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are kept separate in the eye of their Lord, and by him shall be considered as his own.

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Ib. Garments-white.] By an easy and obvious metaphor*, what raiment is on the body, its cover and ornament, such is the habit of practice to the soul. "I put on righteousness, and it clothed me," says Job; my judgment was a robe and a diadem." Conformably to which method of speaking, the Christian is required "to put off the old man, to put "" on the new, to put on Christ †;" which expressions are explained by their context to signify, that he should" be renewed in the spirit of his mind, and put

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on the righteousness which is by faith." In this allegorical form of speech, our Lord describes his servants as invited to the wedding of their great Master; when one of them, appearing without a wedding garment, is sentenced to be cast into outer darkness. This garment is white, pure, free from stain of sin, made clean, as it is expressed not only in the Apocalypse but in other passages of Scripture, by the blood of the Lamb‡. Sin defiles the soul, as earthly impurities do the bodily raiment; and there is no other means of cleansing, but propitiating blood; not the blood of bulls and goats, for these were only typical, but the blood of the Redeemer, of the holy victim, slain, in the counsel of God, from the foundation of the world. If we would be clothed in this raiment, in which alone we can appear pure and ac

*For the gradual formation of which, see 1 Sam. xviii. 4. 2 Sam. i. 24. Is. xxii. 21. Ixi. 10. Dan. v. 7. Luke xv. 22. xvi. 19. Also, Herodotus, Thalia, lxxxiv. Xenoph. Anab. lib. i.

† Eph. iv. 22. 27. Gal. iii. 27.

See 1 John i. 7. Ps. li. 7. Dan. xi, 35. 1 Pet. i. 19. Heb. xi. 13. Rev. vii. 14.

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ceptable before God, we must put on faith, working in us, by love, the best moral conduct; agreeably to which explanation, this acceptable white garment is (in chap. xix. 8,) affirmed to be "the righteousness "of the Saints *."

Ver. 5. White raiment.] See the preceding note, to which we may add this observation; that the expression EV λEUXOS is peculiar to Saint John; see chap. xx. 12. where it is applied to the shining appearance of angels; also Mark xvi. 5. σтoλи λɛuиn, which in Saint Luke is expressed by εν εσθησεσιν αστραπτεσαις, whence we may collect that Aɛuxos applied to garments means a white of a dazzling brightness and splendour, such as arrays angelic beings.

Ib. Book of life.] As in states and cities, those who obtained freedom and fellowship, were enrolled in the public register, which enrolment was their title to the privileges of citizens; so the King of heaven, of the new Jerusalem, engages to preserve in his register and enrolment, in the book of life, the names of those, who like the good Sardians, in a corrupted and supine society, shall preserve allegiance and a faithful discharge of their Christian duties. He will own them as his fellow-citizens, before men and angels t.

The result of these observations will enable us perhaps to explain a passage in the 2d Epistle to the Corinthians, (ch. v. 3.) which seems to have perplexed the commentators: "If so, that being "clothed, we shall not be found naked: that is, if at the day of Judgment, when we must necessarily appear without our corporeal integuments, we shall have obtained that clothing, which alone can make us fit to appear in the Divine presence; that white, pure wedding garment, the righteousness of the Saints, without which no one can be admitted to the presence of God.

Matt. ix. 32. Luke xii. 8. See also Psalm 1xix. 28. Ezek. xiii. 9. Exod. xxxii. 33. Dan. xii. 1. Mal. iii. 16. Luke x. 20.

PART I.

SECTION IX.

The Address to the Church in Philadelphia.

7 Καὶ τῷ ἀγέλῳ τῆς ἐν Φιλαδελφείᾳ ἐκκλησίας γράψου Τάδε λέγει ὁ ἅγιΘ, ὁ ἀληθινὸς, ὁ ἔχων τὴν κλεῖδα το Δα Είδε ὁ ἀνοίγων, καὶ ἐδεὶς κλείει καὶ κλείει, καὶ ἐδεὶς ἀνοί8 γει· Οιδά σε τὰ ἔςα· ἰδὲ, δέδωκα ἐνώπιόν σε θύραν ἀνεῳμένην, ἣν ἐδεὶς δύναται κλεῖσαι αὐτ

τήν· ὅτι μικρὰν ἔχεις δύναμιν, καὶ ἐτήρησάς με τὸν λόγον, καὶ ἐκ ἠρνήσω τὸ ὄνο 9 μά με. Ιδὲ, δίδωμι

ἐκ τῆς συναγωγής τα σατανᾶ τῶν λεγόνων ἑαυτὸς 18δαίες εἶναι, καὶ ἐκ εἰσὶν, ἀλλὰ ψεύδονται ἰδὲ, ποιήσω αὐτές, ἵνα ἥξωσι καὶ προσε κυνήσωσιν ἐνώπιον τῶν ποδῶν σε, καὶ γνῶσιν, ὅτι ἐγὼ ήτ 10 γάπησά σε Ὅτι ἐτήρησας τὸν λόγον τῆς ὑπομονῆς με, καγώ σε τηρήσω ἐκ

CHAP. iii. VER. 713.

7 And unto the Angel of the Church in Philadelphia, write : Thus saith He that is holy; He that is true; He who hath the key of David; He who openeth and no one shutteth, and shutteth and

8 no one openeth: I

know thy works; be-
hold, I have set before
thee an opened door,
which no one can shut:
because thou hast little
strength, and hast kept
my word, and hast

not denied my name, 9 Behold, I give unto

thee those of the syna-
gogue of Satan, (who
say of themselves that
they are Jews, and are
not, but speak falsely,
behold, I will make
them) to come and
worship before thy
feet, and to know that

I have loved thee. 10 Because thou hast

kept the word of my
patience, I also will
keep thee from the

7 And to the Angel of the Church in Philadelphia, write, These things saith He that is holy; He that is true; He that hath the key of David; He that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth,

and no man openeth: 8 I know thy works:

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behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and

hast not denied my 9 name. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan (which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie); behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee, 10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation,

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τῆς ὥρας το πει βασμα τῆς μελλέ σης ἔρχεσθαι ἐπὶ τῆς οἰκεμένης ὅλης, πειράσαι τις καλοκα κύλας ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς.

11 Έρχομαι ταχύ

κράτει ὃ ἔχεις, ἵνα μηδεις λάβῃ τὸν σε12 φανόν σε. Ο νικῶν, ποιήσω αὐτὸν φύλον ἐν τῷ ναῷ τῷ Θε με, καὶ ἔξω & μὴ ἐξέλθῃ ἔτι καὶ γράψω ἐπ' αὐτὸν ὄνομα τῇ Θεῦ με, καὶ τὸ ὄνομα τῆς πόλεως τῇ Θεῖ με, τῆς καινῆς Ιερκσαλήμ, ἡ καταβαίνησα ἐκ τῇ ἐρανῷ ἀπὸ τὸ Θεῖ με, καὶ τὸ ὄνομά με το καινόν. 13 Ὁ ἔχων &ς, ἀκεσάτω, τί τὸ πνεῦμα λέγει ταῖς ἐκκλη σίαις.

hour of trial, which is about to come upon the whole region, to try those who dwell 11 upon the earth. I am coming soon; hold fast that which thou hast,

that no one take thy 12 crown. He that overcometh, him will I make a column in the Temple of my God; and out of it he shall never more depart; and I will write upon him a name of my God, and the name of the city of my God; of the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God; even my new 13 name. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches.

which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon 11 the earth. Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take 12 thy crown. Him that overcometh, will I make a pillar in the Temple of my God, and he shall go no more out; and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which co meth down out of heaven from my God:

and I will write upon 13 him my new name. He

that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches,

Ver. 7. Philadelphia.] This city, in the times of Strabo, that is, not long before the date of this vision, had been so often shaken by earthquakes, that it was in a great measure deserted by its inhabitants; which may in some degree account for the poverty of its Church, as described in this Epistle. And its poverty may also in some degree account for its virtue, which is so highly commended*. Melito, an eminent Bishop of this see, and a Christian apologist in the second cen

Strabo, ii. lib. xii.

tury,

.

tury, appears to have written on the Apocalypse. That such a man, in such a situation, so near to the time when the Apocalypse was published, should acknowledge it as divine, by commenting upon it, is a strong argument for its authenticity. Unfortunately this

work of his is lost.

Philadelphia appears to have resisted the attacks of the Turks in 1312, with more success than the other cities; but at length it fell under their domination. It still contains (probably as being the last which was subdued) more Christian families than most of the others. Modern travellers represent four Christian Churches standing in this place, and above 200 houses inhabited by Christians.

Ib. He that is holy.] This epithet belongs appropriately to the Deity. He alone is holy: the Holy One. But, by communication, the same epithet descends to the only begotten Son, who, as such, partaking the nature of the Father, is styled the Holy One §.

Ib. He that is true.] This epithet, like the preceding, is applicable only to the Father, who is povos λos Eos, the only true God (John xviii. 3.); but descends also to the Son, "the express image of the "Father," "the Truth and the Life." He is the true bread, the true vine, the true light, and is emphatically denominated The True One ¶.

Ib. Key of David.] See note, ch. i. 18.

Ver. 8. Opened door.] Our Lord has rendered the everlasting glories of his kingdom of easy access to the faithful and repentant: 1st, Because he has made

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