Chapter 2

“Health.—It is my usual custom, sir, to refer all things, of which I harbor any doubts, to you. For who can better direct my judgment in its hesitation, or instruct my understanding in its ignorance? I never had the fortune to be present at any examination of Christians, before I came into this province. I am therefore at a loss to determine what is the usual object either of inquiry or of punishment, and to what length either of them is to be carried.

“Ye will have tribulation ten days.”— Verse 10

“hear not the things which thou shalt suffer. Behold, the Diabolos will cast of you into prison,

that ye may be tempted” verse 10.

Satan is a Hebrew word from the root pip , sahtan, which signifies,

Synagogue is a Greek word, from the vero sunago “to bring to­gether, collect, gather; passive, to convene, come together, meet.” The noun <

But, though the Star-Angel of the ecclesia of the Smyrneans was richly faithful in the midst of poverty and tribulation, the Spirit informs us, that there existed in that city an institution of a hostile and rival character.

“And to the Angel of the Ecclesia of the Smyrneans write: These things saith the First and the Last, who was dead and lived: I have known thy works, and the tribulation, and the poverty, though thou art rich; and the blasphemy of those who say, that they themselves are Jews, and are not, but a synagogue of the Satan.

The wood of the formative spirit-life is to stand “in the midst of the Paradise of the Deity. ” This word paradise is merely a transfer from one language to another,—that is, it is not translated. It is originally, a Persian word, transferred from that tongue to the Hebrew; and from the Hebrew to the Greek; and from the Greek to the English.

To him, then, who “believes the things concerning the Kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Anointed;” and has therefore been im­mersed (Acts 8:12) and thenceforth, “by a patient continuance in well doing, seeks for glory, and honor, and incorruptibility (Rom.

“To him that overcomes,” saith the Spirit, “to him will I give to eat from the Wood of the Life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of the Deity.” “Whosoever,” says John, “is begotten of the Deity overcometh the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world—our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of the Deity”—1 Jno. 5 : 4.