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Ver. 11. He that hath an ear.] See note, ch. ii. 7. Ib. Second death.] For an explanation of the expression, "he who overcometh," see note, ch. ii. 7. To the spiritual conqueror, in that passage, immortal life is promised; but it is here inferred that he must not expect to approach to it otherwise than through the passage of death, which is the common lot of man by the divine sentence *; and by which the "Captain of Salvation, the Lord of Life," himself passed to victory. This is the first death. But beyond the grave, (where death, in the common acceptation of the word, can no more prevail,) is the second death; not only a total extinction of all our pleasurable feelings, and of all our hopes of happiness, but an ever-during sense of this extinction, "where the worm dieth not, and the "fire is not quenched." To death, in this secondary sense, our Saviour frequently alludes. "He that "believeth in me shall never die, 8 un arobavy ELS TOU ava, shall not die for evert; John xi. 26; see also John viii, 51, x, 28: in which passages it is clear from the context, that our Lord did never intend to exempt his followers from the first death, or common passage through the grave . For, this kind of death, by the victory of our Lord, being disarmed of its sting; being deprived of the power of retaining "the soul in hell;" being to the good Christian only a short passage to immortality;-is expressed by the gentle term sleep. "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth." And again, “The "maid is not dead, but sleepeth §." And we are exhorted

* Gen. iii. 19.

↑ John xii. 25. Matt. x. 28.

+ So translated by Dr. Clarke.

§ Matt. ix. 24. John xi. 11, 13. 1 Cor. xi. 30. xv. 6, 18, 51. 1 Thess. iv. 14, 15, Rom. iv. 17. Matt. xxvii. 52. Luke xx. 36, 37, 38. This metaphorical application of the word sleep, so useful to divest

death

horted by our Saviour not to be afraid of this first death, of them that kill the body," but of Him who can inflict the second death, "who is able to destroy "both soul and body in hell;" in that very lake of fire which is described as the second death in Rev. xx. 14, and xxi. 8. which two passages will be found to elucidate the sense of this expression, "the second "death," as used in the Apocalypse *.

Before

death of its terrors, continued long in popular use with the Christian world. Prudentius, speaking of the Christian bodies deposited in graves, says,

"non mortua, sed data somno;"
not dead, but sleeping.

And so says Tertullian: Neque ipsi mortui sumus, qui Deo vivimus, neque mortuos sepelimus, quia et illi vivunt in Christo. (Tertull. de Monog. cap. vii. ad fin.) Hence the place of Christian burial was called xoningov, cœmeterium, sleeping-place.-The lofty heathen writers, who could promise to their readers no such resurrection of the body, called the death of the good itgov vo (Homer); which noble expression probably gave rise to that beautiful epitaph, ascribed to Callimachus:

Τῇδε Σαων ὁ Δικωνος Ακανθιος ἱερὸν ὑπνον

Κοιμᾶται· θνησκειν μη λεγε τις αγαθός.

In sacred sleep here Saōn rests his head :

In sleep:-for who shall say the good are dead?

Irenæus, one of the earliest commentators on the Apocalypse, explains "the second death" to mean the Gehenna, or eternal fire. Iren. lib. v. c. 35. This distinction between the two deaths may be read to advantage in the sublime Poet, who, speaking in the person of Adam, says:

how gladly would I meet

Mortality, my sentence, and be earth
Insensible! how glad would lay me down
As in my mother's lap! there I should rest,
And sleep secure !

yet one doubt

Pursues me still, lest all I cannot die ;

Lest

Before we leave this passage, let us remark how appropriately the reward of escaping the second death is holden forth to the good Smyrnæans, when called to martyrdom, and how consistently our Lord represents himself to these martyrs, as "He who was dead, and " is alive!"

Lest that pure breath of life, the spirit of man,
Which God inspir'd, cannot together perish
With this corporeal clod ;-then in the grave,
Or in some other dismal place, who knows
But I shall die a living death!

Paradise Lost, book x. 775-788.

PART I.

SECTION VI.

The Address to the Church in Pergamos.

12 Καὶ τῷ ἀγγέλω τῆς ἐν Περγάμῳ ἐκκλη σίας γράψον Τάδε λέγει ὁ ἔχων τὴν joupalar Tür diso13 μον τὴν ὀξεῖαν· Οἶ

δα τὰ ἐρία σε, καὶ τα καλοικεῖς, ὅπως ὁ θρόνος τῇ σατανᾶ καὶ κρατεῖς τὸ ὄνομά με, καὶ ἐκ ἠρνήσω τὴν πίςιν με, [καὶ] ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις, ἐν αἷς ̓Αλίπας ὁ μάρ τις με ὁ πιςός, ὃς ἀπεκιάνθη παρ' ὑμῖν,

CHAP. ii. VER. 12—17.

12 And to the Angel of
the Church in Perga-
mos, write; Thus saith
he who holdeth the two-
13 edged sharp sword: I

know thy works, and
where thou dwellest,
even where the throne
of Satan is; and thou
holdest fast my name,
and hast not denied
my faith; [even] in
the days in which An-
tipas my faithful wit-
ness was, who was slain
among you, where Sa-

12 And to the Angel of the Church in Pergamos,write,These things saith he, which hath the sharp sword with 13 two edges. 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 dwell

ὅπως ὁ σατανᾶς καὶ 14 τοικεῖ. ̓Αλλ' ἔχω καλὰ σὲ ὀλίγα, ὅτι

ἔχεις ἐκεῖ κραιονίας

τὴν διδαχὴν Βα

λαὰμ, ὃς ἐδίδασκεν

τῷ Βαλὰκ βαλεῖν σκάνδαλον ἐνώπιον τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ, φαγεῖν εἰδωλόθυτα, 15 wognozi. Ovτως ἔχεις καὶ σὺ κρα τῶντας τὴν διδαχὴν τῶν Νικολαϊτῶν ὁπ 16 μοίως. Μετανόησ σον ἄν· εἰ δὲ μὴ, ἔξ χομαί σοι ταχὺ, καὶ πολεμήσω μετ ̓ αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ ῥομ φαίᾳ τὰ ςόμαλός Qaig rỡ sóμalós μs. 17 Ὁ ἔχων οἷς, ἀκου

σάτω τί τὸ πνεῦμα λέγει ταῖς ἐκκλησί αις τῷ νικῶντι δώ σω αὐτῷ το μάννα το κεκρυμμένος, και δώσω αὐτῷ ψῆφον λευκὴν, καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν ψῆφον ὄνομα καινὸν γείραμ μένον, ὃ ἐδεὶς οἶδεν

εἰ μὴ ὁ λαμβάνων.

14 tan dwelleth. But I have against thee a few things, that thou hast there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel; to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication: 15 So hast thou also those

who hold the doctrines of the Nicolaitans in 16 like manner. Repent, therefore, or else I am coming unto thee soon, and I will war against them with the sword

17 of my mouth.

He

that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches: To him who overcometh, to him will I give of the hidden manna; and I will give him a white stone, and upon the stone a new name written, which none knoweth but he who receiveth it.

14 eth. 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 forni15 cation. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I 16 hate. Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly; and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. 17 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 hidden manna; and I will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it.

Ver. 12. Pergamos.] A city of great account, enriched and adorned by a long succession of the Attalian Kings. The last of these, Attalus Philometer, bequeathed his dominions to the Romans, and it then became the residence of a Roman pro

consul.

consul. Pliny the elder, who wrote but a short time before the date of this Revelation, describes it as the most famous city in Asia*. A heathen metropolis would naturally become a central seat of corruptive doctrines and morals; and in this sense it might be called the throne of Satan." It might also acquire this appellation from being the seat of the pagan persecuting government, whence issued the edicts and instruments of persecution; and it appears that Antipas, the faithful martyr, was slain here t It was also a grand seat of heathen learning, because its famous library of 200,000 volumes would necessarily attract the residence of the learned; whence also from this place would probably be derived that "philosophy and vain deceit," against which, as corruptive of Christianity, the apostle warns his disciples. And the Bab, or depths of Gnostical learning, are ascribed to Satan, in the address to the Church of Thyatira §. So, in more senses than one, Pergamos may have been styled the "Throne "of Satan." It is described by modern travellers as containing at present from two to three thousand Turks, who have converted its best churches into mosques. Yet there are some few Christians remaining, to whom a priest sent from Smyrna, occasionally officiates.

With this instrualready described, The description is

Ib. Two-edged sharp sword.] ment of power our Lord has been in ch. i. 16, where see the note. peculiarly proper in this place, because the supreme Head of the Church now appears against the "Throne of

* Nat. Hist. lib. v. c. xxx. Coloss. ii. 8.

+ Ver. 13.

Ver. 24.

"Satan,"

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