person, bearing a patriarchal relation to the congregation, and responsible in an eminent sense for the spiritual condition of the whole. . . . But even in this case we must insist on an important distinction between the ‘angels’ of the Book of Revelation and the later diocesan Bishops. For aside from the very limited extent of their charges, as compared with the large territory of most Greek, Roman Catholic, and Anglican Bishops, these angels stood below the Apostles and their legates, and were not yet invested with the great power (particularly the right to confirm and ordain) which fell to the later Bishops after the death of the Apostles. . . . The angels, accord- ingly, if we are to understand by them single individuals, must be considered as forming the transition from the presbyters of the apostolic age to the Bishops of the second century ” (“ His- tory of the Apostolic Church ”).
Eacu of the epistles to the seven churches contains: 1. A command to write to the angel of the particular Church. 2. A sublime title of our Lord, taken, for the most part, from the imagery of the preceding vision. 3. An address to the angel of the Church, always commencing with J know, introducing a statement of its present circumstances: continuing with an ex- hortation either to repentance or to constancy; and ending with a prophetic announcement, mostly respecting what shall be at the Lord’s coming. 4. A promise to him that overcometh, generally accompanied with a solemn call to earnest attention : “ He that hath an ear,” etc. (Alford).
In two churches, Smyrna and Philadelphia, the Lord finds matter for praise only. In two, Sardis and Laodicea, with a very slight exception in the former, for rebuke only. In Ephe- sus, Pergamum, and Thyatira the condition is a mixed one, calling for mingled praise and rebuke.
1. Ephesus. Ephesus was built near the sea, in the valley of the Cayster, under the shadows of OCoressus and Prion. In