" _YEPESY
&X 48. 12.
_
Ch.
n CES,
© Chap.I.
Ez. 1.26. - Dan. 7.13. Ment down to Ch. 14-14- with a golden girdle e. T Dan. 10, $, 0.
| Ch. 15.6.
YC. I 4. 2. burned in a turnace : 41nd * his voice as the ſound of
* Iſa. 45.2; * out of his mouth went a tharp two-edget ſword 7, Ch. 2.16. and his countenance was as the ſun ſhining in his S 19-15, ſtrength 2.
A mY
REVELATION.
Þ What thou halt preſently ſee, write in a Book, not in looſe Pa- ! Stars are expounded, wer, 29. to be the Minifters of the Gofpeh, his
P<i>. ve/ation of the Will of Chriſt, but writtea by his Dire&ion. gq Not to all that Tived within the Juriſdiction, or Compal of theſe Cities, but only to thoſe Chriſtians who lived in or near theſe places which, are all Cities in the Jefler Afia. r Epheſizs was the moſt tamous wire Pai! preached, Acts 19. 10. &c. and ſtayed-three years, chap. - 21. it wes 3 noble City 1n that part of Greece, which was cal- ded Ina. { Styina was a Sea-Port City in the ſame Country. * Pergarrss was a City of Troas, or Phiyg'a. u Thyatira was a Ci- tyia Lyd'a, or Iyſiz. wEardis allo was a City in Lydia, near the Mountain 7:17lus. x Philadelphia was a City in Lydia, next Myſ1a. y La1dcea was a City in Aſra near the River Lycos, In all theſe Ct- ties thcre were Congregations of Chriſtians tormed into Churches, to whom Sod here ordereth St. John to fend theſe Vittons, when he had wrote them in a Book. Our Country-man, Mr. Brightman asks, Where Kome was all this while ? and how it came to paſs God d1- reed nor thele Myſteries to be ſent, aud kept in their Archives, eipeciuly 17 (as the Papifts) the Biſhop there be Chriſt's ſuccet- five Ficar? and conſidering too, how great Friends Peter and Fohn
A #- \.-
were wont to be ? But the forementioned Author tartly replies to his own Qreſtion, That that Church, it ſeems, could never err, and'
tncrefore-needed not any Correptory, or Monitory Epiſtle.
12 And I turned to ſee the voice that fpake with me 2. And being turned, 1 faw ſeven golden candle- [tics 0.
z That 1s, to fee the Perſen, whoſe Voice I heard ſpeaking to me ; or ciſe by ſeeing, 1s meant Underſtanding ; (but that he might have done withour turning) he therefore turned, hoping to ſee the Per- ſn that ſpake. @ By theſe ſeven Candleſticks which he ſaw, are meait the ſeven Churches; fo we find it infallivly expounded, ver. 20, we ſhall find in this Book frequent 4 lluftons to the Jewiſh Tem- ple. Here they bevin : Tn the Jewiſh Tabernacle there was one Gol- den Candleflich, and ſeven Lamps, to give light againſt it ; ſo Numb. 8. 2. Zech. 4. 2. 7ohn here ſeeth ſeven. God had but one Church of the Jews, but many amongſt the Gentiles. This Notion or Compa- rifon cf Churches to Golden Candleſlichs, both ſheweth us the Nature and ©.H:e of the Churches of Chriſt, they do not give Light of them- ſelves, only hold Lights ; and it is their Duty to keep in them the pure Word of God, which 1s a Light to our Feet, and a godly Mt niitry; and it alſo lets us know, that they ought fo keep themſelves pure {as beaten Golden) from all Corruption, as to Doftrine, and their Nicinbers from all ſcandalous Converſation.
13 And in the midſt of the ſeven candleſticks 6, * one like unto the Son of man e, F clothed with a gar- the foot d, and || girt about the paps
b That 1s, of the Churches, reſembled by the Golden Candleſticks. c One like to the Son of Man. We fay, no like is the ſame ; but Chrift who was the $91 of 2m, and who ordinarily calls hinaſelf ſo throu:zhout the Goſpel, is undoubtedly here meanr, as appeareth by w2rl, 17, 18, which Deſcription can agre- to him alone. He 1s ſaid to have come in the likeneſs of ſinful Fleſh, though he came 1n true Human Fleth; and Phil. 2. 8. He was made in the likeneſs of Men. John ſaw one who appeared to him, as a Man, in the midſt of ſe- yen Golden Candleſticks, which was Chriſt in the midſt of his Churches ; placed in the inidſt, partly to let us know his Obſerva- vation of them all, and partly to let us know his being at hand to them all, to help, prote&t, and defend them. d Il«&vpr, the word fiznificth a long Garment reaching to the Feet, whether of Linen or Ifollen, or what other material is not exprefied; fo as 1t ſeemeth to me hard to determine, Whether it was to fignifie his Prieftly, or Kingly Office, or neither. It is an Habit of Gravity. e Nor dare 1 determine the fignificancy of the Golden Girdle about his Loins. It was an Habit like that in Daniel's Viſion, Dan. 10. 5. They were both Symbols of Majeſty, Authority, and Dignity, and the Ap- pearance agreed very well to him, who was both an High Prieſt, atid a Ring, Sf
- 14 His head and his hairs were white like wooll, as white as ſnow f;, and his eyes were as a flame of tire g.
f Whitenefs ſignifies Purity ; whiteneſs of Hair ſignines Old age erdinarily, which commonly is attended with more Prudence, as havinz moſt Experience : hence this Appearatice of Chriſt may both denote his Purity, and Wiſdom, and that he is the Ancient of Bays; See Dan. 7. 9, 13, though there the term of Ancient of Days belon2s to God the Father, yet it alſo agrezth to Chriſt, who is eQu1l with the Father, as to his Divine Nature. g Such an Ap- p-arance is applica to God, Zzek. 1.27. Dan. 10. 6. and to Chriſt Rev. 15. 12. to dencte either Chriſt's Knowledge, Wiſdom, and Om- n*/cience ; or his Grace in purifying Souls, as Fire doth Metals; or his Wrath and Anger azunfit his Enemies.
15: And his tcet Ike unto fine braſs g, as if they |;
in) 2 2o
many Waters 7.
Z There are nice Di{quifitions what this Chalcoltbamim ( which we trantlite, fine Braſs) was : vid. Poli Synopſin. I underſtand not of what profit the Determination wif. be to us. By the Feet of Chr: (probably) are ſignified his Way: Counſels, and Methods in orecring and governing his Church, wtich are compared to fine Bra(s, for the Beauty and Glory of them, 4nd for their Firmitude, Stren; th, and Steadineſs. h They appearcd like Braſs filled with Fire, as if it- were burning, and red hot 1n + Furnace. 7 Loud, and terrible, like the noiſe-of rhe Sea daſhing uyon a Rock, or the Shorg
16 And he had in his right hand ſevenſtars +, and
þ The Kizht Hand is the. Hand of Power, Pſalm 21. 8, anagq. 3.
Wrneace we may obſerve, that tins Book 1s not only the Re-