tection against the Assyrians, when that scene of misery and danger commences. Wherever this strong hold may be, in the East or West, the whole figure indicates a flight to a place of safety and union, not so very distant, and within the limits of the former encampment of the Church.

Verse 11. Behold I come quickly. This then is the last conflict which we shall have to sustain. Its length is called an hour, i. e. a determinate space of time in the councils of heaven. It may be short in comparison with the times of the three woes in the Revelation; but it will appear very long to all the children of God. During this dark hour, we shall often walk sad and troubled, like his disciples to Emmaus, and ask one another: will our long expected king not soon make his appearance again among his oppressed and persecuted followers? It is impossible that he should leave or forsake us, and yet he has now been silent for eighteen centuries-and that is long. Might he not give us at least one visible token, to comfort our hearts and cheer our souls in this burning desert? Our eager eyes have often looked for the appearance of the morning star, and the prognostics of the great day of his Church; but we have hitherto discovered little of his approach. To this lamentation the Lord here answers: be comforted my children, the hour is now arrived, behold, I come quickly for your complete and glorious deliverance. Hold that fast which thou hast, in these times of apostacy and political confusion. I cannot expect you to make great progress in your journey among rocks and cliffs, in this dark and dreary night; only take heed that you may not forfeit your crown of victory, which I have already allotted as your reward.

Verse 12. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God. Great is the promised reward—but the conflict has been tremendous too, which the faithful combatant had to sustain, and for which it is offered. The conquerors in Philadelphia shall be a pillar in the temple

of God. This temple is not in New Jerusalem, but previous to it; for the name of the city of God shall be written upon this pillar, as a token of their citizenship there, when it shall come down from heaven. This temple denotes the Church of Jesus Christ during the Millennium, in which the faithful Protestant ministry shall be one of the pillars, to support the inside work of the House of God, i. e. they shall superintend the priesthood and the whole government of the Church during that glorious period. In what all this noble administration will then consist, time will exhibit. The Lord mentions a second, and remarkable use of this pillar: he will write upon it three different names, the name of God, the name of New Jerusalem, and the name of Christ. It was an ancient custom to decorate the pillars of temples and Churches with coats of arms, and trophies of signal victories; or even to inscribe the names and celebrated deeds of great and good men on their most conspicuous parts, for the information of attending spectators. In allusion to this custom, the Lord promises the faithful Philadelphians, that he will make them a standing ministry in his future Church, to declare the great deeds and ways of God with the nations on earth; the conflicts and triumphs of Christ in his Church; the civil and ecclesiastic constitutions of New Jerusalem; in order to acquaint them with their duties in that Theocracy, or royal priesthood, which will be established on earth during the Millennium. He that hath an ear, let him hear

A PASTORAL CHARGE

TO THE ANGEL AT LAODICEA.

Verse 14. And unto the angel of the Church of the Laodiceans write; these things saith the Amen,

the faithful and true Witness, the beginning of
the creation of God.

15. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold
nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither

cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 17. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind and naked.

18. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the

fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see.

19. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten; be

zealous, therefore, and repent.

20. Behold, I stand at the door and knock: If any

man hear my voice, and open the door, I will
come into him, and will sup with him, and he
with me.

21. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with
me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and
am set down with my father in his throne.
22. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spi-
rit saith unto the Churches,

There is a remarkable difference in the title of this angel, by which he is in a singular manner distinguished from those in the foregoing charges. They are all addressed thus: The angel at Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, &c. but here: The angel of the Church of the Laodiceans; by which the Lord seems to indicate, that this succession of the gospel ministry are less his servants, than in any of the former Churches, and more immediately the dependent servants of the people-which perhaps is a chief cause of their deplorable spiritual condition. The different manner of expression, however, refers more immediately to the Church, over which this angel presides. She is called the Church of the Laodiceans, where in the former charges only the places are mentioned, in which those Churches are, and Jesus Christ, as the owner of them, understood; as if the Lord attributed her existence as a separate Church, more to the hands of men, than to his own wise and all disposing Providence-for which reason he could not fully own her as his Church. This idea also receives considerable support from the signification of her name, Laodicea, which word being composed of xxòs and díxn, signifies the right, jurisdiction and judgment of the people, and thus expresses the internal state of this Church, in which the Church government is lodged in the hands of the members, who judge and are judged.

It no less imports us to ask, why only the members of this Church are not mentioned in one body, as those in the other charges. All the former are entitled: the Church at Ephesus, Smyrna, &c. &c. but this in the plural number thus: the Church of the Laodiceans. I have seen Griesback's variation here: 'v Aaodineía exxλnsías, but it appears to me not sufficiently supported; neither does it so well accord with the spirit and internal state of this Church, as the reading in the common Greek text. We dare not suspect a play of words, or an inadvertent lapse of the pen, when the Lord speaks-there certainly is a rea

son for this change. In my opinion this manner of expres sion indicates, that this Church consists of many small bodies of Christians, which have separated from the other Churches, where each body governs itself independently of the rest, though according to the same mind and princi ples, by which alone they stand united. However, the Lord still regards her teachers as his ministry, and the united number of their societies or congregations, as his Church. Their creed, therefore, must yet be orthodox, at least as to essential points of doctrine; for by Atheism, or Deism in their confession, they would totally forfeit the name of being a Church of Christ. Though there appears to be but a slight connexion at first between the different bodies, of which this Church consists, when the whole of what has been said, is taken into consideration; yet time and circumstances will induce at least the ministry, to draw the cords of union more to a point.

Verse 14. The Amen. This is a Hebrew word, and Eloheei Amen, signifies the God of truth. Jer. lxv. 16. It also has the sanction of an oath, Deut. xxvii. and then its import is, that all the words to which it refers, shall most assuredly be fulfilled. In this last signification, our blessed Lord often uses it in the Evangelists, where we read in English: "Verily, verily, I say unto you," as a solemn oath of assurance, annexed to those truths, which solely rest on his authority. By declaring himself the Amen then, we are solemnly assured, that he himself will fulfil all the promises of God to man.

The faithful and true witness. He is called the faithful witness, because he has testified the whole truth of God to man; and true, because he declared nothing but the truth in the name of his Father on earth, and sealed it with his blood. Jer. lv. 4. He was a witness indeed, who brought the truth with him from heaven, the Logos of God, none knew it as well as he, for he is the truth himself to all eternity. Reader attend to his testimony, it is worthy of all regard.