CHA P. II.

Verse vs.-NTO the angel of the church of Ephefus, write, these things faith he that holdeth the feven ftars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the feven golden candlesticks;

Chrift commands John to write to the minister of the church of Ephefus. From verfe 11th, chap. i.

it

appears that John wrote the whole book of the Revelation, and fent it to the feven Chriftian churches then in Afia Minor. Whether he wrote feven copies of it, and fent one to each of them, which is moft probable, or fent the original, from which they took fix copies for themselves, is not told us, and indeed is of no great confequence for us to know.

By fending this book to these seven churches, not only were they favoured with the important inftructions which it contains; but a very wife precaution was taken to preferve it in existence and purity to fucceeding ages. Lodged in feven different churches, it was not very probable that all the copies of it should be deftroyed, or that fo many

many churches should confpire to corrupt it by interpolations of their own.

Along with the book of the Revelation, or rather as a part of it, John wrote a fhort epiftle to the minister of each of these churches. In these epiftles he gives, by the command, and in the very words of Chrift, an exact and minute description of their respective characters and fituations, and exhorts them to correct what in them is wrong in fentiment and conduct; and to improve what is right. By this minute defcription of their real character, he not only taught them their duty, but also led them to acknowledge the infpiration of this book. When, in the particular epistle addreffed to each church, they were told fo exactly thofe fentiments and that conduct, which they knew to be their own, could they entertain a doubt of the infpiration of this book, or of the power of its divine Author of describing as exactly the fentiments and conduct of other perfons and churches in every age of the world?

The argument addreffed to them is the fame which convinced the woman of Samaria, John iv. 19. that Jefus was the Meffiah. When Jesus told her all her real and even fecret hiftory, fhe faid, verfe 19th, "Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet." And the thus addreffed the inhabitants of Sychar, verfe 29th, " Come, fee a man " who

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"who told me all things that ever I did; Is not "this the Chrift?"

The epiftles addreffed to the pastors of these churches, were addreffed to them, not in their private, but in their public characters, as paftors of their particular churches; for the things contained in them evidently relate to the whole church.

Ephefus was the principal city of Ionia, and even of Afia Minor. The gofpel was planted in it by Paul, as mentioned in Acts xix. near twenty years before the date of this book. From Ephefus the knowledge of Chriftianity fpread through the reft of Afia Minor. In this city ftood the famous temple of the goddefs Diana. To the Chrif tian church planted in that city, Paul wrote the canonical epistle, which is addreffed to the Ephefians, about seven years after he had founded that church.

The epiftle contained in the first seven verfes of this chapter, addreffed to the church of Ephefus, is all written in the name, and in the very words of Chrift.

"These things faith he who holdeth the feven "ftars in his right hand." Chrift is here defcribed by two of the particular fymbols, which are contained in the general hieroglyphical description of his perfon and character, chap, i. 12,—16. It is he who guides and fupports his ministers by his

wisdom

wisdom and power, extended to them in his pro- . vidence and grace. It is he who infpects his churches, perceives what is good and bad in them and adminifters praife and reproof accordingly.

Verfes 2d, 3d.-I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canft not bear them which are evil: and thou haft tried them which fay they are apoftles, and are not; and haft found them liars: and haft born, and haft patience, and for my names fake haft laboured, and haft not fainted.

'This, and all the other fix epiftles, Chrift begins, by affuring thefe churches, that he knows their works. As the Son of God, he knows all their works perfectly. He knows all their actions, public, private, and fecret; all their intentions, and the motives of their conduct. He fearches their hearts, and tries their reins. As a full proof that he knows their works, he particularly enumerates them. He praises them for their labour, their diligent endeavours to detect impoftors, and to propagate the truth, their patience under fecution for the religion of Jefus, to which, at this time, they were expofed under Domitian,-and

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per

for

for eftimating men, not by their external appendages, but by their real characters. Like the citizen of Zion, they despised vile men, but honoured them that fear the Lord. He praises them for their care in trying, and for their fuccefs in detecting falfe apostles, who neither taught the doctrines of Jefus in their purity, nor produced proper credentials of their extraordinary commiffion. Chrift repeats their long-fuffering, their patience, and their labour, to show that they had long continued in the practice of these virtues; and that he might take notice of that principle, from which they acted, and which preferved them from fainting under their perfecutions, even an attachment to his name. It was because they believed and trufted in him as the Christ, and the Son of God; it was becaufe they ardently defired to promote the knowledge of his name, and the interest of his religion in the world; in fine, it was because they firmly believed his religion to be the truth; that they practifed fuch things, and perfevered in that courfe with fuch patience, at the expence of their property, liberty, and fame, and at the risk of their lives.

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Verse 4th-Nevertheless, I have fomewhat against thee, because thou haft left thy first love.

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