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(ufiriv1), though there is no Doxology, as I have observed in my Ap- paratus. Ed. II. on this passage , where a memorable caution is
given respecting a too great estimation of the Editions.]
1. T& a/ysXw, to the angel) There is a most weighty reason for these seven epistles. When the people were about to receive the law at Sinai, they were first purified : the same people, when the kingdom of God was now at hand, were prepared for it through repentance, by the ministry of John the Baptist ; and now the Christian Church is furnished with these epistles, in order that they may worthily receive so great a Revelation (just as the writer him- self had previously been prepared to receive it by his banishment and alarm). For the object of the writing is, that the Church, put- ting away from the midst of itself evil men, after due admonition, and evil things, may be prepared rightly to embrace and preserve this most precious deposit, this Revelation of such great moment, which the heavenly beings themselves honour with such profound adorations, and also to behold great events, to receive the most abun- dant enjoyments, and to avoid woes ; the epistles themselves being interspersed with glowing sparks from the remaining part of the Revelation, and those most fitted to arouse the attention and prepare the way for the understanding of what is revealed ; and the renova- tion of the Church by repentance, as is befitting, is placed before the sight of the rainbow, ch. iv. 3. Whosoever therefore wishes to be a suitable hearer of the Apocalypse, he ought to observe the admoni- tions of these seven epistles ;2 for then he will learn, from the pat- tern which they afford, how the Apocalypse is to be applied to all men and all ages. Some have attempted to show that the seven epistles, comprised in ch. ii. and iii., refer to seven periods of the
1 Rec. Text has upw, with B and Syr. But AC Vulg. h, Memph. Orig. Iren, omit it. — E.
2 I remember that , just at the last hours of his pilgrimage ( upwards of twenty years ago), my sainted parent earnestly recommended to his family the frequent reading and study of the Epistles contained in the Apocalypse ; adding, as the reason {of his advice) : — es ist nicht leicht etwas, das einen so durchdringen und durchlautern k'dnnte. — E. B.
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