17. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead; and he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last.

18. I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am aiive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

19. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter.

20. The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest, are the seven churches.

He then, ver. 9-20, mentions the place, were the Revelation was given, and describes the manner and circumstances of the first vision. The place, were the Revelation was given, was Patmos, a desolate island in the Archipelago, whither he was banished for the confession of the gospel. It is not well known, at what time, or by whom he was banished into this island; but we may suppose it to have happened in the reign of Nero more probably than in that of Domitian. It is indeed the more general opinion that the Apocalyps was written in Domitian's reign; and this opinion is founded upon the testimony of Irenæus,* who was the disciple of Polycarp, who had been the disciple of St. John. This authority is great, and is made still greater, as it is confirmed by Eusebius in his Chronicle and in his Ecelesiastical History.+ But Eusebius a little afterwards in the same history recites a memorable story out of Clemens Alexandrinus ; that St. John, after he returned, from Patmos, committed a hopeful young man to the care of a certain bishop; that the bishop received him into his house, educated, instructed, and at length baptized him; that the bishop afterwards remitting of his care and strictness, the young man was corrupted by idle and dissolute companions, revelled with them, robbed with them, and forming them into a gang of highwaymen, was made their captain, and became the terror of all the country; that after some time St John coming upon other occasions to revisit the same bishop, inquired after the young man, and was informed that he was not to be found in the church, but in such a mountain with his fellow-robbers; that St. John called for a horse, and rode imme

Iren. advers. Hæres. lib. 5, cap. 30, p. 449, edit Grabe.

+ Eusebii Chron. lib. 1, edit. Scalig, p, 80, Gr.; p. 44, Lat. Vide etiam v. 164, libri posterioris: et Chron. Can. p. 208. Hist. Eccles. lib. 3, cap. 18.

Euseb. Hist. ibid. cap. 23.

diately to the place; that when the young man saw him, he fled away from him; that St. John forgetting his age, pursued eagerly after him, recalled him, and restored him to the church. Now all these transactions must necessarily take up some years; and, may seem credible if St. John was banished by Nero, but are altogether impossible if he was bunished by Domitian; for he survived Domitian but a very few years, and he was then near 100 years old, and so very weak and infirm, that he was with great difficulty carried to church, and could hardly speak a few words to the people, and much less ride briskly after a young robber.* Epiphanius asserts, that he was banished into Patmos, and wrote the Apocalyps there, in the reign of Claudius ;† but, Epiphanius being not a correct writer, he might possibly mistake Claudius for his successor Nero, especially as Nero had assumed the name of Claudius, by whom he was adopted, Nero Claudius Cæsar, This date is perhaps near as much too early, as the time of Domitian is too late. The churches of Syria have thus inscribed their version, "The Revelation made to John the Evangelist by God in the Island Patmos, into which he was banished by Nero the Cæsar." The ancient commentators, Andreas and Arethas, affirm, that it was understood to be written before the destruction of Jerusalem. § But if it was written before the destruction of Jerusalem, it might naturally be expected that such a memorable event would not have been unnoticed in this prediction and neither was it unnoticed in this prediction, as will be seen hereafter. Our Saviour's repeating so frequently in this book, Behold, I come quickly-Behold he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also who pierced him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him,'-and the like expressions, cannot surely be so well understood of any other event as of the destruction of Jerusalem, which coming' was also spoken of in the gospels, and what other coming' was there so speedy and conspicuous? So many spurious apocalypses, written by Cerinthus and others in early times, demonstrate evidently that the Apocalyps of St. John, in imitation whereof they were written, was still earlier, and was held in high estimation among Christians. But what is to me an unanswerable argument, the style itself, so full of Hebraisms, and as I may say, so full of barbarisms and evenHieron. in Epist. ad Galat. cap. 6, tom. 4, part. prior. col. 314, edit Benedict.

+ Epiphan. advers. Hæres. lib. 1, tom. 2, sect. 12, p. 434, sect. 33, p. 456, edit Petav

+ Revelatio quæ facta est Joanni evangelista a Deo in Patmo insula, in quam injeotus fuit a Nerone Cæsare [Translated in the text.]

§ Andreas in Apoc. vi. 16. Arethas in Apoc. xviii. 19.

solecisms, as some even of the ancients have observed,* manifestly evinces, that the author was but lately come out of Judea, was little accustomed to write in Greek, and had not yet attained to that greater purity of style, which appears in his Gospels and Epistles. On the contrary it is urged, that there are internal marks in the book itself of its being of a later date than Nero's reign, that the churches of Asia could not have changed and degenerated so much in so short a space of time, that they had not then been exposed to persecution, nor had Antipas suffered martyrdom at Pergamos, the persecutions by Nero being confined to the metropolis of the empire. But why might not St. John charge the churches of Asia with having degenerated and 'fallen from their first love,' as well as St. Paul accuse the church of Corinth, 1 Cor. iii. 3, of being 'carnal' and having' envying, and strife, and divisions among them;' or complain of the churches of Galatia, Galat. i. 6,-I marvel that ye are so soon removed from them that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel;' iii. 1,—'O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth;' or write to Timothy the first Bishop of Ephesus, 2 Tim. i. 15.-This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me?' Why might not the churches of Asia be liable to persecution, when it is said, 2 Tim. iii. 12, that 'all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shail suffer persecution' when unto the Philippians, i. 29,—it was given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;' and when the Thessalonians, 1 Thess. ii. 14,— 'suffered like things of their own countrymen, as the churches in Judea of the Jews;' and manifested, 2 Thess. i. 4,— their patience and faith in all their persecutions and tribulations which they endured?' As for Antipas there is no genuine history or authentic account of him; it is not known, who or what he was, when he suffered, or who caused him to be put to death, so that nothing can be from thence inferred one way or other. Neither is it certain that the persecutions by Nero were confined to the Metropolis; they raged indeed most there, but were extended likewise over all the provinces, as Orosiust testifies with others. Sir Isaac Newton hath

Διαλεκτον μεντοι και γλώσσαν ἐκ ἀκριβως ἐλληνίζεσαν αυτο βλεπω, ἀλλ ̓ ἰδιώμασι μεν βαρβαρικοις χρωμενον και του και σολοικίζοντα. Verum dictionem ejus non admodum Græcam animadverto, sed barbarismis atque interdum solocismis inquinatam. [But I observe that his language is not purely Greek, but that it is sullied by barbarisms, and sometimes by solecisms.] Dionysius Alex. apud Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. 7, cap. 25

+ Primus Roma Christianos suppliciis et mortibus affecit: ac per omnes provincias pari persecutione excruciari imperavit. [He first punished and put to death the

farther shown, that in the Epistles of St. Peter, and in St. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews, there are several allusions to this book of the Apocalyps; and St. Peter and St. Paul, all the ancients agree, suffered martyrdom in the end of Nero's reign. It may indeed be retorted, that St. John might borrow from St. Peter and St. Paul, as well as St. Peter and St. Paul from St. John; but if you will consider and compare the passages together, you will find sufficient reason to be convinced, that St. Peter's and St. Paul's are the copies, and St. John's the original. Moreover it is to be observed, that this Revelation was given on the Lord's day, when the apostle's heart and affections, as we may reasonably suppose, were sublimed by the mediations and devotions of the day, and rendered more recipient of divine inspiration. The heavenly visions were vouchsafed to St. John, as they were before to Daniel, Dan. ix. 10,-after supplication and prayer: and there being "two kinds of prophetic revelation in a vision and a dream," the Jews accounted a vision superior to a dream, as representing things more perfectly and to the life.

In the first vision, Jesus Christ, or his angel, speaking in his name, and acting in his person, appears amid the seven golden candlesticks,' meaning the seven churches.' His clothing is somewhat like the high-priest's, and he is described much in the same manner as in the divine appearances in Daniel's visions, Dan. vii. 9, x. 5, &c. St. John at the sight of so glorious a person, fell down senseless before him, as Daniel did upon the same occasion: and like Daniel too, he is graciously raised and encouraged, and commanded to write the things which he had seen,' contained in this chapter, and the things which are,' the present state of the seven churches represented in the two next chapters, and the things which shall be hereafter,' the future events which begin to be exhibited in the fourth chapter, as it is there said, ver. 1,-' Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter.'

CHAP. II.

1. UNTO the angel of the church of Ephesus, write, These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;

Christians at Rome, and commanded that the same persecution should extend through all the provinces.] Lib. 7, cap. 7. p. 473, edit. Havercamp.

Sir Isaac Newton's Obs. upon the Apoc. chap. 1, p. 239-246.

In istis duabus partibus, somnio et visione, continentur omnis prophetiæ engradus. Translated in the text.] Maimon. in More Nevoch part. 2, cap. 36. Smith's Discourse Prophecy, chap. 2, p. 174, 175.

2. I know thy works, and thy iabour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil; and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not; and hast found them liars:

3. And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.

4. Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

5. Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

6. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

7. He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches, To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

8. And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna, write, These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive;

9. I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.

10. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer; behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days; be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

11. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches, He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

12. And to the angel of the church in Pergamos, write, These things saith he, which hath the sharp sword with two edges;

13. I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.

14. But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.