Rev. ii. 1 — 7. U?}to the angel of Ike church of Ephesus icrite ; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, ivho walketh in the midst of the seven golden candle- sticks ; I know thy uorks, and thy labour^ and thy patieiice, and how thou canst not Lear them luhich are evil: and thou hast tried them iihich say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars : and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. Ne- vertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy frst love. Remember therefore from ichence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first tvorks ; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. But this thou hast, that thou hatesi the deeds of the Ni'cola'itans, tvhich I also hate. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith nnto the churches; To him that overcomelh, will I give to cat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God,
The
THE epistles directed to the Angels, or Ministers, of the Seven Churches in the Proconsular Asia, were intended, not for the Ministers only, but for the Churches also over which they presided, and for all other Churches as far as their situations and circum- stances might accord with them. Some have thought that they prophetically describe seven successive periods of the Church : but we are expressly told, that the whole vision recorded in the book of Reve- lation related, first, to what then existed ; and, se- condly, to what should exist at some future period \ Under the former class therefore must be arranged these seven epistles, which referred to the existing circumstances of the different Churches therein ad- dressed.
In the introductory part of every epistle our Lord describes himself by some distinctive characters, that have an appropriate reference to the subject-matter of the epistle, and that correspond with the appear- ance which he had assumed, while he revealed these things to his servant John.
In this epistle, he has occasion to commend much that was good. Lest therefore his approbation should induce any to think highly of themselves, he reminds them, that " the seven stars were all in his hands," and that, as the light whereby they shone was derived from him, so was their continuance in their respective orbits the effect of his power. Moreover, having occasion also to reprove somewhat that was amiss, he tells them, that " he walked among the seven golden candlesticks," and was thereby qualified to judge how every lamp burned, and ready to execute on them such judgments as should either increase their light, or utterly extinguish it.
Let us consider,
I. His commendation —
[Three things he notices in them with approbation, namely, their vnwfaried labQur, their invincible palit7ice, and their holy zeal; having mentioned which, he repeats and
AMFLIUliS
* Rev. i. 19.