7 St. 7obn being to ſpeak of the various Afftictions of the Chiircl of God, which ſhould immediately begin, and hold on during the _ wnole time that Rome ſhould continue heather, and 1260 vears af- ter, during the whole Reign of the Bea/?; prepareth Chriſtians tcr It, by calling them by the Eye of Faith to fee (though at a great diſtance) Chriſt coming to Judgment, whom a he tpeaks of as a1- ready coming, (according to the uſual ſtile of Prophets, who uſe t5 ſpeak of thoſe things that ſhall ſhortly be done, or certainly, as if they were already done) he deſcribes the manner of Chriſt's coming to Judgment, and faith, he cometh with Clouds, that is, in a glors- ous manner, 7n the Clouds with great power and glory, Matth. 24. 2%. and 25. 31. in his glory, and all the holy Angels with him, with ten thouſands of his Saints, Jude 14. with 4 ſhout, the woice of the Arc%- angel, and the Trump of God, 1 Thefl. 4. 16. here, with the Cloud's. bright and glorious Clouds, not obſcuring him, but making his Ap- By pearance more glorious and terrible. þ He ſhall come vit;hly : for Acts x. 11. he ſhall ſo coine, as he was ſeen poing up to Heaven,
Tja. 40. 5. e& They alſo which pierced him ſhall look on him, Z2c+. | 12. 10, yea, not thoſe only which pierced him with their Spears, but | every Sinner who hath prerced him with his Sins, 7h, 4, 5. From | whence we may obſerve, that the ReſurreQion wil! be veveral ; and
thoſe in the great Mogul's Country are like fo awave out of their
ſleep in the Grave, as well as others. d All the Nitions of the Earth ;
Gr. the Tribes of the Earth, ſhall wail, not with a mournins of Re-
pertance, the time for that will be paſt, but with a wailins of Deſpary
and Forrour, c The laſt words are either a Prophetical Afertion,
confirming the Truth of what he had faid,: or a pious Prayer or
Deſire, or rather both together. yy
s *1am Alpha, and Omega, the beginning and the «,-, ending, faith the Lord d, + which is, and which was. and which is to come, the Almighty e. Chap. 21.£
d Alpha and Omega are the firſt and laſt Letters in the Greeb 41-N 23. 13. i {habet, as Aleph and Tu are in the Hebrew Alphabet ; the meanins of + Ver. 4. tneſe 1s expounded, the Beginning, and the End. He who was before Chip. 4.2. all, and ſhall continue to exiſt, when all Creatures ſhall ceafe to he ;X 11. 17. the firſt and the laſt, as the ſame terms are expounded, chav. 22. 14. X 15. 5: ſo [/a. 41.4. and 43. 10. See ver. 4. e He addeth the 4/m:yhty, to ſhery that he was able to make his words good. Thus in this V erfe, Ommnipotency, Eternity, and i::mutability, are all applied to God, and | particularly predicated of our Lord and Saviour Jeſus Chritt. |
9 I John who alſo am your brother f and * com *Phil 1. 7, panion in tribulation g, and + in the kingdom and & 4- 14. patience of Jeſus Chriſt Þ, was in the ifle that is cal- Sn led Patmos z, \| for the word of God, and for rhe re- {OO {timony of Jeſus Chriſt &. 2 lim. 2.
£ The ſame mentioned, vey. 4. the Apoſtle of Jeſus Chrift ; yet 1 2. he diſdaineth not to call thoſe kijs Brethren, whom bis Lord fo cal- "Chap 5.55 led. h The Pagan Perſecutions were now begun. Xero firſt began © | them about 23 years after Chriſt was aſcended into Heaven, bur he died within three years time after he had began that Courſe. Then the Chriſtians had ſome reſt for 12 years, by reaſon of the ſhort Reigns of Galba, Otho, and Vite!l!us, and the Kindneſs of FElavins, and Titus Veſpaſianus, but about 82 years after Chriſt, bezan Domi- tian to reign, and to perſecute the Chriſtians about the year 50. He lived not long, for he was ſlain Anno 97. but in thoſe ſeven vears he put to death, impriſoned, and baniſhed many. 7ohn is ſaid to have been baniſhed by him Anno 91. and to have had this Revelation 54, and 95. Doritian lived but four or five years after this. After his death 79hn is ſaid to have come back to Epheſus, and to have died there three years after, about the year 98. But for five years 7obn was the Chriſtians Companion in Tribulation. h Either the King- dom of Chriſt, a Member of the Chriſtian Church, or the Kingdom of Glory, which is to be arrived at, both by patient waiting, and by patient Suffering for Jeſus Chriſt, or waiting for the ſecond Appear. ance of Chriſt, in order to his glorious Kingdom. 7 This Iſland, Geographers tell us, was an Iſand in the Tcarizmm, or F#gean Sea, a- bout 35 Miles in compaſs, (one of thoſe 53 Iſlands called the Cycla- des.) k He tell us how he came to be in Patmos, viz. for preacli- ing the Word of God, and thoſe Truths to which Chriſt had given Teſtimony : He did not voluntarily go thither to preach the Goſpel (for thoſe Ifles have in them few Inhabitants) but. he was baniſhed thither by the Emperour Domitian's Officers, Baniſhment was -a very ordinary Puniſhment amongſt the Romans, in caſe of what they would call Sedition. Euſebius tells us, that one Flavia Dometilla, tho' ſhe was Neece to the Conſul, was baniſhed upon the fame account | at this time. | |
10 *I was in the Spirit / on the Lords day 1, and *Chap-4-2:
heard behind me a great voice, as of 4 trumpet N.
] Not only in Spiritual . Imployment, ſuppoſe Meditatina, and Prayer, but in an Extaſie; my Soul was (asit were) ſeparated from . my Body, and under the more than ord:vary Influence and Com- munications of the Spirit, as A&s 10. 19. and 11. 5.and 15, 9. and 18, 9, m#: Upon the Chriſtian Sabbach, called the Lord's Day, (as the Euchariſt, or breaking of Breod, is called the Lord's Suppey, x Cor. 11. 20.) becauſe Chriſt infiituted it ; or, becauſe the end of its Inſtitution was the Remembrance of Chriſt's Reſurre&ion, ( as the end of the Lord's Supper was the Commemoration of Chriſt's Death ) or becauſe it wa inſtituted for the Honour of Chriſt, n 7ohn in the Iſle of Patms was keeping the Chriſtian Sabbath in Spiritual Services, Mediation and Prayer, and fell into a Trance, wherein he had a more1mmediate Communion with the Holy Spirit, which begun with hj- hearing a loud Voice, as it were, behind him; as loud as the ſoun« of a Trumpet,
11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the firſt ,and the laſt 9: and, What thou ſeeſt, write in a book p, and ſend #r unto the ſeven Churehes which are in A- fia qz vuito Epheſus 7, and unto Smyrna /, and unto Pergarios 7, and unto Thyatira z, and unto Sardis ,
and znto Philadelphia x, and unto Laodicea y. o 1, who ſpake unto thee, am the Eternal, Immutable God. ; Þ WhaſC
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