the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name, that thou livest, and art dead. 2 Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain, that archs, who kept seven confidential ministers or agents continually near their persons. Seven stars.—The Son of God held the seven stars in his right hand. See the notes on i. 16. This description is intended to show that it is the same glorious personage who addresses this church that had addressed John, as described in chap. i. He is scarcely described to either two of the churches under the same similitude; but yet the description is such to every one, that it is evident the same personage was intended in all the cases. I know thy works. I know what thou hast done, and what thou art doing; I know fully thy character. ¶ Livest and art dead. -Thou hast the credit of having life, but thou art dead. This was a deeper abasement than was ascribed to either of the other of the seven churches. This church maintained the form of religion, and professed to adhere to Christ, but its spiritual life was nearly extinct. Life and death are used by the sacred writers metaphorically. There is no figure more common in the Scriptures. We meet with it in the account of the transgression of our first parents, and it is continued, with more or less frequency, through the entire Bible. "She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth;" 1 Tim. v. 6. See, also, John xi. 25, 26; 1 John iii. 14; Jude 12. The fact here stated is so generally known, that we need not make further references. The church in Sardis had a name to live, i. e., it professed to have spiritual life, and perhaps was regarded by the world as possessing it; but in the sight of Him who "knew what was in man," there was little or no life in that church. It was dead. The church at Ephesus was charged by the revelator as having are ready to die; for I have not found thy works perfect before God. 3 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, lost its first love. To this Paul seem; to refer, when he says to the same church," Awake, thou that sleepest, and rise from the dead;" Eph. vi. 14. This is the same figure; but the church at Ephesus was not so thoroughly paralyzed as that at Sardis. 2. Strengthen the things which remain. As though he had said, "Your case is not utterly desperate. You may yet recover from your fallen state. Be watchful, strengthen the things that remain, and those that are ready to die. I have not found thy works what they ought to have been in the sight of God; but thou mayest with diligence recover thy former estate." 3. How thou hast received and heard. That is, remember the manner in which thou hast received and heard the gospel; remember what advantages thou hast enjoyed; the effect which the preaching of the gospel had upon thee, when first thou didst hear it. Hold fast. Hold fast that which remains. Let thy Christian character no further die. Hold fast to the profession of thy faith, and let thy works honor the name of Christ. TRepent. Repentance is put here for a change of habits, a reformation of life. Too many suppose that repentance is an act to be performed once for all, in a man's life, -a change of views and feelings. But we are persuaded it signifies here a reformation of life, - a turning away from what had been condemned in the church in Sardis, and a change to newness of life. As a thief. - But if thou wilt not watch, I will come in judgment upon thee; thou shalt be recompensed according to thy works. The comparison, to come "as a thief," was one which our Lord and his apostles fre and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, quently used to show the manner of his coming. This is the first time we have met with it in the Apocalypse. It is a very striking one, if we understand it with due limitations, and obtain the precise idea which the revelator intended to convey. The thief comes at night, when men are asleep, and are off their watch. He is more likely to come, too, at an hour when he is not expected. It was for these reasons that our Lord compared his own coming to that of a thief. "Watch, therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore, be ye also ready for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh;" Matt. xxiv. 4244. Paul uses the same comparison, 1 Thess. v. 2, 4; and Peter uses it, 2 Epis. iii. 10. It will appear still more striking, if we consider the state of the church at Sardis at this time. They were not watchful. They had fallen into a state like profound sleep, or spiritual death; they were exposed, therefore, to be taken unawares by the approaching judgment; or, as it is said in the verse, "Thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee." We see, by the figure before us, the utter folly of pushing the Scripture metaphors and comparisons too far. When we have ascertained the one object which the writer had in view in using the figure, that is sufficient. We are not to push the comparison to every point. Readers of the Bible, ay, and preachers too, sometimes carry out a comparison at all points. They think their duty is to get as much truth as possible out of the Bible. Hence, in the parables of the New Testament, they must find a meaning for everything, however and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. 4 Thou hast a few names trivial. For instance, in interpreting the parable of the good Samaritan, (Luke x.,) which was designed merely to show that our benevolence should not be confined to our friends, our countrymen, or the professors of the same religion, the interpreters referred to must have a spiritual meaning for Jerusalem; for Jericho; for the thieves; for stripping the wounded man; for leaving him half dead; for the priest; for the Levite; for their passing by on the other side; for the oil, and wine, with which the Samaritan bathed the wounds; for the inn; and for the beast on which he bore the sufferer thereto. There can scarcely be anything more fatal to truth, than such a manner of interpreting the symbolical language of the Scriptures. In the case before us, the point to be illustrated was, that our Lord would come in an hour when he was not looked for, and when men were asleep. This was sufficient to justify the comparison, and to lead him to represent himself as being about to come like a thief in the night. But, if we push the application to all points, we could proceed to show that our Lord came to steal, to kill, and to destroy, (for this is the purpose for which thieves generally come,) than which nothing could be further from the truth. see, then, that much discretion is to be used in the application of scriptural similitudes; and that there is more need of sound judgment to aid us in that matter, than of a vivid fancy. We 4. A few names. - Names are put for persons. Nothing is more common in the Old Testament than the use of the word name for Jehovah, his person, his nature, his statutes. To praise, or call on the name of the Lord, was to praise, or call on God himself. To trust in the name of the Lord was to trust in Him. So, the even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white; for they are worthy. 5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, raiment was white as the light; Matt. xvii. 2. The angels are supposed to be clothed in white; Matt. xxviii. 3; Acts i. 10. Thus the redeemed are said, in the verse before us, to walk with Christ in white, i. e., all pure. The same sense is expressed in the following verse. — - See Dr. Campbell's note on John xvii. 11. heathen were said to call on the name of their gods. We read in Acts i. 15: "And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of the names together were about a hundred and twenty.") Here names again are put for persons. The word names, it is possible, may have been used, in the verse before us, in reference to the roll of 5. Overcometh. - This is another the church, in the following sense: instance of the phraseology of John. "Thou hast a few names enrolled, Compare 1 John v. 4, 5, with Rev. ii. even in Sardis, which have not defiled | 7, 11, 17, 26; iii. 5, 12, 21; xxi. 7. their garments." Even in Sardis. White raiment. See the remarks Here the city is referred to as a under the preceding verse. White very wicked place; it seems to have raiment was supposed by the Jews to been somewhat remarkable that even be worn in the presence of God; and a few were found there. From all heralds from the invisible world are that is said of Sardis in the Apoca- clothed in white raiment in the delypse, we should conclude that of the scriptions of the sacred writers. The seven Apocalyptic churches, this had four-and-twenty elders, that sat round fallen furthest from Christ. They about the throne, were clothed in had the reputation of living, but were white raiment, and had crowns of dead, with the exception of the few gold upon their heads; Rev. iv. 4. names referred to; and these were White raiment was a mark of purity, certainly worthy of the greater praise distinction, and honor. It was a sign for showing such an example of stead- of acceptance with God. Hence men fastness in the midst of a general de- were exhorted to obtain it; Rev. iii. cline. 18. The wedding garment, mentioned Matt. xxii. 11, 12, was a long white robe; and garments of that kind, in many cases, especially at the weddings of the rich, were prepared and presented to the guests. - See Whittemore's Illus. of Par., 289-291. ¶ Out of the book of life. Here it is presumed that his name was in the book of life, -the promise is, that it shall be retained there. The greater part of the names attached to the church in Sardis were to be blotted out; but a few had the promise that their names should not be affected by this expurgating process. The names of God's servants are supposed metaphorically to be enrolled in a book. It was the custom of earthly kings to keep rolls of those they had under Walk with me in white. Garments are used to represent the conduct and character of men. Sin is sometimes expressed under the idea of nakedness; Rev. iii. 17; and sometimes under that of mean clothing; Job viii. 22; Rev. xvi. 15. But righteousness and purity are spoken of as clean, pure, beautiful garments. Men called on to leave their sins and turn to righteousness, are exhorted to put on their beautiful garments; Isa. lii. 1. So the saints are said to walk in white, the emblem of purity. "Let thy garments be always white;" Eccl. ix. 8. "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow;" Isa. i. 18. The Ancient of Days had on garments white as snow; Dan. vii. 9. When Jesus was transfigured, his - but I will confess his name be- | him hear what the Spirit saith fore my Father, and before his unto the churches. angels. 6 He that hath an ear, let 7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: this way they should be confessed before the Father, and before his Christ himself had previously expressed the same thing in similar words. "Whosoever, therefore, shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven," Matt. x. 32, 33. As if he had said, "If you be faithful, I will own you, as my disciples, before my Father and his angels, I will acknowledge you in the most public manner; but if you fall into sin, or indifference, if you, in this manner, deny me, then I shall disown you. Your name shall be erased from the roll of my followers; I shall not confess you, but deny you, as you have denied me." Such seems to be the import of the verse. While men will not be Christians, they certainly ought not to be acknowledged as such. their command. In cities, also, these 6. He that hath an ear.- See the remarks on Rev. ii. 7, 11, 17, 29. EPISTLE TO THE CHURCH IN PHIL ADELPHIA. 7. Philadelphia. — The ancient city bearing this name was east of Sardis about 28 miles. It was in that section of Asia Minor called Lydia, and was named from Attalus Philadelphus, king of Pergamos, by whom it was founded. It stood on a branch of Mount Tmolus, by the river Cogamus. Strabo relates, that in his time, which was not far from the date of the Apocalypse, this city had suffered much by frequent earthquakes. In 1312 it resisted the Turkish armies more successfully than the other cities of maritime Asia; but at length sunk under the common calamity. It is now a mean, but considerable town, These things saith he that is | and shutteth, and no man holy, he that is true, he that openeth: hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; called Ala-Shehr; and contains from a thousand to fifteen hundred Greeks and Christians, who have a bishop and several inferior ecclesiastics. THe that is holy. The reference here is unquestionably to the Son of God. He was the Holy One, whom the Father anointed, and set apart, for the great work of human redemp. tion. See Acts iii. 14; iv. 27, 30. THe that is true.- -This refers to the same personage. The phraseology is peculiarly that of the apostle John. See 1 Epis. v. 20: "And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true; and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ." This is almost the precise language employed in the Apocalypse. Jesus called himself "the way, the truth, and the life; " John xiv. 6; and one of John's favorite expressions in regard to him was, "He that is true." See also Rev. xix. 11. ¶ Hath the key of David. There seems to be a reference here to Isaiah xxii. 22. "And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder: so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open." The key was a mark of office, either sacred or civil. It is certainly an agent of power. With the key to a dungeon, men may open it, and discharge all the inmates. With the key of a coffer, or casket, they may have access to all the treasures therein contained. If a man be invested with a key, therefore, it is a sign that great confidence is reposed in him, and great power is conferred upon him. He can open, and none can shut, he can shut, and none can open. The key, therefore, has been used metaphorically, as a sign of confidence and power, from long 8 I know thy works; behold, I have set before thee an open antiquity. The gods and goddesses of the heathen had their key-bearers. But it is peculiarly an appropriate metaphor when applied to the Lord Jesus. He accused those who prevented men from entering the kingdom of heaven, of taking away "the key of knowledge;" Luke xi. 52. He had the key of knowledge, and hence he said to the people, "Knock, and it shall be opened unto you;" Matt. vii. 7. Isaiah prophesied of him, "That he should bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house;" xlii. 7. And again, the same prophet says, speaking in the name of Jesus, "He hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;" lxi. 1. Such being one of the principal offices for which the Redeemer came into the world, how appropriate is the metaphor of the key. The Saviour, then, probably intended that, like the individual mentioned in Isa. xxii. 22, he had a key which conferred on him the power to shut, and no man could open, -to open, and no man could shut. The lock was supposed to be one which no other key would fit, and which could not be opened by any other means. Such was the power of the key mentioned in the passage referred to; and Jesus intended to say that he had the same power. 8. I know thy works. This was said to all the churches. The meaning is, "I know what thou doest, and the motives by which thou art governed." Or, as it is said in another place, "I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings;" Jer. xvii. 10. And so again, Rev. ii. 23, “I |