I shall conclude this exposition of the epistle to the Angel-Presbytery at Philadelphia, by reproducing what the Church of England Bishop Newton has said upon the subject. It will afford the reader a specimen of high orthodox apocalyptic interpretation, of which the humblest among the saints would be thoroughly ashamed.
To write the Name of the City of the Deity upon one already inscribed with the Name of the Deity, is indicative of all such constituting a Body Politic—a Divine Municipality.
The Deity speaking of “the Victor” says, “I will make him a pillar in the temple of my Deity * * * I will write upon him the Name
After exhorting the faithful to hold fast the gospel of the kingdom and name, the Spirit-Man proceeds to assure them of reward.
In the English Version, Stephanos is rendered “crown.” There are two words in the Apocalypse so rendered, — diadema and
“Behold, I come, tachu, quickly,” or soon. This does not refer to the “coming in clouds” of ch. 1 : 7 ; but to the coming to execute the threatening of the previous verse. “I, the Spirit-man, will come soon to bring the hour of trial upon the whole habitable.” In ch.
The ground of escape from “the hour of trial,” which was to be so terrible, was stated to be “the keeping of the word of the patient waiting for the Spirit.” The importance of this word may be estimated by the seve
But while they of the synagogue of the Satan were to be subjected to great calamity in all the Roman Habitable, the Star-Angel and ec- clesia of Philadelphia, contemporary with the apostle John, together with all the ecclesias who ‘‘kept the word of the patient waiting for Christ,” were to be preserved from it.
The Holy and True one is the possessor of the Key of David. He holds this, and the Keys of Hades and of Death; and the Key of the Abyss—ch. 1:18; 20 : I. A key is symbolical of power to open and shut; hence, the Anointed One saith in this writing, that he openeth and shutteth, and no one can prevent him.
In the epistle before us, the Spirit presents himself as “the Holy One and True One:” as the Holy One of whom the prophets spake. In the vision which Isaiah saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, he styles YAHWEH, the Holy One of Israel—ch. 1 : 4. He predicted that Judah would turn his back upon him; and that if “a very small rem¬nant" had not been left, the nation would have become like Sodom and Gomorrha, and would have partaken of their fate. This “remnant" is that portion of the Jews which accept Jesus of Nazareth as “the Holy One of Ail;” who in Apoc.