The third designation by which the Spirit characterizes himself, in his address to the ecclesia of the Laodiceans, is, that he is “the Begin­ning of the creation of the Deity”—

As all the promises are to be fulfilled in and through Jesus Anointed, according to the testimony he gave in the day of his weakness, he is endorsed also as “the Witness faithful and true.” He was “the Wit­ness” by eminence. When standing at Pilate’s bar, he said, in answer to Pilate’s question, “Art thou King then?” “Thou sayest, for I am King.

This seventh epistle, like the others, is from the Spirit, who styles himself “The Amen, the Witness faithful and true, and the Beginning of the creation of the Deity." We have already expounded the title indicated by “the Amen" on page 187.

Laodicea, the city of the seventh ecclesia addressed by the Spirit, lay south of Philadelphia, in the way to return to Ephesus, so that it wiil be found, upon an inspection of the map of Asia Minor, that the seven ecclesias, laid in a kind of circular form, so that the natural progress was from Ephesus to Smyrna, from Smyrna to Pergamos, from Per- gamos to Thyatira, from Thyatira to Sardis, from Sardis to Philadel­phia, from Philadelphia to Laodicea, and from Laodicea round to Ephe­sus again, (from which it was distant about forty-two miles south,) which is t

14.     Also to the        angel of the ecclesia of Laodiceans write: These things                               saith the    Amen,   the Witness

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