Christ,  now 
shrouded  and  concealed,  being  then  revealed  at  once  to 
his  people  and  in  them  (Col.  iii.  4).  Alcuin :  '  Apte  ergo 
ilia  satietas  cselestis  glorias  manna  [absconditum  ?]  voca- 
tur,  quia  juxta  Pauli  vocem  nee  oculus  vidit,  nee  in  cor 
hominis  ascendit,  quae  prseparavit  Deus  diligentibus  se.' 
Richard  of  St.  Victor  quotes  in  illustration  Ps.  xxx.  20 : 
'  Quam  magna  multitudo  dulcedinis  fuse,  Domine,  quam 
abscondisti  timentibus  te.' 


134         EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.     [il.   \J, 

There  has  been,  and  there  will  be  again,  occasion  to 
observe,  that  in  almost  all  these  promises  there  is  a  pecu- 
liar adaptation  of  the  promise  to  the  self-denial  by  which 
it  will  have  been  won.  Witsius  notes  this  here,  and  draws 
out  very  beautifully  the  inner  sweetness  of  this  promise 
(Miscell.  Sac.  vol.  i.  p.  692):  'Eas  [profanas  epulas]  si 
quis  generosa  hdei  constantia,  una  cum  omnibus  blandien- 
tis  seculi  deliciis  atque  illiciis  fortiter  spreverit,  sciat  se 
satiatum  iri  suavissimis  divinae  tarn  gratia?  quam  glorias 
epulis,  quarum  suavitatem  nemo  rite  aestimare  novit,  nisi 
qui  gustavit.  Propterea  autem  mannce  absconditce  compa- 
rantur,  id  est,  illi  qua?  in  urna,  aurea,  in  abdito  loco  asser- 
vanda,  coram  facie  Jehovse  seposita  fuit,  I.  Quia  quod 
pisecipuum  est  in  ilia  dulcedinis  Christi  participatione 
reservatur  cum  Christo  in  caelis  (Col.  iii.  3  ;  2  Tim.  i.  12). 
II.  Quia  mundanorum  hominum  nemo  dulcedinem  hujus 
novit  (Joh.  xiv.  17)  ;  immone  ipsi  fideles  quidem  antequam 
experiantur  (1  Joh.  iii.  2).  III.  Quia  communioista  non 
in  diem  est,  uti  manna  quotidiana,  sed  perpetua,  uti  ilia 
quae  seposita  coram  Domino  a  putrefactione  et  vermibus 
immunis  erat  (Joh.  vi.  27),  et  propterea  profanis  Perga- 
mensium  epulis  immensum  anteferenda.' 

'  And  ivill  give  him  a  white  stone,  and  in  the  stone  a 
new  name  written,  which  no  man  knoiveth  saving  he  that 
receiveth  it.' — '  White  '  is  everywhere  the  colour  and  livery 
of  heaven  ;  and  nowhere  with  a  greater  or  so  great  an 
emphasis,  or  with  so  frequent  iteration,  as  in  this  Book. 
Thus  of  the  Son  of  God  we  are  told,  '  His  head  and  his 
hairs  were  white  like  wool,  as w hite as  snow'  (i.  14).  Then 
besides  this  '  white  stone  '  we  have  '  white  raiment '  (iii.  5), 
'  white  robes'  (vii.  9),  '  a  white  cloud'  (xiv.  14), '  fine  linen 
clean  and  white '  (xix.  8,  14),  ' white  horses'  (xix.  11,  14), 


II.   I7-]  PERGAMUM,    EEV.    II.    1 2-1 7.  135 

i  a  great  white  throne'  (xx.  n).  With  these  passages 
compare  Dan.  vii.  9  ;  Matt.  xvii.  2  ;  xxviii.  3  ;  Mark  ix.  3  ; 
xvi.  5;  John  xx.  12;  Acts  i.  10.  The  sense  of  the 
fitness  of  white  to  serve  as  a  symbol  of  absolute  purity 
speaks  out  in  many  ways  ;  it  would  do  so  singularly  in  the 
Latin  '  castus,'  if  Doderlein's  suggestion  (Led.  Syn.  vol.  iii. 
p.  196)  that  '  castus '  is  a  participle  of  '  candeo  '  could  be 
admitted.  It  may  be  well  to  observe  that  '  white  '  as  this 
colour  of  heaven,  is  not  the  mere  absence  of  other  colour, 
not  the  dull  '  albus,'  but  the  bright  '  candidus ; '  glistering 
white — as  is  evident  from  many  passages  ;  for  instance, 
from  a  comparison  of  Matt,  xxviii.  3  and  Luke  xxiv.  4 
with  John  xx.  12  ;  of  Eev.  xx.  1 1  (\svkos  Opovos)  with  its 
original,  Dan.  vii.  9  (dpovos  avrov  <p\bg  irvpos) ;  and  from 
those  passages  just  now  referred  to,  which  relate  to  the 
Transfiguration.  It  is  the  character  of  intense  white  to 
be  shining  ;  thus  'niteo  '  (=  'niviteo  ')  is  connected  with 
*  nix ; '  Xsvkos  with  *  lux  '  (see  Donaldson,  New  Cratylus, 
§  269  ;  Pott,  Etym.  Forsch.  vol.  iii.  p.  247)  ;  Xsvkos  and 
Xajiirpos  are  used  as  convertible  terms,  Kev.  xix.  8,  14; 
while  at  Acts  x.  30,  Xev/cj)  and  \a/u,Trpa  are  different  read- 
ings; and  at  Cant.  v.  II,  the  Septuagint  has  Xsvkos  and 
Symmachus  Xafiirpos. 

And  as  '  white,'  so  also  '  new '  belongs  eminently  to 
this  Book;  being  one  of  the  key-words  of  it;  He  who 
is  the  giver  of  this  revelation  everywhere  setting  forth 
Himself  as  the  only  renewer  of  all  which  sin  had  made 
old ;  the  author  of  a  new  creation  even  in  the  midst  of  a 
decaying  and  dying  world  ;  and  thus  we  ha&ve  besides  the 
'new  name'  here  (cf.  iii.  12),  the  '  new  Jerusalem  '  (iii. 
12),  the  inew song  '  (v.  9),  the  'new  heaven  and  the  new 
earth '  (xxi.  1),  and  finally  '  all  things  new  '  (xxi.  5) ;  with 


136         EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.     [il.   \J . 

all  which  we  may  profitably  compare  Ps.  xxxiii.  3  ;  cxliv.  9  ; 
Isai.  xlii.  10;  lxii.  2;  lxv.  17;  Jer.  xxxi.  31  ;  Ezek.  xi. 
1 9 ;  xxxvi.  26. 

But  though  it  is  not  difficult  to  fix  the  symbolic  signi- 
ficance of  '  white '  and  '  new  '  in  this  Book,  it  must  be 
freely  admitted  that  we  still  wait  an  entirely  satisfactory 
explanation  of  this  '  ivhite  stone '  with  the  '  neiv  name ' 
written  in  it.  The  greater  number  of  expositors,  especially 
the  older  ones,  start  from  an  assumption  to  which  no  ob- 
jection can  be  made,  namely,  that  there  was  in  ancient 
times  something  festal,  fortunate,  of  good  omen,  in  white 
pebbles  or  beans.  Thus  the  Greek  phrase  \svkt)  rj/xspa, 
or  \evfcbv  rj/xap  (iEschylus,  Pers.  305),  is  commonly 
derived  from  a  custom  ascribed  to  the  Scythians  or  Thra- 
cians,  of  indicating  each  happy  day  which  they  spent  with 
a  white  stone  placed  in  an  urn,  each  unhappy  with  a  black. 
After  death,  as  those  or  these  exceeded  in  number,  their 
lives  were  counted  happy  or  miserable  (Pliny,  H.  N.  vii. 
41  ;  the  Younger  Pliny,  Ejp.  vi.  1 1  ;  Martial,  ix.  53  :  '  Dies 
nobis  Signandi  melioribus  lapillis,'  xii.  34).  Or  there  is 
another  explanation  of  the  '  white  day,'  connecting  it  still 
with  the  white  stone  or  bean,  I  mean  that  given  by  Plu- 
tarch in  his  Life  of  Pericles,  c.  64.  At  the  siege  of  Samos, 
fearing  that  his  soldiers  would  be  weary  with  its  length  (I 
quote  North's  translation), '  he  divided  his  army  into  eight 
companies,  whom  he  made  to  draw  lots,  and  that  company 
which  lighted  upon  the  white  bean,  they  should  be  quiet 
and  make  good  cheer,  while  the  other  seven  fought.  And 
they  say  that  from  thence  it  came  that  when  any  have 
made  good  cheer,  and  taken  pleasure  abroad,  they  do  yet 
call  it  a  white  day,  because  of  the  white  bean.' 

But  how,  it  may  be  asked,  is  all  this  brought  to  bear 
on  the  promise  of  the  '  ivhite  stone '  to  the  faithful  here  ? 


II.   iy.~]  PERGAMUM,    REV.    II.    \2-\J .  137 

The  earliest  attempt  to  find  help  in  this  quarter  is  that 
of  the  Greek  commentator  Andreas.  He  sees  allusion  in 
these  words  to  the  white  pebble,  by  placing  which  in  the 
ballot-box  the  Greek  judges  pronounced  the  sentence  of 
acquittal  {^rr\^>oi  aco^ovaac  they  were  therefore  called),  as 
by  the  black  of  condemnation  ;  a  custom  expressed  in  the 
well-known  lines  of  Ovid  (Metam.  xv.  41,  42)  : — 

'  Mos  erat  antiquus,  niveis  atrisque  lapillis, 
His  damnare  veos,  illis  absolvere  culpse.' 

But,  not  to  speak  of  a  grave  fault,  of  which  I  shall 
presently  speak,  common  to  this  and  almost  every  other 
explanation  of  these  words  which  is  offered,  this  one  is 
manifestly  inadequate  ;  the  absolving  pebble  was  not  given 
to  the  acquitted,  as  this  is  to  the  victor,  nor  do  we  hear  of 
any  name  written  upon  it. 

Others  see  allusion  to  the  tessera  (it  too  was  called 
■tyfj(f)os),  which  the  conquerors  at  the  Olympic  or  other 
solemn  games  (the  oXv/jlttiovI/ccii,  ispovlicai)  received  from 
the  master  of  the  games  ;  which  -i^^os-  gave  ever  after  to 
him  who  received  it  certain  honorary  distinctions  and  privi- 
leges, as  for  example,  the  right  of  free  access  to  the  public 
entertainments.  So  Arethas,  Gerhard  (Loci  Theoll.  vol.  ii. 
p.  327),  and  others ;  while  Vitringa  is  obliged  to  confess 
that  he  can  only  explain  the  symbol  by  combining  to- 
gether these  two  customs  of  the  absolving  pebble,  and 
the  tessera  given  to  the  victor  in  the  games ;  which  two 
in  the  higher  interpretation  must  be  blended  into  one : 
■  Ut  tamen  verum  fatear,  probabile  videri  possit  Dominum 
orationem  suam  hoc  loco  ita  temperasse,utnon  ad  simplicem 
aliquem  ritum,  apud  Graecos  receptum,  hie  loci  alluserit,  sed 
phrasin  suam  mutuatus  sit  a  duobus  illis  ritibus  supra  com- 
memoratis,  inter  se  compositis,  qui  licet  diversi  fuerint  gen- 
eris, in  tertio  tamen,  quod  dicitur,  inter  se  conveniebant.' 


138         EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.     [il.   I  J. 

But  all  these  explanations,  and  others  which  it  would 
be  tedious  to  enumerate,  even  if  they  were  more  satisfac- 
tory, and  they  appear  to  me  most  unsatisfactory,  are  af- 
fected with  the  same  fatal  weakness,  namely,  that  they  are 
borrowed  from  heathen  antiquity,  while  this  Book  moves 
exclusively  within  the  circle  of  sacred,  that  is,  of  Jewish, 
imagery  and  symbols  ;  nor  is  the  explanation  of  its  sym- 
bols in  any  case  to  be  sought  beyond  this  circle.  All  which 
on  this  matter  was  said  in  respect  of  the  '  croivn  of  life ' 
(ii.  10)  finds  its  application  here.  It  is  true  that  Heng- 
stenberg,  whose  interpretation  I  have  not  yet  mentioned, 
avoids  this  mistake,  but  only  by,  in  fact,  denying  that  the 
*  white  stone  '  means  anything  at  all.  It  has  for  him  no 
significance  or  independent  value  of  its  own,  being  intro- 
duced merely  for  the  sake  of  the  '  new  name '  which  is 
written  upon  it,  and  that  it  may  serve  as  a  vehicle  for  this 
name,  being  as  such  entirely  subordinate  to  it.  Few,  I  am 
persuaded,  reading  the  words  of  the  promise,  with  the  emT 
phasis  which  the  Lord  lays  on  the  twice-repeated  mention 
of  the  stone,  and  noting  the  independent  place  which  it 
occupies  as  itself  a  gift,  whatever  other  gifts  might  be 
associated  with  it,  will  be  content  to  acquiesce  in  this,  or 
to  regard  as  a  solution  what  is  in  fact  merely  an  evasion, 
of  the  difficulty  which  the  words  present. 

But  to  return.  The  first  necessary  condition  of  any  in- 
terpretation which  should  be  accepted  as  satisfactory  being 
this,  that  it  should  be  sacred  and  not  heathen,  at  the  same 
time  this  is  not  the  only  one.  There  appear  to  me  two 
other  necessary  conditions,  the  non-fulfilment  of  which  is 
fatal  to  any  exposition ;  the  fulfilment  of  them,  on  the 
contrary,  not  being  itself  proof  that  the  right  interpreta- 
tion has  been  seized ;  but  only  a  conditio  sine  qua,  non, 
and  up  to  a  certain  point  implying  a  probability  that  this 


II.   17.]  PERGAMDM,    REV.    II.    1 2- 1 7.  139 

has  been  attained.  Besides  thus  being  Hebrew  or  sacred, 
and  not  heathen  or  profane,  which  I  believe  is  the  universal 
law  of  all  Apocalyptic  symbolism,  the  solution  must  in  this 
particular  instance  refer  to  the  wilderness  period  of  Jewish 
history,  in  the  same  way  as  the  '  hidden  manna  '  does.  I 
must  ask  the  reader  to  suspend  his  demand  for  a  proof  of 
this  assertion  till  we  have  reached  the  very  last  of  the  pro- 
mises, when  the  course,  order,  and  succession  of  them  all 
will  be  considered.  And,  in  the  second  place,  it  must  be 
capable  of  being  brought  into  some  unity  with  that  other 
promise,  '  To  him  that  overcometh  will  I  give  to  eat  of 
the  hidden  manna ; '  there  must  be  some  bond  of  con- 
nexion between  the  two.  I  conclude  this  not  merely 
from  the  natural  fitness  of  things,  but  from  the  analogy  of 
all  the  other  promises  made  to  the  other  Churches.  In 
every  other  case  the  promise  is  either  absolutely  single, 
as  at  ii.  7,  1 1  ;  iii.  2 1  ;  or  single  in  its  central  idea,  as  at 
ii.  26-28  ;  iii.  5,  12,  which  I  shall  have  the  opportunity 
of  showing.  This  being  so,  it  is  very  improbable  that  the 
present  should  be  an  exception  to  the  rule,  and  that  here 
two  entirely  disparate  promises  should  be  arbitrarily 
linked  together. 

The  only  solution  I  know  which  fulfils  all  these  con- 
ditions, is  one  proposed  by  Zullig  (Offenb.  Johannis,  vol.  i. 
pp.  408-454).  It  has  found  no  favour  or  acceptance 
whatever,  having  been  indeed  by  him  encumbered  with  so 
many  absurdities  that  this  could  scarcely  have  been  other- 
wise. Fully  acknowledging  my  obligations  to  him  for  the 
original  suggestion  of  it,  and  for  some  of  the  arguments 
by  which  it  is  supported,  I  must  yet  claim  to  set  it  forth 
independently  of  him,  nor  is  he  in  any  way  responsible 
for  my  statement  of  it. 

Starting   then   from   a   reconsideration   of  the  word 


140         EPISTLES   TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.     [il.   \J. 

yjrrjcfios,  this,  it  may  be  observed,  is  sometimes  used  in  the 
later  Greek  for  a  precious  stone ;  thus  -^rrjcfjos  Sa/crvXi/ci], 
the  gem  in  a  seal-ring  worn  on  the  finger.  Neither  is 
there  in  the  epithet  \svkos  (not  '  albus,'  but  '  candidus  ') 
anything  which  renders  this  unlikely  here,  but  rather  the 
contrary  ;  a  diamond,  for  instance,  being  of  the  purest 
glistering  white.  The  yfrrj(f)os  \svktj  then  may  be,  not 
what  we  commonly  begin  with  taking  for  granted  it  must 
be,  a  white  pebble,  but  a  precious  stone,  shining  white,  a 
diamond.  But  may  not  the  mysterious  Urim  and  Thum- 
mim  have  been  exactly  this  ?  First,  let  me  observe,  by 
way  of  preoccupying  a  difficulty  on  the  threshold,  that 
whatever  this  may  have  been,  it  was  not  two  things,  but  two 
names  for  one  and  the  same  thing  (see  Bahr,  Symbolik  d. 
Mos.  Cult.  vol.  ii.  pp.  109,  no);  often  therefore  called 
only  the  Urim  (Num.  xxvii.  21  ;  1  Sam.  xxviii.  6). 
Sparing  my  readers  the  learning  which  might  easily  be 
transcribed  to  any  amount  from  the  many  elaborate 
treatises  devoted  to  the  inquiry  as  to  what  this  Urim  and 
Thummim  might  be,  I  will  state  the  conclusions  to  which 
those  who  have  studied  the  matter  most  profoundly  have 
arrived.  They  are  agreed  that  it  was  some  precious 
thing  which  the  High  Priest  bore  within  the  Choschen, 
or  square  breastplate  of  judgment;  this  being  doubled 
back  upon  itself,  to  the  end  that  like  a  purse  it  might 
contain  the  treasure  committed  to  it  (Exod.  xxviii.  15-30; 
Lev.  viii.  8),  and  with  all  its  costly  jewellery  and  elabo- 
rate workmanship  existing  for  this  object,  quite  as  much 
as  the  ark  existed  for  the  sake  of  the  tables  of  the  law.  But 
what  precious  thing  this  Urim  may  have  been  is  shrouded 
in  mystery  ;  only  as  that  in  the  purse,  and  for  which  the 
purse  was  made,  is  likely  to  have  been  more  precious 
than  the  purse  itself,  if  that  was    set  with   its  twelve 


II.   1 7-]  PERGAMUM,    REV.    II.    I  2- 1 7.  141 

precious  stones,  each  with  the  name  of  a  tribe  engraven  on 
it,  in  this  we  are  led  to  look  for  a  stone  rarer  and  more 
costly  than  them  all ;  and  it  is  certainly  very  noticeable 
that  among  the  twelve  stones  of  the  breastplate  the  dia- 
mond does  not  appear ;  for  the  mention  of  it  in  our  Ver- 
sion (Exod.  xxviii.  18)  is  confessedly  a  mistake; — as  though 
this  stone  had  been  reserved  for  a  higher  honour  and  dig- 
nity still. 

Then  further,  no  one  knows,  probably  no  one  ever 
knew,  what  was  graven  on  the  Urim ;  except  indeed  the 
High  Priest ;  who,  consulting  it  that  he  might  in  some 
way  obtain  through  it  lively  oracles  from  God,  in  matters 
which  greatly  concerned  the  weal  or  woe  of  the  people 
(Num.  xxvii.  21  ;  I  Sam.  xxiii.  9-12  ;  xxx.  7,  8),  could  not 
have  remained  ignorant  of  this.  It  is  generally  conjectured, 
however,  to  have  been  the  holy  Tetragrammaton,  the  in- 
effable name  of  God.  It  is  difficult  to  conceive  it  to  have 
been  anything  else.  I  need  hardly  ask  the  reader  who 
has  followed  me  thus  far  to  note  how  well  this  agrees  with 
the  words  before  us, '  and  in  the  stone  a  new  name  written, 
which  no  man  knoiveth  saving  he  that  receiveth  it.''  Many 
are  led  away  from  the  right  interpretation  of  these  last 
words,  by  referring  this  '  receiveth  it '  to  the  '  name,'  and 
not  to  the  '  stone ; '  they  read  as  though  it  was  written, 
i  saving  he  that  receiveth  this  name,'' — when,  as  I  feel  sure, 
we  ought  to  read  it,  '  saving  he  that  receiveth  this  stone.' 
They  assume  the  overcomer's  own  name  to  be  that  written 
on  this  stone  ;  and  draw  from  these  words  an  intimation 
that,  just  as  the  mystery  of  regeneration  is  known  only  to 
the  new-born,  so  the  yet  higher  glory  of  heaven  only  to 
him  that  is  partaker  of  it  ( I  Cor.  xiii.  9)  ;  which  all  is  most 
true,  and  a  new  name  is  often  used  to  express  a  new 
blessedness  (Isai.  lxii.  2;  lxv.  15);  but  yet  it  is  not  the 


142  EPISTLES    TO    THE   SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.     [il.   I  J. 

truth  of  the  promise  here.  The  '  neiv  name '  here  is 
something  even  better  than  this.  It  is  the  new  name 
of  God  or  of  Christ,  '  my  new  name'  (cf.  iii.  12);  some 
revelation  of  the  glory  of  Grod,  only  in  that  higher  state 
capable  of  being  communicated  by  Him  to  his  people, 
and  which  they  only  can  understand  who  have  actually 
received ;  for  it  is  a  knowing  which  is  identical  with  a 
being;  and  that  word  in  old  time  ascribed  to  the  Lord, 
'  My  mystery  is  for  Me,  and  for  the  sons  of  my  house '  (cf. 
Isai.  xxiv.  10),  stands  fast,  whether  actually  spoken  by 
Him,  or  only  ascribed  to  Him  (Clement  of  Alexandria, 
Strom,  v.  10.  64). 

How  excellently  well  the  promise,  so  understood, 
matches  with  the  other  promise  of  '  the  hidden  manna,'' 
which  goes  hand  in  hand  with  it.  It  was  said  at  the  out- 
set of  this  inquiry,  that  there  ought  to  be  an  inner  bond 
between  the  two  parts  of  the  promise  ;  and  such,  according 
to  this  interpretation,  there  will  be.  *  The  hidden  manna' 
and  the  '  white  stone  '  are  not  merely  united  in  time,  be- 
longing both  to  the  wilderness  period  of  the  history  of 
God's  people ;  but  they  are  united  as  both  representing 
high-priestly  prerogatives,  which  the  Lord  should  at  length 
impart  to  all  his  people,  kings  and  priests  to  God,  as  He 
will  then  have  made  them  all.  If  any  should  be  privileged 
to  eat  of  '  the  hidden  manna,'  who  but  the  High  Priest, 
who  alone  had  entrance  into  the  Holy  Place  where  it  was 
laid  up  ?  If  any  should  have  knowledge  of  what  was 
graven  on  the  Urim,  who  but  the  same  High  Priest,  in 
whose  keeping  it  was,  and  who  was  bound  by  his  very 
office  to  consult  it  ?  The  mystery  of  what  was  written 
there,  shut  to  every  other,  would  be  open  to  him.  In  lack 
of  any  more  satisfying  explanation  of  the  promise  of  the 
' white  stone '  with  the  '•new  name '  written  upon  it,  I 
venture  to  suggest  that  the  key  to  it  may  possibly  be  here. 


IV. 

EPISTLE  TO  THE  CHURCH  OF  THYATIRA. 

Eev.  ii.  18-29. 

Ver.  18.  '  And  unto  the  Angel  of  the  Church  in  Thya- 
tira  write.'' — The  Eoman  road  from  Pergamum  to  Sardis 
left  Thyatira,  as  we  are  told  by  Strabo  (xiii.  4),  a  little 
to  the  left ;  St.  John  is  led  '  in  the  Spirit '  by  the  same 
route  which  he  may  often  in  time  past  have  travelled  in 
the  course  of  his  apostolic  visitations.  Thyatira,  a  city 
of  no  first-rate  dignity,  '  inhonora  civitas  '  the  Elder  Pliny 
goes  so  far  as  to  call  it  (v.  33),  was  a  Macedonian  colony 
(Strabo,  xiii.  4)  ;  and  it  may  be  looked  at  as  a  slight  and 
unintentional  confirmation,  in  a  minute  particular,  of  the 
historic  accuracy  of  the  Acts,  that  Lydia,  a  purple-seller  of 
Thyatira,  is  met  in  the  Macedonian  city  of  Philippi  (Acts 
xvi.  14),  this  being  precisely  what  was  likely  to  happen 
from  the  close  and  frequent  intercourse  maintained  be- 
tween a  mother  city  and  its  daughter  colonies.  From 
this  Lydia,  whose  heart  the  Lord  had  opened  to  attend  to 
the  things  spoken  of  Paul  (Acts  xvi.  14),  the  Church  at 
Thyatira  may  have  taken  its  beginnings.  She  who  had 
gone  forth  for  a  while,  to  buy  and  sell  and  get  gain,  when 
she  returned  home  may  have  brought  back  with  her  far 
richer  merchandise  than  any  she  had  looked  to  obtain. 
'  These  things  saith  the  Son  of  God,  who  hath  his  eyes 


144         EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.     [il.   1 9. 

like  unto  aflame  of  fire,  and  his  feet  are  like  fine  brass.' 
The  attributes  which  the  Lord  claims  are  again  drawn 
from  the  description  of  the  first  chapter,  ver.  14,  15,  which 
see-  The  title  'Son  of  God'  (cf.  xix.  13)  is  not  indeed 
expressly  and  in  so  many  words  there ;  but  it  is  involved 
in,  and  is  the  sum  total  of  the  impression  left  by,  the  whole 
description.  The  actual  form  of  this  title  is  here  drawn 
from  the  second  Psalm,  ver.  9  ;  as  is  plain  from  more  than 
one  reference  to  that  Psalm  before  this  Epistle  is  ended  ; 
thus  compare  ver.  26  with  Ps.  ii.  8  ;  and  ver.  27  with  ii.  9. 
He  who  will  presently  give  dominion  to  his  servants,  first 
claims  this  dominion  for  Himself.  The  heathen  have  been 
given  to  Him  for  an  inheritance,  else  He  could  not  give 
them  to  his  servants.  If  these  servants  of  his  are  to  rule 
them  with  a  rod  of  iron,  and  break  them  in  pieces  like  a 
potter's  vessel,  it  is  only  as  partakers  in  a  power  which  He 
has  Himself  first  received. 

Ver.  19.  '  I  knoiv  thy  works,  and  charity,  and  service, 
and  faith,  and  thy  patience,  and  thy  tvorks ;  and  the  last 
to  be  more  than  the  first.'' — Omit  '  and  thy  works  '  on  its 
second  occurrence,  which  has  no  right  to  a  place  in  the 
text,  and  which  mars  the  symmetry  of  all.  We  shall  then 
have  two  pairs.  First,  '  thy  charity  and  thy  service,''  for 
the  article  prefixed  to  all  these  words  shows  that  the  con- 
cluding aov  belongs  to  them  all, — the  '  charity,"1  or  love, 
being  the  more  inward  thing,  the  *  service  '  (hiaicovia)  the 
outward  ministrations,  the  helps  of  all  kinds  shown  first  to 
the  household  of  faith,  and  then  to  all  others,  in  which 
this  '  charity '  found  its  utterance  (Acts  xi.  29  ;  I  Cor. 
xvi.  15  ;  fteb.  vi.  10).  As  the  first  pair  have  a  very  close 
inner  connexion,  so  have  also  the  next  pair, '  and  thy  faith 
and  thy  patience.'  It  needs  but  to  refer  in  proof  to 
Heb.  xi.  27  : '  He  endured,  as  seeing  Him  that  is  invisible  ;' 


II.  20.]  THYATIRA,    REV.    II.    lS-2C).  145 

arid  indeed  Scripture  everywhere  declares  that  faith  is  the 
root  and  source  of  all  patient  continuance  in  well-doing. — 
'  And  the  last  to  be  more  than  the  first.'  The  faithful  in 
Thyatira  were  growing  and  increasing  in  this  service  of 
love,  this  patience  of  faith  ;  herein  satisfying  the  desire  of 
Him,  who  evermore  desires  for  his  people  that  they  should 
abound  more  and  more  in  all  good  things.  How  much 
better  this  t«  samara  irXslova  tmv  Trptarwv  than  that  of 
which  St.  Peter  elsewhere  speaks  as  the  state  of  some,  ra 
samara  %s t '  p  ova  twv  7rpcoTcov  (2  Pet.  ii.  20;  cf.  Matt. 
xii.  45),  which,  as  regarded  the  most  excellent  grace  of 
all,  the  Lord  has  just  declared  to  be  the  condition  of  the 
Ephesian  Church  (ver.  4). 

Ver.  20. '  Notwithstanding  I  have  a  few  things  against 
thee,  because  thou  sufferest  that  woman  Jezebel,  which  call- 
eth  herself  a,  prophetess,  to  teach  and  seduce  my  servants 
to  commit  fornication,  and  to  eat  things  sacrificed  unto 
idols.'' — Omit  'a  few  things'  (6\iya),  which  has  no  busi- 
ness in  the  text,  having  been  brought  here  from  ver.  14 ; 
and  change,  as  a  consequence  of  this, '  because  'into  '  that ' 
— but  clo  not  change  '  that  woman  '  into  '  thy  wife,'  the 
authority  for  the  insertion  of  aov  after  tijv  yvval/ca  being 
insufficient  to  justify  this  ;  however  there  may  be  'many 
authorities,  and  some  ancient,  in  its  favour '  (R.  V.)  see  Lee, 
On  the  Revelation,  pp.  527,  535.  How  many  of  the  early 
heretical  leaders  led  about  with  them  one  who  was  neither 
a  wife  nor  a  sister  is  sufficiently  known  to  all,  as  a  '  Simon 
Magus  his  Helena,'  that  we  speak  not  of  others.  The 
whole  condition  of  things  at  Thyatira  was  exactly  the 
reverse  of  the  condition  at  Ephesus.  There  much  zeal  for 
the  maintenance  of  sound  doctrine,  a  stiff  orthodoxy,  but 
little  love,  and  as  a  consequence,  no  doubt,  few  ministra- 
tions of  love.     Here  the  activity  of  faith  and  love,  but  in~ 

L 


146         EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.     [il.  20. 

sufficient  zeal  for  the  maintenance  of  godly  discipline  and 
doctrine,  a  patience  of  error  even  where  there  was  not  a 
participation  in  it.  Each  of  these  Churches  was  weak  in 
that  wherein  the  other  was  strong. 

But  whom  shall  we  understand  by  *  that  woman  Jeze- 
bel, tvhich  calleth  herself  a  prophetess,''  whom  the  Lord 
proceeds  presently  to  threaten  with  so  terrible  a  doom  ? 
It  may  be  well  here  to  consider  first  the  position  which 
the  literal  and  historic  Jezebel  occupies  in  the  history  of 
the  Church,  of  the  Old  Testament.  As  Balaam,  in  the 
earlier  history  of  the  children  of  Israel,  was  the  author 
of  the  great  attempt  to  introduce  heathenism  with  all  its 
train  of  attendant  impurities  into  the  heart  of  the  Church 
of  God  (Eev.  ii.  14;  Num.  xxv.),  so  Jezebel  in  the  later 
period  of  that  same  history.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Eth- 
baal,  king  of  Sidon  (1  Kin.  xvi.  13).  The  identity  of  this 
Ethbaal  and  EWtoftaXos,  mentioned  in  a  fragment  of  the 
Tyrian  Annals  of  Menander,  preserved  by  Josephus  {Con. 
Apion.  i.  1 8),  is  sufficiently  made  out,  and  is  not,  I  believe, 
called  in  question  by  any.  Of  this  Ethbaal  we  there  learn 
that  he  was  a  priest  of  Astarte,  and,  by  the  murder  of  his 
predecessor  Pheles,  made  his  own  way  to  the  throne  and 
kingdom.  Jezebel,  so  swift  to  shed  blood  (1  Kin.  xvii.  4  ; 
xix.  2 ;  xxi.  10),  is  a  worthy  offshoot  of  this  evil  stock. 
Nor  less  does  she  attest  herself  the  daughter  of  the  priest 
of  Astarte.  Hitherto  the  worship  of  the  Calves  had  been 
the  whole  extent  of  the  departure  of  the  Ten  Tribes  from 
the  Levitical  institutions, — the  true  God  worshipped  still, 
although  under  symbols  which  He  had  expressly  forbidden  ; 
the  law  of  Moses  in  the  main  allowed  and  kept,  however 
there  might  be  a  certain  amount  of  sinful  will-worship 
mingling  with  and  infecting  all.  But  from  the  time  of 
Ahab's  marriage  with   the  daughter  of  Ethbaal  the  apo- 


II.  20.]  THYATIRA,    REV     II.    1 8-29.  147 

stasy  of  Israel  assumes  altogether  a  different  character  ; 
the  guilt  of  it  is  of  quite  another  and  an  infinitely  deadlier 
kind  (1  Kin.  xvi.  31  ;  xxi.  25,  26).     A  fanatical  promoter 
of  the  Baal  worship  (1    Kin.   xviii.    19),  overbearing  with 
her  stronger  will  the  weak  will  of  her  despicable  husband, 
having  made  her  own  the  substance  of  a  power  whereof 
only  the  shadow  remained  to  him  (1   Kin.  xxi.  7,  8),  ani- 
mated   with   the   fiercest  hatred    against    the    prophets 
of  Jehovah,  the  last  witnesses  for  Him  in  Israel,  now  that 
the  Levitical  priesthood  had  been  abolished  there  (1  Kin. 
xxi.  31),  she  seeks  utterly  to  exterminate  these  (1  Kin. 
xviii.  13).     She  was  probably  herself,  like  her  moral  name- 
sake here,  a  false  prophetess  ;  a  priestess  of  that  foul  en- 
thusiasm.    Many  arguments  make  this  probable  at  the 
least.     As  much  seems  implied  in  the  answer  to  Joram's 
question, '  Is  it  peace  ?  '  which  Jehu  makes, '  What  peace, 
so  long  as  the  whoredoms  of  thy  mother  Jezebel,  and  her 
'witchcrafts  are  so  many'  (2  Kin.  ix.  22)  ?     So  too,  when 
we  keep  in  mind  the  essentially  impure  character  of  the 
Phoenician   idolatries  which  she    introduced, — Ashtaroth 
or    Astarte  was  the  Phoenician  Aphrodite, — we  have  an 
explanation   of  the    '  whoredoms '    which    Jehu    further 
lays    to   her   charge,    and    which    may  thus    have   set  a 
hideous  contradiction  between  her  and  her  name,  if  indeed 
that  derivation  which  would  make  it  etymologically  to 
signify  The  Chaste  (our  Agnes)  is  the  true  one  (see  Grese- 
nius,  Hebrew  and  Chaldee  Lexicon,  p.  37).     Nor  is  this 
the  only  passage  where  these  impurities  are   ascribed  to 
her.     There  is  at  Jeremiah  iv.  30  an  allusion,  often  over- 
looked, but,  so  soon  as  attention  is  called  to  it,  not  to  be 
gainsaid,  to  2  Kin.  ix.  30 ;  and  there  the  lovers  or  para- 
mours of  Jezebel  appear. 

Such  was  the  elder  Jezebel ;  the  female  Antichrist  of 
L  2 


148         ETISTLES    TO    THE   SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN   ASIA.     [il.  20. 

the  Old  Testament.  And  the  later,  assuredly  not  a  sect  of 
evil-workers  personified,  but  some  single  wicked  woman  in 
the  Church  of  Thyatira  (Jablonski,  De  Jezabele,  Thyatire- 
norum  pseudoprophetissd,  Opusc.  vol.  iii.  p.  225),  inherit- 
ing from  her  this  name  of  infamy  in  the  Church  of  God, 
would  seem  to  have  followed  hard  in  the  steps  of  her 
Jewish  prototype  (for  a  like  transfer  of  an  evil  name  see 
Isai.  i.  10  ;  Ezek.  xvi.  3).  Witsius :  'Facile  ex  hoc  loco 
concluditur  fuisse  Thyatirre  principem  aliquam  atque 
illustrem  foeminam,  simulacricolam,  veneficam,  meretricem, 
geminam  germanam  antiquse  illius  Jezebelis,  hoc  tamen 
instructiorem  ad  perniciem,  quod  ha?c  palam  sese  hostem 
ac  persecutricem  Ecclesise  ostendebat,  ilia  autem  videri 
voluit  prophetissa,  raptus  fatidicos  mentiens,  in  Nicolaita- 
rum  ludo  ad  omnem  nequitiam  edocta.'  Not  only  did  she 
give  herself  out  for  a  prophetess,  but  in  one  sense,  as  I 
take  it,  was  such, — no  mere  teacher  of  perverse  things, 
employing  her  intellectual  faculties  in  the  service  of 
Satan,  and  not  of  God  ;  but  claiming  inspiration,  and 
probably  possessing  it,  wielding  spiritual  powers,  only  they 
were  such  as  reached  her  from  beneath,  not  such  as  de- 
scended on  her  from  above  ;  for  as  at  this  time  miraculous 
gifts  of  grace  and  power  were  at  work  in  the  Church,  so 
were  also  the  devilish  counterfeits  of  these.  And  thus, 
by  aid  of  these,  she  seduced  the  servants  of  Christ  '  to 
commit  fornication,  and  to  eat  things  sacrificed  to  idols ; ' 
see  ver.  14.  To  restrain  '  servants '  here  to  those  who 
hold  office  in  the  Church  is  certainly  a  mistake.  AoOXos 
may  very  well  have  this  narrower  meaning  at  i.  I  ;  but 
that  BovXoi  includes  the  whole  body  of  the  faithful  at  vii. 
3  ;  xxii.  3,  is  evident.  A  comparison  of  this  verse  with 
ver.  14-16  leaves  no  doubt  that  the  Jezebelites,  and 
Balaamites,    and  Nicolaitans,  with  secondary  differences 


II.   21.]  THYATIRA,    REV.    II.    1 8-29.  149 

no  doubt,  were  yet  substantially  the  same  ; — all  libertine 
sects,  disclaiming  the  obligations  of  the  moral  law;  all 
starting  with  a  denial  that  Jesus  Christ  was  come  in  the 
flesh,  and  that  in  the  flesh  therefore  men  were  to  be  holy  ; 
all  alike  false  spiritualists,  whose  highflying  pretensions 
did  not  hinder  them  from  ending  in  the  foulest  fleshly 
sins ;  being  themselves  rather  the  means  of  entangling 
men  therein. 

Ver.  21.  '  And  I  gave  her  space  to  repent  of  her  for- 
nication ;  and  she  repented  not.' — The  fact  that  punish- 
ment does  not  at  once  overtake  sinners  is  constantly 
misunderstood  by  them  as  an  evidence  that  it  never  will 
overtake  them  (Eccl.  viii.  1 1  ;  Isai.  xxvi.  io  ;  Ps.  xxvi.  1 1)  ; 
that  God  does  not  see,  or,  seeing,  does  not  care  to  avenge. 
Christ  opens  out  here  another  aspect  under  which  this  de- 
lay in  the  divine-revenges  may  be  regarded.  The  very  time 
during  which  ungodly  men  are  heaping  up  for  themselves 
greater  wrath  against  the  day  of  wrath,  was  a  time  lent 
them  for  repentance  (Kom.  ii.  4 ;  2  Pet.  iii.  9),  if  only  they 
would  have  understood  the  object  and  the  meaning  of  it. 

Ver.  22.  '  Behold,  I  will  cast  her  into  a  bed,1  and  them 
that  commit  adultery  ivith  her  into  great  tribulation, 
except  they  repent  of  their  deeds.'' — These  last  words  imply 
that  even  now  the  day  of  grace  was  not  expired  for  these 
transgressors,  however  near  at  hand  the  close  of  it  might  be. 


1  A  curious  testimony  to  the  entire  disappearance  of  Greek,  and 
of  the  power  of  appealing  to  Greek  copies  of  Scripture,  probably  to 
the  well-nigh  total  absence  of  such  in  Western  Europe  to  appeal  to, 
and  the  consequent  exclusive  dependence  on  the  Vulgate,  occurs  here 
in  the  Commentary  of  Richard  of  St.  Victor,  one  of  the  most  learned 
men  of  perhaps  the  most  learned  monastic  foundation  in  France.  He 
observes  that  some  copies  of  the  Latin  here  read  '  lectum,'  some  '  luc- 
tum ; '  discusses  at  length  the  several  advantages  and  probabilities  of 
the  two  readings,  without  one  word  implying  the  possibility  of  settling 
the  question  at  once  by  a  reference  to  the  original. 


150         EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.     [il.  23. 

'  I  will  cast  her  into  a  bed  ; '  there  where  she  has  sinned 
(cf.  Isai.  lvii.  7,  8)  shall  she  also  be  punished  (cf.  I  Kin. 
xxi.  19);  the  bed  of  sin  shall  be  the  bed  of  languishing, 
of  sickness,  and  of  death  ;  cf.  I  Mace.  i.  5  (sirsosv  eiri  rrjv 
KolTTjv=i\ve  fell  sick')  ;  1  Cor.  xi.  30.  The  allusion  which 
Vitringa  traces  here  to  the  bed  on  which  Ahab  cast  him- 
self down  'heavy  and  displeased'  (1  Kin.  xxi.  4)  is  in- 
genious, but  exceedingly  far-fetched. 

Ver.  23.  '  And  I  will  kill  her  children  with  death.'' — 
If  her  lovers,  those  *  that  commit  adultery  with  her '  (ver. 
22),  can  only  mean  the  chief  furtherers  and  abettors  of 
those  evil  things  (she  may  have  seduced  them  to  fleshly  as 
well  as  spiritual  wickedness), '  her  children '  must  be  rather 
the  less  prominent,  less  forward  members  of  the  same 
wicked  confederacy,  more  the  deceived  while  the  others 
were  the  deceivers  (Isai.  lvii.  3),  who  yet  should  be  in- 
volved with  them  in  a  common  doom  (Isai.  ix.  16 ;  xlvii.  9  ; 
Ezek.  xxiii.  47).  The  words  '  with  death '  must  plainly 
be  accepted  as  emphatic ;  some  understand  with  pesti- 
lence and  plague  (see  Jer.  xxi.  7),  relying  mainly  on 
Rev.  vi.  8  ;  where,  however,  ddvaros  cannot  be  proved 
to  mean  this;  a  reference  to  2  Sam.  xxiv.  13,  15  ;  Ezek. 
xiv.  19,  21  ;  xxxiii.  27,  LXX,  would  have  been  more  to  the 
point.  Hengstenberg  detects  an  allusion  here  to  the 
death  of  the  adulteress  (Lev.  xx.  10;  Ezek.  xvi.  38-41  ; 
cf.  John  viii.  5) ;  but  this  can  scarcely  be  ;  for  it  is  the 
'  children '  of  the  adulteress,  not  the  adulteress  herself,  who 
are  here  threatened  with  death.  Others  find  an  allusion 
to  the  two  sweeping  catastrophes  which  overtook  the  priests 
and  votaries  of  Baal  at  exactly  that  period  of  Jewish  history 
to  which  the  mention  of  Jezebel  here  points  (1  Kin.  xviii. 
40;  2  Kin.  x.  25); — but  more  probably  the  words  contain 
nothing  more  than   a   general   threat   that  their   doom 


II.  23.]  THYATIPa,    REV.    II.    1 8-29.  151 

should  be  a  signal  one,  that  they  should  'die  of  grievous 
deaths '  (Jer.  xvi.  4),  and  not  the  common  death  of  all 
men,  nor  be  visited  after  the  visitation  of  all  men 
(Num.  xvi.  29). 

'  And  all  the  Churches  shall  know  that  I  am  He  wh  Ich 
searcheth  the  reins  and  hearts.' — The  judgment  on  this 
brood  of  transgressors  shall  be  so  open  and  manifest,  their 
sin  shall  so  plainly  find  them  out,  that,  not  the  wicked,  for 
God's  judgments  are  far  above  out  of  their  sight,  but  '  all 
the  Churches,''  all  who  ponder  these  things  and  lay  them 
to  heart,  shall  confess  that  He  who  moves  up  and  down  in 
the  midst  of  his  Church,  beholding  the  evil  and  the  good, 
is  a  God  of  knowledge  (see  ii.  2),  who  is  not  mocked ; 
'  which  searcheth  the  reins  and  hearts '  (reus  svvolais  s^ju- 
/3a.T£V(ov,  as  Olympiodorus  explains  it).  '  The.  reins ' 
are  probably  regarded  here  as  the  seat  of  the  passions 
(Delitzsch,  Psychologie,  p.  220),  '  the  heart9  of  the  affec- 
tions; cf.  Jer.  xvii.  10;  xx.  12;  and  Basil  the  Great, 
Horn,  in  Ps.  vii.  §  6.  But  this  searching  of  the  hearts 
and  reins  being,  as  it  is,  a  prerogative  of  Deity  (Mark 
ii.  8),  God  only  knowing  the  thoughts  of  men  (o  Kaphto- 
yvGHTTvs  ©f 6s,  Acts  xv.  8  ;  i.  24  ;  I  Kin.  viii.  39  ;  1  Chron. 
xxix.  17  ;  Ezek.  xi.  5),  it  is  plain  that  Christ,  challenging 
this  power  for  Himself,  is  implicitly  claiming  to  be  God  ; 
even  as  others  do  the  like  for  Him,  when  they  make  this 
claim  on  his  behalf  (Heb.  iv.  12,  13)-— 'JZpsvvav  is  used 
in  this  same  sense  of  searching,  Rom.  viii.  27,  and 
always  expresses  a  careful  investigation,  a  following  up  of 
tracks  or  indications  as  far  as  they  will  lead,  as  the  dog 
the  footprints  of  the  chase,  the  miner  the  veins  of  the 
metal  (Gen.  xxxi.  35  ;  1  Kin.  xx.  6  ;  Prov.  xx.  27  ;  1  Cor. 
ii.  IO;  1  Pet.  i.  11).  Expressing,  as  the  word  does,  this 
laborious  and  even  painful  investigation,  leading  step  by 


152  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.     [il.  23. 

step  to  its  result,  as  every  other  discursive  act,  can  only 
avOpcoTToiraOws  be  ascribed  to  God  ;  to  whom  by  absolute 
and  immediate  intuition  all  hearts  at  all  times  lie  open 
and  manifest ;  who  needs  not  to  search  out,  and  in  this 
way  to  find,  that  which  He  always  knows.  For  spewoov 
the   Septuagint  Translators   prefer  hra^wv  (Ps.  vii.   10  ; 

1  Chron.  xxix.  17  ;  Ps.  cxxxviii.  22;  Jer.  xvii.  10),  which 
rests  on  a  different  image,1  and  does  not  occur  in  the  New 
Testament ;  though  i^srd^siv  more  than  once  (Matt.  ii. 
8  ;  John  xxi.  12). 

'  And  I  will  give  unto  every  one  of  you  according  to 
your  works.' — This  promise,  or  this  threat,  for  it  may  be 
either,  is  one  which  nowadays  we  too  commonly  keep  in 
the  background ;  but  it  is  one  which  we  should  press  on 
ourselves  and  on  others  with  the  same  emphasis  and  iter- 
ation wherewith  Christ  and  his  Word  presses  it  upon  us 
all  (Ps.  lxii.  13  ;  Matt.  xvi.  27  ;  Kom.  ii.  6;   1  Pet.  i.  17  ; 

2  Cor.  v.  10  ;  Job  xxxiv.  11  ;  Eccles.  xii.  14;  Prov.  xxiv. 
1 2  ;  Jer.  xxxii.  1 9).  It  is  one  of  the  gravest  mischiefs 
which  Koine  has  bequeathed  to  us,  that  in  a  reaction  and 
protest,  itself  absolutely  necessary,  against  the  false  em- 
phasis which  she  puts  on  works,  unduly  thrusting  them  in 
to  share  with  Christ's  merits  in  our  justification,  we  often 
shrink  from  placing  upon  them  the  true ;  being  as  they 
are,  to  speak  with  St.  Bernard,  the  '  via  regni,'  however 
little  they  may  be  the  '  causa  regnandi ; '  though  here  too 
it  must  never  be  forgotten  that  it  is  only  the  good  tree 
which  brings  forth  good  fruit ;  and  that  no  tree  is  good 
until  Christ  has  made  it  good. 


1  Basil  the  Great:  '"Eracrpos  icvpiais  iaTiv  7]  /xrra  naoSiV  fiacravav 
Trpoo-ayofxevr]  epevva  irapa  tu>v  KptTcov  rois  e^era^opevois,  iva  01  KpvwTovres 
Trap'  eavTots  ra  em^rjTovpeva,  tj]  dvdyKrj  roiv  irovatv  els  to  epcpavis  Kara- 
GTncruxri.  to  XavOdvov. 


II.  24«]  THYATIKA,    EEV.    II.     1 8-29.  153 

Ver.  24.  '  But  unto  you  I  say,  and  unto  the  rest  in 
Thyatira,  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.'1 — Leave  out  the  kcu 
with  which  the  second  clause  in  the  sentence  begins,  and 
read,  '  But  unto  you  I  say,  the  rest  in  Thyatira,  &c.' 
The  Gnostics,  starting  probably  from  I  Cor.  ii.  10,  were 
ever  boasting  their  acquaintance  with  mysteries,  the  deep 
things  of  God  ;  could  speak  much  about  the  /3v66s,  '  vere 
csecutientes,  qui  profunda  Bythi  adinvenisse  se  dicunt ' 
(Irenseus  ;  cf.  Tertullian,  Adv.  Valentin.  §  i).  A  question 
is  often  here  raised,  whether  these  evil-workers  spoke  of 
'  depths  of  Satan ; '  or  only  of  '  depths,''  while  '  of  Satan  ' 
is  a  further  characteristic  of  these  '  depths,'  added  by  the 
Lord  Himself ;  who  thus  intimates  with  a  severe  irony 
what  was  the  real  character  of  those  '  depAhs  '  into  which 
they  professed  themselves  to  have  entered,  and  into  which 
they  sought  to  guide  others.  In  this  last  way  the  words 
are  generally  understood,  the  Lord  declaring  what,  in  his 
all-seeing  eye,  was  the  true  nature  of  the  /ji£ya\opp7]/j,ocrvvai 
(such  Ignatius,  Ep.  ad  Ephes.  10,  calls  them),  the  'great 
swelling  words  of  vanity  '  which  these  Gnostics  vented  ; 
promising  Liberty  to  others,  while  they  were  themselves 
servants  of  corruption.  I  should  be  disposed,  however,  to 
think  with  Hengstenberg,  that  it  was  they  themselves  who 
talked  of  '  depths  of  Satan,' — the  position  of  ms  Xsyovat 
seems  to  imply  as  much, — that  in  that  fearful  sophistry 
wherein  they  were  such  adepts,  and  whereby  they  sought 
to  make  a  religion  of  every  corrupt  inclination  of  the 
natural  mind,  they  talked  much  of '  depths  of  Satan,'  which 
it  was  expedient  for  them  to  fathom.  They  taught,  as  we 
know,  that  it  was  a  small  thing  for  a  man  to  despise  plea- 
sure and  to  show  himself  superior  to  it,  while  at  the  same 


154         EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.     [il.  24. 

time  he  fled  from  it.  The  true,  the  glorious  victory  was, 
to  remain  superior  to  it  even  while  tasting  it  to  the  full ; 
to  give  the  body  to  all  the  lusts  of  the  flesh,  and  yet  with 
all  this  to  maintain  the  spirit  in  a  region  of  its  own,  un- 
injured by  them  ;  and  thus,  as  it  were,  to  fight  against 
pleasure  with  the  arms  of  pleasure  itself ;  to  mock  and 
defy  Satan  even  in  his  own  kingdom  and  domain.  We 
have  an  anticipation  of  this  sophistry  of  sin,  with  its 
flatteries  at  once  of  the  pride  and  corruption  of  the  human 
heart,  in  the  well-known  mot  of  Aristippus,  the  Cyrenaic 
philosopher,  who  being  upbraided  on  the  score  of  his 
relations  with  a  Corinthian  courtesan,  defended  himself 
with  the  reply,  difficult  adequately  to  render  in  English, 
"E^co  Aatha,  ov/c  syo^ai  vir  avrr\s  ( Clement  of  Alexandria, 
Strom,  ii.  20  ;  Diogenes  Laertius,  ii.  8.  75).  Here,  how- 
ever, were  but  the  germs  of  that  which  in  some  of  the 
Gnostics  appears  fully  blown. 

'  For  you,'  says  the  Lord,  '  who  have  not  gone  to  this 
satanic  school,  who  have  been  content  with  the  simple 
knowledge  of  the  good,  and  not  thought  it  needful  to 
know  the  evil  as  well,  not  good  and  evil,  but  only  good, 
I  will  put  upon  you  none  other  burden.'  If  it  be  asked, 
'  none  other  burden '  than  what  ? — the  answer  no  doubt 
is,  none  other  than  a  continued  abstinence  from,  and 
protest  against,  these  abominations.  It  was  the  master- 
stroke of  the  antinomian  Gnostics  to  exaggerate,  to  distort, 
to  misapply,  all  which  St.  Paul  had  spoken  about  the 
freedom  of  the  Christian  man  from  the  law.  They  were 
the  ultra-Paulines,  who  caricatured  his  doctrine,  till  of 
God's  truth  they  had  made  a  devil's  lie.  St.  Paul  had 
said  of  the  law  that  it  was  not  the  ground  of  the  Christian 
man's  justification  (Eomans,  Galatians),  nor  yet  the  source 
of  his  holiness  (Colossians)  :  they  made  him  to  say  that 


II.  2  5-]  THYATIRA,    REV.    II.    1 8-29.  155 

it  was  not  the  rule  of  his  life  ;  as  though  the  Apostle 
had  rejected  it  altogether  as  a  burden  no  longer  to  be 
borne  by  the  redeemed.  The  Lord  takes  up  this  word 
'  burden  ; ' — '  I  do  lay  on  you  a  burden,  but  it  is  a  burden 
which  it  is  your  blessedness  to  bear,  and  over  and  above 
which  I  will  impose  no  other.'  Compare  Matt.  xi.  30, 
where,  however,  (popriov,  not  ftdpos,  stands  in  the  original, 
and  Acts  xv.  28,  29,  where  fidpos  occurs  in  this  very  sense 
of  abstinence  from  idol-meats  and  fornication  ;  and  where 
exactly  in  the  same  sense,  and  almost  in  the  same  words, 
the  Apostles  declare  that  they  will  lay  on  the  faithful  of 
the  Gentiles  '  no  greater  burden  than  these  necessary 
things.'  I  cannot  but  think  that  Christ's  words  here  have 
direct  reference  to  that  solemn  decree  of  the  Church. 

Ver.  25.  '  But  that  which  ye  have  already  hold  fast 
till  1  come.'' — It  is  on  this  condition  that  He  will  impose 
on  them  no  additional  burden.  What  they  have  of  sound 
doctrine,  of  holy  living,  this  they  must  hold  fast,  must  so 
grasp  it  that  none  shall  wrest  it  from  them,  till  the  day 
when  the  Lord  shall  come,  and  bring  this  long  and  painful 
struggle  for  the  maintenance  of  his  truth  to  an  end.  Ever 
and  ever  in  Scripture,  not  the  day  of  death,  but  the  day 
of  the  Lord  Jesus,  is  put  as  the  term  of  all  conflict. 

Ver.  26.  '  And  he  that  overcometh,  and  ke&peth  my 
works  tinto  the  end,  to  him  will  I  give  poiver  over  the 
nations.' — On  the  nominative  absolute  here  (o  vikwv  .  .  . 
&(o<T(o  avT(p)  and  at  iii.  12,  21,  see  Winer,  Gramm.  §  28.  3  ; 
and  for  other  examples  of  the  same,  Ps.  x.  4;  Hos.  xii. 
7  ;  Matt.  x.  32  ;  Acts  vii.  40.  By  '  my  ivorks  '  we  must 
understand  '  works  which  I  have  commanded,  in  which  I 
find  pleasure,  which  are  the  fruits  of  my  Spirit ; '  cf.  John 
vi.  28,  where  '  the  works  of  God  '  are  to  be  understood  in 
the  'same  sense  as  *  godly  works.'     Here  again  that  which 


156         EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.     [il.  2J. 

is  praised,  that  which  will  be  crowned,  is  the  keeping  of 
these  his  works  '  unto  the  end ; '  for  Christ,  the  great 
S7rtardrr]9  in  the  games,  of  which  the  Father  is  the 
aycovodsTT)?,  and,  still  to  keep  the  language  of  Tertullian 
(ad  Mart.  3),  the  Holy  Grhost  the  ^vardpxv^  eternal  life 
the  fipafisiov,  promises  here  this  reward,  not  to  him  who 
enters  the  lists  and  endures  for  a  time,  but  to  him  who, 
having  begun  well,  continues  striving  lawfully  to  the  last. 
'  To  him  will  I  give  'power  over  the  nations.''  The  royal- 
ties of  Christ  shall  by  reflection  and  communication  be 
the  royalties  also  of  his  Church.  They  shall  reign ;  but 
only  because  Christ  reigns,  and  because  He  is  pleased  to 
share  his  dignity  with  them  (iii.  21  ;  Eom.  v.  17 ;  2  Tim. 
ii.  12).  When  we  ask  ourselves  in  what  sense,  at  what 
time,  and  in  what  form  this  '  power  over  the  nations ' 
shall  be  the  prerogative  of  the  Church,  we  must  find  our 
answer  in  such  passages  as  Rev.  xx.  4  ;  xxii.  5  ;  I  Cor.  vi.  2  ; 
Dan.  vii.  22,  27  ;  Ps.  cxlix.  6-9  ;  and  above  all  Matt.  xix. 
28;  cf.  also  Wisd.  iii.  8;  Ecclus.  iv.  15.  For  '-power'' 
the  R.  V.  has  substituted  '  authority  J  which  is  an  improve- 
ment. There  is  very  commonly  a  moral  element  im- 
plied in  s^ovala  (Matt.  xxi.  23  ;  Mark  i.  22  ;  John  xvii. 
2),  which  in  hvvafiis  would  be  looked  for  in  vain. 

Ver.  27.  '  And  he  shall  rule  them  with  a  rod  of  iron; 
as  the  vessels  of  a  potter  shall  they  be  broken  to  shivers.'' — 
As  this  is  a  dignity  which  is  originally  Christ's  (Ps.  ii.  9 ; 
ex.  2  ;  Rev.  xii.  5  ;  xix.  1 5 ),  and  only  by  Him  made  over 
to  his  servants,  it  is  needful  first  to  inquire  what  it  means 
in  respect  of  Him ;  and  we  may  then  understand  what  it 
means  in  respect  of  them.  The  passage  in  the  second 
Psalm  is  no  doubt  that  on  which  the  three  in  this  Book 
ultimately  rest.  It  is  there,  '  Thou  shalt  break  them  with 
a  rod  of  iron  ; '  but  this  Book  of  Revelation  is  in  agree- 


II.  27.]  THTATIRA,    REV.    II.    1 8-29.  157 

ment  with  the  Septuagint,  '  Thou  shalt  rule  \jroiiJiavsls~\ 
them  with  a  rod  of  iron.'  The  Hebrew  word  for  '  Thou 
shalt  break,''  and  that  for  '  Thou  shalt  rule,'  only  differ -in 
their  vowels  ;  their  consonants  are  identical ;  at  the  same 
time  the  parallelism  of  the  latter  half  of  the  verse,  '  Thou 
shalt  dash  them  in  pieces  like  a  potter's  vessel,'  leaves 
no  doubt  that  '  Thou  shalt  break '  was  the  intention  of  the 
Psalmist.  Shall  we  therefore  conclude  not  merely  that 
the  Septuagint  Translators  mistook,  which  happens  too 
frequently  to  be  a  matter  to  us  of  any  serious  wonder,  but 
that  the  Lord  set  his  seal  to  their  error?  By  no  means. 
He  indeed  accepts  the  pregnant  and  significant  variation 
which  they,  intentionally  or  unintentionally,  drew  out  of 
the  language  before  them  ;  and  which  was  justified  by  the 
root  common  to  both  words ;  and  instead  of  the  mere 
unmingled  judgment  which  lay  in  the  passage  as  it  origin- 
ally stood  in  that  Psalm,  He  expresses  by  it  now  judgment 
mingled  with  mercy,  judgment  behind  which  purposes  of 
grace  are  concealed,  and  only  waiting  their  due  time  to 
appear.  Such  a  TraiSsvTi/ci)  svspysia,  as  Theodoret  terms 
it,  must  be  recognized  in  the  iroi\xaivztv  ;  which  our  '  Thou 
shalt  rule,''  and  the  Latin  *  reges,'  only  imperfectly  give 
back  ;  as,  in  regard  of  the  Latin,  Hilary  (in  Ps.  ii.)  urged 
long  ago  :  '  Eeges  eos  in  virga  ferrea  ;  quanquam  ipsum 
reges  non  tyrannicum  neque  injustum  sit,  sed  ex  aequitatis 
ac  moderationis  arbitrio  regimen  rationale  demonstret, 
tamen  molliorem  adhuc  regentis  affectum  proprietas 
Graeca  significat.  Quod  enim  nobiscum  est,  reges  eos, 
cum  illis  est  Troifxavsls  avrovs,  id  est,  pastoraliter  reges, 
regendi  scilicet  eos  curam  affectu  pastoris  habiturus.' 
For  a  still  tenderer  use  of  iroiaaivuv  see  John  xxi.  16  ; 
Acts  xx.  28.  No  doubt  the  words  do  contain  a  threat  for 
the  nations;  but  it  is  a  threat  of  love  (cf.  1  Cor.  iv.  21). 


158  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.     [il.  2"]. 

Christ  shall  rule  them  with  a  sceptre  of  iron,  so  to  make 
them  capable  of  being  ruled  with  a  sceptre  of  gold  ; 
severity  first,  that  grace  may  come  after ;  they  are  broken 
in  pieces,  that  they  may  know  themselves  to  be  but  men  ; 
that,  their  fierceness  and  pride  being  brought  down,  they 
may  accept  the  yoke  of  Christ  (Ps.  lxxxiii.  16).  And 
indeed  how  often  the  great  tribulations  of  a  people  have 
been  the  irpoTraiZsia,  the  preparatory  discipline,  stern  but 
indispensable,  whereby  the  Son  of  Grod  has  broken  their 
pride,  and  made  them  capable  of  receiving  his  gospel, 
which,  but  for  these,  they  would  in  their  presumption  and 
self-confidence  have  rejected  to  the  end.  Thus  what  a 
ruling  with  a  rod  of  iron  was  the  enforced  conversion  of 
the  Saxons  by  Charlemagne  ;  what  a  bruising  and  breaking 
of  their  pride  and  self-confidence,  while  yet  it  was  the 
beginning  for  them  of  a  higher  life,  which  except  for  this 
they  might  have  never  known. 

Our  Translators  have  only  rendered  pdftSos  by  '  sceptre  ' 
on  a  single  occasion  in  the  New  Testament  (Heb.  i.  8). 
It  were  to  be  wished  they  had  done  so  here,  and  at  xii.  5  ; 
xix.  15.  The  word  in  the  second  Psalm  B3£>  has  this 
meaning ;  cf.  Ps.  xliv.  8,  where  in  like  manner  it  occurs  ; 
and  everything  else  speaking  of  royalty  here,  this  should 
do  the  same.  It  may  be  urged,  indeed,  that  royal  sceptres 
are  not  usually  of  iron,  but  of  wood  overgilded,  or  of  silver, 
or  of  gold.  This  may  be  quite  true,  but  only  makes  more 
striking  the  exception  in  the  present  instance.  'He 
shall  rule  them  with  a  sceptre  of  iron,''  which,  harder  and 
stronger  than  any  other,  shall  dash  them  who  oppose 
themselves  to  it  in  pieces  like  a  potter's  vessel ;  this  image 
implying  the  ease  with  which  all  resistance  shall  be  over- 
come, the  utter  destruction  which  shall  overtake  all  them 
who   attempt  it  (Jer.  xix.    11;  Isai.    xxx.    14).     Ewald  : 


II.  28.]  THTATIBA,    REV.    II.    1 8-29.  159 

'  Imago  regis  hostes  suos  facillima  opera  conterentis  et 
dispergentis.' 

'  Even  as  I  received  of  my  Father.'' — There  was  one  who 
offered  to  inaugurate  Him  at  once  in  the  possession  of  all 
the  kingdoms  of  the  world  and  the  glory  of  them ;  and 
the  Lord  had  repelled  him  and  his  offer  with  indignation 
(Luke  iv.  5-8),  not  because  these  were  not  his  just  expec- 
tation and  his  due  inheritance ;  but  because  He  would  re- 
ceive them  at  no  other  hands  than  his  Father's.  And  now 
we  find  that  He  has  received  them  at  these  hands,  and 
they  are  his ;  his  to  impart  to  his  servants ;  and  that 
which  was  a  lying  boast  on  the  lips  of  the  usurper,  namely, 
that  he  could  give  them  to  whom  he  would,  is  a  truth  on 
the  lips  of  the  rightful  Lord.  Even  while  upon  earth  He 
could  say  to  his  own,  in  prophetic  anticipation  of  his 
completed  work  (and  the  words  constitute  a  very  remark- 
able parallel  to  these),  '  I  appoint  unto  you  a  kingdom,  as 
my  Father  hath  appointed  unto  Me  '  (Luke  xxii.  29;. 
Eichard  of  St.  Victor :  '  Magna  promissio,  magnum  donum : 
hoc  promittit,  hoc  tribuit,  quod  Ipse  accepit.' 

Ver.  28.  '■And  I  will  give  him  the  morning  star.' — 
Cf.  xxii.  16,  where  the  Lord  Himself  is  '  the  bright  and 
morning  star  '  (6  da-Ttjp  6  Xapbirpbs  6  irpwlvos) ;  and  the 
glorious  hymn  in  the  Ranw  of  Aristophanes  (343)  where 
Dionysus  is  described  as  vvKrspov  rsXsrrjs  (paxrcpopof 
ciGTrjp.  "Whether  He  is  meant  by  '  the  day-star '  (cpcoa- 
cpopos)  of  2  Pet.  i.  19,  may  be  a  question.  This  star,  as 
light-bringer,  herald  and  harbinger  of  day,  goes  by  many 
names ;  it  is  do-rrjp  scodivos  (Ecclus.  1.  6),  0  scoacpopos  6 
Trpw'l  avarsWcov  (Isai.  xiv.  12,  '  Lucifer,  son  of  the  morn- 
ing,' A.  V.)  ;  the  beauty  and  transcendant  brightness  of  it 
being  continually  celebrated  by  poets,  as  by  Homer  (II. 

Xxii.      3I7:      SGTTSpOS,     OS     KaXXlCTTOS     £V     OVpdVOO      %<TT(lTai 


160         EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.     [il.  29. 

acrrrjp) ;  by  Virgil  {[Mn.  viii.  389)  ;  by  Ovid  (Trist.  i.  3. 

71 :  *  cselo  nitidissimus  alto ')  ;  and  by  Milton  {Par.  Lost, 

iv.  605  : 

'  Hesperus,  that  led 
The  starry  host,  rode  brightest'). 

Thus  does  He  who  is  '  fairer  than  the  children  of  men  ' 
claim  all  that  is  fairest  and  loveliest  in  creation  as  the  faint 
shadow  and  image  of  his  perfections.  A  comparison  with 
that  other  passage  in  this  Book  referred  to  already  (xxii. 
16)  conclusively  proves  that  when  Christ  promises  that 
He  will  give  to  his  faithful  ones  the  morning  star,  He 
promises  that  He  will  give  to  them  Himself,  that  He  will 
impart  to  them  his  own  glory  and  a  share  in  his  own  royal 
dominion  (cf.  iii.  21);  for  the  star,  as  there  has  been 
already  occasion  to  observe,  is  evermore  the  symbol  of 
royalty  (Matt.  ii.  2),  being  therefore  linked  with  the 
sceptre  (Num.  xxiv.  17).  All  the  glory  of  the  world  shall 
end  in  being  the  glory  of  the  Church,  if  only  this  abide 
faithful  to  its  Lord.  Witsius  very  beautifully,  though 
placing  his  emphasis  not  precisely  as  I  have  done  :  '  Stella? 
matutina?  datio  significat,  I.  communionem  arctiorem  cum 
Christo,  penes  quem  fons  lucis  est  (Ps.  xxxvi.  10),  et  qui  se 
ipsum  stellam  illam  matutinam  et  splendidam  nuncupat 
(Eev.  xxii.  16).  II.  Quod  exinde  consequitur  lucis  et 
cognitionis  spiritualis  incrementum,  immo  consummatio- 
nem  sapientise  caelestis  (cf.  2  Pet.  i.  19).  III.  Gaudium 
gloriosum  et  ineffabile,  quod  frequenter  luci  comparatur 
(Esth.  viii.  16  ;  Job  xxx.  26;  Ps.  xcvii.  n),  et  imprimis  luci 
matutinas,  quse  quum  caliginosae  noctis  horrori  proxime 
succedat,  omnium  est  .gratissima  (Job  ii.  17  ;  2  Sam.  xxiii. 
4  ;  Jes.  viii.  20).' 

Ver.  29.  '  He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear  what  the 
Spirit  saith  unto  the  Churches.'' — Compare  ii.  7. 


V. 

EPISTLE   TO   THE   CHUECH   OF   SAEDIS. 

Eev.  iii.   1-6. 

Ver.  i.  '  And  unto  the  Angel  of  the  Church  in  Sard  is 
write.'' — Sardis.  now  Sart,  was  situated  on  the  side  of 
Mount  Tmolus,  upon  the  river  Pactolus.  The  ancient 
capital  of  Lydia  ('  Crcesi  regia  Sardis,'  Horace,  Ep.  i.  1 1.  2), 
it  maintained  a  certain  portion  of  its  old  dignity  and 
splendour  in  the  time  of  the  Persians,  being  the  residence 
of  the  Satrap,  and  had  not  wholly  lost  it  in  the  Koman 
period.  For  the  things  in  which  the  Sardians  gloried  the 
most,  see  Tacitus,  Annal.  iv.  55.  Melito,  whose  name 
we  hear  seldom  now,  but  the  titles  of  whose  works,  one.  of 
these  being  a  Commentary  on  the  Apocalypse,  inspire  us 
with  a  lively  regret  for  their  almost  entire  loss,  was  bishop 
of  Sardis  in  the  latter  half  of  the  second  century,  being 
the  only  illustrious  name  connected  with  this  Church 
(Routh,  Reliquiae  Sacrce,  vol.  i.  p.  109  sqq. ;  Neander, 
Kirch.  Gesch.  i.  3,  p.  1140;  Theol.  Stud,  und  Krit.  1838, 
p.  54;  Renan,  Marc-AurUe,  pp.  1 78-1 91).  Renan  only 
needed  a  little  more  material  to  work  on  to  have  made  a 
most  interesting  sketch  of  Melito's  life  and  work  ;  but  his 
materials  are  too  scanty,  and  even  his  ingenuity  fails  him 
here. 

M 


162  EPISTLES    TO    THE   SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.      [ill.    I. 

'  These  tilings  saith  He  that  hath  the  seven  Spirits  of 
God,  and  the  seven  stars' — There  has  been  already  occa- 
sion (i.  4)  to  speak  of  '  the  seven  Spirits  of  Godf  and  to 
claim  for  these  that  they  in  this  complex  can  set  forth  no 
other  than  the  one  Holy  Spirit,  the  third  Person  of  the 
ever-blessed  Trinity,  in  his  sevenfold  operation.  Augustine 
(In  Juan.  Tract.  122)  speaks  confidently  on  this  mat- 
ter :  '  Quid  in  Apocalypsi,  nonne  septem  spiritus  Dei  di- 
cuntur,  cum  sit  unus  atque  idem  Spiritus,  dividens  propria 
unicuique  prout  vult?  Sed  operatio  septenaria  unius  Spi- 
ritus sic  appellate,  est  ab  eodem  Spiritu,  qui  scribenti  ad- 
fiiit,  ut  septem  spiritus  dicerentur.'  It  only  remains  to 
consider  the  relation  in  which  Christ,  declaring  that  it 
is  He  "  that  hath  the  seven  Spirits  of  God,''  claims  to  stand 
to  these  seven.  How  entirely  He  4  hath '  them,  by  how 
intimate  a  right  they  are  his,  may  best  be  understood  by 
the  comparison  of  other  words,  presently  occurring  in  this 
same  Book  :  '  I  beheld  a  Lamb  as  it  had  been  slain,  hav- 
ing seven  horns  and  seven  eyes,  which  are  the  seven  Spirits 
of  God  sent  forth  into  all  the  earth  '  (v.  6  ;  cf.  Zech.  iii.  9  ; 
iv.  10).  It  needs  hardly  to  be  observed  how  important  a 
witness  this  verse,  when  the  right  interpretation  of  '  the 
seven  Spirits'  has  been  seized,  bears  to  the  faith  of  the 
Western  Church  on  that  great  point  upon  which  it  is  at 
issue  with  the  Eastern,  in  respect,  namely,  of  the  proces- 
sion of  the  Holy  Ghost.  He  is  indeed  the  Spirit  of  the 
Father  and  the  Son.  The  Son  '  hath  the  seven  Spirits,'' 
or  the  Spirit ;  not  because  He  has  received  ;  for  though  it 
is  quite  true  that  in  the  days  of  his  flesh  He  did  receive 
(Mart.  iii.  16  ;  John  iii.  34;  Heb.  i.  9),  yet  now  it  is  the 
Son  of  God,  a  giver  therefore,  and  not  a  receiver,  who  is 
speaking  ;  who  '  hath  '  the  Spirit ;  '  hath '  to  the  end  that 
He  may  impart  it.     If,  too,  the  Spirit  be  admitted  to  be 


III.    I.J  SARDIS,    KEV.    III.     1-6.  163 

God,  then  the  Son,  who  '  hath '  the  Spirit,  must  be  Grod 
likewise  ;  as  is  well  argued,  though  not  with  reference  to 
this  particular  verse,  by  Augustine  (De  Trin.  xv.  26)  : 
'  Quomodo  Deus  non  est,  qui  dat  Spiritum  Sanctum  ? 
Immo  quantus  Deus  est,  qui  dat  Deum  ?  '  There  is  a 
special  fitness  in  the  assumption  of  this  style  by  the  Lord 
in  his  address  to  the  Angel  of  the  Church  of  Sardis.  To 
him  and  to  his  people,  sunken  in  spiritual  deadness  and 
torpor,  the  lamp  of  faith  waning  and  almost  extinguished 
in  their  hearts,  the  Lord  presents  Himself  as  having  the 
fulness  of  all  spiritual  gifts  ;  able  therefore  to  revive,  able 
to  recover,  able  to  bring  back  from  the  very  gates  of  spi- 
ritual death  those  who  would  employ  the  little  last  re- 
maining strength  which  they  still  retained,  in  calling,  even 
when  thus  in  extremis,  upon  Him. 

In  the  words  which  follow,  '  and  the  seven  stars,' 
is  the  only  approach  to  a  repetition  in  the  titles  of  the 
Lord  throughout  all  the  Epistles.  He  has  already  pro- 
claimed Himself  as  '  He  that  holdeth  the  seven  stars  in  his 
right  hand '  (ii.  1),  and  now  He  is  '  He  that  hath  the  seven 
stars.'  But  the  repetition  is  only  apparent.  *  The  seven 
stay's '  are  brought  into  entirely  different  combinations 
there  and  here.  There  *  He  that  holdeth  the  seven  stars  ' 
is  set  forth  as  the  same  '  ivho  walketh  in  the  midst  of  the 
seven  golden  candlesticks  ; '  here  '  He  that  hath  the  seven 
Spirits  of  God '  hath  also  '  the  seven  stars'  But  since 
'  the  stars  are  the  Angels  of  the  seven  Churches  '  (i.  20), 
we  must  see  in  this  combination  a  hint  of  the  relation  be- 
tween Christ,  as  the  giver  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  as  the 
author  of  a  ministry  of  living  men  in  his  Church  ;  this 
ministry  of  theirs  resting  wholly  on  these  gifts,  even  as  the 
connexion  between  the  two  is  often  brought  out  in  the 
New  Testament.     The  locus  classicus  on  this  matter  is 

M   2 


164         EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.      [ill.   I. 

Ephes.  iv.  7-12  ;  but  see  further  John  xx.  22,  23  ;  Acts  i. 
8  ;  xx.  28.  His  are  the  golden  urns  from  which  these 
'  stars,''  if  they  would  at  all  shine,  must  continually  draw 
their  light.  They  need  not  fear  to  be  left  destitute  of  his 
manifold  gifts,  for  He  hath  the  Holy  Spirit  in  all  his 
sevenfold  operations,  wherewith  evermore  to  furnish  them 
to  the  full.  With  a  deep  insight  into  this  truth  the 
Church  orders  that  hymn,  '  Come,  Holy  Ghost,  our  souls 
inspire,'  to  be  sung  at  the  ordination  of  her  ministers. 
Cocceius  :  '  Per  hanc  descriptionem  Christus  vult  se  nosci 
caput  Ecclesise,  suppeditatorem  Spiritus  Sancti,  et  datorem 
Ministrorum.' 

'  /  knoiv  thy  ivorhs,  that  thou  hast  a  name  that  thou 
livest,  and  art  dead.'' — A  passage  which  at  once  suggests 
itself  as  parallel  to  this,  is  I  Tim.  v.  6,  where  St.  Paul,  of 
a  woman  living  in  pleasure,  says,  ^axra  rsdvrjics :  and  com- 
pare, in  the  same  sense,  Matt.  viii.  22  ;  Luke  xv.  24 ; 
Rom.  vi.  13  ;  Ephes.  ii.  I,  5  ;  Heb.  vi.  1  ;  ix.  14.  Bengel 
suggests,  and  earlier  commentators  had  anticipated  the 
suggestion,  that  the  name  of  this  Angel  may  have  con- 
tained some  assertion  of  life  ;  which  stood  in  lamentable 
contradiction  with  the  realities  of  death  which  the  Lord 
beheld  in  him  ;  a  name  therefore  which  in  his  case  was 
not  the  utterance  of  a  truth,  but  a  lie  ;  no  nomen  et  omen, 
but  the  reverse  ;  the  name  affirming  and  implying  that  he 
was  alive,  while  in  truth  he  was  dead  ;  Tiwcny.os  would  be 
such  a  name  in  Greek,  Vitalis  in  Latin.  Hengstenberg 
considers  the  suggestion  not  improbable  ;  Marckius  brands 
it  as  '  inanissima  conjectura ; '  even  as  it  appears  to  me 
exceedingly  improbable  and  far-fetched.  The  use  of 
'  name '  as  equivalent  to  fame,  reputation,  character,  is  as 
common  in  Greek  as  in  English.  The  fact  that  Sardis 
should  have  had  this  name  and  fame  of  life  is  very  start- 


III.  2.]  SARDIS,    REV.    III.    1-6.  165 

ling,  and  may  well  summon  each  and  all  to  an  earnest 
heart-searching.  There  would  be  nothing  nearly  so  start- 
ling, if  Sardis  had  been  counted  by  the  Churches  round 
about  as  a  Church  fallen  into  lethargy  and  hastening  to 
decay  and  death.  But  there  is  no  appearance  of  the  kind. 
Laodicea,  we  know,  deceived  herself  (iii.  17),  but  nothing 
implies  that  she  deceived  others ;  counted  herself  rich, 
when  she  was  most  poor  ;  but  there  is  no  hint  to  make 
us  think  that  others  counted  her  rich  as  well ;  but  Sardis 
had  a  name  that  she  lived,  was  well  spoken  of,  regarded, 
we  may  well  believe,  as  a  model  Church,  can  therefore  have 
been  by  no  means  wanting  in  the  outer  manifestations  of 
spiritual  life ;  while  yet  all  these  shows  of  life  did  but  con- 
ceal the  realities  of  death ;  so  He,  before  whose  eyes  of 
fire  no  falsehood  can  stand,  too  surely  saw. 

Ver.  2.  *  Be  ivatchful,  and  strengthen  the  things  which 
remain,  that  are  ready  to  dieJ — Translate  rather,  '  Become 
watchful,''  or,  if  this  be  not  too  familiar,  '  wake  up  '  (jlvov 
yprjyopwv).  The  passages  are  many  in  which  activity 
or  vigilance  of  spirit  is  set  forth  under  this  same  image, 
often  by  this  very  word  (Matt.  xxiv.  42,  43  ;  xxv.  1 3  ; 
xxvi.  41  ;  Mark  xiii.  37;  Acts  xx.  31  ;  1  Cor.  xv.  34; 
xvi.  13;  1  Thess.  v.  6 ;  1  Pet.  v.  8;  Rev.  xvi.  15).  Not  a 
few  of  our  commentators  are  agreed  that  to,  \otira  here 
should  be  rendered  not  '  the  things  ivhich  remain '  ('  qua? 
hue  usque  tibi  mansere  virtutes,'  Ewald) ;  but  rather, '  those 
ivhich  remain,''  or  *  the  rest '  (  =  rous  Xonrovs,  or  tovs  tcara- 
\olttovs,  Jer.  xxiii.  3),  as  many  as  are  not  yet  dead,  how- 
ever they  may  be  now  at  the  point  of  death.  We  gather 
from  these  words  that,  with  few  exceptions,  the  entire 
Sardian  Church  shared  in  this  deadness  of  its  chief  pastor  ; 
while  he,  in  seeking  to  revive  their  life,  to  chafe  their 
dead  limbs,  would  best  revive  and  recover  the  warmth  of  his 


166         EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.      [ill.  2. 

own  (Ps.  K.  1 3).  Their  present  abject  and  fallen  condition 
is  excellently  expressed  by  the  use  of  the  neuter  (cf.  1  Cor. 
i.  27  ;  Ezek.  xxxiv.  4  ;  Zech.  xi.  9)  ;  nor  indeed  need  the 
use  of  it  surprise  us,  even  without  the  sufficient  explanation 
which  this  supplies.  It  is  not  here  only  that  <jrqpl%eiv  is 
employed  in  this  sense  of  establishing,  confirming  in  the 
grace  of  God  (see  Luke  xxii.  32  ;  Kom.  i.  1 1  ;  2  Thess.  iii. 
3  ;  1  Pet.  v.  10);  fisficuovv  too  often  occurs  in  the  same 
sense  (1  Cor.  i.  8  ;  2  Cor.  i.  21  ;  Col.  ii.  7);  Os/xsXlovu 
(Eph.  iii.  17;  Col.  i.  23  ;  1  Pet.  v.  10),  and  p^ovv 
(Ephes.  iii.  18  ;  Col.  ii.  7)  as  well.  This  command  to 
the  Sardian  Angel  implies  that  the  vs/cpbs  el  of  ver.  1 
must  not  be  taken  in  all  its  force.  The  dead  can  bury 
their  dead,  but  this  is  all  which  such  can  do  ;  they  must 
be  themselves  alive,  who  are  bidden  to  impart  a  savour  of 
life  to  others.  The  fire  of  grace  may  burn  very  low  in 
their  hearts  ;  but  it  cannot  be  quite  extinguished  ;  for 
how  in  that  case  could  they  kindle  any  flame  in  the 
hearts  of  others  ? 

'  For  I  have  not  found  thy  ivories  'perfect  before  God? — 
The  word  here  employed  is  not  that  which  we  commonly 
render  *  perfect ; '  not  rsXsia,  but  irsirX^pwfxiva  ;  so  that 
the  Lord  contemplates  the  works  prepared  and  appointed 
in  the  providence  of  God  for  the  faithful  man  to  do  as  a 
definite  sphere  (Ephes.  ii.  10),  which  it  was  his  duty  and 
his  calling  to  have  fulfilled  or  filled  to  the  full, — the  same 
image  habitually  underlying  the  uses  of  irXrjpovv  and  7rX?;- 
povadai  (Matt.  iii.  15  ;  Eom.  xiii.  8).  This  sphere  of  ap- 
pointed duties  the  Sardian  Angel  had  not  fulfilled  ;  not,  at 
least,  '  before  God ; '  for  on  these  last  words  the  emphasis 
must  be  laid.  Before  himself  and  fellow  men  his  works 
may  very  likely  have  been  'perfect;'  indeed,  we  are  ex- 
pressly told  that  he  had  '  a  name  to  live '  (ver.  1 )  ;  for  we 


III.   2.]  SARDIS,    REV.    III.    1-6.  167 

all  very  easily  satisfy  ourselves  concerning  our  own  works, 
neither  is  it  very  difficult  to  satisfy  the  world  concerning 
them.  But  to  have  our  works  '  perfect  before  God,''  to 
fill  up  the  measure  of  those  that  He  has  ordained,  so  to 
have  them  irBifKrjpwiJi.iva,  that  is  quite  a  different  and  a 
far  harder  thing.  Very  striking  and  very  searching  words 
on  this  matter  are  those  of  one  whose  own  devotion  to  his 
work  gave  him  a  right  to  speak — Juan  d'Avila,  the  apostle 
of  Andalusia :  '  Tot  tantaaque  sunt  pastorum  obligationes, 
ut  qui  vel  tertiam  earum  partem  reipsa  impleret,  sanctus 
ab  hominibus  haberetur  ;  cum  tarn  en  eo  solo  contentus, 
gehennam  non  esset  evasurus  ; '  and  few,  who  have  read, 
will  forget  some  words  of  Cecil  very  nearly  to  the  same 
effect — for  holy  men  have  in  their  holiness  a  marvellous 
bond  of  union,  when  everything  else  seems  to  separate 
them, — that  a  minister  of  Christ  is  very  often  in  highest 
honour  with  men  for  the  performance  of  one  half  of  his 
work,  while  Grod  is  regarding  him  with  displeasure  for  the 
neglect  of  the  other  half. 

It  is  a  very  instructive  fact,  that  everywhere  else,  in 
the  Epistles  to  all  the  Churches  save  only  to  this  and  to 
Laodicea,  there  is  mention  of  some  burden  to  be  borne,  of 
a  conflict  either  with  foes  within  the  Church  or  without, 
or  with  both.  Only  in  these  two  nothing  of  the  kind 
occurs.  The  exceptions  are  very  significant.  There  is  no 
need  to  assume  that  the  Church  at  Sardis  had  openly 
coalesced  and  joined  hands  with  the  heathen  world  ;  this 
would  in  those  days  have  been  impossible ;  nor  yet  that  it 
had  renounced  the  appearance  of  opposition  to  the  world. 
But  the  two  tacitly  understood  one  another.  This  Church 
had  nothing  of  the  spirit  of  the  Two  Witnesses,  of  whom  we 
read  that  they  '  tormented  them  that  dwelt  on  the  earth  ' 
(Rev.  xi.  io),  tormented  them,  that  is,  by  their  witness 


168  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.      [ill.  3. 

for  a  God  of  truth  and  holiness  and  love,  whom  the  dwel- 
lers on  the  earth  were  determined  not  to  know.  There 
was  nothing  in  it  to  provoke  from  the  heathen,  in  the 
midst  of  whom  it  sojourned,  any  such  words  as  those  which 
the  author  of  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon  puts  into  the  mouth 
of  the  ungodly  men  (ii.  12-16).  The  world  could  endure 
it,  because  it  too  was  a  world.  On  the  not  less  significant 
absence  of  all  heretical  perversions  of  the  truth  in  these 
Churches,  there  will  be  something  to  say  when  we  have 
reached  the  Epistle  to  Laodicea. 

Ver.  3.  '  Remember  therefore  how  thou  hast  received 
cud  heard,  and  holdfast,  a.  ad,  repent.'' — This  c  hoiv  '  is  by 
some  interpreters  referred  to  the  manner  of  their  former 
receiving,  and  by  some  to  the  'matter  which  they  formerly 
received  and  heard.  Now  if  the  character  of  the  charge 
which  the  Lord  is  making  against  Sardis  were  that  of 
holding,  or  even  tolerating,  any  erroneous  doctrine,  con- 
trary to  *  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints,'  I  should 
certainly  side  with  them  who  referred  this  '  how  '  to  the 
matter,  to  the  form  of  sound  words  which  they  had  ac- 
cepted at  the  first,  and  to  which  Christ  would  recall  them 
now ;  I  should  see  in  these  words  a  parallel  to  such  pas- 
sages as  Col.  ii.  6 ;  1  Tim.  vi.  20;  2  Tim.  i.  14.  But  the 
charge  against  Sardis  is  not  a  perverse  holding  of  untruth, 
but  a  heartless  holding  of  the  truth  ;  and  therefore  I  can- 
not but  think  that  the  Lord  is  graciously  reminding  her  of 
the  heartiness,  the  zeal,  the  love  with  which  she  received 
this  truth  at  the  first.  Then,  no  doubt,  there  was  great 
joy  in  that  city  (Acts  viii.  8) ;  but  now  all  was  changed  ; 
compare  St.  Paul's  words,  I  Thess.  i.  5-10,  where,  however, 
there  is  no  such  painful  comparison  to  draw  between  the 
present  and  the  past  of  his  Thessalonian  converts ;  also 
the  same  Apostle  to  the  Galatians  (iv.  13-15),  a  completer 


III.   3.]  SARDIS,    REV.    III.     1-6.  169 

parallel  to  the  words  before  us,  seems  that  St.  Paul  is  con- 
trasting there  their  present  disaffection  and  coldness  of 
heart  toward  him  and  the  Gospel  of  the  grace  of  God 
which  he  brought,  with  the  zeal  and  warmth  and  love 
wherewith  they  first  received  these  glad  tidings  at  his 
lips,  the  '  hotv '  of  their  present  holding  with  the  '  how  ' 
of  their  past  receiving.  But  this  '  how  thou  hast  re- 
ceived'' refers  to  something  more,  besides  their  joyful 
loving  acceptance  of  the  truth  in  times  past.  They  are 
bidden,  no  doubt,  in  these  words  to  remember  as  well 
'  hoiu '  that  truth  itself  came,  that  they  might  receive  it ; 
with  what  demonstration  of  the  Spirit  and  of  power  from 
the  lips  of" those  ambassadors  of  Christ,  whoever  they  may 
have  been,  who  first  brought  it  to  Sardis  ;  how  holily,  how 
unblamably  these  went  in  and  out  among  them.  And 
remembering  all  this,  let  them  not  guiltily  suffer  that  to 
go,  which  came  so  commended  to  them,  which  was  so 
joyfully  embraced  by  them,  but  rather  hold  it  with  a  firm 
grasp.  '  Prize  now ' — this  is  what  the  warning  word  of  a 
gracious  Lord  would  say — '  that  which  thou  didst  once 
prize  at  so  high  a  rate,  which  came  to  thee  so  evidently  as 
a  gift  from  God,  accompanied  with  the  Holy  Ghost  from 
heaven ;  and  repent  thee  of  all  the  coldness  and  heartless- 
ness  wherewith  thou  hast  come  to  regard  it'  (2  Pet.  i.  9). 
'  If  therefore  thou  shalt  not  watch,  I  will  come  on  thee 
as  a  thief,  and  thou  shalt  not  know  what  hour  I  will  come 
upon  thee.7 — Augustine  has  pointedly  said,  '  Latet  ultimus 
dies,  ut  observetur  omnis  dies.'  But  should  this  Angel 
refuse  thus  to  observe  and  watch,  the  Lord  takes  up  against 
him  and  repeats  here  his  own  words,  twice  spoken,  with 
slight  variations,  in  the  days  of  his  ministry  on  earth 
(Matt.  xxiv.  42,  43  ;  Luke  xii.  39,  40)  ;  words  which  must 
have  profoundly  impressed  themselves  on  those  who  heard 


]  70         EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHDKCHES    IN    ASIA.      [ill.  4. 

them,  and  011  the  early  Church  in  general,  as  is  evidenced 
from  the  frequent  reference  to  them  in  other  parts  of  the 
New  Testament ;  as  by  St.  Paul  (1  Thess.  v.  2,  4)  ;  by  St. 
Peter  (2  Ep.  iii.  10) ;  and  by  St.  John  (Kev.  xvi.  15).  It  is 
the  stealthiness  of  Christ's  advent,  and  thus  his  coming 
upon  the  secure  sinner  when  least  He  is  looked  for,  which 
is  the  point  of  the  comparison,  not  the  violent  taking  away 
of  the  worldling's  goods.  In  that  case,  He  would  be  the 
~kr](TTr)$  rather  than  the  kK.ettttjs^  the  robber,  and  not  the 
thief  which  here  He  is  (cf.  Matt.  xxiv.  36-51  ;  xxv.  13). 
That  grand  ancient  proverb,  which  ascribed  to  the  aveng- 
ing deities  feet  shod  with  wool,  '  Dii  laneos  habent  pedes,' 
awfully  expressed  the  sense  which  the  heathen  had  of  this 
noiseless  approach  of  the  divine  judgments,  of  Justice 
(ottlgOottovs  Aikt),  as  one  called  her  of  old),  oftentimes 
so  near  at  the  very  moment  when  thought  so  remote. 
So  too  in  that  sublime  fragment  of  some  Greek  tragic 
poet,  the  very  turn  of  the  phrase  in  the  conclusion  re- 
minds one  of  these  words  of  Christ : 

donels  ra  Qtav  <tv  tjvvera  viKtjcrai  nore, 

Kcu  Trjv  AiKrjv  ttov  fidicfj   ancoKiaaai  fiporav ; 

tj  8'  fyyvs  eerriv,  ov%  opwpevq  8   opa, 

ov  xpr]  Ko\d£eiv  t,  oidev  dXX'  ovk  oiaOa  <xv 

OTTurav  a<pvw  poXovaa  StoXe'cr?;  kcikovs. 

Ver.  4.  '  Thou  hast  a  few  names  even  in  Sardis  which 
have  not  defiled  their  garments.'' — 'But'  (aWa),  with 
which  this  verse  begins,  and  about  whose  right  to  a  place  in 
the  text  there  is  not  a  question,  has  been  carelessly  omitted 
here  by  our  Authorized  translators.  '  Names  '  cannot  here 
be  slightingly  used,  any  more  than  at  Acts  i.  1 5  ;  cf.  Rev. 
xi.  13  ;  Num.  i.  2,  18,  20;  iii.  40,  43  ;  xxvi.  53 ;  it  must 
be  simply  equivalent  to  persons  ; — or  there  may  be  a  tacit 
reference  to  ver.  1 .     The  Angel  of  Sardis  had  a  '  name ' 


III.  4.]  SARDIS,    REV.    III.    1-6.  171 

that  he  lived,  and  was  dead ;  but  there  were  some  there, 
however  few,  whose  '  names  '  were  more  than  names  ;  who 
had  not  merely  the  form  of  godliness  (2  Tim.  iii.  5  ; 
fxopcfxoa-is  there  =  ovofia  here),  but  the  power.  It  is  very 
beautiful  to  observe  the  gracious  manner  in  which  the 
Lord  recognizes  and  sets  his  seal  of  allowance  to  the  good 
which  anywhere  He  finds.  Abraham  said,  '  to  slay  the 
righteous  with  the  wicked,  that  be  far  from  Thee '  (Gen. 
xviii.  25) ;  but  it  is  far  from  Him  no  less  even  to  seem  to 
include  the  righteous  and  the  wicked  in  a  common  blame. 
He,  the  same  who  delivered  Noah,  a  preacher  of  righteous- 
ness, from  the  destruction  of  the  old  world,  who  drew  just 
Lot  out  of  Sodom,  who  could  single  out  from  the  whole 
wicked  family  of  Jeroboam,  and  take  from  the  evil  to  come, 
Abijah,  '  because  in  him  there  was  found  some  good  thing 
toward  the  Lord  God  of  Israel '  ( 1  Kin.  xiv.  1 3),  beholds  the 
few  faithful  in  Sardis  that  had  not  defiled  their  garments, 
will  not  suffer  them  to  suppose  that  they  are  overlooked 
by  Him,  or  that  his  condemnation  was  intended  to  include 
them.  The '  garments  '  which  these  are  thus  declared  not 
to  have  '  defiled,''  are  not  to  be  identified  with  the  '  white 
raiment '  of  the  next  verse,  nor  with  the  '  white  '  in  the 
next  clause  of  this.  The  '  white  raiment '  there  is  the 
garment  of  glory, — this  the  garment  of  grace ;  that  in- 
capable of  receiving  a  stain,  being  part  of  an  inheritance 
which  in  all  its  parts  is  afxlavros  ( I  Pet.  i.  4) ;  this  one 
which  ctttiXol  (Ephes.  v.  27  ;  Jam.  iii.  6),  /xida/xara  (2  Pet. 
ii.  20),  fioXva-fioL  (2  Cor.  vii.  1),  can  only  too  easily  deform  ; 
that  keeping  itself,  for  nothing  that  defileth  enters  where 
it  is  worn  (Rev.  xxi.  27) ;  this  needing  to  be  kept  above 
all  keeping  (Rev.  xvi.  15),  if  the  glory  and  brightness  are 
not  quite  to  depart  from  it.  This,  itself  a  wedding  gar- 
ment (Matt.  xxii.  11,  12),  but  not  necessarily  identical  with 


172         EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.      [ill.  4. 

'  the  fine  linen,  clean  and  white,  the  righteousness  of  saints' 
(Rev.  xix.  8),  is  put  on  at  our  entrance  by  baptism  into 
the  kingdom  of  grace ;  that  at  our  entrance  by  the  resur- 
rection, if  not  before,  into  the  kingdom  of  glory. 

There  were  those  at  Sardis,  a  little  remnant,  who  had 
thus  kept  their  garments  ;  or,  according  to  his  testimony 
'  who  seeth  in  secret,'  had  '  not  defiled  '  them.    Absolutely, 
and  in  the  highest  sense,  no  one  has  thus  kept  his  gar- 
ments, save  only  He  who  received  more  than  a  garment 
of  grace  at  baptism  ;  having  been  sanctified  in  his  mother's 
womb,  and  thus  a  '  holy  thing'  (Luke  i.  35),  not  from  his 
birth  only,  but  from  his  conception.     Yet,  in  a  secondary 
sense,  and  as  compared  with  too  many,  there  are  those 
who  have  not  defiled  these  garments  ;  or,  in  the  equivalent 
language  of  St.  James,  '  kept  themselves  unspotted  from 
the  world '  (i.  27).     These  are  they  who,  if  they  do  con- 
tract any  defilement  upon  these,  yet  suffer  it  not  to  harden 
or  become  ingrained  in  their  garments  ;  but  go  at  once  to 
the  fountain  open  for  all   uncleanness,  wash   those  gar- 
ments  and  make  them  white  again  in  the  blood  of  the 
Lamb  (Rev.  vii.   14). — MoXvvslv  differs  from  /j,calvsiv,  as 
'  inquinare '  from  '  maculare '  (see  my  Synonyms  of  the 
New  Testament,  §31),  being  not  so  much  to  stain  with 
colour  as  to  besmear  or  besmirch  with  filth  (Cant.  v.  3  ; 
Gren.  xxxvii.  30).     Hengstenberg  is  convinced  we  are  to 
find  in  this  ^taivuv  (=  '  sordidare '),  a  covert  allusion  to 
the  name  of  this  city,  Sardis  or  Sardes,  which  is  so  near 
to  sordes  \  Christ  saying  that,  with  the    few   exceptions 
which  He  has  made,  Sardes  is  become  sordes  ('Sardes  ist 
sordes  geworden ').    But  a  Latin  pun,  and  such  a  wretched 
one,  in  the  Apocalypse  !    A  Hebrew,  or  even  a  Greek,  play 
on  words,  is  quite  conceivable  there.     Such  an  one  lies 
in  the  name  '  Nicolaitans,'  given  to  the  libertines  of  the 


III.  4.]  SARDIS,    REV.    III.    1-6.  173 

apostolic  period  (see  ii.  6).  A  deep  sense  of  the  signifi- 
cance of  words  and  names  will  often  find  its  utterance  in 
such ;  but  a  Latin  pun,  and  that  with  no  slightest  hint 
to  set  any  looking  for  it,  is  about  the  unlikeliest  thing 
in  the  world  to  encounter  there.  Not  a  few  expositors, 
bringing  this  passage  into  connexion  with  Jude  23,  find 
reference  in  both  to  those  ceremonial  uncleannesses  spoken 
of  in  Lev.  xv.  and  elsewhere,  which  so  very  easily  may  be 
moral  uncleannesses  as  well.  I  do  not  think  this  to  lie 
in  the  words  ;  but  that  every  defilement  (fio\vo-/jLos)  of  the 
flesh  and  spirit  (2  Cor.  vii.  1)  is  here  intended. 

'  And  they  shall  walk  with  Me  in  white :  for  they  are 
worthy? — Here  are  many  promises  in  one.  The  promise 
of  life,  for  only  the  quick  or  living  walk,  the  dead  are 
still ;  of  liberty,  for  the  free  walk,  and  not  the  fast  bound  ; 
of  beauty,  for  the  grace  and  dignity  of  long  garments  only 
appears  to  the  full,  when  the  wearer  of  them  is  in  motion  ; 
therefore  is  it  that  'the  Scribes  desire  to  walk  in  long 
robes '  (Luke  xx.  46).  And  all  this  has  its  corresponding 
truth  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  God's  saints  and  ser- 
vants here  in  this  world  of  grace,  and  no  doubt  also  in 
that  world  of  glory,  are  best  seen,  and  most  to  be  admired, 
when  they  are  engaged  in  active  services  of  love.  And 
such  they  shall  have.  They  shall  walk  (cf.  Zecb.  iii.  7) 
with  their  Lord,  shall  be  glorified  together  with  Him 
(Rom.  viii.  17;  John  xvii.  24);  his  servants  shall  serve 
Him  (Rev.  xxii.  3).  And  why?  i  for  they  are  worthy? 
God  does  not  refuse  to  ascribe  a  worthiness  to  men  (Matt. 
x.  10,  11;  xxii.  8  ;  Luke  xx.  35  ;  xxi.  36;  2  Thess.  i.  5, 
11  ;  Wisd.  iii.  5);  although  this  worthiness  must  ever  be 
contemplated  as  relative,  and  not  absolute  ;  as  resting  on 
Grod's  free  acceptance  of  an  obedience  which  would  fain  be 
perfect,  even  while  it  actually  is  most  imperfect,  and  on 


174         EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.      [ill.  5. 

this  his  acceptance  and  allowance  of  it  alone.  There  are 
those  who  '  are  worthy '  according  to  the  rules  which  free 
grace  has  laid  down,  although  there  are  none  worthy 
according  to  those  conditions  which  strict  justice  might 
have  laid  down;  and  Cfod  is  'faithful'  (1  John  i.  9),  in 
that  having  set  forth  these  conditions  of  grace,  He  will 
observe  and  abide  by  them.  Vitringa  well :  '  Dignitas 
hie  notat  proportionem  et  congruentiam,  quae  erat  inter 
statum  gratiae  quo  fuerant  in  his  terris,  et  glorias  quara 
Dominus  ipsis  decreverat,  wstimandam  ex  ipsa  lege 
gratiaz.''  Compare  Bishop  Bull's  Sermon,  The  worthiness 
of  the  partakers  of  future  glory  (Works,  vol.  i.  p.  216). 
There  is  another  very  fearful  *  they  are  worthy '  in  this 
Book  (xvi.  6),  where  no  such  observation  would  need  to  be 
made,  where  no  such  mitigation  of  the  word's  force  would 
be  required  ;  for  see  the  antithesis  between  death  as  the 
wages  (otycovia)  of  sin,  and  eternal  life  as  the  gift 
{^dpLa-^a)  of  God,  Kom.  vi.  23. 

Yer.  5.  '  He  that  overcometh,  the  same  shall  be  clothed 
in  white  raiment? — A  repetition  of  the  promise  of  the 
verse  preceding.  They  who  have  kept  their  garments 
here,  as  a  few  in  Sardis  to  whom  the  Lord  bears  testi- 
mony (ver.  4)  had  done,  shall  have  brighter  garments 
given  to  them  there,  '  vestes  vita?,'  as  in  the  book  of 
Enoch  they  are  called.  Of  white  as  the  colour  of  heaven, 
and  of  white  garments  as  shining  garments  of  glory, 
there  has  been  already  occasion  to  speak;  see  on  ii.  17. 
Add  the  words  of  Grrotius :  '  Xsv/ca  Ijxaria,  hoc  loco  et 
infra,  iii.  i8;iv.  4,  sunt  vestes  coruscantes,  et  sic  sume 
<TTo\as  Xzvkcls,  infra,  vi.  II  ;  vii.  9,  13.'  It  is  not  in 
Scripture  merely  that  white  is  thus  presented  as  the 
colour  of  heaven,  and  white  garments  the  suitable  inves- 
titure of  the  blessed  inhabitants  of  heaven.     The  same, 


HI.   5.]  SARDIS,    REV.    III.     1-6.  175 

out  of  a  deep  inborn  symbolism,  repeats  itself  in  heathen 
antiquity  as  well ;  thus  see  Plato,  Legg.  xii.  956;  Cicero, 
Legg.  ii.  18;  Virgil,  Mm.  vi.  665  ;  Ovid,  Fast.  iii.  363  ; 
iv.  419,  420;  Metam.  x.  432.  As  '  raiment''  in  the 
literal  sense  of  the  word  is  inconceivable  in  heaven,  we 
must  understand  by  it  here,  that  clothing  with  light  as 
with  a  garment,  which  shall  be  theirs  who  shall  then 
''shine  out  (^sic\diJi,^r  overt,  Matt.  xiii.  43;  cf.  Dan.  xii.  3) 
as  the  sun  in  the  kingdom  of  their  Father ; '  this  vesture 
of  light  being  indeed  their  raiment,  and  yet  for  all  this 
not  something  external  to  them,  but  the  expression  out- 
wardly of  all  which  now  inwardly  they  are.  The  glorified 
body,  defecated  of  all  its  dregs  and  impurities,  whatever 
remained  of  these  having  been  precipitated  in  death,  and 
now  a  body  transformed  and  transfigured  into  the  likeness 
of  Christ's  body  (Phil.  iii.  2 1 ),  this  aeo/xa  sirovpdviov,  as 
contrasted  with  the  aoyfxa  stti^ziov  and  ^olkov  which  we 
now  wear  (1  Cor.  xv.  40,  47),  with  its  robe,  atmosphere, 
and  effluence  of  light,  is  itself,  I  believe,  the  '  white  rai- 
menV  which  Christ  here  promises  to  his  redeemed. 
There  are  some  beautiful  observations  on  this  matter  in 
Delitzsch,  Bibl.  Psychologie,  p.  374. 

I  have  noted  already  (see  ii.  10)  the  frequency,  as  it 
appears  to  me,  of  the  scoffing  side-glances  at  Scripture 
which  occur  in  the  writings  of  Lucian.  It  would  be  curious 
to  know  whether  he  intended  a  mock  at  this  glorious  hope 
of  the  Christian,  when,  relating  the  tales  current  about 
Peregrinus,  and  the  fiery  passage  of  this  charlatan  in  the 
fashion  of  Empedocles  to  a  mock  immortality,  he  makes 
one  of  this  impostor's  followers  assure  his  hearers  that 
shortly  after  the  disappearance  of  Peregrinus  in  his  funeral 
pile,  he  beheld  him  walking  in  a  white  garment,  shining, 
and    crowned  with  a  garland   of  olive  (sv  Xsvkj)  ia6P]Ti, 


176         EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.     [ill.   5. 

7T£pi7raTovvTa,  cpaiSpov,  kotlvw  ts  icrTSfifisvov,  De  Mort. 
Pereg.  40).  The  coincidence  of  one  or  two  such  passages 
we  might  attribute  to  accident ;  but  they  recur  too  often 
for  any  such  explanation.  See  a  very  good  article  by 
Planck,  Lucian  und  das  Christenthum,  in  the  Theol. 
Stud,  und  Krit.  185 1,  pp.  826-902;  where  also  there 
are  references  to  some  earlier  essays  on  the  same  subject. 
'  And  I  will  not  blot  out  his  name  out  of  the  book  of 
life.'' — It  is  much  more  than  a  simple  negative  ;  ov  /x?; 
E%a\£ityc0  =  i  nequaquam  delebo.'  Our  Translators  have 
elsewhere  given  to  this  ov  /xrj  its  full  force  ;  thus  John  vi. 
37  ('in  no  wise');  viii.  51  ;  xiii.  8  ('never');  but  this 
only  too  rarely  ;  for  see  Luke  xxi.  33  ;  Rev.  ii.  1 1.  We 
read  of  a  '  book  of  life,'  Exod.  xxxii.  32,  33  ;  Ps.lxix.  29  ; 
Dan.  xii.  I  ;  Phil.  iv.  3  ;  Rev.  xiii.  8  ;  xx.  15  ;  xxi.  27  ;  of 
those  'written  among  the  living'  (ypafyivrss  els  ^(oi'-jv)  of 
Isai.  iv.  3  ;  and  resting  on  the  same  image,  our  Lord 
speaks  of  some  whose  names  '  are  written  in  heaven ' 
(Luke  x.  20;  cf.  Heb.  xii.  23).  These  are  the  rsray/xsvot 
els  ^corjv  of  Acts  xiii.  48.  Famous  cities  of  this  world, 
great  Italian  above  all,  Florence  and  Genoa  for  example, 
have  had,  or  still  may  have,  their  '  book  of  gold  '  (libro 
d'oro),  in  which  to  be  written  has  implied  participation  in 
all  the  privileges,  rights,  honours,  and  advantages  which 
that  city  could  confer ;  while  to  be  blotted  out  from  this 
book  would  mark  a  man  as  infamous,  stript  of  all  the 
honours  and  dignities  which  once  he  called  his  own.  These 
at  their  best  are  but  weak  earthly  copies  of  the  glory  or  the 
shame  which  are  the  portion  of  those  who  bear  themselves 
worthily  or  unworthily  of  that  heavenly  polity  to  which 
they  have  been  called.  The  intimation  here  given  that 
there  are  names,  which,  having  been'once  written  in  that 
book,  might  yet  be  afterwards  blotted  out  of  it,  has  proved 


III.   5.]  SARDIS,    REV.    III.    1-6.  177 

not  a  little  perplexing  to  followers  of  Augustine,  who  will 
not  be  content  in  this  mystery  of  predestination  with 
having  some  Scriptures  on  their  side,  and  leaving  the 
reconciliation  of  these  and  those  others  which  are  appa- 
rently contradictory  to  these,  for  another  and  a  higher 
state  of  knowledge ;  but  who  would  fain  make  it  appear 
that  all  Scripture  is  with  them  (see  Turretine,  De  Libro 
Vital,  pp.  9-22).  If  this  passage  had  stood  by  itself,  it 
would  not  have  been  hard  for  them  to  answer,  as  indeed 
they  do  answer,  that  all  who  '  are  written  in  the  book  of 
life'  overcome  ;  therefore  that  this  promise  holds  good  for 
them  all,  and  none  who  are  therein  written  have  their 
names  blotted  out  from  this  book.  Bat,  unfortunately, 
beside  and  behind  this  passage,  there  are  others,  not  capa- 
ble of  this  solution,  and  principally  Exod.  xxxii.  32  ;  Ps. 
lxix.  29;  Eev.  xxii.  19.  How  much  violence  they  are 
obliged  to  use,  before  they  can  compel  such  Scriptures  ;is 
these  within  the  limits  of  their  system,  may  be  judged 
from  Augustine's  own  comment  on  the  second  of  them 
(  Enarr.  in  Ps.  lxix.):  '  Deleantur  de  libro  viventium,  et 
cum  justis  non  scribantur,  non  sic  accipere  debemus  quod 
quemquam  Deus  scribat  in  libro  vitae,  et  deleat  ilium  ;  si 
homo  dixit,  Quod  scripsi  scripsi,  Deus  quemquam  scribit 
et  delet  ?  .  .  .  .  Isti  ergo  quomodo  inde  delentur,  ubi 
nunquam  scriptisunt?  Hoc  dictum  est  secundum  spem 
ipsorum,  quia  ibi  se  scriptos  putabunt.  Quid  sit,  dele- 
antur de  libro  vitae  ?  Et  ipsis  constet  non  illos  ibi  esse.' 
The  warning  is  surely  an  instructive  one,  when  so  holy 
and  truth-loving  a  man  as  Augustine  can,  in  favour  of  a 
foregone  conclusion,  thus  violently  deal  with  a  word  of 
God's. 

-  But  I  will  confess  his  name  before  my  Father,  and 
before  his  Angels.' — Christ  had  spoken  when  on  earth  of 

N 


178         EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN   ASIA.      [ill.   5. 

confessing  those  who  confessed  Him,  before  his  Father  in 
heaven  (Matt.  x.  32,  33),  and  before  the  Angels  (Luke 
xii.  8, 9).  That  '  in  heaven  '  is  of  course  omitted  now,  for 
there  is  no  longer  any  contrast  between  the  Father  in 
heaven  and  the  Son  on  earth;  but  the  two  confessions, 
which  were  separated  before,  appear  united  now  ;  and  in 
general  we  may  observe  of  this  Epistle  that  in  great  part 
it  is  woven  together  of  sayings  which  the  Lord  had  already 
uttered  once  or  oftener  in  the  days  during  which  He 
pitched  his  tabernacle  among  men ;  He  now  setting  his 
seal  from  heaven  upon  his  words  uttered  on  earth.  On 
these  costly  mosaic-works  of  Scripture,  which  in  our  care- 
less reading  of  it  we  so  often  overlook,  there  are  some 
beautiful  remarks  in  Delitzsch,  Commentar  uber  den 
Psalter,  on  Ps.  cxxxv. ;  which  Psalm  is  itself,  as  are  also 
Psalms  xcvii.  xcviii.  notable  examples  of  the  skill  of  a 
divine  Artificer  herein. 

Nor  will  it  be  inopportune  to  observe  further  what 
signal  internal  evidence  this  same  fact,  analysed  a  little 
closer,  will  supply  on  another  point;  upon  this,  namely, 
that  these  Epistles  are  what  they  profess  themselves  to  be, 
namely  Epistles  directly,  and  in  their  form  no  less  than 
their  substance,  from  Christ  the  Lord.  With  no  unworthy 
thought  about  their  inspiration,  we  might  very  easily  come 
to  regard  them  as  having  passed  through  the  mind  of  St. 
John,  and  having  been  recast,  in  their  form  at  least,  in  the 
passage.  What  they  would  have  been,  if  they  had  under- 
gone any  such  modifying  process  as  this,  St.  John's  own 
Epistles  tell  us.  But  nothing  of  the  kind  has  found  place. 
It  is  the  Lord  Himself  who  speaks  throughout ;  who  not 
merely  suggests  the  thoughts,  but  dictates  the  words.  That 
St.  .lohn  is  here  merely  his  organ,  that  the  Master  is 
speaking  and  not  the  servant,  is,  I  say,  remarkably  attested 


III.  6.]  SAUDIS,    REV.    III.    1-6.  179 

in  the  fact  of  the  numerous  points  of  contact  and  coinci- 
dence between  these  seven  Epistles  and  the  words  of  Christ 
as  recorded  in  the  Gospels,  in  the  three  synoptic  Gospels 
above  all.  Had  these  coincidences  been  all  or  nearly  all 
with  St.  John's  own  Gospel,  this  might  have  suggested 
quite  a  different  explanation.  But  it  is  mainly  the  three 
earlier  Grospels  which  furnish  them.  Thus  in  this  Sardian 
Epistle  alone,  where,  it  is  true,  the  points  of  resemblance 
are  more  numerous  than  anywhere  else,  spiritual  activity 
is  set  forth  as  a  watching,  ver.  3  ;  with  which  compare 
Matt.  xxiv.  42;  xxv.  13  ;  xxvi.  41  ;  Mark  xiii.  37.  Christ 
likens  his  unlooked-for  coming  to  that  of  a  thief  (ibid.)  ; 
He  does  the  same,  Matt,  xxiv.  43  ;  Luke  xii.  39.  He 
speaks  here  of  blotting  out  a  name  from  the  book  of  life 
(ver.  5),  there  of  names  written  in  the  book  of  life  (Luke 
x.  20) ;  here  of  confessing  his  servants  before  his  Father 
(ibid.),  the  parallels  of  which  from  the  Grospels  have  just 
been  given.  The  remarkable  reappearance  in  this  and  in 
all  these  Epistles  of  the  words  so  often  on  our  Lord's  lips, 
according  to  the  three  first  Gospels,  but  never  noticed  in 
the  fourth, '  He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear '  (Matt.  xi. 
1 5  ;  xiii.  9,  43  ;  Mark  iv.  9,  23  ;  vii.  16,  33  ;  Luke  viii.  8  ; 
xiv.  35),  has  been  dwelt  on  already,  p.  95. 

Ver.  6.  '  He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear  what  the 
Spirit  saith  unto  the  Churches.'' — Compare  ii.  7. 


n  2 


VI. 

EPISTLE  TO  THE    CHUECH   OF   PHILADELPHIA. 
Eev.  iii.   7-13. 

Ver.  7.  'And  to  the  Angel  of  the  Church  in  Philadel- 
phia write.'' — Philadelphia,  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Tmolus, 
on  the  banks  of  the  little  river  Cogamus,  which  not  far 
from  the  city  falls  into  the  Hermus  (Pliny,  H.  N.  v.  29, 
30),  was  built  by  Attalus  Philadelphus,  king  of  Pergamum 
(he  died  B.C  138),  from  whom  it  derives  its  name.  <£>i\- 
a$£\(f)ia  ttjs  'Ao-tas1  St.  Ignatius  calls  it  in  the  salutation 
of  his  Epistle,  §  I  ;  to  distinguish  it  from  other  cities 
like-named.  No  city  of  Asia  Minor  suffered  more,  or  so 
much,  from  violent  and  often-recurring  earthquakes — 
ttoXls  c-sio-fioiv  TrXrfprjs  Strabo  calls  it  (xiii.  4),  and  de- 
scribes it  as  almost  depopulated  in  consequence  of  these. 
In  the  great  earthquake  in  the  reign  of  Tiberius  Phil- 
adelphia was  nearly  destroyed  (Tacitus,  Ann.  ii.  47). 
Despite  of  all  drawbacks,  it  still  retains  a  Christian 
population,  has  several  churches  and  an  active  commerce. 

'  These  things  saith  He  that  is  Holy.' — Christ  claims 
here  to  be  6  "A<yco9,  The  Holy  One ;  at  Dan.  ix.  24  He 
is  ay  109  dyicov  :  cf.  Acts  ii.  27 ;  xiii.  35  ;  Heb.  vii.  26.  In 
these  latter  passages,  however,  oatos,  not  ayios,  stands  in 
the  original ;  nor  are  these  words  perfectly  identical, 
though  we  have  but  the  one  word  '  holy '  by  which  to 


III.  7.]  PHILADELPHIA,    REV.    III.    /—1 3.  131 

render  them  both.  The  oaios,  if  a  man,  is  one  who 
diligently  observes"  all  the  sanctities  of  religion  ;  anterior, 
many  of  them,  to  all  law,  the  'jus  et  fas,'  with  a  stress 
on  the  latter  word ;  thus  in  the  Euthyphro  of  Plato 
6(tl6tt]s  is  continually  used  as  equivalent  to  svasfteta. 
If  applied  to  (rod,  as  at  Deut.  xxxii.  4 ;  Kev.  xv.  4 ; 
xvi.  5,  and  here,  He  is  One  in  whom  these  eternal  sanc- 
tities reside ;  who  is  Himself  the  root  and  ground  of  them 
all.  The  aycos  is  the  separate  from  evil,  with  the  perfect 
hatred  of  that  evil  from  which  he  is  separate.  But  holi- 
ness in  this  absolute  sense  belongs  only  to  God  ;  not  to 
Angels,  for  '  He  charged  his  Angels  with  folly  '  (Job  iv. 
18),  and  certainly  not  to  men  (Jam.  iii.  2  ;  Gen.  vi.  5  ; 
viii.  2 1 ).  He  then  that  claims  to  be  '  The  Holy  One,'' — 
a  name  which  Jehovah  in  the  Old  Testament  continually 
claims  for  his  own  (Isai.  vi.  3;  xl.  25  ;  xliii.  15), — im- 
plicitly claims  to  be  Grod  ;  takes  to  Himself  a  title  which  is 
(rod's  alone,  which  it  would  be  blasphemy  for  any  other  to 
appropriate ;  and,  unless  we  are  prepared  for  the  alter- 
native that  He  is  guilty  of  this,  can  only  be  accepted  as 
Himself  God  (see  my  Synonyms  of  the  Neiv  Testament, 
§88). 

'  He  that  is  true.'' — We  must  not  confound  aXrjdtvosf 
(=  'verus')  with  aXijO^s  (  =  'verax').  God  is  a\r)dtjs 
(  =  a^£i;S^s,  Tit.  i.  2),  as  He  cannot  lie,  the  truth-speak- 
ing and  truth-loving  God  ;  with  whom  every  word  is  Yea 
and  Amen  ;  but  He  is  akrjdivos,  as  fulfilling  all  that  is 
involved  in  the  name  God,  in  contrast  with  those  who  are 
called  gods,  but  who,  having  the  name  of  gods,  have 
nothing  of  the  truth,  wicked  spirits,  or  dead  idols.  That 
is  a\r)0Lv6s  which  fulfils  its  own  idea  to  the  highest 
possible  degree  ;  as  Origen  (In  Joan.  torn.  ii.  §  4)  well 
puts  it :  akrjdivos,  irpos  avrcSiacrrokyu  gklcL$  real  tvttov 


182         EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.     [ill.  J. 

kol  sltcovos.  Nor  is  d\7]6tvos  only,  as  when  thus  pre- 
dicated of  God,  the  true  as  contrasted  with  the  absolutely 
false ;  but  as  contrasted  with  the  subordinately  true,  with 
all  imperfect  and  partial  realizations  of  the  idea;  thus 
Christ  is  cpcos  dXrjdivov  (John  i.  9  ;  i  John  ii.  8),  apros 
d\7]6iv6s  (John  vi.  32),  d/j,7rs\os  a\.r)0ivrj  (John  xv.  1); 
there  is  a  cr/crjvr)  akydivr)  in  heaven  (Heb.  viii.  2).  In 
each  of  these  cases  the  antithesis  is  not  between  the  true 
and  the  false,  but  between  the  perfect  and  the  imperfect, 
the  idea  fully,  and  the  idea  only  partially,  realized ;  for 
John  the  Baptist  also  was  a  light  (John  v.  35),  and  Moses 
gave  bread  from  heaven  (Ps.  cv.  40),  and  Israel  was  a  vine 
of  God's  planting  (Ps.  lxxx.  8),  and  the  tabernacle  pitched 
in  the  wilderness,  if  only  a  figure  of  the  true,  was  yet 
pitched  at  God's  express  command  (Exod.  xxv.).  Christ 
then,  in  declaring  Himself  6  akr]6iv6s,  declares  that 
whatever  names,  titles,  offices  He  assumes,  these  in  Him 
are  realized  to  the  full,  reach  their  culminating  glory ; 
that  the  idea  and  the  fact  in  Him  are,  what  they  never 
are  nor  can  be  in  any  other,  absolutely  commensurate. 

'  He  that  hath  the  key  of  David,  He  that  openeth  and 
no  man  shutteth  ;  and  shutteth,  and  no  man  openeth.' — 
Let  us  note  here,  but  only  that  we  may  avoid,  a  not  un- 
common error  of  interpretation,  namely,  the  identifying, 
or  confounding,  of  this  '  key  of  David '  with  the  *  key  of 
knowledge,'  which  in  the  days  of  his  earthly  ministry 
Christ  accused  the  Scribes  that  they  had  taken  away  (Luke 
xi.  52).  They  who  thus  identify  the  two  regard  Him  as 
here  claiming  to  be  the  One  who  unlooses  the  seals  of 
Scripture,  opens  the  closed  door  into  its  inner  chambers ; 
who  by  his  advent  first  made  intelligible  the  dark  and  ob- 
scure prophecies  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  by  his  Spirit 
opens  and  enlightens  the  eyes  of  men  to  see  and  under- 


III.  7.]  PHILADELPHIA,    EEV.    III.    7— 13.  183 

stand  the  deep  things  which  are  written  in  his  Word. 
Into  this  erroneous  interpretation  Origen  not  unfrequently 
falls,  bringing  Rev.  v.  7-9  into  relation  with  these  two 
passages  as  a  third,  having  the  same  import ;  thus  In  Joan. 
torn.  v.  §  4  ;  Sel.  in  Psalm.  Ps.  i. ;  Hilary  no  less  (Prol. 
in  Libr.  Psalm.  §§  5,  6) ;  and  Jerome  (Ep.  50,  de  Stud. 
Script).     But  '  the  key  '  is  £%ov<rias  avuftoXov  (Andreas), 
the  symbol  of  power  (cf.  xx.  1 )  ;  and  '  the  key  of  David ' 
is  '  the  key  of  the  house  of  David,'  of  that  royal  household 
whereof  David  was  chief,  and  all  his  servants  members. 
Cocceius  :  '  Clavem  Davidis  vocat,  quia  ea  regia  clavis,  et 
is  tempore  ministerii  sui  clausit  et  aperuit,  typum  Christi 
gerens  ;  vide  Ps.  ci.  4-8.'     But  David  being  a  type  of 
Christ,   so  eminent  a  one,  that  Christ  more   than   once 
actually  bears  his  name  (Ezek.  xxxiv.  23,  24),  'the  house 
of  David '  alluded  to  thus  can  mean  nothing  less  than  the 
heavenly  house,  the  kingdom  of  heaven ;  and  the  Lord  is, 
in  fact,   declaring,  '  I  have  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.'     Those  keys  which  He  committed  to  Peter  and 
his  fellow  Apostles  (Matt.  xvi.   19),  He  announces  here  to 
be  in  the  highest  sense  his  own.     It  depends  on  Him,  the 
supreme  /eA^SoO^oy  in  the  house  of  God,  who  shall  see  the 
King's  face,  and  who  shall  be  excluded  from  it.     Men  are 
admitted  into,  or  shut  out  from,  that  presence  according 
to  the  good  pleasure  of  his  will;  for  it  is  He,  and  no  other, 
*  that  openeth,  and  no  man  shutteth;  that  shutteth,  and 
no  man  oyeneth^     Christ,  as  we  learn  here,  has  not  so 
committed  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  with  the 
power  of  binding  and  loosing,  to  any  other,  his  servants, 
but  that  He  still  retains  the  highest  administration  of  them 
in  his  own  hands.     If  at  any  time  there  is  error  in  their 
binding  and  loosing,  if  they  make  sad  the  heart  which  He 
has  not  made  sad,  if  they  speak  peace  to  the   heart  to 


184  EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.      [ill.  7. 

which  He  has  not  spoken  peace  (Ezek.  xiii.  19),  then  his 
sentence  stands,  and  not  theirs.  For  the  promise  that 
He  would  ratify  and  confirm  in  heaven  the  judgments  of 
his  Church  on  earth,  could  only  be  absolute  and  uncon- 
ditional so  long  as  the  Church  retained  such  a  discern- 
ment of  spirits  as  was  never  at  fault.  When  once  this 
had  departed  from  it,  when  therefore  it  was  exposed  to 
possible  mistake  and  error,  from  that  moment  the  promise 
could  be  only  conditional.  From  the  highest  tribunal 
upon  earth  there  lies  an  appeal  to  a  tribunal  of  yet 
higher  instance  in  heaven ;  to  his  '  that  openeth,  and 
no  man  shutteth;  that  shutteth,  and  no  man  openeth  ; ' 
and  when  through  ignorance,  or  worse  than  ignorance, 
any  wrong  has  been  done  to  any  of  his  servants  here,  He 
will  redress  it  there,  disallowing  and  reversing  in  heaven 
the  mistaken  or  unrighteous  sentences  of  earth.  It  was 
in  faith  of  this  that  Hus,  when  the  greatest  Council  which 
Christendom  had  seen  for  a  thousand  years  delivered  his 
soul  to  Satan,  did  himself  confidently  commend  it  to  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  In  the  same  confidence,  many  a 
faithful  confessor  at  Eome  or  Madrid  has  walked  to  the 
stake,  his  yellow  san-benito  all  painted  over  with  devils 
in  token  and  prophecy  of  those  with  whom  his  portion 
should  be ;  but  has  never  doubted  the  while  that  his  lot 
should  be  indeed  with  Him  who  retains  in  his  own  hands 
'  the  key  of  David ; '  who  thus  could  open  for  him,  and 
who  would,  though  all  who  visibly  represented  here  the 
Church  had  shut  him  out  with  extreme  malediction  at 
once  from  the  Church  militant  on  earth  and  the  Church 
triumphant  in  heaven. 

That  the  substrate  of  this  language,  and,  so  to  say,  the 
suggestion  of  this  thought,  is  to  be  sought  at  Isai.  xxii., 
there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt.     The  prophet  there 


III.  7.]  PHILADELPHIA,    KEY.    III.    7— 13.  185 

describes  the  shameful  rejection  of  Shebna,  the  major- 
domus  or  chief  oIkov6[xos  of  the  king,  who  had  occupied 
for  a  while  the  place  of  highest  dignity  and  honour  (i 
Kin.  iv.  6;  xviii.  3  ;  2  Chron.  xxvi.  21),  but  whom  the 
Lord  beheld  as  unworthy  of  this,  and  from  which  He  puts 
him  down  with  shame  and  dishonour,  with  the  substitu- 
tion of  Eliakim  in  his  room,  and  the  installation  of  the 
one  into  the  honours  and  dignities  which  the  other  had 
lost.  It  needs  only  to  quote  the  words  as  they  occur  in 
the  Septuagint :  8u>au>  avru>  ttjv  kXsiSu  oXkov  AavlS  kirl 
ra>  w/jlo)  avrov,  ical  cwol^sl  kcii  ouk  hcrrai  o  wkokXelcov, 
Ka\  Kksiasi,  kclI  ouk  sarac  6  dvoiycov  (ver.  22).  The 
prophet  describes  all  this  with  an  emphasis  and  fulness, 
which,  however  highly  we  may  conceive  of  Eliakim,  is 
surprising  and  inexplicable,  until  we  look  beyond  that 
present,  and  read  in  that  Scripture  not  merely  the  history 
of  a  revolution  in  the  royal  palace  or  house  of  David, — a 
putting  down  of  one  and  setting  up  of  another ;  but,  over 
and  above  this,  the  type  and  real  prophecy  of  an  event 
immeasurably  greater,  the  indignant  rejection  of  all  those 
unworthy  stewards  who  in  God's  spiritual  house  had 
long  abused  their  position,  with  the  exaltation  of  the  true 
►Steward  of  the  mysteries  of  God,  who  should  be  faithful 
in  all  his  house,  in  their  room.  Vitringa  (Comm.  in  Esai. 
xxii.) :  '  Quae  Eliakimo  promittitur  prserogativa  dignitatis, 
fore  ut  clave  s  gerens  Domus  Davidis  clauderet  et  aperiret 
solus,  et  omnis  ab  eo  suspenderetur  sarcina  et  decus  Do- 
mus Davidis  (in  quam  hie  cadit  emphasis) :  tarn  magnifice 
et  ample  dictum  est,  ut  plus  dixisse  videretur  Propheta 
quam  debebat,  si  id  in  aliquo  subjecto  nobiliore,  cujus 
Eliakimus  typum  gerere  poterat,  olim  illustrius  non  con- 
sequeretur  exemplum.  Certe  sunt  verbi  prophetici  recessus 
profundi.' 


186         EPISTLES   TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.     [ill.  9. 

Ver.  8.  '  /  know  thy  works  :  behold,  I  have  set  before 
thee  an  open  door,  and  no  man  can  shut  iV — This  '  open 
door '  is  best  explained  by  a  reference  to  I  Cor.  xvi.  9 ; 
2  Cor.  ii.  12  ;  Acts  xiv.  27  ;  Col.  iv.  3.  Vitringa:  '  Notat 
commodam  Evangelii  praedicandi  occasionem.'  To  this 
Philadelphian  Church,  weak  probably  in  numbers,  en- 
joying few  worldly  advantages,  Grod  had  opened  '  a  great 
door  and  effectual '  for  the  declaring  of  his  truth ;  and, 
thoifgh  there  were  many  adversaries,  none  could  shut  it. 
For  was  not  He  who  opened,  the  same  who  had  '  the  key 
of  David '  ?  and  when  He  opened,  none  could  shut ; 
when  he  made  room  for  his  truth  in  the  heart  of  one  or  of 
many  (Acts  xvi.  14;  Job  xxxiii.  16),  none  could  hinder 
it  from  having  free  course  and  being  glorified  ;  even  as,  if 
He  shut  and  withheld  a  blessing,  all  other  might  and 
power  would  be  wholly  unavailing  to  make  for  it  an  en- 
trance there. 

(For  thou  hast  a  little  strength,  and  hast  kept  my  tvoi'd, 
and  hast  not  denied  my  name.'' — They  were  probably  but 
a  little  flock,  poor  in  worldly  goods,  of  small  account  in 
the  eyes  of  men  (cf.  I  Cor.  i.  26-28),  having  '  little 
strength  ' — not  '  a  little  strength,''  which  would  rather  be 
an  acknowledgment  of  power  than  of  weakness — the  fitter 
therefore  that  Grod  should  be  glorified  in  them  and  by 
them  ;  even  as  He  had  been  ;  for,  put  to  the  proof,  they 
had  kept  his  word,  and  had  not  denied  his  name  (Zech. 
xii.  8  ;  Isai.  lvi.  4,  5).  The  aorists,  srijprjcras,  ov/c  rjpvrjao), 
refer  to  some  distinct  occasions  in  the  past,  when,  being 
thus  put  to  the  test,  they  had  approved  themselves  faith- 
ful to  Him. 

Ver.  9.  '  Behold,  I  will  make  them  of  the  synagogue  of 
Satan,  which  say  they  are  Jeivs,  and  are  not,  but  do  lie; 
behold,  I  will  make  them  to  come  and  worship  before  thy 


III.  9.]  PHILADELPHIA,    KEV.    III.    7~ 13.  187 

feet,  and  to  know  that  I  have  loved  thee.'' — Here  is  the 
reward  of  their  faithfulness,  of  the  entrance  which  they 
had  made  by  that  '  open  door '  which  the  Lord  set  before 
them.     The  promise  to  Philadelphia,  in  respect  of  Jewish 
adversaries,  is  larger  and  richer  than  that  to  Smyrna.     All 
which  Christ  there  promised  was,  that  these  enemies  should 
not  prevail  against  them  (ii.  9,  10)  ;  but  here  are  better 
promises,  namely,  that  they  shall   prevail   against  their 
enemies  ;  and  that  with  a  victory  the  most  blessed  of  all, 
in  which  victors  and  vanquished  should  be  blessed  alike, 
and  should  rejoice  together.     In  reward  of  their  faithful- 
ness, they  should  see  some  of  these  fierce  gainsayers  and 
opposers,  some  of  this  '  synagogue  of  Satan '  (see  ii.  9 ; 
cf.  Jer.  ix.  2  :  avvoSos  ddsrovvrcov),  falling  on  their  faces, 
and  owning  that  God  was  with  them   of  a  truth.     The 
'  worship  '  before  their  feet,  of  course,  does  not  mean  more 
than  this ;  cf.  Isai.  xlix.  23  ;  lx.  14;  Matt.  viii.  2  ;  2  Kin. 
ii.  15;  Dan.  ii.  46.     This  act  of  homage,  the  Trpoo-Kvvsiit, 
may  imply  much  more  (John  iv.  21  ;  Eev.  xiv.  19;  Acts 
viii.  27) ;  but  manifestly  does  not  so  here.     It  is  only  some 
of  their  adversaries  who  shall  worship  thus ;  for  there  is 
no  promise  during  the  present  dispensation  that  all  Israel, 
but  only  that  a  remnant,  shall  be  saved  (Rom.  ix.  27). 
In  our  Version  we  have  failed  to  express,  that  they  are 
only  some  '  of  the  synagogue  of  Satan  '  who  should  thus 
acknowledge  the  presence  of  God  in  the  Church  of  his 
dear  Son,  should  look  at   Him  whom  they  had  pierced 
(Zech.  xii.  10),  and  own  that  this  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was 
indeed  He  of  whom  Moses  and  the  prophets  wrote,  the 
promised  Messiah,  the  King  of  Israel,  that  should  turn 
iniquity  from  Jacob.      In  connexion  with  this  promise, 
there  is  an  interesting  passage  in  the  Epistle  of  Ignatius 
to  this  same  Philadelphian  Church  (c.  6),  implying  the 


188        EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.    [ill.    10. 

actual  presence  in  the  midst  of  it,  of  converts  from  Juda- 
ism, who  now  preached  the  faith  which  once  they  perse- 
cuted. We  may  say  too  that  this  same  promise  has  been 
gloriously  fulfilled  to  other  Churches  in  our  own  days,  or 
almost  in  our  own  days,  as  we  call  to  mind  the  many 
of  Germany's  noblest  theologians  and  philosophers,  her 
Neanders  and  her  Stahls  ;  who,  being  of  the  stock  of  Abra- 
ham, have  yet  had  the  veil  taken  from  their  hearts,  and 
owned  of  the  Church  of  Christ  that  God  was  with  it  of  a 
truth.  It  is  a  singular  evidence  of  the  complete  change 
in  the  relations  between  the  Jew  and  Gentile,  and  of  both 
to  the  kingdom  of  Grod,  that  exactly  this  same  promise 
should  find  place  under  the  Old  Covenant,  while  yet  the 
parts  are  exchanged  which  the  one  and  the  other  should 
fulfil  (Isai.  xlv.  14  ;  xlix.  23  ;  lx.  14). 

Ver.  1  o.  '  Because  thou  hast  kept  the  word  of  my  pa- 
tience, 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.'' — What  does  the  Lord  exactly  mean 
here  by  '  the  word  of  my  patience '  ?  There  are  some 
who  find  reference  to  certain  special  words  and  sayings  of 
Christ's,  in  which  He  has  exhorted  his  servants  to  patience, 
or  declared  the  need  they  would  have  of  it ;  such  words 
as  occur  at  Luke  viii.  15;  Matt.  x.  22;  xxiv.  13;  cf. 
Eev.  i.  9.  Much  better,  however,  to  take  the  whole 
Gospel  as  '  the  word  of  Christ's  'patience,'  everywhere 
teaching,  as  it  does,  the  need  of  a  patient  waiting  for 
Christ,  till  He,  the  waited-for  so  long,  shall  at  length  ap- 
pear. Observe  the  benigna  talio  of  the  kingdom  of  God  : 
'  because  thou  hast  kept '  (sTrjprjo-as),  therefore  '  I  also 
will  keep  '  (r^p^a-co)  ;  '  because  thou  hast  kept  my  word, 
therefore  in  return  I  will  keep  thee.'  The  promise  does 
not  imply  that  the  Philadelphian  Church  should  be  ex- 


III.   10.]  PHILADELPHIA,    HEV.    III.    7— 1 3.  189 

empted  from  persecutions  which  should  come  on  all  other 
portions  of  the  Church ;  that  by  any  special  privilege  they 
should  be  excused  from  fiery  trials  through  which  others 
should  be  called  to  pass.  It  is  a  better  promise  than  this  ; 
and  one  which,  of  course,  they  share  with  all  who  are 
faithful  as  they  are — to  be  kept  in  temptation,  not  to  be 
exempted/rom  temptation  {rrjpsiv  sk not  being  here  =  rrjpstv 
airo,  Jam.  i.  27  ;  Prov.  vii.  5  ;  cf.  2  Thess.  iii.  3)  ;  a  bush 
burning,  and  yet  not  consumed  (cf.  Isai.  xliii.  2).  They 
may  take  courage  ;  the  .  blasts  of  persecution  will  indeed 
blow  ;  but  He  who  permits,  uses,  and  restrains  them,  will 
not  suffer  his  barn-floor  to  be  winnowed  with  so  rough  a 
wind  that  chaff  and  grain  shall  alike  be  borne  away. 
This  '  hour  of  temptation '  is  characterised  as  coming 
'  upon  all  the  ivorld,  to  try  them  that  dwell  upon  the 
earth.''  These,  according  to  the  constant  use  of  the  Apo- 
calypse, include  all  mankind,  with  the  exception  of  the 
airapyrj  of  the  Church  (vi.  10  ;  xi.  10;  xiii.  8,  14);  who 
are  contemplated  as  already  seated  in  heavenly  places  with 
Christ  Jesus  (Ephes.  ii.  6).  The  great  catastrophes  which 
come  upon  the  earth  are  '  temptations '  to  the  world  no 
less  than  to  the  Church.  God  is  then  putting  '  them  that 
dwell  upon  the  earth '  to  proof,  whether  now  at  least  they 
will  not  repent,  and,  when  his  judgments  are  in  the  world, 
learn  righteousness,  however  they  may  in  times  past  have 
hardened  themselves  against  Him.  So  too  such  times  of 
great  tribulation  are  trials  or  '  temptations,''  because  they 
bring  out  the  unbelief,  hardness  of  heart,  blasphemy 
against  God,  which  were  before  latent  in  the  children  of 
this  world  ;  hidden  from  others,  hidden  from  themselves, 
till  that  '  hour  of  temptation '  came  and  revealed  them 
(Rev.  ix.  20,  21  ;  xvi.  9,  11,  21).  Thus  Moses  speaks  of 
the  plagues  as  the  '  temptations  of  Egypt '  (Deut.  iv.  34  ; 


190        EPISTLES    TO    THE   SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.    [ill.    II. 

vii.  19  ;  xxix.  3)  ;  and  they  were  such,  inasmuch  as  they 
brought  out  the  pride  and  obduracy  that  were  in  Pharaoh's 
heart  and  in  his  servants',  as  these  would  never  in  any  other 
way  have  been  revealed  either  to  themselves  or  to  others. 

Ver.  1 1 .  *  Behold,  I  come  quickly  :  hold  that  fast  ivhich 
thou  hast,  that  no  man  take  thy  crown.'' — This  announce- 
ment of  the  speedy  coming  of  the  Lord,  the  ever-recurring 
key-note  of  this  book  (cf.  xxii.  7,  12,  20),  is  sometimes 
used  as  a  word  of  fear  for  those  who  are  abusing  the 
Master's  absence,  wasting  his  goods  and  ill-treating  their 
fellow-servants ;  careless  and  secure  as  men  for  whom  no 
day  of  reckoning  is  in  store  (Matt.  xxiv.  48-5 1  ;  2  Thess. 
i.  7-9  ;  1  Pet.  iv.  5  ;  cf.  Jam.  v.  9 ;  Eev.  ii.  5,  16)  ;  but 
sometimes  as  a  word  of  infinite  comfort  for  those  who 
with  difficulty  and  painfulness  hold  their  ground.  He 
that  should  bring  the  long  contest  at  once  to  an  end ;  who 
should  at  once  turn  the  scale,  and  for  ever,  in  favour  of 
righteousness  and  truth,  is  even  at  the  door  (Jam.  v.  8  ; 
Phil.  iv.  5  ;  2  Thess.  i.  20  ;  Heb.  x.  37 ;  2  Pet.  iii.  14). 
Such  a  word  of  comfort  is  this  announcement  here :  '  Yet 
a  little  while,  and  thy  patience  shall  have  its  full  reward  ; 
only  in  the  interval,  and  till  I  come,  hold  that  fast  ivhich 
thou  hast.'  That  which  Philadelphia  '  haol '  we  have  just 
seen — zeal,  patience,  with  little  means  accomplishing  not 
a  little  work. 

'  That  no  man  take  thy  cvoivn? — These  last  words 
some  have  explained,  '  that  no  man  step  into  that  place  of 
glory  which  was  designed  for  thee  ; '  after  the  manner,  for 
example,  that  Jacob  stepped  into  Esau's  place  (Gren.  xxv. 
34  ;  xxvii.  36) ;  Judah  into  Reuben's  (Gren.  xlix.  4,  8)  ; 
David  into  Saul's  (i  Sam.  xvi.  I,  13);  Eliakim  into  Sheb- 
na's  (Isai.  xxii.  15-25);  Benaiah  into  Joab's  (1  Kin.  ii. 
35)  ;  Zadok  into  Abiathar's  (ibid.)  ;  Matthias  into  Judas's 


III.    II.]  PHILADELPHIA,    REV.    III.  /— 13.  191 

(Acts  i.  25,  26);  Gentiles  into  the  place  of  Jews  (Matt. 
21,  43  ;  Rom.  xi.  1 1);  men  into  that  of  angels ;  the  num- 
ber of  the  elect,  as  Augustine  concludes  from  these  words, 
remaining  still  the  same,  and  having  been  determined 
from  the  beginning,  only  some  filling  the  places  which 
others  have  left  empty,  and  thus  taking  their  crown  :  Be 
Concept,  et  Grat.  c.  1 3  :  'Si  enim  alius  non  est  accepturus, 
nisi  iste  perdiderit,  certus  est  numerus  ' ;  cf.  Gregory  the 
Great,  Moral,  xxxiv.  20).  But  these  thus  adduced  received 
indeed  a  privilege  or  prerogative — a  '  crown '  we  may  call 
it,  which  others  lost ;  they  did  not  take  it  from  those  others 
(the  '  accipiat '  of  the  Vulgate  is  wrong  here  ;  it  should  be 
rather  '  auferat ') ;  and  it  is  quite  inconceivable  that  any 
who  should  ever  himself  wear  the  crown,  should  be  set 
forth  as  taking  it  from  another.  This  taking,  or  seeking 
to  take,  the  crowns  from  others'  brows  is  the  part,  not  of 
the  good  who  would  wear  them  on  their  own,  but  of  the 
wicked  who  would  see  others  discrowned  and  disinherited 
like  themselves.  Instead  of  ascribing  to  the  words  any 
such  meaning,  we  must  regard  them  as  exactly  equivalent 
to  those  of  St.  Paul :  '  Let  no  man  beguile  you  of  your 
reivard"1  (KarafipafizveTU)  v/xds,  Col.  ii.,  18);  and  as 
giving  no  slightest  hint  that  what  this  Angel  lost,  another 
would  gain  ;  the  crown  which  he  forfeited,  another  would 
wear  ;  and  that  other  one  who  had  despoiled  him  of  it. 
Neither,  again,  may  we  understand  '  thy  crotun '  as  the 
crown  '  which  thou  hast,"  but  the  crown  *  which  thou 
mayest  have'  (cf.  2  Tim.  iv.  8:  air  ok  sirai  /jloc  6  rrjs 
SiKatoavvrjs  arsfyavos).  '  Let  no  man,'  Christ  would  say, 
'  deprive  thee  of  the  glorious  reward  laid  up  for  thee  in 
heaven,  of  which  many,  my  adversaries  and  thine,  would 
fain  rob  thee  ;  but  which  only  one,  even  thyself,  can  ever 
cause  thee  to  forfeit  indeed.' 


192        EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.    [ill.   12. 

Ver.  12.  iHim  that  overcometh  ivill  I  make  a  pillar  in 
the  temple  of  my  God,  and  he  shall  go  no  more  out.'' — It 
need  hardly  be  said,  except  that  some  have  denied  it,  that 
this  is  a  promise,  as  are  all  the  others  in  these  Epistles,  of 
future  blessedness,  belonging  not  to  the  members  of  the 
Church  militant  here  on  earth,  but  of  the  Church  trium- 
phant in  heaven.  Marckius  brings  out  here  excellently 
well  the  force  of  the  words,  '  /  ivill  make ' :  '  Nee  illud  hie 
praetermittendum  est  quod  Christus  se  facturum  suos  tales 
dicit,  cum  praeter  gratiam  Christi  ad  hoc  prorsus  necessa- 
riam,  sic  immatur  naturalis  omnium  a  templo  hoc  abalien- 
atio,  debilitas  summa,  et  fceditas  non  minor.'  Compare 
Matt.  iv.  19  :  'I  will  make  you  fishers  of  men.'  '  Pillar  ' 
(<ttv\os)  is  not  to  be  interpreted  here  exactly  as  it  is  at 
Gal.  ii.  9.  The  '  pillars '  there  are  certain  eminent  Apostles, 
the  main  supports,  under  Christ,  of  the  Church  in  its  mi- 
litant condition  here  upon  earth  ;  and,  as  such,  towering 
above  the  rest  of  the  faithful.  But  there  is  no  such  com- 
parative preeminence  indicated  here  ;  as  is  evident  from 
the  fact  that  the  promise  to  every  one  of  the  faithful,  to 
each  that  has  overcome,  is,  that  he  shall  be  made  *  a  pillar 
in  the  temple  of  God  ; '  Christ  so  speaks,  as  Jerome  (in 
Gal.  ii.  9)  says  well,  '  docens  omnes  credentes  qui  adver- 
sarium  vicerint,  posse  columnas  Ecclesiae  fieri.'  To  find 
any  allusion  here,  as  Vitringa  and  others  have  done,  to  the 
two  monumental  pillars,  Jachin  and  Boaz,  which  Solomon 
set  up,  not  in  the  temple,  but  in  the  open  court  before  the 
temple  (1  Kin.  vii.  21  ;  2  Chron.  iii.  15,  17  ;  Jer.  lii.  17), 
is  altogether  beside  the  mark ;  the  words  which  follow, '  and 
he  shall  go  no  more  out,''  making  this  well  nigh  impossible. 
These  famous  pillars  were  always  ivithout  the  temple ; 
they  would  therefore  have  served  very  ill  to  set  forth  the 
blessedness  of  the  redeemed,  who  shall  be  always  within 


III.   12.]  PHILADELPHIA,    REV.    III.    7~ 13.  193 

it.  Other  pillars  might  set  forth  this,  but  scarcely  these, 
contradicting  in  their  position  the  central  intention  of 
Christ's  words  here,  which  is  to  declare  that  he  who  over- 
comes shall  dwell  in  the  house  of  God  for  ever.  '  He  shall 
go  no  more  out ; '  for,  as  the  elect  angels  are  fixed  in 
obedience,  and  have  over-lived  the  possibility  of  falling, 
have  attained  what  the  Schoolmen  call  the  beata  necessitas 
boni,  so  shall  it  be  one  day  with  the  redeemed.  Gerhard 
{Locc.  Theoll.  xxxii.  2)  :  '  Erit  perpetuus  heres  geternorum 
bonorum,  nee  ullius  EKTrrwa-sms  ipsi  imminebit  periculum, 
qui  columna  est,  symbolum  immobilitatis  in  statu  glorise 
caelestis.'  Once  admitted  into  the  heavenly  kingdom,  they 
have  their  place  there  for  ever ;  the  door  is  shut  (Matt. 
xxv.  10 ;  cf.  Gen.  vii.  16)  ;  not  merely  to  exclude  others, 
but  safely  to  include  them,  who  shall  thus  be  '  ever  with 
the  Lord  '  ( 1  Thess.  iv.  1 7).  In  that  heavenly  household 
the  son,  every  son  who  has  once  entered,  abideth  for  ever 
(John  viii.  35  ;  cf.  Isai.  xxii.  23)  ;  no  wonder,  therefore, 
that  Augustine  should  exclaim,  '  Quis  non  desideret  illam 
Civitatem,  unde  amicus  non  exit,  quo  inimicus  non  intrat  ? ' 
'  And  Iivill  write  upon  him  the  name  of  my  God,  and 
the  name  of  the  City  of  my  God,  which  is  New  Jerusalem, 
which  cometh  doivn  out  of  heaven  from  my  God.' — Christ 
will  write  these  names,  of  his  God,  and  of  the  City  of  his 
God,  upon  him  that  overcometh — not  upon  it,  the  pillar. 
It  is  true  indeed  that  there  were  sometimes  inscriptions  on 
pillars, — which  yet  would  be  arrjXai  rather  than  <ttv\,ol, 
— but  the  image  of  the  pillar  is  now  dismissed,  and  only 
the  conqueror  remains.  In  confirmation  of  this,  that  it 
is  the  person  and  not  the  pillar,  whom  the  Lord  contem- 
plates now,  we  find  further  on  the  redeemed  having  the 
name  of  God,  or  the  seal  of  God,  on  their  foreheads  (vii. 
3  ;  ix.  4 ;  xiv.  1  ;  xxii.  4),  with  probable  allusion  to  the 

0 


194        EPISTLES    TO    THE   SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.    [ill.   12. 

golden  plate  inscribed  with  the  name  of  Jehovah,  which 
the  High  Priest  wore  upon  his  (Exod.  xxviii.  36-38).  In 
the  '  kingdom  of  priests '  this  dignity  shall  not  be  any 
more  the  singular  prerogative  of  one,  but  the  common 
dignity  of  all.  Exactly  in  the  same  way,  in  the  hellish 
caricature  of  the  heavenly  kingdom,  the  votaries  of  the 
Beast  are  stigmatics,  having  his  name  upon  their  fore- 
heads (xiii.  16, 17  ;  xvii.  5  ;  and  cf.  xx.  4). — What  the  name 
of  this  '  City  of  my  God  '  is,  we  are  told  Ezek.  xlviii.  35  : 
'  The  Lord  is  there  '  (cf.  Isai.  lx.  14  ;  Jer.  xxxiii.  16).  Any 
other  name  would  but  faintly  express  its  glory ;  '  having 
the  glory  of  God '  (Rev.  xxi.  11,  23).  He  that  hath  the 
name  of  this  City  written  upon  him  is  thereby  declared  free 
of  it.  Even  while  on  earth  he  had  his  true  7ro\lr£v/xa  iv 
ovpavols  (Phil.  iii.  20;  see  Ellicott  thereon) ;  the  state,  city, 
or  country  to  which  he  belonged  was  a  heavenly  one ;  but 
still  his  citizenship  was  latent ;  he  was  one  of  God's  hidden 
ones ;  but  now  he  is  openly  avouched,  and  has  a  right 
to  enter  in  by  the  gates  into  the  City  (xxii.  14).  This 
heavenly  City,  the  City  which  hath  the  foundations,  and 
for  which  Abraham  looked  (Heb.  xi.  10),  the  '  continuing 
City '  (xiii.  14),  is  but  referred  to  here  ;  the  full  and  mag- 
nificent description  of  it  is  reserved  as  the  fitting  close  of 
the  Book  (xxi.  10 — xxii.  5) ;  and  not  of  this  Book  only,  but 
of  the  whole  Bible.  It  goes  by  many  and  glorious  names 
in  Scripture.  '  That  great  City,  the  holy  Jerusalem,'  St. 
John  calls  it  (xxi.  10) ;  claiming  for  it  this  title  of  <  holy,' 
which  the  earthly  Jerusalem  once  possessed  (Matt.  iv.  5), 
but  which  it  had  forfeited  for  ever.  'Jerusalem  which  is 
above,'  St.  Paul  calls  it  (Gral.  iv.  26)  ;  while  elsewhere  for 
him,  or  for  another  writing  in  his  spirit,  it  is  * the  City  of 
the  living  God,  the  heavenly  Jerusalem '  (Heb.  xii.  22). 
It  is  the     ue  KaXXcTroXts,  rj  avu>  KaXkiirokis,  as  Cyril  of 


III.   12.]  PHILADELPHIA,    REV.    III.    7~l'S-  195 

Alexandria  has  strikingly  named  it ;  being  indeed  that 
Beautiful  City,  of  which  Plato  did  but  dream,  when  he 
devised  this  name  (Rep.  vii.  527  c);  the  Ovpavoirokis,  as 
Clement  of  Alexandria  {Peed.  ii.  12)  has  so  grandly  called 
it,  recovering  and  reclaiming  for  the  City  of  God  this 
magnificent  title  ;  which  Greek  sycophants  in  profane 
flattery  had  devised  for  quite  another  city  (Athenaeus,  i. 
36),  for  one  *  rerum  pulcherrima  '  as  Virgil  has  not  scru- 
pled to  call  it,  but  if  we  may  trust  the  pictures  of  it 
drawn  by  those  who  saw  it  closest  and  knew  it  best,  far 
better  deserving  a  name  drawn  from  beneath  than  from 
above. 

The  epithet  '  new,'  given  here  to  the  heavenly  Jeru- 
salem, sets  it  in  contrast  with  the  old,  worn-out,  sinful 
city  bearing  the  same  name ;  for  kcuvos  expresses  this 
antithesis  of  the  new  to  the  old  as  the  out-worn  ;  its  true 
antithesis  being  not  ap^alos,  but  Trakaios  ;  thus  kcllvos 
avdpwiros  (Ephes.  ii.  15),  /ccuvr}  kti<tis  (2  Cor.  v.  17; 
Gal.  vi.  15)?  icaivov  lyuCLTiov  (Matt.  ix.  16),  while  vios 
would  but  express  that  which  had  recently  come  into 
existence,  as  contrasted  with  that  which  had  subsisted 
long  ;  thus  NsdiroXcs,  the  city  recently  founded  (see  my 
Synonyms  of  the  New  Testament,  §  60).  There  would 
therefore  have  been  no  fitness  in  this  last  epithet  here,  for 
this  New  Jerusalem,  '  whose  builder  and  maker  is  God,' 
is  at  once  new,  in  that  sin  has  never  wasted  it,  and  at  the 
same  time  the  oldest  of  all,  dating  as  far  back  as  the 
promise  of  Gen.  iii.  Bengel  has  pertinently  observed,  that 
St.  John  writes  always  in  his  Gospel  'Ispoo-oXvfia,  in  the 
Apocalypse  always  'IspovaaXtf/ju ;  and  gives,  no  doubt,  the 
true  explanation  of  this  :  '  Non  temere  Johannes  in  Evan- 
gelio  omnibus  locis  scribit  'IspocroXv^a  de  urbe  veteri :  in 
Apocalypsi  semper  'IspovaaX^fx  de  Urbe  Caelesti.     'Ispov- 


196         EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.    [ill.   12. 

o-aXtffjt,  est   appellatio    Hebraica,    originaria    et    sanctior ; 
*Ispoa6\v/xa  deinceps  obvia,  Grseca,  magis  politica.' 

Strange  conclusions  have  been  drawn  from  the  words 
that  follow :  '  which  cometh  down  out  of  heaven  from  my 
God.'  The  fancy  of  an  actual  material  city  to  be  let 
down  bodily  from  heaven  to  earth,  an  *  aurea  atque  gem- 
mata  in  terris  Hierusalem,'  as  Jerome  somewhat  contemp- 
tuously styles  it  (In  Esai.  Prcef.  ad  Lib.  1 8  ;  cf.  Origen, 
Be  Princ.  ii.  II.  2),  has  been  cherished  in  almost  all  ages 
of  the  Church  by  some,  who  have  been  unable  to  translate 
the  figurative  language  of  Scripture  into  those  far  more 
glorious  realities  of  the  heavenly  TrdXiTsla,  whereof  those 
figures  were  the  outward  garment  and  array.  Thus  the 
Montanists  believed  that  the  New  Jerusalem  would  de- 
scend at  Pepuza  in  Phrygia,  the  head-quarters  of  their 
sect ;  and  already,  according  to  Tertullian  (Adv.  Marc. 
iii.  24),  there  were  vouchsafed  from  time  to  time  signs  and 
prophetic  outlines  in  heaven  of  the  fabric  of  the  City 
which  should  thus  be  let  down  to  earth.  For  forty  days, 
he  assures  us,  morning  and  evening,  the  splendid  vision 
and  sky-pageant  of  this  City  had  been  seen  suspended  in 
the  air.  But  if  only  it  be  a  City  '  in  which  righteousness 
dwelleth,'  it  will  little  matter  whether  we  go  to  it,  or  it 
come  to  us ;  and  in  this  shape  assuredly  it  will  not  come.1 


1  Glorious  tilings  have  been  spoken  of  this  City  of  God,  and  not 
in  the  sacred  Scriptures  only,  but  also  in  the  writings  of  uninspired 
men,  in  whose  hearts,  while  they  have  mused  on  that  Heavenly  Jeru- 
salem, the  fire  has  kindled,  and  they  have  spoken  with  their  tongues. 
Thus  our  own  'Jerusalem,  my  happy  home,'  is  worthy  of  no  mean 
place  among  spiritual  songs.  But  the  German  and  the  Latin  hymno- 
logies  are  far  richer,  both  indeed  are  extraordinarily  rich,  in  these 
hymns  celebrating  the  glories  of  the  New  Jerusalem.  Thus  in  German 
how  lovely  is  Meyfart's  (1 590-1 642)  'Jerusalem,  du  hochgebaute 
Stadt '  (Bunsen,  Gesangbuch,  no.  495)  ;  but  grander  still,  and  not  in 
Bunsen's  collection,  Kosegarten's  (17 58-1 8 18)  'Stadt  Gottes,  deren 


III.   12.]  PHILADELPHIA,    REV.    III.    7— 1 3.  197 

'  And  I  will  write  upon  him  my  new  name.'' — This 

*  neiv  name '  is  not  '  The  Word  of  God '  (xix.  13),  nor  yet 

*  King  of  kings,  and  Lord  of  lords  '  (xix.  16),  as  some  will 
have  it.  It  is  true  that  both  of  these  appear  in  this 
Book  as  names  of  Christ ;  but  for  all  that  neither  of  them 
could  be  called  his  '  neiv  name  ; '  the  faithful  having  been 
familiar  with  them  from  the  beginning.  The  '  neiv  name  * 
is  that  mysterious,  and  in  the  necessity  of  things  uncom- 
municated,  and  for  the  present  time  incommunicable, 
name,  which  in  that  same  sublimest  of  all  visions  is 
referred  to  :  '  He  had  a  name  written,  that  no  man  knew, 
but  He  Himself  (xix.  12)  ;  for  none  except  God  can 
search  out  the  deep  things  of  God  (1  Cor.  ii.  12;  cf. 
Matt.  xi.  27;   Judg.  xiii.  18).     But  the  mystery  of  this 

*  new  name^  which  no  man  by  searching  could  find  out, 
which  in  this  present  condition  no  man  is  so  much  as 


diamantnen  Ring' — and  in  the  Latin,  Hildebert  (not  to  speak  of 
Prudentius,  Psychom.  823-887,  Bernard  of  Clugny,  La  us  Patrice. 
Ccelestis,  and  many  others),  has  set  forth  the  beauty  and  the  blessed- 
ness of  that  City  of  the  living  God,  and  his  own  longing  to  be  num- 
bered among  the  citizens  of  it,  in  verses  such  as  these  (see  my  Sacred 
Latin  Poetry,  3rd  edit.  p.  337). 

Me  receptet  Sion  ilia,  Super  petrani  collocata, 

Sion,  David  urbs  tranquilla,  Urbs  in  portu  satis  tuto, 

Cujus  faber  auctor  lucis,  De  longinquo  te  saluto, 

Cujus  portas  Lignum  crucis,  Te  saluto,  te  suspire, 

Cujus  mini  lapis  vivus,  Te  affecto,  te  requiro  : 

Cujus  custos  Rex  festivus.  Quantum  tui  gratulantur, 

In  hac  urbe  lux  solennis,  Quam  festive  convivantur, 

Ver  setemum,  pax  perennis ;  Quis  affectus  eos  stringat, 

In  hac  odor  implens  caalos,  Aut  quae  gemma  muros  pingat, 

In  hac  semper  festum  melos  ;  Quis  chalcedon,  quis  jacinthus, 

Non  est  ibi  corruptela,  INorunt  illi  qui  sunt  iutus. 

Non  defectus,  non  querela;  In  plateis  hujus  urbis, 

Non  minuti,  non  deformes,  Sociatus  piis  turbis, 

Omnes  Christo  sunt  conformes.  Cum  Aloyse  et  Elia, 

Urbs  cselestis,  urbs  beata,  Pium  cantem  Alleluia.' 


198         EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.    [ill.    1 3. 

capable  of  receiving,  shall  be  imparted  to  the  saints  and 
citizens  of  the  New  Jerusalem.  They  shall  know,  even 
as  they  are  known  (1  Cor.  xiii.  12). 

Ver.  13.  '  He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear  tuhat  the 
Spirit  saith  unto  the  Churches.^ — Cf.  ii.  7.  I  cannot  leave 
this  Epistle,  so  full  of  precious  promises  to  a  Church, 
which,  having  little  strength,  had  yet  held  fast  the  word 
of  Christ's  patience,  without  citing  a  remarkable  passage 
from  Gibbon  {Decline  and  Fall,  c.  lxiv.),  in  which  he 
writes  like  one  who  almost  believed  that  the  threatenings 
and  promises  of  God  did  fulfil  themselves  in  history : 
4  In  the  loss  of  Ephesus  the  Christians  deplored  the  fall 
of  the  first  Angel,  the  extinction  of  the  first  candlestick, 
of  the  Revelations ;  the  desolation  is  complete  ;  and  the 
temple  of  Diana  or  the  church  of  Mary  will  equally  elude 
the  search  of  the  curious  traveller.  The  circus  and  three 
stately  theatres  of  Laodicea  are  now  peopled  with  wolves 
and  foxes ;  Sardes  is  reduced  to  a  miserable  village  ;  the 
God  of  Mahomet,  without  a  rival  or  a  son,  is  invoked  in 
the  mosques  of  Thyatira  and  Pergamus,  and  the  populous- 
ness  of  Smyrna  is  supported  by  the  foreign  trade  of  the 
Franks  and  Armenians.  Philadelphia  alone  has  been  saved 
by  prophecy,  or  courage.  At  a  distance  from  the  sea,  for- 
gotten by  the  emperors,  encompassed  on  all  sides  by  the 
Turks,  her  valiant  citizens  defended  their  religion  and 
freedom  above  fourscore  years,  and  at  length  capitulated 
with  the  proudest  of  the  Ottomans.  Among  the  Greek 
colonies  and  Churches  of  Asia,  Philadelphia  is  still  erect — 
a  column  in  a  scene  of  ruins, — a  pleasing  example  that  the 
paths  of  honour  and  safety  may  sometimes  be  the  same  ' 


VII. 

EPISTLE  TO   THE   CHURCH   OF   LAODICEA. 

Rev.  iii.   14-22. 

Ver.  14.  *  And  unto  the  Angel  of  the  Church  of  the 
Laodiceans  write? — Laodicea,  called  often  Laodicea  on 
the  Lycus,  to  distinguish,  it  from  other  cities  (they  were 
no  less  than  six  in  all)  bearing  the  same  name,  was  a  city 
in  Southern  Phrygia  (Phrygia  Pacatiana),  midway  between 
Philadelphia  and  Colosse.  Its  nearness  to  the  latter  city 
is  more  than  once  assumed  in  St.  Paul's  Epistle  to  the 
Colossians  (iv.  13,  15,  16).  Its  earliest  name  was  Dios- 
polis,  then  Ehoas  (Pliny,  H.  N.  v.  29) ;  being  rebuilt  and 
adorned  by  Antiochus  the  Second,  king  of  Syria,  he  called 
it  Laodicea,  after  his  wife  Laodice,  by  whom  he  was  after- 
wards poisoned.  In  Roman  times  it  was  a  foremost  city 
among  those  of  the  second  rank  in  Asia  Minor  ;  *  celeber- 
rima  urbs,'  as  Pliny  calls  it.  Its  commerce  was  consider- 
able, being  chiefly  in  the  wools  grown  in  the  region  round 
about,  which  were  celebrated  for  their  richness  of  colour 
and  fineness  of  texture.  The  city  suffered  grievously  in 
the  Mithridatic  War,  but  presently  recovered  again;  it 
was  overthrown  by  an  earthquake  in  the  reign  of  Nero 
(a.d.  61);  but  restored  by  the  efforts  of  its  own  citizens, 
without  any  help  sought  from  the  Koman  senate  (Tacitus, 
Anncd.  xiv.  27). 


200         EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.    [ill.    1 4. 

Some  have  supposed  that  the  negligent  Angel  of  the 
Laodicean  Church  was  that  Archippus,  for  whom  St.  Paul, 
writing  to  the  Colossians,  adds  the  message,  '  And  say  to 
Archippus,  Take  heed  to  the  ministry  which  thou  hast 
received  in  the  Lord,  that  thou  fulfil  it'  (Col.  iv.    17). 
Bishop   Lightfoot   does   not  think  it   improbable.     The 
urgency  of  this  monition  certainly  seems  to  imply  that  St. 
Paul  was  not  altogether  satisfied  with  the  manner  in  which 
Archippus  was  then    fulfilling   the    '  ministry,'  whatever 
that  might  be,  which  he  had  undertaken ;  and  affording 
support   to  this  conjecture  is  the  fact  that  in  the  Apo- 
stolical Constitutions  (viii.  46),  which  with  much  of  later 
times  also  contain  much  of  the  very  earliest,  Archippus  is 
distinctly  named  as  first  bishop  of  Laodicea.     Let  him 
have  been  the  son  of  Philemon  (Philem.  2),  a  principal 
convert  in   the   Colossian   Church,    whose    son  therefore 
might  very  probably  have  been  chosen  to  this  dignity 
and  honour,  more  perhaps  for  his  father's  merits  than  his 
own ;  and  it  would  be  nothing  strange  to  find  him  some 
thirty  years  later  holding  his  office  still ;  while  it  would 
be  only  too  consonant  with  the    downward   progress  of 
things,  that  he  who  began  slackly,  who  so  soon  required 
that '  Take  heed  '  of  St.  Paul,  should  in  the  lapse  of  years 
have  grown  more  and  more  negligent,  till  now  he  needed 
and  received  this  sharpest  reproof  from  his  Lord.   Whether 
the  rebukes  and  threatenings  contained  in  this  Epistle 
did  their  work  or  not,  it  is  only  for  Him  who  reads  all  and 
remembers  all  to  know.     But  it  is  certain  that  the  Church 
of  Laodicea  was  in  somewhat  later  times,  so  far  as  man's 
eye  could  see,  in  a  flourishing  condition.     In  numbers  it 
increased  so  much  that  its  bishop  obtained  metropolitan 
dignity;  and  a.d.  361  an  important  Church  Council,  that 
in  which  the  Canon  of  Scripture  was  finally  settled,  was 


III.  I4.]  LAODICEA,    REV.    III.    1^-22.  201 

held  at  Laodicea,  and  thence  derives  its  name.  But  this 
at  best  was  only  a  transient  revival.  All  has  perished  now. 
He  who  removed  the  candlestick  of  Ephesus,  has  rejected 
Laodicea  out  of  his  mouth.  The  fragments  of  aqueducts 
and  theatres  spread  over  a  vast  extent  of  country  tell  of 
the  former  magnificence  of  this  city  ;  but  of  this  once 
famous  Church  nothing  survives.  Eecent  travellers  with 
difficulty  discovered  one  or  two  Christians  in  the  poor 
village  which  stands  on  the  site  occupied  by  Laodicea 
of  old, 

'  These  things  saith  the  Amen,  the  faithful  and  true 
Witness."1 — '  The  Amen  '  (the  word  only  here  is  used  as  a 
proper  name,  or  as  a  substantive,  but  compare  Isai.  lxv. 
16)  is  He  who  can  add  a '  Verily,  verily,'  an  '  Amen,  amen,' 
to  every  word  which  He  utters ;  as  so  frequently  He  does 
— the  double  *  Amen '  indeed  only  in  the  Gospel  of  St. 
John  (i.  51  ;  iii.  3,  5,  1 1,  and  often  ;  cf.  Num.  v.  22  ;  Neh. 
viii.  6).  He  is  '  the  faithful  and  true  Witness  '  in  that 
He  speaks  what  He  knows,  and  testifies  what  He  has 
seen.  The  thought  is  a  favourite  and  ever-recurring  one 
in  the  Gospel  of  St.  John  (iii.  11,  32,  33);  but  does  not 
appear  in  any  other.  It  may  be  interesting  here  to  call 
to  mind  how  the  confessors  of  Lyons  and  Vienne,  refer- 
ring to  these  very  words,  put  back  from  themselves  the 
name  of  '  witnesses  '  (fidprvpss),  when  others  would  have 
given  it  to  them,  saying  that  Christ  was  '  the  faithful 
and  true  Witness,'  that  this  title  was  not  theirs,  but  His 
alone  (Eusebius,  H.  E.  v.  2 ). 

Of  the  two  epithets,  the  first,  ttkttos,  expresses  his  entire 
trustworthiness.  The  word  is  employed  in  two  very  dif- 
ferent senses  in  the  New  Testament  as  elsewhere,  in  an 
active  and  a  passive, — now  as  trusting  or  believing  (John 
xx.  27  ;  Acts  xiv.  1),  now  as  trustworthy  or  to  be  believed 


202         EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN   ASIA.    [ill.   1 4. 

(2  Tim.  ii.  1 3  ;  I  Thess.  v.  24 ;  1  John  i.  9).  Men  may  be 
TnaroL  in  both  senses,  the  active  and  the  passive,  as  exer- 
cising faith,  and  as  being  worthy  to  have  faith  exercised 
in  them  ;  God  can  be  Triaros  only  in  the  latter.  The 
Arians  found  this  epithet  applied  to  Christ  (Heb.  iii.  2), 
and,  as  though  the  word  was  and  could  be  only  used  in 
the  former  sense,  in  that  of  exercising  faith  upon  some 
higher  object,  itself  of  course  a  creaturely  act,  they  drew 
from  the  application  of  this  epithet  to  the  Son  an  argu- 
ment against  his  divinity.  I  quote  the  clear  and  excellent 
answer  of  Athanasius  (Library  of  the  Fathers,  Treatises 
against  Arianism,  p.  289)  :  '  Further,  if  the  expression, 
"  Who  was  faithful,"  is  a  difficulty  to  them  from  the 
thought  that  "  faithful "  is  used  of  Him  as  of  others,  as^ 
if  He  exercises  faith  and  so  receives  the  reward  of  faith, 
they  must  proceed  to  find  fault  with  Moses,  for  saying, 
"  Grod  faithful  and  true,"  and  with  St.  Paul  for  writing, 
"  God  is  faithful,  who  will  not  suffer  you  to  be  tempted 
above  that  ye  are  able."  But  when  the  sacred  writers  spoke 
thus,  they  were  not  thinking  of  Grod  in  a  human  way,  but 
they  acknowledged  two  senses  of  the  word  "  faithful  "  in 
Scripture,  first  believing,  then  trustworthy,  of  which  the 
former  belongs  to  man,  the  latter  to  God.  Thus  Abra- 
ham was  faithful  because  he  believed  God's  word ;  and 
God  faithful,  for,  as  David  says  in  the  Psalm,  "  The  Lord 
is  faithful  in  all  his  words,"  or  is  trustworthy,  and  cannot 
lie.  Again,  "  If  any  faithful  woman  have  widows,"  she  is 
so  called  for  her  right  faith ;  but,  "  It  is  a  faithful  saying," 
because  what  He  hath  spoken  hath  a  claim  on  our  faith, 
for  it  is  true,  and  is  not  otherwise.  Accordingly  the  words, 
"  Who  is  faithful  to  Him  that  made  Him,"  imply  no  par- 
allel with  others,  nor  mean  that  by  having  faith  He  be- 
came well-pleasing,  but  that,  being  Son  of  God  the  True, 


III.   14.]  LAODICEA,    REV.    III.    I4~22.  203 

He  too  is  faithful,  and  ought  to  be  believed  in  all  He  says 
and  does.' 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  truthfulness  or  veracity  of 
Christ  as  a  Witness  is  asserted  in  the  tug-tos,  not,  as  might 
at  first  sight  be  assumed,  in  the  ak^Otvos  that  follows,  or 
at  least  in  it  only  as  one  quality  among  many.  Christ  is 
a  fidpTVs  a\7)6ivos  (not  akwdrjs),  in  that  He  realized  and 
fulfilled  in  the  highest  sense  all  that  belonged  to  a  witness. 
Three  things  are  necessary  thereunto.  He  must  have 
been  avroTrr^s;  must  have  seen  with  his  own  eyes 
that  which  he  professes  to  attest  (Acts  i.  21,  22).  He 
must  be  competent  to  relate  and  reproduce  this  informa- 
tion for  others.  He  must  be  willing  faithfully  and  truth- 
fully to  do  this.  The  meeting  of  these  three  conditions 
in  Christ,  and  not  the  presence  of  the  last  only,  constitutes 
Him  a  '  true  Witness,''  or  one  in  whom  all  the  highest 
qualities  of  a  witness  met. 

*  The  beginning  of  the  creation  of  God.'' — There  are 
two  ways  in  which  grammatically  it  would  be  possible  to 
understand  dp^v  here  (see  Pott,  Etym.  Forsch.  vol.  iii. 
p.  744  ;  Delitzsch  On  Proverbs,  p.  141).  The  word  might 
imply  that  Christ  was  passively  this  'beginning  of  the 
creation  of  God,''  as  the  first  and  most  excellent  creature 
of  God's  hands,  his  chef-d'oeuvre;  thus  Jacob  addresses 
Reuben  as  dpyjq  tskvcov  jaov  (Gren.  xlix.  3  ;  cf.  Deut.  xxi. 
17).  Or  the  words  might  declare  of  Christ  that  He  was 
the  active  source,  author,  and,  in  this  sense,  '  beginning ' 
and  beginner  of  all  creation ;  thus,  in  the  Book  of  Proverbs, 
Wisdom  claims  to  be  dp%r]  68wv  rov  ©soO,  viii.  22 ;  as  in 
the  words  of  the  Creed,  '  by  whom  all  things  were  made.' 
But  while  both  meanings  are  possible  so  long  as  the  words 
are  merely  considered  by  themselves,  and  without  reference 
to  any  other  statements  concerning  Christ,  the  analogy  of 


204         EPISTLES   TO   THE    SEYEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.    [ill.   1 4. 

faith  imperatively  demands  the  adoption  of  the  latter.  The 
Catholic  Church  has  ever  rejected  the  other  as  an  Arian 
gloss  ;  impossible  to  accept,  because  it  would  place  this  pas- 
sage in  contradiction  with  every  passage  in  Scripture  which 
claims  divine  attributes,  and  not  creaturely  merely,  for  the 
Son.  To  go  no  further  than  these  seven  Epistles,  all  the 
titles  which  Christ  claims  for  Himself  in  them  are  either 
necessarily  divine,  or,  at  any  rate,  not  inconsistent  with 
his  divinity;  and  this  must  be  so  no  less.  He  is  not, 
therefore,  the  '  principium  principiatum,'  but  rather  the 
*  principium  pvincipiansf — -not  He  whom  Grod  created 
the  first,  but  He  who  was  the  fountain-source  of  all  the 
creation  of  God,  by  whom  Grod  created  all  things  (John 
i.  1-3;  Col.  i.  15,  18);  even  as  throughout  this  Book 
Christ  appears  as  the  Author  of  creation  (v.  13).  The 
Arian s,  as  is  well  known,  explained  these  words  in  the 
same  way  as  they  explained  Col.  i.  15,  which  is,  indeed, 
the  great  parallel  passage,  as  though  apxn  was '  the  begun,' 
and  not  '  the  beginning ; '  and  they  brought  Job  xl.  19 
into  comparison.  But  for  the  use  of  apxn  m  the  sense 
and  with  the  force  which  we  here  demand  for  it,  as  '  prin- 
cipium,' not  '  initium  '  (though  these  Latin  words  do  not 
adequately  reproduce  the  distinction),  compare  the  Gospel 
of  Nicodemus,c.  25,  in  which  Hades  addresses  Satan  as  97 
tov  QavaTov  apyj)  kcu  pi%a  rf/s  apbaprlas ;  and  further, 
Dionysius  the  Areopagite  (c.  15):  6  Sebs  sa-rlv  iravrcov 
air  La  koX  apxv  >  a:Qd  again,  Clement  of  Alexandria  (Strom. 
iv.  25) :  6  Ssbs  8s  avap^os,  ap%r)  twv  oXwv  iravTSkris. 
Add  from  Tertullian  (Adv.  Hermog.  19) :  '  Principii  voca- 
bulum,  quod  est  ap%^,  non  tantum  ordinativum,  sed  et 
potestativum  capit  principatum.'  He  is  not  merely  the 
first  in  order,  but  dynamically  the  beginning,  the  author. 
These  and  innumerable  other  passages  abundantly  vindi- 


III.   15.]  LAODICEA,    REV.    III.    I4~22.  205 

cate  for  apxv  that  active  sense  which,  as  I  have  said,  the 
analogy  of  faith  compels  us  to  claim  for  it  here.  On  the 
words  of  St.  Paul  which  exactly  say  over  again  of  Christ 
what  He  here  says  of  Himself,  irpwroroKos  irda-r)^ 
KTccrscos  (Col.  i.  1 5),  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  grand 
discussion  in  Lightfoot's  Colossians,  in  loco. 

Ver.  15.  '  /  know  thy  ivorks,  that  thou  art  neither  cold 
nor  hot :  I  would  thou  wert  cold  or  hot.' — Ttsaros,  from 
£ea),  ferveo,  cf.  Acts  xviii.  25  ;  Eom.  xii.  11  {J^iovTes  rS 
irvsvfiarc),  love  to  God  being  a  divine  heat,  a  divine  fire 
(Cant.  viii.  6  ;  Luke  xxiv.  32).  "O<f)s\ov}  properly  the  se- 
cond aorist  of  6<J>sl\(o,  but  now  grown  into  an  adverbial 
use  (  = '  utinam  '),  has  so  far  forgotten  what  at  the  first  it 
was,  as  to  be  employed  promiscuously  in  all  numbers  and 
all  persons;  cf.  I  Cor.  iv.  8  ;  2  Cor.  xi.  1.  It  governs  an 
indicative,  not  an  optative,  here  (rjs,  not  etrjs,  is  the  right 
reading,  and  ituasti  should  replace  iwerV  in  our  Version), 
inasmuch  as  the  Lord  is  not  desiring  that  something  even 
now  might  be,  but  only  that  something  might  have  been. 
In  form  a  wish,  it  is  in  reality  a  regret. 

Shall  we  take  this  '  /  would  thou  ivert  cold  or  hot,' 
merely  as  the  expression  of  a  holy  impatience  at  the  half- 
and-half  position  of  this  Laodicean  Angel ;  without  push- 
ing the  matter  further,  or  attempting  to  explain  to  our- 
selves how  the  Lord  should  have  put  coldness  as  one  of 
two  alternatives  to  be  desired ;  as  though  He  had  said,  '  I 
would  thou  wouldst  take  one  side  or  other,  be  avowedly 
with  me,  or  avowedly  against  me,  ranged  under  my  banner, 
or  under  that  of  my  enemies,  that  so  I  might  understand 
how  to  deal  with  thee '  ?  Hardly  so.  This  impatience, 
looked  at  more  closely,  would  not  deserve  to  be  called 
holy.  It  is  the  impatience  of  sinful  man,  not  of  the  Son 
of  God  ;  to  whom  indecision  between  good  and  evil  must 


206        EPISTLES   TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.    [ill.   1 5. 

be  preferable  to  decision  for  evil.  The  state  of  lukewarm- 
ness  must  be  in  itself  worse  than  even  that  of  coldness, 
before  the  Lord  could  thus  deliberately  desire  the  latter 
as  a  preferable  alternative.  But  how  ?  for  this  certainly 
demands  an  explanation.  Lukewarmness  is  greatly  inferior 
to  heat,  but  seems  preferable  to  absolute  coldness  in  the 
things  of  God.  To  have  only  half  a  heart  for  these 
things  is  bad ;  but  wherein  is  it  better  to  have  no  heart 
at  all  ?  How  shall  we  then  understand  this  exclamation, 
*  i"  would  thou  ivert  cold  or  hot '  ?  Best,  I  think,  in 
this  way,  namely,  by  regarding  the  '  cold '  here  as  one 
hitherto  untouched  by  the  powers  of  grace.  There  is 
always  hope  of  such  an  one,  that,  when  he  does  come 
under  those  powers,  he  may  become  a  zealous  and  earnest 
Christian.  He  is  not  one  on  whom  the  grand  experiment 
of  the  Gospel  has  been  tried  and  has  failed.  But  the 
'  lukeivarm '  is  one  who  has  tasted  of  the  good  gift  and  of 
the  powers  of  the  world  to  come,  who  has  been  a  subject 
of  Divine  grace,  but  in  whom  that  grace  has  failed  to 
kindle  more  than  the  feeblest  spark.  The  publicans  and 
harlots  were  '  cold,''  the  Apostles  '  hot.'  The  Scribes  and 
Pharisees,  such  among  them  as  that  Simon  in  whose  house 
the  Lord  sat  and  spake  the  parable  of  the  fifty  and  the 
five  hundred  pence  (Luke  vii.  36-47),  they  were  *  luke- 
warm.' It  was  from  among  the  '  cold,'  and  not  the 
1  lukeivarm,'  that  He  drew  recruits ;  from  among  them 
came  forward  the  candidates  for  discipleship  and  apostle- 
ship  and  the  crown  of  life,  Matthew,  and  Zacchaeus,  and 
the  Magdalene,  and  the  other  woman  that  had  been  a 
sinner  (if  indeed  another),  and  all  those,  the  publicans 
and  harlots,  that  entered  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
while  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  continued  without ;  and 
above  all  Paul  the  Apostle,  who,  having  been  a  persecutor 


III.   15.]  LAODICEA,    REV.    III.    I4-22.  207 

and  injurious,  was  changed  into  a  preacher  of  that  faith 
which  he  persecuted  before.  That  woman  *  which  was  a 
sinner,'  for  example,  having  been  '  cold,'  passed  from  that 
coldness  to  the  fervency  of  a  divine  heat,  at  which  there  is 
little  likelihood  that  the  '  lukeiuarm  '  Simon  ever  arrived 
(Luke  vii.  47;  Matt.  xxi.  28-31). 

It  is  thus  that  Gregory  the  Great  explains  these  words 
(Reg.  Past.  iii.  34) :  *  Qui  enim  adhuc  in  peccatis  est, 
conversionis  fiduciam  non  amittit.  Qui  vero  post  conver- 
sionem  tepuit,  et  spem,  quae  esse  potuit  de  peccatore,  sub- 
traxit.  Aut  calidus  ergo  quisque  esse,  aut  frigidus  quas- 
ritur,  ne  tepidus  evomatur,  ut  videlicet  aut  necdum  con- 
versus,  adhuc  de  se  spem  conversionis  prsebeat,  aut  jam 
con  versus  in  virtutibus  inardescat.'  Compare  Origen  (Z)e 
Princip.  iii.  4) :  '  Forte  utilius  videatur  obtineri  animam 
a  carne,  quam  residere  in  suis  propriis  voluntatibus. 
Namque  quoniam  nee  calida  dicitur  esse,  nee  frigida,  sed 
in  medio  quodam  tepore  perdurans,  tardam  et  satis  diffi- 
cilem  conversionem  poterit  invenire.  Si  vero  carni  ad- 
hasreat,  ex  his  ipsis  interdum  malis  quae  ex  carnis  vitiis 
patitur,  satiata  aliquando  et  repleta,  velut  gravissimis 
oneribus  luxurise  ac  libidinis  fatigata,  facilius  et  velocius 
converti  a  materialibus  sordibus  ad  caalestium  desiderium 
et  spiritualem  gratiam  potest.'  Jeremy  Taylor,  too,  in 
the  second  of  his  sermons,  Of  Luhewarmness  and  Zeal, 
discusses  this  point,  namely,  why  the  Lord  preferred 
either  '  hot '  or  '  cold '  to  *  lukewarm,''  at  considerable 
length  ;  and  urges  well  that  it  is  the  '  lukewarm,''  not  as  a 
transitional,  but  as  a  final  state,  which  is  thus  the  object 
of  the  Lord's  abhorrence  :  '  In  feasts  or  sacrifices  the  an- 
cients did  use  apponere  frigidam  or  calidam ;  sometimes 
they  drank  hot  drink,  sometimes  they  poured  cold  upon 
their  gravies  or  in  their  wines,  but  no  services  of  tables  or 


J 


208        EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN   CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.    [ill.    1 6. 

altars  were  ever  with  lukewarm.  God  hates  it  worse  than 
stark  cold;  which  expression  is  the  more  considerable, 
because  in  natural  and  superinduced  progressions  from 
extreme  to  extreme,  we  must  necessarily  pass  through  the 
midst ;  and  therefore  it  is  certain  a  lukewarm  religion  is 
better  than  none  at  all,  as  being  the  doing  some  parts  of 
the  work  designed,  and  nearer  to  perfection  than  the 
utmost  distance  could  be  ;  and  yet  that  God  hates  it  more, 
must  mean,  that  there  is  some  appendant  evil  in  this  state 
which  is  not  in  the  other,  and  that  accidentally  it  is  much 
worse  :  and  so  it  is,  if  we  rightly  understand  it ;  that  is,  if 
we  consider  it  not  as  a  being  in,  or  passing  through,  the 
middle  way,  but  as  a  state  and  a  period  of  religion.  If  it 
be  in  motion,  a  lukewarm  religion  is  pleasing  to  God;  for 
God  hates  it  not  for  its  imperfection,  and  its  natural 
measures  of  proceeding ;  but  if  it  stands  still  and  rests 
there,  it  is  a  state  against  the  designs  and  against  the 
perfection  of  God  :  and  it  hath  in  it  these  evils.' 

I  must  not  leave  these  words  without  observing  that 
there  is  another  way  of  explaining  this,  '  7"  ivould  thou 
wert  cold  or  hot,''  which  has  found  favour  with  some  in 
modern  times.  Urging  that  food,  when  either  cold  or  hot, 
is  pleasant  to  the  taste,  and  only  when  tepid  unwelcome, 
they  make  both  the  '  cold '  and  the  *  hot '  to  express  spiri- 
tual conditions  absolutely  acceptable  in  themselves,  the 
only  tertium  comjparationis  being  the  nausea  created  by 
the  tepid,  and  they  affirm  that  nothing  further  has  a  right 
here  to  be  pressed.  But  assuredly  there  is  much  more  in 
these  words  than  this. 

Ver.  1 6.  '  So  then  because  thou  art  lukewarm,  and 
neither  cold  nor  hot,  I  will  spue  thee  out  of  my  mouth.' — 
The  land  of  Canaan  is  said  to  have  spued  out  its  former 
inhabitants  for  their  abominable  doings ;  the  children  of 


III.   17.]  LAODICEA,    REV.    III.    1^.-22.  209 

Israel  being  warned  that  they  commit  not  the  same,  lest 
in  like  manner  it  spue  out  them  (Lev.  xviii.  28  ;  xx.  22). 
But  the  threatening  here  is   more    terrible  still.       It  is 
nothing  less  than  to  be  spued  out  of  the  mouth  of  Christ, 
to    be  rejected   as   with  moral  loathing  and  disgust,  by 
Him  ;  to  exchange  the  greatest  possible  nearness  to  Him   / 
for  the  remotest  distance.     At   the    same   time,  in  the 
original   the    language  is  not  quite  so   severe  as  in  our 
Version ;  the  threat  does  not  present  itself  as  one  about 
to  be  put  into  immediate  execution.     The  long-suffering 
of  Christ  has  not  been  all  exhausted  :  fisWco  as  ifisacu,  '  I 
am  about,'  or  '  I  have  it  in  my  mind,  to  spue  thee  out  of 
my  mouth,'  as  the  Vulgate  seeks  to  express  it,  '  incipiam 
te  evomere  ; '  that  is,  *  unless  thou  so  takest  to  heart  this 
threat  that    I    shall  never  need  to  execute  this  threat ' 
(Jon.  iii.  10;   1  Kin.  xxi.  29).     But  if  executed,  it  implies 
nothing  less  than  absolute  rejection,  being  equivalent  to  ' 
that  '  /  will  remove  thy  candlestick  out  of  his  place  '  (ii. 
5),  uttered  against  the  Ephesian  Angel.  Not  very  different 
is  the  tropical  use  of  tttvziv,  Karainvsiv,  and  in  Latin  of 
'  respuere,'  '  conspuere,'  as  =  c  repudiare,'  '  abhorrere  ab 
aliqua  re.'     XXtapos,  aptly  rendered  in  our  Version  '  luke- 
warm,' is  a  word  with  which  we  are  familiar  enough  in 
Homer ;  but  it  there  appears  in  an  old  Ionic  subform  as 
Xcapos  {II.  ix.  477  ;  Od.  v.  268). 

Ver.  17.  'Because  thou  say  est,  I  am  rich,  and  in- 
creased tvith  goods  (or  as  it  is  in  the  R.  V.,  '  and  have 
gotten  riches  '),  and  have  need  of  nothing ;  and  knowest 
not  that  thou,  art  ivretched,  and  miserable,  and  poor, 
and  blind,  and  naked.'' — There  is  a  question  whether  this 
verse  coheres  the  most  closely  with  what  goes  before,  or 
what  follows  after, — that  is,  whether  Christ  threatens  to 
reject  him  from  his  mouth,  because  he  says,  ' 1  am  rich, 

P 


210        EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN   ASIA.    [ill.   1J . 

and  increased  with  goods,  and  have  need  of  nothing ; ' 
or  whether,  because  he  says  he  is  all  this,  therefore  Christ 
counsels  him  to  buy  of  Him  what  will  make  him  rich 
indeed  (ver.  18).  Our  Translators  regard  the  latter  con- 
nexion as  the  right  one ;  and,  by  the  punctuation  which 
they  have  adopted,  join  this  verse  with  that  which  follows 
after  it,  not  with  that  which  went  before  it.  I  doubt 
whether  in  this  they  have  correctly  done.  I  should  prefer 
to  place  a  colon  at  the  end  of  ver.  16,  and  a  full-stop  at 
that  of  ver.  17,  instead  of  the  reverse,  which  has  been 
their  course. — These  riches  and  other  goods  in  which  the 
Laodicean  Church  and  Angel  gloried  we  must  understand 
as  spiritual  riches,  in  which  they  fondly  imagined  they 
abounded.  Some  interpreters  take  it  in  another  sense, 
that  they  boasted  of  their  worldly  prosperity,  their  flou- 
rishing outward  condition,  and  found  in  this  a  sign  and 
token  of  Grod's  favour  towards  them.  But  assuredly  this 
is  a  mistake.  It  is  in  the  sphere  of  spiritual  things  that 
the  Lord  is  moving ;  and  this  language  in  this  applica- 
tion is  justified  by  numerous  passages  in  Scripture :  as  by 
Luke  xii.  21 ;  I  Cor.  i.  5  ;  2  Cor.  viii.  9;  above  all,  by 
two  passages  of  holy  irony,  1  Cor.  iv.  8  and  Hos.  xii.  8  ; 
both  standing  in  very  closest  connexion  with  this ;  I  can 
indeed  hardly  doubt  that  there  is  intended  a  reference  to 
the  latter  of  these  in  the  words  of  our  Lord.  (The  Laodi- 
cean Angel,  and  the  Church  which  he  was  drawing  into 
the  same  ruin  with  himself,  were  walking  in  a  vain  show 
and  imagination  of  their  own  righteousness,  their  own 
advances  in  spiritual  insight  and  knowledge,  j  That  this 
may  go  hand  in  hand  with  the  most  miserable  lack  of  all 
real  grace,  all  true  and  solid  advances  in  goodness,  we 
have  a  notable  example  in  the  Pharisee  of  our  Lord's  para- 
ble (Luke  xviii.  II,   12  ;  cf.  xvi.  15  ;   I   Cor.  xiii.  1)  ;  and 


III.    17.]  LA0DICEA,    REV.    III.    I4~-22.  211 

so  it  was  here.  Rightly  Richard  of  St.  Victor  :  *  Dieis 
quod  sum  dives  et  locupletatus,  sive  videlicet  per  scientiae 
cognitionem,  sive  per  Scripturae  prsedicationem,  sive  per 
secularis  eloquential  nitorem,  sive  per  sacramentorum 
administrationem,  sive  per  pontificalis  apicis  dignitatem, 
sive  per  vulgi  laud  em  inanem.' 

Such  was  their  estimate  of  themselves  ;  but  now  fol- 
lows the  terrible  reality,  namely,  Christ's  estimate  of 
them :  '  And  knoivest  not  that  thou  art  ivretched,  and 
miserable,  and  poor,  and  blind,  and  naked.'  Here,  as 
so  often,  our  Version,  to  its  loss,  has  taken  no  note  of  the 
article  which,  going  before  the  two  first  adjectives,  raises 
them  to  the  dignity  of  substantives,  while  the  three 
which  follow  are  added  as  qualifying  adjectives.  An  exact 
parallel,  and,  singularly  enough,  much  more  than  a  mere 
verbal  parallel,  occurs  Isai.  xlvii.  8  (LXX) :  vvv  Ss  aicove 
ravra,  Tpvcpspd,  rj  /cadrj/jbevr],  rj  ttsttolOvIcl,  rj  \syovcra  iv 
fcapSla  avrrjs,  'E^yo)  sifii,  teal  ovk  sariv  srspa,  k.t.X.  Best 
therefore  to  translate,  '  And  hnoivest  not  that  thou  art  the 
wretched  and  the  miserable  one,  and  poor,  and  blind, 
and  naked.'  Ta\at7r(opos,  l  ivretched,'  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment occurs  only  here  and  Rom.  vii.  24  :  it  is  commonly 
derived  by  the  grammarians  from  rkda),  and  iroypos  in  the  ' 
sense  of  grief,  but  thought  now  to  be  a  poetical  recasting 
of  TaXaTTsLpios,  in  which  case  we  should  find  irscpd,  a 
sharp  piercing  point,  in  the  latter  syllables.  'TZXsetvos,  a 
later  form  of  the  word  whose  Attic  form  is  sXstvos  (Lobeck, 
Phrynichus,  p.  87),  occurs  only  here  and  1  Cor.  xv.  19; 
it  sets  him  forth  as  an  object  of  extremest  pity  (iXeovs 
a%ios,  Suidas),  as  in  certain  peril  of  eternal  death,  if  he 
should  remain  what  he  was.  The  charge  of  blindness 
would  seem  to  imply  that  the  Laodicean  Church  boasted 
of  spiritual  insight.     Like  some  before  them,  being  blind 

p  2 


212         EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.    [ill.    1 8. 

they  yet  said,  '  We  see  '  (John  ix.  41).  This  blindness,  of 
course,  was  not  absolute  and  complete ;  else  the  '  eye- 
salve  '  which  the  Lord  presently  bids  them  to  obtain  of 
Him  would  have  profited  little.  They  were  ixvanru^ovrss, 
blinking,  as  St.  Peter  describes  some,  he  too  joining 
rv(f)\6s  and  fivanrd^oov  (2  Pet.  i.  9). 

Ver.  18.  '/  counsel  thee  to  buy  of  Me  gold  tried  in 
the  fire,  that  thou  may  est  be  rich  ;  and  white  raiment,  that 
thou  mayest  be  clothed,  and  that  the  shame  of  thy  naked- 
ness do  not  appear,  and  anoint  thine  eyes  with  eyesalve, 
that  thou  mayest  see.' — Marckius  :  '  Triplici  malo  pauper- 
tatis,  nuditatis,  et  csecitatis,  triplex  opponitur  merx,  aurum 
igne  coctum,  vestimenta  alba,  et  collyrium.'  There  is  a 
slight  touch  of  irony,  but  the  irony  of  divine  love,  in  the 
words.  CHe  who  might  have  commanded,  prefers  rather 
V^  to  counsel ;  He  who  might  have  spoken  as  from  heaven, 
conforms  Himself,  so  far  as  the  outward  form  of  his  words 
reaches,  to  the  language  of  earth.  \  To  the  merchants  and 
factors  of  this  wealthy  mercantile  city  He  addresses  Him- 
self in  their  own  dialect.  Laodicea,  on  the  great  high 
road  of  Oriental  commerce,  was  a  city  of  extensive  money 
transactions ;  so  that  Cicero,  journeying  to  or  from  his  pro- 
vince, proposes  to  take  up  money  there  {Epp.  ad  Div.  ii. 
17  ;  iii.  5).  Christ  here  invites  to  dealings  with  Himself. 
He  has  gold  of  so  fine  a  standard  that  none  will  reject  it. 
(  The  wools  of  Laodicea,  of  a  raven  blackness,  were  famous 
throughout  the  world.  He  has  raiment  of  dazzling_white 
for  as  many  as  will  receive  it  at  his  bands.  There  were 
ointments  for  which  many  of  the  Asiatic  cities,  perhaps 
Laodicea  among  the  number,  were  famous;  but  He,  as 
He  will  presently  announce,  has  eyesalve  more  precious 
than  them  all.\  Would  it  not  be  wise  to  transact  their 
chief  business  with  Him  ?  Thus  Perkins  {Exposition  upon 


III.   1 8.]  LAODICEA,    REV.    III.    \\~22.  213 

Rev.  i.  ii.  iii.,  Works,  vol.  iii.  p.  363) :  '  Christ  saith,  "  1 
counsel  thee  to  buy  of  Me ;  "  where  He  alludeth  to  the  out- 
ward state  of  this  city,  for  it  was  rich,  and  also  given  to 
much  traffic,  as  histories  record,  and  therefore  He  speaks 
to  them  in  their  own  kind,  as  if  He  should  say,  Ye  are  a 
people  exercised  in  much  traffic,  and  delighted  with  no- 
thing more  than  buying  and  selling.  Well,  I  have  wares 
that  will  serve  your  turn,  as  gold,  garments,  and  oil ;  there- 
fore come  and  buy  of  Me.' 

We  must  not  fail  to  put  an  emphasis  on  that  '  of  Me.'' 
'  In  Me,'  Christ  would  say,  *  are  hidden  all  the  treasures 
of  wisdom  and  knowledge.'  His  Apostle  once  already  had 
reminded  the  Colossians,  neighbours  of  the  Laodiceans, 
that  this  was  so;  and  that  there  was  no  growth  for 
the  Church,  or  for  any  member  of  the  Church,  except 
through  holding  the  Head  (Col.  ii.  3,  19) ;  that  all  self- 
chosen  ways  of  will-worship  might  have  a  show  of  wisdom, 
but  puffed  up,  and  did  not  build  up(ii.  10-15)  5  and  out 
of  the  deep  anxiety  which  he  evidently  felt  for  both  these 
sister  Churches  alike  (ii.  1),  he  had  desired  that  the 
Epistle  to  the  Colossians  should  be  read  also  in  the  Church 
of  the  Laodiceans  (iv.  16).  But  they  of  Laodicea  had  not 
learned  their  lesson.  St.  Paul's  '  great  conflict '  for  them 
had  been  well  nigh  in  vain  ;  and  now  the  Lord,  repeating 
his  servant's  lesson,  gathers  up  into  a  single  point,  con- 
centrates in  that  single  phrase,  '  buy  of  Me,'  the  whole 
lesson  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians. 

The  invitation  to  '  buy  '  of  Him,  who  is  so  much  more 
frequently  set  forth  as  making  a  free  gift  of  all  which  He 
inrparts  to  men  (Kom.  vi.  23;  Rev.  xxii.  17),  is  drawn 
from  Isai.  Iv.  I,  with  which  we  may  compare  Prov. iii.  14  ; 
xxiii.  23  ;  Matt.  xiii.  44,  46.  The  price  which  they  should 
pay  was  this,  the  renunciation  of  all  vain  reliance  on  their 


214        EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.    [ill.   1 8. 

own  righteousness  and  wisdom ;  the  price  which  in  an- 
other Epistle  St.  Paul  declared  he  had  so  gladly  paid,  that 
so  he  might  himself  win  Christ  (Phil.  iii.  7,  8);  the  airo- 
rda-asa-dat  iracri,  which  the  Lord  long  before  had  declared 
to  be  the  necessary  condition  of  his  discipleship  (Luke  xiv. 
33).  This  is  the  price,  contemplated  rather  in  its  negative 
aspect ;  on  its  positive  side  it  is  the  earnest  striving  after, 
and  longing  for,  the  gift,  the  reaching  out  after  it,  the 
opening  of  the  mouth  wide  that  He  may  fill  it.  Vitringa : 
'  Quae  beneficia  Dominus  vult  ut  emant,  h.  e.  secundum 
conditiones  foederis  gratise  pro  iis  expendant  pretium  ab- 
negationis  sui  ipsius  et  mundanarum  cupiditatum ;  quod 
hie  non  habet  rationem  meriti,  sed  tamen  pretii,  quia  in 
regeneratione  homo  aliis  quibusdam  rebus  sibi  hactenus 
caris  renunciat,  ut  pretioso  dono  justitias  Christi  potiatur.' 
What  does  the  Lord  counsel  this  Angel  that  he  shall 
*  buy ; '  what  precious  things  name,  the  which  when  he  has 
made  his  own,  he  shall  be  no  longer  'poor,  and  blind,  and 
naked'?  They  are  three.  And  first,  as  he  is  'poor'' — 
'  gold  tried  in  the  fire,  that  thou,  mayest  be  rich'  A 
comparison  with  1  Pet.  i.  7  (cf.  Zech.  xiii.  9 ;  Mai.  iii.  3  ; 
Prov.  xvii.  3 ;  Jam.  i.  3)  teaches  us  that  by  this  '  gold '  we 
must  understand  faith ;  for  faith  being  a  gift  of  God, 
must  therefore  be  bought  of  Christ  (Luke  xvii.  5  ;  cf.  Ps. 
lxxii.  15,  according  to  the  right  translation)  ;  and  such  faith 
as  would  stand  the'  test,  would  endure  in  the  furnace  of 
affliction,  in  the  "irvpaxris  ( I  Pet.  iv.  12);  Vitringa:  'Veraet 
solida  fides,  quae  sustinere  possit  afflictiones.'  Then  should 
he  be  rich  indeed ;  this  is  the  true  7r\ovrl^£iv(i  Cor.  i.  5), 
better  than  that  spoken  of  in  the  book  of  Job  (xxii.  23, 
24) ;  though  that,  as  Grod's  gift,  might  be  good  ;  then 
should  he  be  indeed  one  sis  ®ebv  ttXovtcov  (Luke  xii.  2l)T 
rich  toward  God,  not  walking,  as  now,  in  a  vain  imagina- 


III.   1 8.]  LAODICEA,  REV.    III.    I4.-22.  215 

tion  of  wealth  which  he  had  not. — UsirvpoipbEvov  ek  irvpos 
=  8o/ci/j,a%6fJLSPOv  Sea  irvpos,  I  Pet.  i.  7  (cf.  Zech.  xiii.  9  ; 
Ps.  lxv.  10  ;  Prov.  x.  20;  LXX)  ;  for,  in  the  words  of  the 
Latin  poet  (Ovid,  Fast.  iv.  785)  : 

'  Omnia  purgat  edax  ignis  vitiumque  ruetallis 
Excoquit.' 

The  Latin  language,  which  has  dropped  the  noun  sub- 
stantive corresponding  to  the  Greek  irup  and  to  our  'fire,' 
taking  '  ignis '  instead,  has  yet  'purus,'  closely  connected 
with  these,  and  attesting  to  a  sense  of  the  cleansing,  purify- 
ing energy  of  fire.  Compare  Pott,  Etym.  Forsch.  vol.  ii. 
pt.  ii.  p.  1 102. 

But  secondly,  as  he  is  *  naked,'  '  Buy  of  Me,'  says  the 
Lord, '  ivhite  raiment,  that  thou  may  est  be  clothed,  and  that 
the  shame  of  thy  nakedness  do  not  appear.'  Instead  of 
the  al<Tyyvr\  here,  we  have  in  the  parallel  passage,  xvi.  15, 
aa'xrj puoa-vvT]  (cf.  Ezek.  xvi.  8,  LXX),  translated  also 
'  shame,'  but  better,  '  unseemliness  '  or  '  uncomeliness  ; ' 
cf.  ra  aa'xfiiiova,  I  Cor.  xii.  23.  ' Do  not  appear'  is  too 
weak  a  rendering  of  pur/  cf)avspco0fj,  which  translate  rather, 
'  be  not  made  manifest ; '  so  the  E.Y.,  cpavspovaOai  ex- 
pressing constantly  the  manifestations  or  revelations  which 
(rod  makes  of  the  hidden  things  of  men  (John  iii.  2 1 ; 
I  Cor.  iv.  5  ;  2  Cor.  v.  1 1  ;  Eph.  v.  13)  ;  either  now,  or  at 
that  last  day  when  every  guest  that  has  not  on  a  wedding 
garment  is  at  the  same  instant  discovered  and  cast  out 
(Matt.  xxii.  II-13  ;  cf.  Isai.  xlvii.  3  ;  ava/caXvcpOijcrsTao  rj 
alcr%vvi]  aov ;  Lam.  i.  8).  As  stripping,  and  laying  bare 
the  nakedness,  is  a  frequent  method  of  putting  to  open 
shame  (cf.  2  Sam.  x.  4;  Isai.  xx.  4;  Ezek.  xvi.  U,  39; 
xxiii.  26,  29;  Hos.  ii.  3,  9;  iii.  5  ;  Mic.  i.  8,  11  ;  Nah.  iii. 
5;  Eev.  xvi.  15;  xvii.  16),  so  the  clothing  with  comely 
apparel  those  unclothed  or  ill-clothed  before,  of  imparting 
honour;  cf.  Gen.  xli.  42;  Esth.  vi.  7-11  ;  Dan.  v.  29; 


216        EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHUKCHES    IN    ASIA.    [ill.   1 8. 

Luke  xv.  22  ;  Zech.  iii.  3-5  ;  Ezek.  xvi.  10-13  ;  and  above 
all,  Gren.  iii.  7,  21,  where  it  is  shown  that  (rod,  and  not 
himself,  is  the  true  coverer  and  concealer  of  the  nakedness 
of  man  ;  for  while  he  can  discover  his  own  shame,  it  is 
Grod  only  who  can  cover  it.  This, '  the  shame  of  the  naked- 
ness '  of  him  who,  professing  Christ,  has  not  put  on  Christ, 
may  be,  and  often  is,  revealed  in  the  present  time ;  it 
must  be  revealed  in  the  last  day  (Matt.  xxii.  1 1— 13  ;  Dan. 
xii.  2  ;  2  Cor.  v.  10)  ;  looking  on  to  which  revelation,  and 
that '  everlasting  contempt'  which  shall  then  be  the  portion 
of  so  many,  the  Psalmist  exclaims,  '  Blessed  is  the  man 
whose  sin  is  covered''  (Ps.xxxii.  1);  and  those  interpreters 
seem  to  me  to  give  too  narrow  a  range  of  meaning  to  this 
'  white  raiment]  who  limit  it  to  the  graces  of  the  Chris- 
tian life,  and  the  putting  on,  in  this  sense,  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  (Col.  iii.  10-14).  We  should  understand  by  it 
not  merely  the  righteousness  of  Christ  imparted,  but  also 
that  righteousness  imputed  ;  for  both  are  needful,  the  one 
as  needful  as  the  other,  if  the  shame  of  our  nakedness  is 
not  to  appear ;  nor  can  they  be  separated-  the  one  from 
the  other  (Ezek.  xxxvi.  25-27) ;  it  is  the  being  '  found  in 
Him '  (Phil.  iii.  9),  with  all  which  this  implies  and  in- 
volves '  (cf.  Job  xxix,  14;  Isai.  lxi.  10).  SoVitringa: 
'  Vestimenta  alba,  h.e.justitiam  Christi,  vera  fide  acceptam, 
quae  nos  obtegat  qua  parte  nudi,  id  est,  expositi  sumus 
ardenti  irse  Dei ;  turn  quoque  habitus  Christianarum  virtu- 
tum,  quae  faciunt  ut  quis  cum  fiducia.  absque  pudore  coram 
Deo  et  Sanctis  ausit  comparere,  inter  quas  eminent  caritas, 
simplicitas,  humilitas  et  zelus.' 

And  then  lastly — '  anoint  thine  eyes  ivith  eyesalve, 
that  thou  mayest  see.''  The  eye  for  which  this  salve  is 
needed  is,  of  course,  the  spiritual  eye,  that  eye  of  the  con- 
science by  which  spiritual  things  are  discerned  and  appre- 


III.   1 8.]  LAODICEA,    EEV.    III.    1^.-22.  217 

ciated ;  which  eye  may  be  sound  or  single  {aifkovs,  Matt, 
vi.  22),  or  contrariwise  may  be  evil  (irovTipos,  Matt.  vi.  23  ; 
cf.  1  John  ii.  1 1 )  ;  and  according  as  it  is  one  or  the  other,  as 
it  is  enlightened  (Ephes.  i.  18)  or  darkened  (Zech.  xi.  17), 
the  man  will  see  himself  as  he  truly  is,  or  see  nothing  as 
he  ought  to  see  it.  The  beginning  of  all  true  amendment 
is  to  see  ourselves  as  indeed  we  are,  in  our  misery,  our 
guilt,  our  shame ;  and  the  ability  to  do  this  is  the  first 
consequence  of  the  anointing  with  that  eyesalve  which  the 
Lord  here  invites  this  Angel  to  purchase  of  Him.  The 
Spirit  convinces  of  sin,  and  by  this  '  eyesalve '  we  must  un- 
derstand the  illuminating  grace  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  which 
at  once  shows  to  us  Gfod,  and  in  (rod  and  in  his  light 
ourselves.  And  if  the  eyesalves  of  antiquity  commonly 
caused  the  eye  to  smart  on  their  first  application  (Tob.  xi. 
8,  12),  *  mordacia  collyria,'  '  acre  collyrium,'  as  Augustine 
therefore  calls  them  (In  Joh.  Tract,  xviii.  §  1 1  ;  Conf. 
vii.  8),  Spifiv  KoXXvptov,  as  the  Apostolic  Constitutions, 
/?  41,  this  will  only  set  forth  the  more  fitly  to  us  the 
wholesome  pain  and  medicinal  smart  which  belong  to  the 
spiritual  eyesalve  as  well ;  making  for  us  discoveries  so 
painful  as  it  does,  causing  us  to  see  in  ourselves  a  naked- 
ness and  poverty  which  had  been  wholly  concealed  from 
us  before  ;  while  yet  only  through  the  seeing  and  confess- 
ing of  this  can  that  poverty  be  ever  exchanged  for  riches, 
or  that  nakedness  for  '  durable  clothing.' 

It  has  been  already  remarked,  and  assuredly  it  is 
very  well  worthy  of  notice,  that  the  two  Churches  which 
spiritually  have  sunk  the  lowest,  that,  namely,  of  Sardis 
and  this  of  Laodicea,  are  also  the  only  two  in  which  there 
are  no  traces  either  of  adversaries  from  without,  or  of 
hinderers  to  the  truth  from  within.  Of  the  absence  of 
heathen  adversaries  there  was  occasion  to   speak  there ; 


218        EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN   CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.    [ill.   1 8. 

but  more  noticeable  still  is  the  fact  that  neither  there  nor 
here  are  there  Nicolaitans,  as  at  Ephesus,  nor  Balaamites, 
as  at  Pergamum,  nor  Jezebelites,  as  at  Thyatira,  nor  those 
who  say  they  are  Jews  and  are  not,  as  at  Smyrna  and 
Philadelphia.  We  have  notice  of  none  of  these  seeking 
to  seduce  Christ's  servants,  and  giving  them  no  choice 
but  earnestly  to  contend  for  the  truth,  if  they  would  not 
be  robbed  of  it  altogether.  From  the  lukewarmness  and 
faintness  of  these  Churches,  from  the  indifference  and 
lethargy  into  which  they,  who  had  no  truth  to  secure  or 
defend  from  gainsayers,  were  sunk,  we  may  gather  a  preg- 
nant hint  of  all  which  the  Church  owes  to  the  heresies 
and  heretics  that,  one  after  another,  have  disturbed  her 
repose.  Owing  to  them  no  thanks  for  what  she  has 
gained  by  them,  the  gains  themselves  have  not  the  less 
been  immense  ;  even  as  St.  Paul  long  before  declared  that 
she  could  not  do  without  them  (i  Cor.  x.  19).  There  are 
remarkable  acknowledgments  to  this  same  effect  made  in 
the  heat  of  the  great  conflicts  of  early  times  by  more 
than  one  of  the  Fathers ;  as  by  Augustine,  Be  Gen. 
con.  Manicli.  i.  1,  and  often.  Tertullian,  indeed,  had 
anticipated  him  here  (see  Be  Prcesc.  Hceret.  i.  4) ;  and 
Origen  (Horn.  9  in  Num.).  Contending  against  these 
gainsayers,  she  has  learned  not  merely  to  define  more  pre- 
cisely, but  to  grasp  more  firmly,  and  to  prize  more  dearly, 
that  truth  of  which  they  would  fain  have  deprived  her. 
What  would  the  Church  of  the  second  century  have  been, 
if  she  had  never  learned  her  strength,  and  the  treasures 
of  wisdom  and  knowledge  which  she  had  in  Christ  Jesus,  in 
the  course  of  that  tremendous  conflict  with  the  Gnostics 
which  through  all  that  century  she  sustained  ?  Would  the 
Church  herself  have  ever  been  the  true  Gnostic,  except  for 
these  false  ones  ?     Again,  what  an  education  and  disci- 


III.   19.]  LAODICEA,    EEV.    III.    I4~22.  219 

pline  for  her  were  the  fast-succeeding  conflicts,  Sabellian, 
Arian,  Nestorian,  Monophysite,  Monothelite,  of  the  cen- 
turies which  followed ;  and  not  an  intellectual  education 
only,  but  'as  iron  sharpeneth  iron,'  so  the  zeal  of  the 
adversaries  of  the  truth  served  often  to  excite  the  zeal 
and  love,  which  might  else  have  abated,  of  her  friends. 
Of  Augustine  himself  Luther,  though  with  some  exaggera- 
tion, has  said,  that  his  controversy  with  the  Pelagians 
'  first  made  a  man  of  him '  {Table  Talk,  c.  29).  Assuredly 
it  was  not  good  for  the  Sardian  and  Laodicean  Churches 
to  be  without  this  necessity  of  doing  earnest  battle  for 
the  truth.  Perhaps  they  gloried  in  their  freedom  from 
conflicts  which  were  agitating,  disquieting,  and  shaking 
it  may  have  been  Churches  around  them.  But  we 
may  be  bold  to  say  that  in  a  world  of  imperfections  like 
ours,  it  argued  no  healthy  spiritual  life  that  there  were 
none  there  to  call  the  truth  into  question  and  debate. 
Misgrowths  are  at  any  rate  groivths ;  and  if  there  is  a 
spiritual  condition  which  is  above  errors  (though  hardly  to 
be  found  in  this  present  world),  so  also  there  is  one  which 
is  beneath  them ;  when  all  in  a  Church  is  dead  '  as  the 
fat  weed  that  rots  on  Lethe's  wharf,'  when  there  is  not 
interest  enough  in  theology,  not  care  enough  to  know 
anything  certain  about  Gfod,  or  about  man's  relation  to 
God,  even  to  generate  a  heresy.  As  we  read  the  history 
of  the  Church,  we  may  perhaps  find  some  consolation  in 
considerations  such  as  these.  Assuredly  in  reading  many 
a  page  in  that  history  we  need  the  strongest  consolations 
which  anywhere  we  can  find. 

Ver.  19.  '  As  many  as  I  love  I  rebuke  and  chasten;  be 
zealous  therefore,  and  repent.' — Observe  the  use  of  (friXstv 
here,  a  tenderer  word  than  a<yairav  would  have  been,  which 
He  employs  in  his  address  to  Philadelphia  (iii.  9).     He 


220        EPISTLES   TO    THE   SEVEN    CHUECHES   IN   ASIA.    [ill.   1 9. 

has  wounded  sharply,  even  as  He  meant  to  do  ;  but  will 
fain  before  He  has  done  pour   some  soothing  oil  into  the 
wounds  which  He  has  inflicted.    Bengel  says  well :  '  Phila- 
delphiensem  q^diri^re,  Laodicensem  <jnXei.     Illud  judicio, 
hoc  gratia  ; '  and  compare  my  Synonyms  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament, §  12.     He,  the  great  Master-builder,  squares  and 
polishes  with  many  strokes  of  the  chisel  and  the  hammer 
the  stones  which  shall  find  a  place  at  last  in  the  walls  of  the 
heavenly  Jerusalem   (cf.  Prov.  iii.  12  ;  xiii.  24;  xxvii.  6 ; 
Ezek.  xx.  37  ;  Job  v.   17;  Acts  xiv.  22  ;   I   Cor.  xi.   32  ; 
Heb.  xii.  6  ;  2  Chron.  xxxiii.  11-13  ;  Ps.  xciv.  12  ;  Ecclus. 
xxx.  1  ;  Wisd.  iii.   4-6)  ;  on  which   Gregory  the  Great, 
with  allusion  to   1  Kin.  vi.  7,  has  very  beautifully  said 
(Reg.  Past.  iii.  12):  '  Hinc  est  enim  quod  lapides  extra 
tunsi  sunt,  ut  in    constructione  templi   Domini    absque 
mallei  sonitu  ponerentur ;  quia  videlicet  nunc  foris  per 
flagella  tundimur,  ut   intus  in  templum  Dei  postmodum 
sine  discipline  percussione  disponamur,  quatenus  quidquid 
in  nobis  est  superfluum  modo  percussio  resecet,  et  tunc  sola 
nos   in  sedificio  concordia  caritatis  liget.'     And  this  is  a 
rule  which  endures  no  exception.     In  that  '  as  many ' 
(oaovs)  here  lies  the  same  emphasis  as  in  the  '  every  son ' 
of  Heb.  xii.  6.     All  whom   He  loves  are  included  in  the 
same  discipline  of  correction,  are  made  sooner  or  later  to 
be  able  to  say, '  Thy  loving  correction  shall  make  me  great ' 
(Ps.  xviii.  35).     Of  all  it  is  true  that,  if  not  scourged, 
they  are  not  sons  (Heb.  xii.  8  ;  2  Mace.  vi.  12-16) ;  if  not 
rebuked  and  chastened,  they  are  not  loved.     Others  may 
be  let  alone  (Ps.  lxxiii.  5,  12  ;  Isai.  i.  5)  ;  but  not  they. 
Not  a  few,  if  their  prosperity  lasts  a  little  longer  than  that 
of  others,  fancy  that  they  shall  be  exceptions  to  this  rule. 
But  it  never  proves  so.     They  can  only  be  excepted  from 
the  discipline  through  being  excepted  from  the  sonship  ;  as 


III.    19.]  LAODICEA,    REV.    III.    I4-22.  221 

Augustine  excellently  well  (Serm.  xlvi.  §  1 1)  :  *  Flagellat, 
inquit,  omnem  filium  quern  recipit.  Et  tu  forte  exceptus 
eris  ?  Si  exceptus  a  passione  flagellorum,  exceptus  a 
numero  filiorum;'  and  again  (Enarr.  in  Ps.  xxxii.  11): 
'  Vis  audire  quam  omnem  ?  Etiam  Unicus  sine  peccato,  non 
tamen  sine  flagello.'  Many  other  beautiful  passages  to 
the  same  effect  may  be  found  in  his  writings ;  thus,  Enarr. 
in  Ps.  xxxi.  n  ;  xciii.  14;  cxiv.  5.  Jerome,  too,  very 
profoundly  says  (in  Ezek.  9)  :  '  Magna?  interdum  felicitatis 
est,  ad  prassens  misericordiam  non  mereri.' 

^Kksj^siv  and  iraihsvetv  are  often  found  together,  as 
here;  thus  Ecclus.  xviii.  13  ;  Ps.  cxl.  5;  so  too  iraihsla 
and  sXsy^os,  Prov.  vi.  23  ;  cf.  Heb.  xii.  5  ;  but  they  are 
very  capable  of  being  distinguished.  ^Xej^slv  is  more 
than  e7ri,Tifu,av,  with  which  it  is  often  joined  (see  my 
Synonyms  of  the  New  Testament,  §  4 ;  and  J.  H.  H. 
Schmidt,  Synonymik  d.  Griech.  Sprache,  p.  136  sqq. 
It  is  so  to  rebuke  that  the  person  rebuked  is  brought  to 
the  acknowledgment  of  his  fault,  is  convinced,  as  David 
was  when  rebuked  by  Nathan  (2  Sam.  xii.  13);  for,  in  the 
words  of  Aristotle  (Rhet.  ad  Alex.  13),  sXsj^os  sari  fisv 
0  firj  Svvarbv  dWcos  zyziv,  oOOC  ovrcos  (*)$  rjfisis  \syofiev  : 
and  this  rebuking,  or  convincing  of  sin,  is  eminently  the 
work  and  office  of  the  Holy  Ghost  (John  xvi.  8 ;  cf.  iii. 
20;  Ephes.  v.  13).  See  upon  this  subject  an  admirable 
note  by  Archdeacon  Hare,  Mission  of  the  Comforter,  vol. 
ii.  p.  528.  UatBsvsiv,  being  in  classical  Greek  to  instruct, 
to  educate,  is  in  sacred  Greek  to  instruct  or  educate  by 
means  of  correction,  through  the  severe  discipline  of  love 
(iracSsvsLV  and  fiaaTtyovv  are  joined  together,  Heb.  xii.  6), 
'  per  molestias  erudire '  (Lev.  xxvi.  18;  1  Kin.  xii.  1 1  ; 
Ps.  xxxvii.  1);  as  Augustine  {Enarr.  in  Ps.  cxviii.  66), 
tracing  the  difference  between  its  sacred  and  profane  uses, 


222        EPISTLES    TO    THE   SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.    [ill.  20. 

explains  it.  As  David  had  found  his  sXsy^os  when  he 
exclaimed,  '  I  have  sinned  against  the  Lord '  (2  Sam.  xii. 
13),  so  his  TraiSsia  was  announced  to  him  in  the  words 
which  followed  :  '  The  child  also  that  is  born  unto  thee 
shall  surely  die '  (ver.  14) — which  passage  is  alone  suffi- 
cient to  refute  those  who  affirm  that  we  have  in  this 
iXsy^co  /cal  nraiheva)  here  a  varspov  irporspov.  Not  so.  It 
will  indeed  continually  happen  that  the  same  dealing  of 
God  with  men  is  at  once  sXzy%os  and  TraiSsia,  but  only 
iraiZsla  through  having  been  e\sy%os  first ;  which  there- 
fore rightly  precedes.  Brightman :  '  Observandum  est 
ilium  arguere  et  castigare ;  id  est,  convincere  et  plectere. 
Simul  enim  sunt  haec  duo  conjungenda.  Inutilis  est 
animadversio,  ubi  verba  silent,  verbera  sseviunt.  Unde 
recte  vocatur  castigatio,  disciplina  qua  delinquens  una 
dolet  et  discit.' — For  fy'jXwcrov  of  the  received  text,  read 
rather  foXsve,  from  ^rjXsvco,  another  form  of  t,rfKooo.  This 
word,  through  ^rfkos  connected  with  %e<o  and  thus  with 
%e<ttos  (ver.  15),  is  chosen  as  the  word  of  exhortation, 
with  special  reference  to  the  liikewarmness  which  the 
Lord  so  indignantly  saw  in  the  Laodicean  Church.  It 
was  warmth^  heat,  fervency,  which  He  required  there. 
St.  Paul  uses  ^rjXovv  in  a  good  sense,  Gal.  iv.  18  ;  1  Cor. 
xii.  31  ;  xiv.  I  ;  which  passages  are  the  best  parallels  to 
its  employment  here. 

Ver.  20.  ' Behold,  1  stand  at  the  door  and  knock' — 
The  Hellenistic  /cpoveiv  is  here,  as  always  in  the  New 
Testament,  the  word  used  to  describe  this  knocking  at  the 
door  (Luke  xii.  36;  xiii.  25  ;  Acts.  xii.  13,  16).  The  Greek 
purists  preferred  koittsiv  ;  yet  see  Lobeck,  Phrynichus, 
p.  177.  These  gracious  words  declare  the  long-suffering 
of  Christ,  as  He  waits  for  the  conversion  of  sinners  (1  Pet. 
iii.  20)  ;  and  not  alone  the  long-suffering  which   waits, 


III.  20.]  LAODICEA,    REV.    III.    I4~22.  223 

but  the  love  which  seeks  to  bring  that  conversion  about, 
which  '  knocks.''  He  at  whose  door  we  ought  to  stand,  for 
He  is  the  Door  (John  x.  7),  who,  as  such,  has  bidden  us 
to  knock  (Matt.  vii.  7 ;  Luke  xi.  9),  is  content  that  the 
whole  relation  between  Him  and  us  should  be  reversed, 
and  instead  of  our  standing  at  his  door,  condescends  Him- 
self to  stand  at  ours, — OvpavKslv,  as  the  Greeks  called 
this  waiting  and  watching  at  the  door  of  the  beloved. 
Very  beautiful  on  the  matter  of  this  infinite  condescension 
on  his  part  are  the  words  of  Nicolaus  Cabasilas,  a  Greek 
mystic  of  the  fourteenth  century :  6  irspl  tovs  avOpdairovs 
spas  tov  %sov  eksvuxtsv-  ov  yap  Kara  ^copav  pbkvcov  ko\s2 
irpos  savTov,  bv  sfyikrjcre  BovXov,  aXX?  avrbs  fyrsl  KarsXdcov, 
kcli  irpos  Tiqv  Karaywyrjv atpiKvsirat  tov  irsvrjTOs  6  ttXovtwv, 
/cal  irpoo-sXdoiv  St?  savrov  p,r)vvst  tov  ttoOov,  teal  ^tjtsc  to 
icrov,  real  aira^iovvTos  ovk  afylcrTaTai,  /cal  irpbs  tt)v  vj3puv  ov 
Bvcryspaivsi,  ical  BtoiKopbSvos  irpocrsBpsvei  Tats  Ovpats,  /cal 
Xva  tov  spwvTa  Bsi^rj,  TcavTa  7tolsi,  /cal  bBwoipusvos  (pspsc 
Kal  airoOvrjcncSL. 

'  If  any  man  hear  ray  voice,  and  open  the  door,  I  will 
come  in  to  him,  and  will  sup  with  him,  and  lie  with  Me? 
— Christ  does  not  knock  only ;  He  also  speaks  ;  makes  his 
*  voice  '  to  be  heard — a  more  precious  benefit  still !  It  is 
true,  indeed,  that  we  cannot  in  our  interpretation  draw 
any  strict  line  of  distinction  between  Christ  knocking  and 
Christ  speaking.  Both  represent  his  dealings  of  infinite 
love  with  souls,  for  the  winning  them  to  receive  Him ;  yet 
at  the  same  time,  considering  that  in  this  natural  world  a 
knock  may  be  any  one's,  and  on  any  errand,  while  the 
voice  accompanying  that  knock  would  at  once  designate 
who  it  was  that  stood  without,  and  with  what  intention 
(Acts  xii.  13,  14),  we  have  a  right,  so  far  as  we  may  ven- 
ture to  distinguish  between  the  two,  to  see  in  the  voice 


224         EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHUKCHES    IN    ASIA.    [ill.  20. 

the  more  inward  appeal,  the  closer  dealing  of  Christ  with 
the  soul,  speaking  directly  by  his  Spirit  to  the  spirit  of  the 
man ;  in  the  knocking  those  more  outward  gracious  deal- 
ings, of  sorrow  and  joy,  of  sickness  and  health,  and  the 
like,  which  He  sends,  and  sending  uses  for  the  bringing  of 
his  elect,  in  one  way  or  another,  by  smooth  paths  or  by 
rough,  to  Himself.  The  '  voice '  very  often  mil  interpret 
and  make  intelligible  the  purpose  of  the  *  knock.'' 

It  is  true  that  the  one  and  the  other  mayalike  remain 
unheard  and  unheeded.  It  is  in  the  power  of  every  man 
to  close  his  ear  to  them ;  therefore  the  hypothetical  form 
which  this  gracious  promise  takes  :  '  if  any  man  hear  my 
voice,  and  open  the  door.'  There  is  no  gratia  irresisti- 
bilis  here.  It  is  the  man  himself  who  must  open  the  door. 
Christ  indeed  knocks,  claims  admittance  as  to  his  own ; 
so  lifts  up  his  voice  that  it  may  be  heard,  in  one  sense 
must  be  heard,  by  him ;  but  He  does  not  break  open  the 
door,  or  force  an  entrance  by  violence.  There  is  a  sense 
in  which  every  man  is  lord  of  the  house  of  his  own  heart ; 
it  is  his  fortress ;  he  must  open  the  gates  of  it,  and  unless 
h  e  does  so,  Christ  cannot  enter.  And,  as  a  necessary  com- 
plement of  this  power  to  open,  there  belongs  also  to  man 
the  mournful  prerogative  and  privilege  of  refusing  to  open : 
he  may  keep  the  door  shut,  even  to  the  end.  He  may 
thus  continue  to  the  last  blindly  at  strife  with  his  own 
blessedness  ;  a  miserable  conqueror,  who  conquers  to  his 
own  everlasting  loss  and  defeat. 

At  the  same  time,  these  words  of  Christ,  decisive  testi- 
mony as  they  yield  against  that  scheme  of  irresistible  grace 
which  would  turn  men  into  mere  machines,  and  take  away 
all  moral  value  from  the  victories  which  Christ  obtains 
over  the  sullenness,  the  pride,  the  obstinacy,  the  rebellion 
of  men,  must  not  be  pushed,  as  some  have  pushed  them, 


III.  20.]  LAODICEA,    KEV.    III.    I4~22.  225 

in  the  other  direction,  into  Pelagian  error  and  excess. 
This  is  done  when  the  words  are  taken  to  affirm  that  men 
can  open  the  door  of  their  heart  when  they  will,  as  though 
repentance  was  not  itself  a  gift  of  the  exalted  Saviour 
(Acts  v.  31) ;  when  it  is  forgotten  that  the  words  of  the 
Holy  Grhost,  Acts  xvi.  14,  '  whose  heart  the  Lord  opened,' 
must  stand  true  as  well  as  these.  Men  can  only  open 
when  Christ  knocks ;  and  they  would  have  no  desire  at  all 
to  open  unless  He  knocked,  and  unless,  together  with  the 
external  knocking  of  the  Word,  or  of  sorrow,  or  of  pain, 
or  whatever  other  shape  it  might  assume,  there  went  also 
the  inward  voice  of  the  Spirit.  All  which  one  would 
affirm  is  that  this  is  a  drawing,  not  a  dragging — a  knock- 
ing at  the  door,  not  a  breaking  open  of  the  door.  Hilary 
has  some  words  very  much  to  the  point  here  (In  Ps. 
cxviii.  89) :  '  Vult  ergo  semper  introire ;  sed  a  nobis  ne 
introeat  excluditur.  Ipse  quidem  semper  ut  illuminet 
promptus  est ;  sed  lumen  sibi  domus  ipsa  obseratis  aditibus 
excludit.  Quse  si  cceperit  patere,  illico  introibit,  modo 
solis,  qui  clausis  fenestras  valvis  introire  prohibetur,  paten- 
tibus  vero  totus  immittitur.  Est  enim  Verbum  Dei  Sol 
justitise,  adsistens  unicuique  ut  introeat,  nee  moratur 
lucem  suam  repertis  aditibus  infundere.' 

Some,  wishing  to  deprive  the  Song  of  Songs  of  its 
honourable  place  in  the  Canon,  and  to  reduce  it  to  the 
level  of  a  mere  human  love-poem,  the  idyl  of  an  earthly 
love,  have  affirmed  that  there  is  no  single  allusion  to  it  in 
the  New  Testament.  This  assertion  is  wholly  without 
warrant.  In  the  words  we  have  been  just  considering 
there  is  an  undoubted  allusion  to  Cant.  v.  2-6 ;  where,  in- 
deed, the  very  language  which  Christ  uses  here,  the  Kpovstv 
S7rl  ttjv  Ovpav,  the  summons  dvolystv  recurs.  Nor  is  the 
relation  between  the  one  passage  and  the  other  merely 

Q 


226        EPISTLES   TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES    IN    ASIA.    [ill.  20. 

superficial  and  verbal.  On  the  contrary,  it  lies  very  deep. 
The  spiritual  condition  of  the  Bride  there  is  in  fact  pre- 
cisely similar  to  that  of  the  Laodicean  Angel  here.  Be- 
tween sleeping  and  waking  she  has  been  so  slow  to  open 
the  door,  that  when  at  length  she  does  so,  the  Bridegroom 
has  withdrawn,  and  she  has  need  to  seek  for  and  to  follow 
Him  (ver.  5,  6).  This  exactly  corresponds  to  the  luke- 
warmness  of  the  Angel  here.  See  the  two  passages  brought 
into  closest  connexion  in  this  sense  by  Jerome,  Ep.  xviii. 
ad  Eustochium.  Another  proof  of  the  connexion  be- 
tween them  is  this, — that  although  there  has  been  no 
mention  of  anything  but  a  knocking  here,  Christ  goes  on 
to  say,  '  If  any  man  hear  my  voice.''  What  can  this  be 
but  an  allusion  to  the  words  in  the  Canticle  which  have 
just  gone  before,  *  It  is  the  voice  of  my  beloved  that  knock- 
eth,  saying,  Open  to  me,  my  sister'?  In  the  face  of  this, 
and  much  more  of  the  same  kind  which  might  be  adduced, 
Ewald  asserts,  '  Cantico  nunquam  utuntur  scriptores  Novi 
Testamenti ;'  and  rather  than  look  there  for  this  '  Behold, 
I  stand  at  the  door  and  knock,''  he  prefers  to  find  allu- 
sion here  to  Peter's  standing  and  knocking  at  the  door  of 
Mary's  house  after  he  was  released  from  prison  by  the 
Angel  (Acts  xii.  13,  14)!  We  need  not  go  far  before  we 
find  further  evidence  of  the  intimate  relation  between 
these  words  of  Christ  and  those  of  the  Bridegroom  in  that 
Book.  We  trace  it  in  the  words  which  almost  immediately 
follow:  '  and  ivill  sup  ivith  him,  and  he  with  Me.'  There 
may  possibly  be  in  these  a  more  immediate  reference  to 
Luke  xii.  36  ;  but  that  to  the  Song  of  Songs,  because  it 
lies  deeper,  must  not  therefore  be  overlooked.  There  too 
the  mutual  feasting  of  Christ  with  the  soul  which  opens 
to  Him,  and  of  the  soul  with  Him,  is  all  set  forth.  There 
too  the  bride  prepares  a  feast  for  her  Beloved  :  '  Let  my 


III.  21.]  LAODICEA,    REV.    III.    1^.-22.  227 

Beloved  come  into  his  garden,  and  eat  his  pleasant  fruits ' 
(iv.  16);  but  He  had  first  prepared  one  for  her :  'I  sat 
down  under  his  shadow  with  great  delight,  and  his  fruit 
was  sweet  to  my  taste '  (ii.  3).  Few,  I  suppose,  would  be 
disposed  to  deny  a  mystical  significance  to  that  meal  after 
the  Eesurrection  on  the  shores  of  the  Sea  of  Tiberias,  re- 
corded with  so  much  emphasis  by  the  beloved  disciple 
(John  xxi.  9-13)  ;  which  wonderfully  fulfils  the  same  con- 
ditions, being  made  up  of  what  the  disciples  bring  and 
what  Christ  brings.  This  mutual  feasting  of  Christ  with 
his  people,  and  of  his  people  with  Him,  finds  in  this  pre- 
sent life  its  culminating  fulfilment  in  the  Holy  Eucharist ; 
which  yet  is  but  an  initial  fulfilment ;  it  will  only  find  its 
exhaustive  accomplishment  in  the  marriage  supper  of  the 
Lamb  (Kev.  xix.  7-9;  Mark  xiv.  25). 

Ver.  21.  *  To  him  that  overcometh  ivill  I  grant  to  sit 
with  Me  in  my  throne? — A  magnificent  variation  of  Christ's 
words  spoken  in  the  days  of  his  flesh  :  '  The  glory  which 
Thou  gavest  Me,  I  have  given  them.  .  .  .  Father,  I  will 
that  they  also  whom  Thou  hast  given  Me,  be  with  Me 
where  I  am '  (John  xvii.  22,  24)  ;  as  also  of  the  words  of 
St.  Paul,  i  If  we  suffer  with  Him,  we  shall  also  reign  with 
Him'  (2  Tim.  ii.  12).  Wonderful  indeed  is  this  promise, 
which,  being  the  last  and  the  crowning,  is  also  the  highest 
and  most  glorious  of  all.  Step  by  step  they  have  advanced, 
till  a  height  is  reached  than  which  no  higher  can  be  con- 
ceived. It  seemed  much  to  promise  the  Apostles  them- 
selves that  they  should  sit  on  thrones,  judging  the  twelve 
tribes  of  Israel  (Matt.  xix.  28)  ;  but  here  is  promised  to 
every  believer  something  more  than  was  there  promised  to 
the  elect  Twelve.  And  more  wonderful  still,  if  we  con- 
sider to  whom  this  promise  is  here  addressed.  He  whom 
Christ  threatened  just  now  to  reject  with  loathing  out  of 

Q  2 


228        EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES   IN    ASIA.    [ill.  21. 

his  mouth,  is  offered  a  place  with  Him  on  his  throne. 
But  indeed  so  it  is  ;  the  highest  place  is  within  reach  of 
the  lowest ;  the  faintest  spark  of  grace  may  be  fanned  into 
the  mightiest  flame  of  divine  love.  It  will  be  observed 
that  the  image  h£*e  is  not  that  of  sitting  upon  seats  on 
the  right  hand  or  on  the  left  of  Christ's  throne  ( I  Kin.  ii. 
19),  but  of  sharing  that  throne  itself.  To  understand  this, 
we  must  keep  in  mind  the  fact,  that  the  Eastern  throne  is 
much  ampler  and  broader  than  ours  ;  rather  a  sofa  than  a 
chair ;  so  that  there  would  be  room  upon  it  for  other 
persons,  besides  him  who  occupied  as  of  right  the  central 
position  there  (Matt.  xx.  21).  Witsius  :  '  Erudite  obser- 
vavit  Ludovicus  de  Dieu  thronum  regis  apud  orientales 
amplum  et  latum  esse,  lecticse  instar,  fulcris  aliquantulum 
supra  terram  evectum,  ac  tapetibus  ornatum,  adeo  ut 
prseter  sedem  regi  propriam,  alii  quoque  quos  honore 
afficere  cupit  rex,  in  eodem  throno  sedes  habere  queant.' 

'  Even  as  I  also  overcame,  and  am  set  doivn  with  my 
Father  in  his  throne.'' — The  Son  is  o-uvdpovos  with  the 
Father  (Wisd.  ix.  4;  cf.  Rev.  xxii.  I,  'the  throne  of  God  and 
the  Lamb ') ;  as  the  early  Church  writers  loved  to  express 
it,  with  a  word  employed  already  in  the  heathen  mytho- 
logy, perhaps  borrowed  from  it  (see  Suicer,  Thes.  s.  v.) ; 
his  faithful  people  shall  be  irdpshpot  with  Him.  These 
words,  *  /  overcame,  remind  us  of  other  words  spoken  by 
the  Lord  while  as  yet  He  had  not  so  visibly  overcome  as 
now :  *  Be  of  good  cheer,  I  have  overcome  the  world ' 
(John  xvi.  33) ;  and  the  manner  in  which  the  overcoming 
of  the  world  and  the  sitting  down  with  his  Father  in  his 
throne  are  brought  together  here,  puts  this  passage  in 
close  connexion  with  Phil.  ii.  9 :  s  Wherefore  (rod  also 
hath  highly  exalted  Him,  and  given  Him  a  name  which  is 
above  every  name;'  cf.  Heb.  i.  3. — On  this  *  my  throne? 


III.  22.J  LAODICEA,    EEV.    III.    1^.-22.  229 

and  '  my  Father's  throne,'  Mede  says  well  ( Works,  p. 
905) :  *  Here  are  two  thrones  mentioned.  My  throne,  saith 
Christ ;  this  is  the  condition  of  glorified  saints  who  sit  with 
Christ  in  his  throne ;  but  my  Father's  {i.e.  God's)  throne 
is  the  power  of  Divine  majesty ;  on  this  throne  none 
may  sit  but  God,  and  the  God-man  Jesus  Christ.  To  be 
installed  in  God's  throne,  to  sit  at  God's  right  hand,  is 
to  have  a  god-like  royalty,  such  as  his  Father  hath,  a 
royalty  altogether  incommunicable ,  whereof  no  creature 
is  capable.' 

Ver.  22.  *  He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear  what  the 
Spirit  saith  unto  the  Churches.' — Compare  ii.  7. 

A  few  words  in  conclusion  upon  the  order  in  which  the 
promises  of  the  seven  Epistles  succeed  one  another.  It  is 
impossible  not  to  acknowledge  such  an  order  here, — an 
order  parallel  to  that  of  the  unfolding  of  the  kingdom  of 
God  from  its  first  beginnings  on  earth  to  its  glorious  con- 
summation in  heaven.  Thus  the  promise  of  Christ  to  the 
faithful  at  Ephesus  is,  *  To  him  that  overcometh  will  I  give 
to  eat  of  the  tree  of  life  which  is  in  the  Paradise  of  my 
God  '  (ii.  7)  ;  thus  taking  us  back  to  Genesis  i.  ii.  But  sin 
presently  entered  into  Paradise,  and  death,  the  seal  and 
witness  of  sin  (Gen.  iii.  19);  while  yet  for  the  faithful 
at  Smyrna,— and  the  promise  that  is  good  for  them  is 
good  for  the  faithful  everywhere, — this  curse  of  death  is 
lightened.  It  shall  be  to  them  but  the  gate  of  immorta- 
lity, for '  he  that  overcometh  shall  not  be  hurt  of  the  second 
death  '  (ii.  11).  The  next  promise,  that  to  the  faithful  at 
Pergamum,  brings  us  to  the  Mosaic  period,  to  the  Church 
in  the  wilderness  :  '  To  him  that  overcometh  will  I  give  to 
eat  of  the  hidden  manna'  (ii.  17);  and  if  the  interpre- 
tation of  the  '  white  stone  '  which  has  been  ventured  here 


230        EPISTLES   TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES   IN    ASIA.    [ill.  22. 

is  the  right  one,  that  promise  will  also  fall  in  perfectly 
with  the  wilderness  period  and  the  institution  of  the  high- 
priesthood,  which  at  that  period  found  place.  In  the 
fourth,  that  namely  to  Thyatira,  we  have  reached  the  full 
and  final  consummation,  in  type  and  prophetic  outline, 
of  the  kingdom,  the  period  of  David  and  Solomon, — the 
triumph  over  the  nations,  the  Church  sharing  in  the  royal- 
ties of  her  King  (ii.  26,  27).  Every  reader  will  recognize 
this  as  a  characteristic  feature  of  those  reigns  (2  Sam.  viii. 
I-13  ;  x.  19  ;  xii.  29,  30;   I  Chron.  xvii.  I— 13). 

Here  there  is  a  pause ;  and  with  this  consummation 
reached,  than  which  in  type  and  prophecy  there  can  be 
nothing  higher,  a  new  series  begins  ;  the  heptad  falling,  as 
is  so  constantly  the  case,  into  two  groups  ;  either  of  three 
and  four,  as  in  the  Lord's  Prayer,  or  of  four  and  three,  as 
in  the  parables  of  Mt.  xiii.,  and  as  here.  And  now  the 
scenery,  if  I  may  use  the  word,  shifts  and  changes ;  it  is 
not  any  longer  of  earth,  but  of  heaven.  The  kingdom, 
not  of  David,  but  of  David's  greater  Son,  has  come ;  all 
his  foes  are  under  his  feet ;  his  Church  is  not  any  longer 
contemplated  as  militant,  but  triumphant ;  and  in  the  suc- 
cession of  the  three  concluding  promises  we  learn  that 
even  for  the  Church  triumphant  there  are  steps  and  ad- 
vances from  glory  to  glory.  Thus,  in  the  promise  addressed 
to  the  Angel  of  Sardis,  we  have  the  blessings  of  the  judg- 
ment-day, the  name  found  written  in  the  book  of  life, 
Christ's  confession  of  his  own  before  his  Father,  the  vesture 
of  light  and  immortality,  in  other  words,  the  glorified  body 
which  it  shall  be  then  given  to  the  saints  to  wear  (iii.  5). 
This,  however,  is  a  personal,  a  solitary  benefit,  belonging 
to  each  of  them  alone ;  not  so  the  next.  In  the  promise 
made  to  the  faithful  at  Philadelphia,  it  is  declared  that  as 
many  as  overcome  shall  have  right  to  enter  by  the  gates 


III.  22.]  LAODICEA,    REV.    III.    1^-22.  231 

into  the  heavenly  City,  where  City  and  Temple  are  one, 
shall  be  themselves  avouched  members  of  that  heavenly 
TToXirsia,  and  shall  have  their  place  in  it  for  evermore 
(iii.  12).  And  then,  it  having  thus  been  declared  what 
they  have  in  themselves,  namely,  the  glorified  body,  and 
what  they  have  in  and  with  the  company  of  the  redeemed, 
the  citizenship  of  the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  it  is,  last  of  all, 
in  the  concluding  words  to  the  Angel  of  Laodicea,  declared 
what  they  possess  with  Grod  and  with  Christ ;  that  it  shall 
be  granted  to  them  to  sit  down  with  Christ  on  his  throne, 
as  He  has  sat  down  with  his  Father  in  his  Father's  throne 
(iii.  21).  There  can  be  nothing  behind  and  beyond  this  ; 
and  with  this  therefore  is  the  close ;  in  Herder's  words, 
'  Die  Kranze  werden  immer  holier  und  schoner  ;  hier  hdngt 
der  hochste  und  schonste.'  It  is  here,  to  compare  divine 
things  with  human,  as  in  the  Paracliso  of  Dante.  There, 
too,  there  are  different  circles  of  light  around  the  throne, 
each,  as  it  is  nearer  to  the  throne,  of  an  intenser  bright- 
ness than  that  beyond  it  and  more  remote,  till  at  last, 
when  all  the  others  have  been  passed,  the  throne  itself  is 
reached,  and  the  very  Presence  of  Him  who  sits  upon  the 
throne,  and  from  whom  all  this  light  and  all  this  glory 
flows.1 


1  Tertullian  gathers  up  the  promises  in  a  few  pregnant  words 
(Scorp.  12)  :  'Victori  cuique  promittit  nunc  arborem  vitse,  et  mortis 
veniam  secundse  ;  nunc  latens  manna  cum  calculo  candido  et  nomine 
ignoto  ;  nunc  ferreas  virgse  potestatem  et  stellse  matutinae  claritatem  ; 
nunc  albam  vestiri,  nee  deleri  de  libro  vita?,  et  column  am  fieri  in  Dei 
templo  in  nomine  Dei  et  Domini,  et  Jerusalem  cselestis  inscripta,  nunc 
residere  cum  Domino  in  throno  ejus,  quod  aliquando  Zebedcei  filiis 
negabatur'  (Mt.  xx.  23). 


EXCUESUS 

ON    THE    HISTOKICO-PKOPHETICAL     INTEKPEETATION    OF 
THE    EPISTLES   TO   THE    SEVEN   CHURCHES    IN   ASIA. 

'  Mali  moris  est  sensum  in  S.  Scripturam  inferre,  non  efferre.' 

The  large  space  which  any  adequate  treatment  of  the 
historico-prophetical  interpretation  of  these  Epistles  would 
demand  has  made  it  necessary  to  withdraw  the  considera- 
tion of  this  subject  from  the  Exposition  itself;  and  I  have 
therefore  reserved  this  for  an  Excursus  at  the  end  of  the 
volume,  which  I  proceed  to  devote  to  it  alone. 

It  is,  doubtless,  familiar  to  as  many  as  have  at  all 
studied  the  history  of  the  exposition  of  these  seven 
Epistles,  that  a  large  body  of  interpreters,  several  of  these 
distinguished  for  their  piety  and  their  learning,  have  not 
been  content  to  take  them  merely  for  what  they  seem  to 
announce  themselves  to  be,  namely,  seven  '  words '  of 
instruction,  warning,  consolation,  addressed  by  the  great 
ascended  Shepherd  and  Bishop  of  souls  to  seven  Churches 
of  Asia  ;  but  have  loudly  proclaimed  that  these  Epistles 
have  a  much  wider  outlook  than  this,  that  they  contain 
far  deeper  mysteries  than  any  which  such  an  estimate 
of  them  as  this  would  imply.  Those  who  affirm  this,  have 
doubtless  a  full  right  to  be  heard.  In  the  Scripture  are 
such  depths  of  meaning,  so  much  remains  to  be  discovered 
in  them,  in  addition  to  all  which  has  already  been  dis- 
covered, their  wealth  is  so  inexhaustible,  that  any  one, 


EXCUKSUS.  233 

whose  incapacity  is  not  patent,  may  rightly  claim  from  us 
a  patient  and  attentive  hearing,  when  he  offers  to  lead  us 
into  these  depths,  to  show  us  that,  where  we  thought 
there  were  but  golden  harvests,  the  food  of  all,  waving 
upon  the  surface,  there  are  also  veins  of  richest  metal 
below,  the  wealth  of  those  who  will  be  at  the  pains  to  dig 
for  and  search  out  these  hid  treasures.  And  yet,  at  the 
same  time,  before  we  admit  any  such  discoveries  of  trea- 
sures hid  in  the  field  of  Scripture,  it  will  be  good  always 
to  remember,  that  there  is  a  temptation  to  make  Scripture 
mean  more  than  in  the  intention  of  the  Author  of  it,  the 
Holy  Ghost,  it  does  mean,  as  well  as  a  temptation  to  make 
it  mean  less ;  and  that  we  are  bound  by  equally  solemn 
obligations  not  to  thrust  on  it  something  of  ours,  as  not  to 
subtract  from  it  anything  of  its  own  (Eev.  xxii.  18,  19); 
the  interpretation  in  excess  proving  often  nearly,  or  quite, 
as  mischievous  as  that  in  defect ;  while  yet  the  tempta- 
tions to  it  are  not  few,  though  it  would  lead  us  too  far 
from  our  immediate  theme,  if  we  attempted  to  trace  them 
here. 

But  what,  it  may  be  asked,  is  this  wider  horizon, 
which,  if  we  would  meet  the  Divine  intention,  it  is  de- 
clared to]us  we  should  ascribe  to  these  Epistles,  and  what 
the  deeper  mysteries  which  they  contain  ?  Before  I  at- 
tempt to  answer  this,  let  me  first,  by  way  of  clearing  the 
ground,  set  down  those  points  on  which  all  are  agreed, 
upon  which  there  is  no  dispute  ;  and  then  secondly,  that 
which,  if  not  all,  yet  the  greater  number  of  competent 
judges  would  admit ;  that  so,  this  done,  and  these  matters 
of  universal  or  general  agreement  separated  off,  we  may 
more  clearly  present  to  ourselves  what  are  the  precise 
points  on  which  the  controversy  turns. 

All,  then,  are  agreed  that  these  seven  Epistles,  how- 


234        ON    THE    HISTORICO-PROPHETICAL    INTERPRETATION 

ever  primarily  addressed  to  these  seven  Churches  of  Asia, 
were  also  written  for  the  edification  of  the  Universal 
Church ;  in  the  same  way,  that  is,  as  St.  Paul's  Epistle  to 
the  Komans,  or  to  Timothy,  or  St.  James'  to  the  Disper- 
sion, were  written  with  this  intention.  The  warnings, 
the  incentives,  the  promises,  the  consolations,  and,  gene- 
rally, the  whole  instruction  in  righteousness  in  these  con- 
tained, are  for  every  one  in  all  times,  so  far  as  they  may 
meet  the  several  cases  and  conditions  of  men ;  what 
Christ  says  to  those  here  addressed  He  says  to  all  in 
similar  conditions.  Thus  far  there  can  be  no  question. 
*  All  Scripture,'  and  therefore  this  Scripture,  was  '  written 
for  our  learning.' 

It  may  fail  to  meet  with  acceptance  as  universal,  yet 
will,  I  suppose,  be  further  admitted  by  many  thoughtful 
students  of  God's  Word,  probably  by  most  who  have  entered 
into  the  mystery  of  the  heptad  in  Scripture  (see  p.  59), 
that  these  seven  Churches  of  Asia  are  not  an  accidental 
aggregation,  which  might  just  as  fitly  have"  been  eight, 
or  six,  or  any  other  number.  They  will  acknowledge,  on 
the  contrary,  a  fitness  in  this  number,  and  that  these 
seven  do  in  some  sort  represent  the  Universal  Church  ;  that 
we  have  a  right  to  contemplate  them  as  offering  to  us 
the  leading  aspects,  moral  and  spiritual,  which  Churches 
gathered  in  the  name  of  Christ  out  of  the  world  will 
assume.  No  one,  of  course,  affirming  this,  would  mean 
that  they  could  be  contemplated  as  exhaustive  of  these 
aspects ;  for  the  infinite  depth  and  richness  of  that  new 
life  which  Christ  brought  into  the  world  testifies  itself 
in  nothing  more  than  in  this,  the  rich  variety  of  forms 
which  this  new  life  of  his,  embodying  itself  in  the  lives  of 
men,  will  assume,  the  very  malformations  themselves  wit- 
nessing in  their  own  way  for  the  fulness  of  this  life.     But 


OF    THE    EPISTLES   TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES.  235 

though  not  exhaustive  (for  what  could  be  this?),  they  give 
us  on  a  smaller  scale,  &>s  iv  tuttw,  the  grauder  and  more 
recurring  features  of  that  life ;  are  not  fragmentary,  for- 
tuitously strung  together;  but  have  a  completeness,  a 
many-sidedness;  being,  as  we  may  well  believe,  selected 
on  this  very  account ;  here,  perhaps,  being  the  reason  why 
Philadelphia  is  included  and  Miletus  passed  by ;  Thya- 
tira,  outwardly  so  insignificant,  chosen,  when  one  might 
have  beforehand  far  sooner  expected  Magnesia  or  Tralles. 
Thus  what  notable  contrasts  do  these  seven  offer, — a  Church 
face  to  face  with  danger  and  death  (Smyrna),  and  a  Church 
at  ease,  settling  down  upon  its  lees  (Sardis)  ;  a  Church 
with  abundant  means  and  loud  profession,  yet  doing  little 
or  nothing  for  the  furtherance  of  the  truth  (Laodicea), 
and  a  Church  with  little  strength  and  small  opportunities, 
yet  accomplishing  a  mighty  work  for  Christ  (Philadelphia) ; 
a  Church  intolerant  of  doctrinal  error,  yet  too  much 
lacking  that  love  towards  its  Lord  for  which  nothing  else 
is  a  substitute  (Ephesus) ;  and  over  against  this  a  Church 
not  careful  nor  zealous,  as  it  ought  to  be,  for  doctrinal 
purity,  but  diligent  in  works  and  ministries  of  love 
(Thyatira)  ;  or,  to  review  these  same  Churches  from 
another  point  of  view,  a  Church  in  conflict  with  heathen 
libertinism,  the  sinful  freedom  of  the  flesh  (Ephesus),  and 
a  Church  or  Churches  in  conflict  with  Jewish  superstition, 
the  sinful  bondage  of  the  spirit  (Pergamum,  Philadelphia)  ; 
or,  for  the  indolence  of  man  a  more  perilous  case  than 
either,  Churches  with  no  vigorous  forms  of  opposition  to 
the  truth  in  the  midst  of  them,  to  brace  their  energies  and 
to  cause  them,  in  the  act  of  defending  the  imperilled 
truth,  to  know  it  better  and  to  love  it  more  (Sardis, 
Laodicea).  That  these  Churches  are  more  or  less  repre- 
sentative Churches,  having  been  selected  because  they  are 


236        ON    THE   HISTORICO-PROPHETICAL   INTERPRETATION 

so ;  that  they  form  a  complex  within  and  among  them- 
selves, mutually  fulfilling  and  completing  one  another ; 
that  the  great  Head  of  the  Church  contemplates  them  for 
the  time  being  as  symbolic  of  his  Universal  Church, 
implying  as  much  in  that  mystic  seven,  and  giving  many 
other  indications  of  the  same, — this  also  will  be  accepted, 
if  not  by  all,  yet  by  many. 

But  the  Periodists,  as  they  have  been  called,  the  up- 
holders of  what  may  be  fitly  termed  the  historico-pro- 
phetical  scheme  of  interpretation,  are  by  no  means  satis- 
fied with  these  admissions.  They  demand  that  we  should 
recognize  in  these  Epistles  very  much  more  than  this. 
They  affirm  that  we  have  in  them,  besides  counsels  to  the 
Churches  named  in  each,  a  prophetic  outline  of  seven  suc- 
cessive periods  of  the  Church's  history ;  dividing,  as  they 
do,  into  those  seven  portions  the  whole  time  intervening 
between  Christ's  Ascension  and  his  return  in  glory.  As 
in  making  a  statement  for  others,  above  all  for  those  from 
whom  one  is  about  to  dissent,  it  is  always  fairest,  or,  at 
all  events,  most  satisfactory,  to  cite  their  own  words,  I 
will  here  quote  two  passages,  one  from  Joseph  Mede,  an- 
other from  Vitringa,  in  which  these  severally  set  forth  that 
historico-prophetical  scheme  ;  which  they  both  favoured 
and  upheld ;  and  certainly  the  statement  of  the  case  could 
scarcely  be  in  discreeter  or  in  abler  hands.  The  modesty 
with  which  the  former  propounds  it  is  in  striking  con- 
trast with  the  arrogant  confidence  of  some  others,  who 
were  well  nigh  disposed  to  make  here  a  new  article  of 
faith,  and  the  acceptance  or  rejection  of  this  interpretation 
a  test  of  orthodoxy.  These  are  Mede's  words ;  they  occur 
in  one  of  his  sermons  (Works,  1672,  p.  296) :  '  It  belongs 
not  much  to  our  purpose  to  inquire  whether  those  seven 
Epistles  concern  historically  and  literally  only  the  Churches 


OP    THE    EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHUKCHES.  237 

here  named,  or  whether  they  were  intended  for  types  or 
ages  of  the  Church  afterwards  to  come.  It  shall  be  suf- 
ficient to  say,  that  if  we  consider  their  number,  being 
seven  (which  is  a  number  of  revolution  of  times,  and 
therefore  in  this  Book  the  seals,  trumpets,  and  vials  also 
are  seven) ;  or  if  we  consider  the  choice  of  the  Holy 
Grhost,  in  that  He  taketh  neither  all,  no,  nor  the  most 
famous  Churches  then  in  the  world,  as  Antioch,  Alex- 
andria, Home,  and  many  other,  and  such,  no  doubt,  as 
had  need  of  instruction  as  well  as  those  here  named ;  if 
these  things  be  well  considered,  it  will  seem  that  these 
seven  Churches,  besides  their  literal  respect,  were  intended 
(and  it  may  be  chiefly)  to  be  as  patterns  and  types  of  the 
several  ages  of  the  Catholic  Church  from  the  beginning 
thereof  unto  the  end  of  the  world ;  that  so  these  seven 
Chuiches  should  prophetically  sample  unto  us  a  sevenfold 
temper  and  constitution  of  the  whole  Church  according 
to  the  several  ages  thereof,  answering  the  pattern  of  the 
Churches  named  here ; '  compare  some  other  words  of  his 
to  the  same  effect,  p.  905.  "  Vitringa  (Anacrisis  Apoca- 
lypsios,  p.  32),  moving  on  the  same  lines,  expresses  him- 
self thus :  '  Omnino  igitur  existimo  Spiritum  S.  sub  typo 
et  emblemate  septem  Ecclesiarum  Asise  nobis  mystice  et 
prophetice  voluisse  depingere  septem  variantes  status 
Ecclesise  Christianse,  quibus  successive  conspiceretur  usque 
ad  adventum  Domini  et  omnium  rerum  finem,  phrasibus 
desumptis  a  nominibus,  conditione  et  attributis  ipsarum 
illarum  Ecclesiarum  Asise  nobiliorum,  quae  ad  hunc  usum 
et  scopum  sapienter  adhibuit;  sic  tamen  ut  ipsse  illse 
Ecclesise  Asianse  simul  in  hoc  speculo  se  ipsas  videre, 
suasque  tarn  virtutes  quam  vitia  ex  illis  epistolis  cogno- 
scere,  et  quse  in  iis  sunt  admonitiones  et  exhortationes  ad 
se  ipsas  quoque  referre  et  applicare  possent :  quippe  quod 


238         ON    THE    HISTORICO-PROPHETICAL    INTERPRETATION 

sum  ma,  suaclet  jubetque  ratio.  Quod  enim  alterius  rei 
typum  et  figuram  sustinebit  symbolicam,  ita  affectum  esse 
oportet  ut  attributa  subjecti  analogi  in  ipsa,  ilia  re  figurante 
omnium  primo  demonstrari  possint.' 

I  have  cited  these  two  writers  of  a  later  age ;  but  the 
scheme  itself,  in  one  shape  or  another,  may  be  traced  to 
a  much  earlier  date ;  though,  indeed,  it  is  very  far  from 
being  as  old  as  some  of  its  favourers  would  have  us  to 
believe,  claiming,  as  not  seldom  they  do,  several  of  the 
early  Fathers,  as  early  at  least  as  Augustine  and  Chryso- 
stom,  for  the  first  authors  and  upholders  of  it.  There  is 
no  warrant  for  this.  No  passage  has  been  quoted,  and  I 
am  convinced  none  could  be  quoted,  bearing  out  this 
claim  of  theirs.  In  an  eager  debate  carried  on  for  the 
larger  part  of  a  century,  the  opponents  of  this  interpreta- 
tion repeatedly  challenged  the  advocates  to  bring  forward 
a  single  quotation  from  one  Father,  Greek  or  Latin,  in  its 
support.  None  such  was  ever  produced  ;  so  that  "Witsius 
has  perfect  right  when  he  affirms,  '  Nullibi  id  dicunt 
[antiqui]  quod  viri  isti  eruditi  volunt,  quibuscum  hsec 
nobis  instituta  disputatio  est ;  nimirum  proprie,  literaliter 
atque  ex  intentione  Spiritus  Sancti  verbis  harum  Episto- 
larum  delineari,  non  quod  Johannis  tempore  in  Asia? 
Ecclesiis  agebatur,  sed  quod  in  universali  Ecclesia  septem 
teinporum  periodis  ordine  succedentibus  futurum  erat. 
Id  non  liquet  antiquorum  ulli  vel  in  mentem  venisse.' 
This  quotation  is  from  his  essay,  Be  Septem  Eccles.  Apo- 
calypj.  Sensu  Historico  an  Prophetico  (Opp.  vol.  i.  pp. 
640-741),  remarkable  for  the  moderation  of  its  tone  and 
the  fairness  with  which  all  that  can  be  said  on  the  other 
side  is  weighed.  It  is  quite  true  that  Augustine,  with 
others  before  and  after  him,  acknowledged  that  symbolic 
representative  character  of  these  Epistles,  whereof  I  just 


OF    THE    EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES.  239 

now  spoke.  Thus  Andreas,  the  earliest  commentator  on 
the  Apocalypse  whose  work  has  reached  us,  gives  this  as 
the  reason  why  the  Lord,  through  St.  John,  addressed 
Himself  exactly  to  seven  Churches  ;  8ia  rov  s/380/jlcitikov 
aptOfiov  to  fivaTiKOv  twv  airavTaj^rj  skkXtjctlcov  arj/Malvoov. 
Augustine  (De  Civ.  Dei,  xvii.  4),  explaining  the  Canticle 
of  Hannah,  in  which  it  is  said,  'The  barren  hath  born 
seven'  (1  Sam.  ii.  5),  goes  on  to  say,  '  Hie  totum  quod 
prophetabatur  eluxit  agnoscentibus  numerurn  septenarium 
quo  est  universa  Ecclesiae  significata  perfectio.  Propter 
quod  et  Johannes  Apostolus  ad  septem  scribit  Ecclesias, 
eo  modo  se  ostendens  ad  unius  plenitudinem  scribere  ; ' 
or,  as  the  last  clause  of  a  similar  statement  reads  elsewhere 
(Exp.  in  Gal.  ii.  7):  '  quae  [Ecclesias]  utique  universalis 
Ecclesise  personam  gerunt ; '  cf.  Ep.  xlix.  §  2.  And  Gre- 
gory the  Great  almost  word  for  word  (Moral,  xvii.  27) : 
'  Unde  et  septem  Ecclesiis  scribit  Johannes  Apostolus,  ut 
imam  Catholicam,  septiformis  gratiae  plenam  Spiritu 
designaret ; '  cf.  Prcef.  c.  8.  But  to  accept  them  as  his- 
torico-prophetical  is  quite  a  different  matter,  and  of  any 
allowance  of  this  there  is  no  vestige  among  them;  no 
evidence  that  it  had  ever  so  much  as  come  into  their  minds. 
Still  the  notion  itself  undoubtedly  dates  back  to  a 
period  anterior  to  the  Reformation.  The  Fratres  Spiri- 
tuales,  or  more  rigid  Franciscans,  who  refused  the  mitiga- 
tions of  the  severity  of  St.  Francis'  rule,  in  which  the 
majority  of  his  followers  allowed  themselves,  and  who 
on  this  account  separated  themselves  from  their  laxer 
brethren,  and  from  the  Church  which  sanctioned  such 
relaxations,  are  the  first  among  whom  this  scheme  of 
interpretation  assumed  any  prominence.  It  is  familiar  to 
as  many  as  are  at  all  acquainted  with  this  wonderful  body 
of  men,  what  an  important  part  the  distribution  of  the 


240        ON   THE   HISTORICO-PROPHETICAL    INTERPRETATION 

Church's  history  into  seven  ages  played  in  their  theology, 
and  what  weapons  they  contrived  to  find  in  this  armoury 
for  the  assault  of  the  dominant  Church  and  hierarchy  of 
Eome.  Looking  everywhere  in  Scripture  for  traces  of 
these  seven  times,  it  is  not  strange  that  they  should  have 
found  such  in  these  seven  Epistles.  At  the  time  of  the 
first  rise  of  these,  one  but  recently  dead,  high  in  reputa- 
tion for  sanctity  throughout  the  Church,  himself  regarded 
as  little  less  of  an  apocalyptic  seer,  I  mean  the  Abbot  Joa- 
chim of  Floris  (he  died  in  1202),  had  already  shown  the 
way  in  this  interpretation  ; !  and  the  Spiritualist  Brethren 
did  not  fail  to  adjust  the  seven  ages  of  the  Church  and  the 
seven  Epistles  prophetic  of  them,  so  that  these  should  pro- 
phesy all  good  of  themselves,  and  all  evil  of  Eome. 

It  is  evident  that  when  the  scheme  was  adopted  two 
or  three  centuries  later  by  theologians  of  the  Reformed 
Church,  it  would  require  readjustment  and  redistribution 
throughout,  and  this  at  once  chronological  and  dogmatic. 
Such  readjustment  it  was  not  difficult  to  effect.  The 
whole  thing  was  a  subjective  fancy  of  men's  minds,  not 
an  objective  truth  of  God's  Word,  and  would  therefore 
oppose  no  serious  resistance.  It  was  easy  to  give  it  what- 
ever new  shape  was  required  by  the  new  conditions  under 
which  it  should  now  appear.  After  the  Reformation,  the 
first  in  whom  I  meet  this  interpretation  of  the  Epistles  to 
the  seven  Churches  as  predictive  of  the  seven  ages  of  the 
Church  and  foreshadowing  their  condition,  is  an  English 
divine,  Thomas  Brightman  (b.  15 57,  d.  1607).  I  feel  quite 
sure  that  it  had  earlier  advocates,  but  I  have  not  traced  it 


1  For  an  account  of  Joachim  of  Floris'  seven  ages,  see  Hahn, 
GescJi.  d.  Ketzer  im  Mittelalter,  vol.  iii.  p.  112;  Engelhardt,  Kirch. 
Gesch.  Abhandlungen,  p.  107.  'For  English  readers  there  is  an  excel- 
lent summary  of  what  they  taught  and  did  in  Elliot's  Apocalypse. 


OF   THE   EPISTLES    TO   THE    SEVEN   CHUKCHES.  241 

higher  up.  Brightman  belonged  to  the  Puritan  school  of 
divines,  as  they  existed  within  the  bosom  of  the  Anglican 
Church,  and  though  in  opposition  to  its  spirit,  not  as  yet 
visibly  separated  from  it.  At  the  same  time  his  work, 
Apocalypsis  Apocalypseos,  1612,  avouches  him  a  man  of 
no  ordinary  gifts,  and  of  warm  and  earnest  piety ;  so  that 
Marckius  has  perfect  right  when  he  says  of  it, '  eruditionem 
et  pietatem  non  vulgarem  spirat.'  But  although  he,  and 
Joseph  Mede,  as  we  have  seen  (he  died  in  1638),  and 
Henry  More,1  lent  to  this  suggestion  the  authority  of 
their  names,  it  never  seems  to  have  struck  any  vigorous 
root  in  England,  nor  to  have  awakened  interest  enough  to 
make  men  very  earnest  either  in  its  assertion  or  its  denial. 
It  was  in  the  Eeformed  Churches  of  Holland  and  Germany, 
but  predominantly  in  the  former,  that  this  periodic  inter- 
pretation first  assumed  any  prominence  or  importance. 
There  indeed,  during  the  middle  and  latter  part  of  the 
seventeenth  century  and  beginning  of  the  eighteenth,  it 
was  debated  with  animation,  and  often  with  something 
more  than  animation.  The  very  able  Prcefatio  de  Septem 
Novi  Testamenti  Periodis,  which  Marckius  has  prefixed 
to  his  Commentary  on  the  Apocalypse,  1699,  shows  how 
angry  the  disputants  could  be  on  one  side  and  the  other. 

The  theologian  who  by  his  adoption  of  the  historico- 
prophetical  interpretation  gave  an  importance  to  it,  and 
procured  for  it  an  acceptance,  which  in  any  other  way 
it  would  scarcely  have  obtained,  was  Cocceius  (b.  1603, 
d.  1669).  It  is  indeed  with  him  only  part  of  a  larger 
whole — one    among    many   testimonies    for    a   divinely- 


1  Prophetical  Exposition  of  the  Seven  Epistles  sent  to  the  Seven 
Churches  in  Asia  from  Him  that  is,  and  was,  and  is  to  come, —  Theo- 
logical Works,  London,  1708,  pp.  719-764;  first  published  in  1669. 

R 


242        ON    THE    HISTORICO-PROPHETICAL    INTERPRETATION 

intended  division  into  seven  periods  of  the  whole  history  of 
the  Church.  This  division  found  favour  with  many  ;  but 
in  no  one  does  it  recur  with  so  great  a  frequency,  exercise 
so  powerful  an  influence  on  his  interpretation  of  Scripture, 
constitute  so  vital  a  portion  of  his  theology,  as  in  him.  I 
am  not  aware  whether  Cocceius  at  any  time  made  himself 
at  all  felt  in  England  ;  his  reputation,  if  it  ever  reached  us 
here,  has  now  quite  passed  away  ;  but  his  influence  for  good 
on  the  Protestant  communities  of  Holland  and  also  of  Grer- 
many,  as  a  promoter  of  a  Biblical  in  place  of  a  scholastical 
theology,  leading  as  he  did  those  Churches  from  the  arid 
wastes  of  a  new  scholasticism  to  the  living  fountains  of 
the  Word  of  God,  was  immense,  and  survives  to  the  pre- 
sent hour.  But  this  distribution  of  the  Church's  history 
into  periods  of  seven,  seven  before  Christ's  coming,  and 
seven  after,  is  a  sort  of  '  fixed  idea  '  with  him.  It  is  in- 
deed his  desire  to  make  Scripture  the  rule  in  everything, 
and  to  find  all  that  concerns  the  spiritual  life  and  develop- 
ment of  man  cast  in  a  scriptural  framework,  this  desire 
'  in  season  and  out  of  season,'  which  has  led  him  astray. 
And  thus  it  is  that  he  finds,  or  where  he  does  not  find  he 
makes,  everywhere  in  Scripture  a  prophecy  of  these  periods ; 
in  the  seven  days  of  creation,  in  the  seven  beatitudes,  in 
the  seven  petitions  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  in  the  seven 
parables  of  Matthew  xiii. ;  not  seldom  forcing  into  artificial 
arrangement  by  sevens,  Scriptures  which  yield  themselves 
not  naturally  and  of  their  own  accord,  but  only  under 
violent  pressure  and  constraint,  to  any  articulation  of  the 
kind,  as  Hannah's  Prayer,  the  Song  of  Moses,  of  Deborah, 
the  Song  of  Songs,  not  a  few  of  the  Psalms,  and,  I  dare 
say,  much  else  in  Scripture  besides.1 


1  Let  me  rescue  from  vast  unread  folios  of  his,  as  not  very  alien 
to  the  matter  we  have  in  hand,  one  noble  passage,  and  he  abounds 


OF    THE    EPISTLES   TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES.  243 

But  despite  of  all  the  excesses  of  his  interpretation, 
Cocceius  never  refused  to  these  Epistles  a  true  historical 
foundation.  The  historico-prophetic  meaning  was  no  doubt 
far  the  most  precious  in  his  eyes  ;  and  it  had  good  right 
so  to  be,  if  only  it  had  been  designed  by  the  Spirit ;  but 
he  did  not  deny  that  there  had  been  actual  Churches  at 
Ephesus,  Smyrna,  and  the  rest,  to  which  these  several 
Epistles  were  primarily  addressed,  and  to  whose  moral  and 
spiritual  condition  they,  at  the  time  they  were  written, 
fitted.  Others,  however,  have  proceeded  to  far  more 
serious  lengths.  They  have  refused  to  see  any  reference 
whatever  to  Churches  actually,  at  the  time  when  this 
vision  was  seen,  subsisting  in  these  cities  of  Asia,  and  to 
their  spiritual  condition.  These  they  regard  merely  as 
the  vehicles  for  the  conveyance  of  the  prophecy  ;  the  seven 
Epistles  not  in  the  least  expressing,  except,  it  might  be, 
here  and  there  by  accidental  and  undesigned  coincidence, 
the  actual  condition  of  these  seven  Churches.  Despite  of 
anything  which  these  Epistles  may  seem  to  affirm  to  the 
contrary,  the  Church  of  Ephesus,  according  to  their  view, 
may  at  this  time  have  been  tolerant  of  false  teachers,  and 
Thyatira  intolerant ;  Philadelphia  may  have  been  slack  in 


in  such,  on  the  analogy  of  faith,  and  the  help  which  the  different 
portions  of  Scripture  mutually  afford  to  the  right  understanding  of 
one  another.  It  is  from  the  Prmfatio  ad  Comm.  in  Proph.  Min.,  Opp. 
torn,  v.,  without  pagination :  '  Habet  enim  divina  institutio  Scrip- 
turse  instar  augusti  palatii,  in  quo  ordine  consideant  innumeri  se- 
niores,  qui  viritini  admissum  novum  discipulum  erudiant,  a  collegis 
suis  dicta  confirment,  roborent,  explicent,  illustrent,  nunc  fusius  dicta 
contrahant,  nunc  contractiora  diffundant  et  diducant,  generalius  dicta 
distinguant,  distincta  generatim  innuant,  regulas  exemplis  fidciant, 
exempla  in  regulis  judicent,  ita  ut  omnium  de  eadem  re  agentium 
dictorum  is  sensus  accipi  debeat,  qui  est  ullius,  et  qui  nulli  refragetur, 
et  plena  institutio  ea  demum  censeri  quse  omnium  virorum  Dei  sit 
vox,  (Tvn<fi<i>vl.a,  et  dfiovoia.' 

k  2 


244        ON    THE    HISTORICO-PROPHETICAL    INTERPRETATION 

deeds  of  faith  and  love,  and  Laodicea  fervent  in  spirit,  and 
Sardis  with  not  a  few  only,  but  many  names,  that  had  not 
defiled  their  garments.  No  Antipas  need  have  actually 
resisted  to  blood  at  Pergamum ;  there  may  have  been  no 
tribulation  of  ten  days  imminent  upon  Smyrna.1 

This  extravagance  may  be  dismissed  in  a  few  words. 
Origen  is  justly  condemned,  that,  advancing  a  step  beyond 
other  allegorists,  who  slighted  the  facts  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment history  for  the  sake  of  mystical  meanings  which  they 
believed  to  lie  behind  them,  he  denied,  concerning  many 
events  recorded  there  as  historical,  that  they  actually  hap- 
pened at  all ;  rearing  the  superstructure  of  his  mystical 
meaning,  not  on  the  establishment  of  the  literal  sense,  but 
on  its  ruins.  Every  reverent  student  of  the  Word  of  God 
must  feel  that  so  he  often  lets  go  a  substance  in  snatching 
at  a  shadow,  that  shadow  itself  really  eluding  his  grasp 
after  all.  He  who  in  this  sense  assails  the  strong  historic 
substructures  of  Scripture,  may  not  know  all  which  he  is 
doing ;  but  he  is  indeed  doing  his  best,  or  his  worst  rather, 
to  turn  the  glorious  superstructure  built  on  these,  which, 
though  resting  on  earth,  pierces  heaven,  into  a  mere  sky- 
pageant  painted  on  the  air,  a  cloud-palace  waiting  to  be 
shifted  and  changed  by  every  breath  of  the  caprice  of  man, 
and  at  length  fading  and  melting  into  common  air.  It 
was  not  without  reason  that  Augustine,  himself  not  wholly 
to  be  acquitted  of  excesses  in  this  direction,  did  yet  urge 
so  strongly  the  necessity  of  maintaining,  before  and  above 
all,  the  historic  letter  of  the  Scripture,  whatever  else  to 
this  might  be  superadded  (Serm.  ii.  6):  'Ante  omnia, 
tratres,  hoc  in  nomine  Domini  et  admonemus  quantum 


1  Floerke,  in  an  able  work  on  the  Millennium,  Lehre  vom  tausend- 
jahrigen  Reiche,  Marburg,  1859,  is  the  latest  denier  in  toto  of  an  his- 
torical element  in  these  Epistles ;  see  p.  59,  sqq. 


OF    THE    EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES.  245 

possumus  et  praecipimus,  ut  quando  auditis  exponi  sacra- 
mentum  Scripturas  narrantis  quae  gesta  sunt,  priiis  illud 
quod  lectum  est  credatur  sic  gestum  quomodo  lectum  est, 
ne  subtracto  fundamento  rei  gestae,  quasi  in  aere  quseratis 
aedificare.'  Similar  warnings  in  his  writings  continually 
recur.  Who  indeed  could  remain  confident  that  anything 
presented  in  Scripture  as  history,  with  all  apparent  notes 
of  history  about  it,  was  yet  history  at  all,  and  not  some- 
thing wholly  different, — parable,  or  allegory,  or  prophecy, 
— if  these  Epistles,  which  St.  John  is  bidden  to  send  to 
the  seven  Churches  in  Asia,  which  profess  to  enter  minutely 
into  their  spiritual  condition,  were  yet  never  sent  to  them 
at  all,  had  no  relation  whatever  to  them,  no  more,  I  mean, 
than  to  any  other  portion  of  the  universal  Church  ? 

But  leaving  these,  and  addressing  ourselves  only  to  the 
more  moderate  upholders  of  the  periodic  scheme  of  inter- 
pretation, to  those,  namely,  who  admit  a  literal  and  pre- 
sent sense,  while  they  superinduce  upon  it  a  prophetical 
and  future,  we  ask,  what  slightest  hint  or  intimation  does 
the  Spirit  of  God  give  that  we  have  here  to  do  with  the 
great  successive  acts  and  epochs  of  the  kingdom  of  God 
in  the  course  of  its  gradual  evolution  here  upon  earth  ? 
Where  are  the  finger-posts  pointing  this  way  ?  What  is 
there,  for  instance,  of  chronological  succession  ?  Does  not 
everything,  on  the  contrary,  indicate  simultaneity,  and  not 
succession  ?  The  seven  candlesticks  are  seen  at  the  same 
instant ;  the  seven  Churches  named  in  the  same  breath. 
How  different  is  it  where  succession  in  time  is  really 
intended ;  how  impossible  then  not  to  perceive  it ;  see, 
for  instance,  Dan.  ii.  32,  33,  39,  40  ;  vii.  6,  7,  9.  On  this 
matter  Marckius  says  very  well  (Prcef.  §  52)  :  '  Attamen 
ut  Ecclesias  has  agnoscamus  pro  typicis,  sive  significanti- 
bus  ex  Dei  intentione  alias  Ecclesias  aliorum  locorum  et 


246        ON    THE    HISTORICO-PROPHETICAL    INTERPRETATION 

temporum,  oportet  nos  a  Deo  doceri.  Typos  enim,  non 
magis  quam  allegorias,  pro  lubitu  nostro  in  Scripturam 
inferre  licet,  cum  non  sit  ISias  sirikvaecos,  propriae  inter- 
pretationis,  2  Pet.  i.  20.  Non  sufficit  ad  typum  consti- 
tuendum  nuda  convenientia,  quae  inter  res,  personas,  et 
eventus  plurimos  a  nobis  observari  potest,  sed  oportet  nobis 
amplius  constet  de  divino'consilio  quo  rem  similem  servire 
voluerit  alteri  praesignificandae,  cogitationibusque  nostris 
illuc  ducendis.' 

But  all  such  objections,  with  all  those  others  which  it 
would  only  be  too  easy  to  make,  might  indeed  be  set  aside 
or  overborne,  if  any  marvellous  coincidence  between  these 
Epistles  and  the  after  course  of  the  Church's  development 
could  be  made  out ;  if  history  set  its  seal  to  these,  and 
attested  that  they  were  prophecy  indeed  ;  for  when  a  key 
fits  perfectly  well  the  wards  of  a  very  complicated  lock, 
and  opens  it  without  an  effort,  it  is  difficult  not  to  believe 
that  they  were  made  for  one  another.  But  there  is  no 
such  accurate  correspondence  here  ;  as  is  abundantly  tes- 
tified by  the  fact  that  the  interpreters  of  the  historico- 
prophetical  school,  besides  their  controversy  with  those 
who  deny  in  toto  what  they  affirm,  have  also  an  intestine 
strife  among  themselves.  Each  one  has  his  own  solution 
of  the  enigma,  his  own  distribution  of  the  several  epochs  ; 
or,  if  this  is  too  much  to  affirm,  there  is,  at  any  rate, 
nothing  approaching  to  a  general  consensus  among  them. 
Take,  for  instance,  the  distribution  of  Vitringa.  For  him 
Ephesus  represents  the  condition  of  the  Church  from  the 
day  of  Pentecost  to  the  outbreak  of  the  Decian  persecu- 
tion ;  Smyrna,  from  the  Decian  persecution  to  that  of 
Diocletian,  both  inclusive ;  Pergamum,  from  the  time  of 
Constantine  until  the  close  of  the  seventh  century ;  Thya- 
tira,  the  Church  in  its  mission  to  the  nations  during  the 


OF    THE    EPISTLES    TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES.  247 

first  half  of  the  Middle  Ages ;  Sardis,  from  the  close  of 
the  twelfth  century  to  the  Eeformation  ;  Philadelphia,  the 
first  century  of  the  Eeformation ;  Laodicea,  the  Keformed 
Church  at  the  time  when  he  was  writing.  Lange,  Das 
Apostolische  Zeitalter,  vol.  ii.  p.  472,  has  a  nearly  similar 
distribution. 

There  are  two  or  three  fortunate  coincidences  here  be- 
tween the  assumed  prophecy  and  the  fact ;  without  such 
indeed  the  whole  notion  must  have  been  abandoned  long 
ago  as  hopeless ;  such  coincidences  could  scarcely  have 
been  avoided.  Smyrna,  for  instance,  represents  excel- 
lently well  the  Ecclesia  pressa  in  its  two  last  and  most 
terrible  struggles  with  heathen  Eome ;  so  too  for  such 
Protestant  expositors  as  see  the  Papacy  in  the  scarlet 
woman  of  Babylon,  the  Jezebel  of  Thyatira  appears  exactly 
at  the  right  time,  coincides  with  the  Papacy  at  its  height, 
yet  at  the  same  time  with  judgment  at  the  door  in  the 
great  revolt  which  was  even  then  preparing.  But  I  would 
ask  any  one  fairly  grounded  in  the  subject  whether  there 
is  any  true  articulation  of  Church  history  in  the  distri- 
bution above  made  ?  any  general  felicity  of  correspondence 
between  what  are  averred  to  be  the  prophetic  outlines  and 
the  historic  realities  adduced  as  fulfilling  them  ?  Take, 
for  instance,  Philadelphia,  as  representing  the  Eeformation 
period.  The  praise  bestowed  on  the  Philadelphian  Angel 
may  be  said  to  culminate  in  these  words,  '  Behold,  I  have 
set  before  thee  an  open  door,  and  no  man  can  shut  it ' 
(iii.  8).  Was  this  the  fact  ?  Can  anything,  on  the  con- 
trary, have  been  more  mournful  than  the  way  in  which, 
when  *  an  open  door '  was  set  before  the  Eeformers,  they 
suffered  it  to  so  great  an  extent  to  be  closed  on  them 
again  ?  There  was  a  time,  some  five  and  twenty  or  thirty 
years  after  Luther  had  begun  to  preach,  when  Austria 


248        ON    THE    HISTdRICO-PROPHETICAL    INTERPRETATION 

and  Bavaria  and  Styria  and  Poland,  and,  in  good  part, 
France,  had  all  been  won  for  the  Eeformation.  Thirty 
years  more  had  not  elapsed  when  they  all  were  lost  again ; 
and  it  was  confined  within  the  far  narrower  limits  which 
it  occupies  at  the  present  day  (see  Eanke,  History  of  the 
Popes  in  the  Sixteenth  and  Seventeenth  Centuries) — this 
door,  once  open,  having  been  closed  mainly  through  the 
guilt  of  those  contests,  very  far  from  Philadelphian  (for 
the  names  too  have  been  pressed  into  service),  among  the 
Reformers  themselves. 

Then,  again,  other  interpreters,  as  I  have  already  ob- 
served, distribute  the  epochs  according  to  schemes  alto- 
gether diverse  from  this.  Thus  it  is  far  more  common 
among  the  Protestant  theologians  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury to  apportion,  not  five  Churches,  but  only  the  first  four, 
to  the  pre-Reformation  period ;  to  claim,  as  Brightman 
does,  Philadelphia,  with  all  its  graces,  for  themselves,  and, 
as  must  necessarily  follow,  to  contemplate  Sardis  as  repre- 
senting the  Church  of  the  actual  Reformation.  Certainly 
the  Reformation  had  blots  and  blemishes  enough ;  but  its 
faults  were  those  of  zeal  and  passion ;  they  had  nothing  in 
common  with  that  hypocritical  form  of  godliness,  that 
death  under  shows  of  life,  imputed  to  Sardis  ;  and  any 
dutiful  child  of  the  Reformation,  who  at  all  felt  the  im- 
mense debt  of  gratitude  which  he  and  the  whole  Church 
owed  to  it,  notwithstanding  all  its  excesses  and  all  its  short- 
comings, might  reasonably  hesitate  long  as  to  the  accuracy 
of  a  scheme  which  should  brand  it  with  this  dishonour. 
See  Marckius,  Prcef.  §55;  and  on  the  other  hand  as  say- 
ing, and  saying  well,  whatever  there  is  to  be  said  in  support 
of  the  historico-prophetical  school  in  this  particular  aspect, 
see  Henry  More,  at  p.  756  sqq.,  in  his  treatise  already 
referred  to. 


OF    THE    EPISTLES   TO    THE    SEVEN    CHURCHES.  249 

Much  more  might  be  urged  on  the  arbitrary  artificial 
character  of  all  the  attempted  adaptations  of  Church  his- 
tory to  these  Epistles  ;  but  this  Essay  has  already  run  to 
a  greater  length  than  I  intended ;  and  indeed  it  is  not 
needful  to  say  more.  Where  there  were  no  preestablished 
harmonies  in  the  Divine  intention  between  the  one  and  the 
other,  as  I  am  persuaded  that  here  there  were  none,  it  could 
not  have  been  otherwise.  The  multitude  of  dissertations, 
essays,  books,  which  have  been,  and  are  still  being  written, 
in  support  of  this  scheme  of  interpretation,  must  remain 
a  singular  monument  of  wasted  ingenuity  and  misapplied 
toil ;  and,  in  their  entire  failure  to  prove  their  point,  of 
the  disappointment  which  must  result  from  a  futile  looking 
into  Scripture  for  that  which  is  not  to  be  found  there, — 
from  an  attempt  to  draw  out  from  it  that  which  he  who 
draws  out  must  first  himself  have  put  in.  Men  will  never 
in  this  way  make  Scripture  richer.  They  will  have  made 
it  much  poorer  for  themselves,  if  they  nourish  themselves 
from  it  with  the  fancies  of  men,  their  own  fancies  or  those 
of  others,  instead  of  with  the  truths  of  God. 


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