it is not a subject of which this book is designed to treat. The term Hades, on the contrary, is met with in three other passages of Revelations, and in them it is immediately coupled with, and succeeds the term or idea of Death: as in the representation of the rider of the pale horse, it is said, Hades followed with him; and in the judgment scene, Rev. xx. 13, Death and Hell, or Hades, are said to deliver up the dead which were in them-indicating very plainly that this term Hades, must be the appellation of something else than the state of future punishment, because we cannot suppose its inmates to be punished first, and judged afterwards. The same word, too, is employed 1 Cor. xv. 55, where we have rendered it the grave; and perhaps we may say that as, in a material sense, the state of the grave is an immediate consequence of the state of Death, so, in a spiritual sense, the state of condemnation is an immediate consequence of a position under the law. The presence of the law giving existence to sin, (the sting of death,) and the existence of sin being necessarily attended by a state of condemnation, in which sense Death and Hades may be said to be inseparable companions.

These suggestions are sufficient to show that Hades, the apocalyptic Hell, has its mystery, as well as Death; or that death and hell constitute one mystery; and, consequently, that to have the keys of death and hell, is to have the means of opening, unlocking, or developing the mysteries thus denominated. Our further consideration of these topics must necessarily be postponed for the present.

Vs. 19, 20. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter; 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.

Γράψον οὖν ἃ εἶδες καὶ ἃ εἰσὶ καὶ ἃ μέλλει γίνεσθαι μετὰ ταῦτα· τὸ μυστήριον τῶν ἑπτὰ ἀστέρων, ὧν εἶδες ἐπὶ τῆς δεξιᾶς μου, καὶ τὰς ἑπτὰ λυχνίας τὰς χρυσᾶς. οἱ ἑπτὰ ἀστέρες ἄγγελοι τῶν ἑπτὰ ἑκκλησιῶν εἰσι, καὶ αἱ λυχνίαι αἱ ἑπτὰ ἐκκλησίαι εἰσί.

§ 39. Write, therefore.'-The word therefore is not in the common version, but the particle our is said to be found in all the Greek editions supposed to be most correct; and it appears to give an appropriate force to the direction. As if the divine speaker had said, I, the first and the last, and the ever-living-I am the author and finisher of all that you here see, or are to see I have the keys for opening all these mysteries; write therefore what thou seest; write what thou hast already seen in this vision, what thou now seest, and what is yet to be exhibited to thee.

The apostle is directed to commit the vision to writing; not the interpretation of it. The word things is supplied in our common version, but it is not material, the term being as applicable to objects of vision as to realities. We are to be careful, however, not to associate literal ideas with terms intended only to be figurative. The word hereafter, is also rather a free

translation of the Greek perà zavra, after these. Write the things thou hast seen, the things thou now seest, and the things which are to be after these. The same Greek words μerà ravza repeatedly occur in other parts of this book, and are as repeatedly rendered by after this, or after these things. In Rev. iv. 1, they are translated at the commencement of the verse by after this, and at the close by hereafter. The importance of the difference lies principally in the different ideas associated. After this, we readily suppose to apply to something subsequently taking place in the vision; while, by things to be hereafter, we suppose events are understood which are to take place ages, or centuries afterwards. There is nothing, however, in the direction here given, to oblige us to suppose the apostle instructed to write an account of distant events, either political or ecclesiastical. He is only to write what he sees, has seen, and may see.

Taking into consideration the peculiarly strange and anomalous appearance of the objects presented for John's contemplation, we may well suppose that he would hardly have committed a description of them to writing, had he not been imperatively directed to do so. He might well have doubted the saneness of his own mind. He might have hesitated, lest he should be carried away by some delusion of the imagination; and this, not so much in respect to what he already saw, or had seen, as in regard to what he was yet to see. The command is therefore positive, and general, and unqualified. He is to write all. As if it had been said to him, however strange and unnatural these things, or some of them, may appear to you, write down all that you see and hear. The manner in which the speaker had previously announced himself, leaving no room to doubt of his authority, or of his peculiar prerogative in dictating the duty to be performed.

§ 40. The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand.'-The word mystery, μvoriquor, is said to come from the Hebrew mustar, a moral truth veiled under an external representation, (Jones's Lex. 1132.) This definition is nearly the same as that usually given to the term allegory; and perhaps the mustar of the Hebrews corresponded with the allegory of the Greeks. The word mystery, however, was in common use amongst the Greeks in the times of the apostles, as a mythological term applicable to something hidden or concealed in matters of religion-hidden in effect although outwardly exhibited by mystic rites, signs, or symbols.

The apostle is first directed to write certain things, and then is added apparently in apposition, the mystery of the seven stars; as if the first direction were equivalent to the second, write what thou seest; that is, write the mystery of the seven stars upon my right hand. The whole subsequent revelation constituting, or pertaining to, this mystery of the seven stars.

He is also to write the seven golden candlesticks, or an account of them, as something connected with the mystery, although it is not expressed that

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the mystery of the stars is also that of the candlesticks; for the stars are spoken of in the genitive case, as governed by mystery, while the candlesticks are in the accusative, forming with the mystery a common object of the verb write. The near relationship, however, of the candlestick to the star or candle, may leave it to be implied, that what is the mystery of one must be the mystery of the other.

The further explanation is then given :—

'The seven stars are angels of the seven churches, and the seven candlesticks are the seven churches.'-These terms are all terms of vision. The star is not literally a star, nor the angel literally an angel, nor the candlestick literally a candlestick, nor the church literally a church. The star represents an angel, and the angel represents something of a spiritual character. The candlestick represents a church, and the church represents something also of a spiritual character.

We suppose churches, as assemblages (xxλnoia) literally of human beings, to represent assemblages of doctrinal principles or truths; and as these churches of Asia are represented by golden candlesticks, we suppose the material of the principles of these assemblages to be truth, that is, they are systems of true principles. The Greek term Exxλnoiai, (church,) expresses not merely an assembly of persons, but an assembly of persons called out—an assembly of select persons, of particular stations or characters. So, spiritually, the seven assemblages of principles, or elements of doctrine, are select assemblages, true principles, or elements called out from the mass. So many collections of these principles, constituting parts of the whole collection of truths, enter into the composition of the church or economy of grace; this economy, as a whole, may perhaps be typified by the candlestick of pure gold, seen by the prophet Zech. iv. 2. The seven churches of Asia, literally, we suppose to be mere types-having answered the purpose for which they were intended, as literal assemblages of Christians they have passed into oblivion; it is not even necessary to enquire into their character, or that of the individuals composing them; but there is an important distinction here, between the church and the angel of the church.

The subsequent admonitions, it will be perceived, are directed to the angels of the churches; and in the reprimand given to the angel of the church of Ephesus, he is told that his candlestick-his golden candlestick -his church shall be taken out of the way. By this, it appears that the angel of the church is something liable to perversion, and to be deprived of the advantage derived from its collection of truths; but these collections themselves are unchangeable-they may be removed, but not destroyed.

Angels, as Paul says or implies, are all ministering spirits; admitting these churches or candlesticks to represent assemblages of true doctrinal

principles, we suppose the angels to represent the system of faith deduced from those principles. The principles may be true, but the system built upon or deduced from them may be more or less incorrect—as we say of an argument, the premises are good, but the deduction is false. The systems represented by these angels may, accordingly, prove to be perversions of true doctrines. In this case they will eventually be manifested, as unsustained by the assemblages of truths, from which they professed to emanate. Such a manifestation would be in effect the taking away or removing of their golden candlestick, and would be equivalent to a repudiation of the angel.*

* This last verse appears to have been designed as an explanatory introduction to the several addresses contained in the two following chapters. The division of the chapters, however, here as well as elsewhere, seems to be unnecessary and injudicious as far as the meaning is concerned. We are not to suppose any considerable pause between the conclusion of this chapter, and the commencement of the next. The apostle is first told generally all that he is to write; and then, as it were, in the same breath, he is told what to write to the churches severally; while, in the meantime, to prepare him to understand the direction given to write the seven angels, he is shown the connection between these angels and the stars, and between the churches and the candlesticks-at the same time, we are to recollect that the whole Apocalypse, as one epistle, purports to be written for the use of the seven churches. Each is to receive its introductory address, while also each receives a copy of the whole revelation.

The angels of the seven churches find, we may suppose, in the pictures of the Apocalypse, an admonition against the tendency of their own errors, and an exhibition of truth to preserve them from going further out of the way.

The seven churches, in the aggregate, represent literally the whole Christian community, all to whom the Gospel is preached-to whom these presents may come— spiritually, the seven in the aggregate represent the whole economy of salvation, or spiritual church, represented by the Bride, as we shall see hereafter. So also we may suppose, the seven angels, with the good and bad features peculiar to them, to represent in the aggregate, literally, the whole visible church, with its various errors as well as truths; spiritually, the Economy of grace, perverted more or less by the erroneous elements which have crept into the exhibition of it-equivalent, perhaps, to that typified by Babylon.

CHAPTER II.

Epistle to the Angel of the Church of Ephesus.

V. 1. Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write: these things saith he what holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.

Τῷ ἀγγέλῳ τῆς ἐν Ἐφέσῳ ἐκκλησίας γρά ψον· τάδε λέγει ὁ κρατῶν τοὺς ἑπτὰ ἀστέρας ἐν τῇ δεξιᾷ αὐτοῦ, ὁ περιπατῶν ἐν μέσῳ τῶν ἑπτὰ λυχνιῶν τῶν χρυσῶν·

41. Unto the angel of the church,' &c.-As these terms have been already commented upon, and the epistles are distinctly addressed to the angels of the churches, and not to the churches themselves, we shall presume these angels (32) to represent something equivalent to systems of faith-deductions from assemblages of doctrinal truth. The churches themselves representing something equivalent to such collections of truth, or elements of true doctrine; as the candlesticks are said to be the churches, (Rev. i. 20;) and their material, gold, is the symbol of truth, (§ 27.) The Greek term ecclesia, rendered church, signifying also, not only an assembly, but an assembly of selected individuals-not a promiscuous multitude, but a selection from the multitude. If there be error, therefore, to be reproved, it is not in the assemblage of doctrinal principles or truths, (the candlestick,) but in the system or spirit of the system, the star, angel or ministering spirit, messenger, or instrument of communicating or imparting the views formed from these collections of truths.

'He that holdeth,' &c.-The verb xoazów, to hold or wield, expresses a right of power over the thing held. A right implied, though not expressed in the verb zo, to have, employed Rev. i. 16, where the Son of Man appears as having (exor) only these stars in his right hand: here he declares himself to have a right or power over them-a declaration the more appropriate as he is now about to admonish and reprove, as well as to instruct and encourage.

The seven stars.'-These stars are the seven angels, (Rev. i. 20 ;) that is, they represent them, as a thing in the hand may represent something at a distance; for a person could not be spoken of as sending a message in writing to another whom he held by the hand. So the holding, (xqaréw,) cannot express here the immediate exercise of power; because, if the stars * were immediately controlled by the hand, it would not be necessary to send the epistle to them. The power, we may say, is exercised through the instrumentality of the instructions given.