me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed, and that the fhame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye falve, that thou mayeft fee.

Here Chrift affigns another reafon, why he will reject this church with abhorrence; because she is elated by her worldly riches, and fays fhe has need of nothing; whilst she is ignorant of, or inattentive to her wretched contemptible and miferable ftate, on account of her ignorance of the great truths of religion, and her want of those virtues of the chriftian life, which are the best clothing and ornament of the foul. In this fituation, he advises her to apply to him for all thofe fpiritual riches which fhe fo much needs; even that knowledge, and thofe virtues which are fo much adapted to her wants.

Verfe 19th.-As many as I love; I rebuke and chaften; be zealous therefore and repent.

Christ, like a wife parent; often fhews his love to his children by not fparing the rod. He rebukes and chaftens those whom he loves, when they tranfgrefs. He therefore affures her, that if fhe would with his rebukes may terminate in

her

her amendment, and not in her deftruction, the ought to repent of her lukewarmness, and cultivate that zeal for the important and interesting truths and duties of religion, which accords to their own value, and the deep concern which the hath in them. True zeal is always according to knowledge, and equally diftant from indifference and enthusiasm.

Verje 20th.-Behold, I ftand at the door and knock: If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will fup with him, and he with me.

However the church of Laodicea may despise, Christ's exhortation, and therefore may foon be defpifed and rejected by him with difguft, every individual, who fhall open the door of his heart and give him admittance, fhall enjoy communion with him. He fhall find Chrift to be his God, his Saviour, and his portion; if he is heartily willing to become one of his people, and to accept of him as his chief good.

Verses 21ft, 22d,-To him that overcometh will I grant to fit with me in my throne; even as I alfo overcame, and am fet down with my Father in his throne. He that hath

an

an ear, let him hear what the Spirit faith unto the churches.

To every one, who refifteth, and finally overcometh the various trials and temptations to which he is expofed in this world; Chrift will grant to fit with him, at last, in his throne; as certainly as Christ himself, after having overcome all the temptations and sufferings to which he had been expofed in this world, hath fat down with his Father in his throne.

Chrift is faid, in his mediatorial character, to have fat down with his Father in his throne; because he is exalted, even in that perfon, in which the divine and human nature are united, to a dignity far fuperior to the rank or right of all created beings; to a power fuited to the fupremacy of Deity, even to the adoration of men and angels, and to the right of judging the world. To this dignity he was raised in his mediatorial character, on account of his having overcome all the temptations and fufferings to which he was expofed in the flesh. Heb. xii. 2. In like manner, those who overcome are faid to fit down with Chrift in his throne; because, in a future ftate, they fhall be raised to that perfection of human nature, which hath been exemplified and is poffeffed by Chrift. This is a state fuperior even to the original state of man. In his

original

́original state, man was upright; but he was fallible and actually did fall. But though Chrift was exposed to much greater trials in his human nature, than thofe to which Adam was expofed, he overcame them and ftill preferved his uprightness. In like manner, thofe who overcome fhall be raifed to unfinning and infallible perfection. In them human nature fhall nearly refemble the perfect human nature in Chrift. They fhall be purified for heaven, in a manner far furpaffing the original ftate of man, in which he was fit for a terrestrial paradife, but clothed in flesh and blood, in fuch a ftate, as could not inherit the kingdom of heaven. Angels fhall minifter unto them, and they fhall judge angels, Rom. viii. 12. John x. 28. 1 Cor. xv. 47,—58. Heb. i. 14. 1 Cor. vi. 3. What stronger motive to zeal for the service of Chrift can be devised, than the promise from him of being feated with him in his throne. What Chrift hath said to this church and to the individual members of it, he faith to all who, in any age or country, fhall hear this epistle.

VOL. I.

CHAP.

CHA P. IV.

VISION I.

Verse 1ft. AFTER this I looked, and be

hold, a door was opened in

heaven: and the firft voice which I heard, was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which faid, come up hither, and I will fhew thee things which must be hereafter.

This is the fecond vifion which John faw; and it relates to the second part of his commiffion. In chap. i. xix. he was commanded to write, first, the things which are; and then, the things which fball be hereafter. In the fecond and third chapters, he wrote the things which then were, in the history of the seven Afiatic churches. And now he proceeds to write the things which fhall follow thefe in regular fucceffion, with the hieroglyphical vifions, which he faw; and by which thefe future events are represented

After this, or rather (utra Taura in the original) After these things; after he had feen and heard the things contained in the first vifion, and narra

ted