Metſengers to his Churches, who having ia all times been moſt ex- poſcd to the Malice and Rage of Enemies; Chriſt is ſaid to ho!d them in his Right Hand, as to ſignifie the Dignity he hath put upon them, and the Favour he hath ſhewed them ; fo alſo to ſhew his Re- ſolution to protet them, according to his Promiſe, Matth. 28. 20. { Either his Goſpel and Word comparcd to a two-edged Sword Heb. 4. 12. or a Sword of Juſtice, witich he will uſe till he hath per- fettly overcome, and vanquiſhed his Enemies, m That is, vas very glorious, ſo as the Apoſtle was not able to behold him,
17 And when I ſaw him, [ fell at his feet as dead 7.
Fear not o, +I am the firſt; and thelaſt p.
me no harm." p See ver{. 8. 11.
the keys of hell and of death /.
q The living God, who had Life in my ſelf, and gave Life to the World, but aſſumed the Human Nature, and was made Man, and in that Nature died, but I roſe again from the dead, and ſhall die no more, but ever live to make Interceſſion for my People. r This is a great Truth. / And have power to kill, and caſt into Hell ; or I have the power over Death, and the ſtate of the Dead, ſo as I can raiſe thoſe that are dead, to life again; I have the command of Death, whether Temporal or Eternal ; as he who hath the Keys of an Houſe can let in, and ſhut out of it whom he pleaſcth, ſo I-bring to Heaven, and throw to Hell whom I pleaſe,
19 Write the things which thou haſt ſeen 7, and the things which are z, and the things which ſhall be here- atter ww. bh
t Either the things which thou haſt ſeen from the beginning of the Goſpel; for 7ohn, Matth. 4. 21. was a Companion of Chriſt from the time preſently following his Baptiſm and Temptations; Or, the Viſion of me, which thou haſt now had; which T judze moſt pro- bably the ſenſe : not underſtanding why our Lerd ſhould ſet Fohn to write that (though they were not then written, yer) Chriſt knew, ſhould be written in another Book by Fobn himſelf, viz. in his Goſpel, and by Matthew, Mark, and Luke, in their Hiſtories of the Goſpel, and in the A&s of the Apoſtles, efpecially confidering they were to be wrote plainly, fo as he who runs may read them; and what 7ohn was to write here, was to be written Enigmatically, and darkly repreſent-
ed in Viſions: and 1t 15 againſt reaſon to think the ſame things ſhould be firſt revealed plainly, and then more darkly, and both by Dire&t- on from God. u The preſent Affairs of the Church; we have the Hiſtory till Paul was carried Priſoner to Rome, (which was about the f1xtieth year after Chriſt) in the As of the Apoſtles ; fo that I-con- ceive the furtheſt that Zohn lookt back, was but 35 years; for he was in Patmos about the year 93, and is conceived to have wrote this Book, 96. Hence the matter of the Revelation is eafily concluded. I. The things which were the preſent Afffairs of the Church, Anno 96. or looking back only to 60, which things are ſuppoſed tobe writ- ten by 7obn in chap. 2. 3. w And the Things which ſhall be hereafter, to the end of the World, under the reign of the Dragon [the Pagan Reman Empire ] and the reign of Antichriſt, or the Beaſt, for 1250 years, and from thence until Chriſt ſhall come to Judgment,
20 The myſtery of the ſeven ſtars which thou faw- eſt in my right hand, and the ſeven golden candle-
churches y; and the ſeven candleſticks which thou ſaweſt, are the ſeven churches *.
x See ver. 12, 16. y That is, they ſignifie the Angels of the ſeven Churches. By Angels, he means God's Meſſengers and Ambaſſadours to the ſeven Churches, called Angels, both in reſpe& of their Office, being the Ambaſſadours of Chriſt, 2 Cor. 5. 20. and of that lineſs which they ſhould ſhew forth in their Do&tine and Life. To inter- pret the term of Angels by Nature, ſeems not agreeable to what we ſhall hereafter meet with ſaid to ſome of them; Chriſt would never have ordered fohn to have charged them with a loſs of their firſt love, or to admoniſh them to be faithful unto Death, or to Repert. Whether the term, Angel, denoteth any particular Superiour Mini- ſter, or Biſhp in thoſe Churches, or is to be taken co!/efively for all the Miniſters in thoſe Churches, I-ſhall not diſpute. Certain it is, *A*a©- fignifieth no more than 1s common to all Miniſters, viz. to be God's Meſſengers, and move upon his Errand, * The ſeven Churches mentioned ver. 11. Or elſe, ſeven being the Number of Perfe&ion, all the Churches, which are fitly repreſented by Candle ticks, in the ſame ſenſe as they are called Pillars of Truth in Paul's Epiſtle to Timothy, becauſe they have not the Light they ſhew from tiemſelves, only hold it forth from Chriſt. But it is the opinion of very Learned Writers upon this Book, That our Lord, by theſe ſeven Churches, ſignifies all the Churches of Chriſt to the end of the World ; and by what he faith to them, defigns to ſhew what ſhall be the ſtate of the Churches in all Ages, and what their Duty is. That by the Church of Epheſus, was repreſented the pureſt ſtate of all the Chriſtian Churches, which determined 3o' years before this Book was wrote. By the Church of Smyrna, the ſtate of all Chri- ſtian Churches till the year 300. By the Church of Pergamos, all the Chriſtian Churches, till Antichriſt got up into the Saddle, and the Albigenſes, and Waldenſes were'ſo perſecuted. 4. By the Church of Thyatira, the ſtate of the Churches from that time, till our Re- formation, 5. By the other three, the ſtate of all Churches for 150 years laſt paſt, and which ſhall be ro the end of the World. See Dr. More, Mr. Mede, Cocceius, and Forbes, who (as learned and dilt- gent Enquirers into the Senſe of this Book, as any have been) 21ve many reaſons for this: 1. Becauſe no reaſon elſe can be given why Epiſtles ſhould not be wrote to other Churches, as well as theſe. 2. Ke doth not call them the fevcn @rurches of 4fra, but ſeven
and of Favour, Pal. 119.1, and of Honour and Dignity, The pycn |
Churct:es.
ſticks x. The ſeven ſtars are * the angels of the ſeven +
Chap. T,
And he * laid his right hand upon me, ſaying unto me, * pzn, x4,
l0,
n Aſtoniſhed at the Majeſty and Glory of the Appearance ; Sce Þ 1.45.9, 7oſh. 5. 14. Dan. 8. 17, 18. Matth. 17.6. A#s 9.4. 0 To comfort & 44. 5. me, and let me know, that I had no reaſon to be afraid, he would do Chap. 2.2.
1s *1 om he that liveth, and was dead; and be- «gms. hold, I am alive for evermore 9g, Amen; and t fave +p1.58 25. Chap.20.1,
Mal, 2. 7.
Chap. IL.