Sabbath of the whole earth. In allufion to the fame things seven fignifies perfection. On the fe venth day God had perfectly finished the works of creation. Before atonements, confecrations, or luf trations could be perfected under the law of Mofes, the guilty perfon, the perfon or thing to be confecrated, and the impure perfon, were to be sprinkled feven times. When an Hebrew forfeited his liberty, seven years perfected his flavery. He must have been fet free at the Sabbatical year. When an Hebrew alienated his landed property, feven times seven years perfected the period of its aliention, and it returned to him or his heirs, clear of all incumbrances, at the year of Jubilee. Seven Chiliads too, fhall perfect the ages of the World; in fo far that, though the world fhall continue for fome time after the end of the feventh Chiliad, yet not fo long, in all probability, as to make up another age, as fhall afterwards be fhewn in its proper place. Though the ages of the world are fixed in fcripture, yet not the precife time of its diffolution. "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, "not the angels of heaven." Hence in the fymbolical language the feven fpirits, is of the fame import with, The Holy and perfect Spirit: an appellation which in the full fenfe of the words can apply to that Spirit only who is God. Rev. xv. 4. It is faid "Who fhall not fear thee, O Lord, and 'glorify thy name? for thou only art boly." And certainly certainly abfolute perfection is to be attributed to God only. As in this verfe John prays for and peace for the feven churches; and as the fymbolical defcription of the holiness and perfection of the divine Spirit is taken from the legal purifications appointed for finful men, and from the completion of the ages of the world; by the appellation of the feven fpirits, it is intimated that the divine spirit perfectly purifies, men from fin, by renewing them in the fpirit of their mind. "That they are chofen "to falvation through fanctification of the fpirit:" That his gifts and operations are fully equal to all the ages and countries of the world, and particularly to the number and fituations of all the seven churches in Afia, for whom John here prays for grace and peace. "Before the throne," refers to the vifion in verfe 5th chap. iv. which shall be explained in its place. The Son of God, is ftiled, "Jefus Chrift, who is "the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the "dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth." The whole of this name as applied to the Son of God is fymbolical, even the well known and common appellation Jefus Chrift. He is called Jefus, (which fignifies a faviour) because he faves his people from their fins, and Chrift (which fignifies anointed) because he is the Lord's anointed, he is the Messiah. "The faithful witnefs." It is the peculiar peculiar office of Chrift faithfully to reveal the will Mat. xi. 27. " Neither knoweth of God to men. any man the Father, fave the Son, and he to "whom foever the Son will reveal him." Before Pilate Jefus faith, John xviii. 37. "To this end was "I born and for this caufe came I into the world, "that I fhould bear witnefs unto the truth. Every "one that is of the truth heareth my voice. As the revealer of the will of God, it seems to me that he was ftiled, The Word of God, even before his incarnation. A word reveals or makes known to those who hear it the mind of the perfon whose word it is. Hence whatever makes known the mind of God is called the word of God. Thus facred feripture is called the word of God; and, on this account it appears to me, that the Son of God is called the Word of God. John i. 1. " In "the beginning was the Word, and the Word was "with God, and the Word was God." This is the prophet whom Mofes faid the Lord would raife up from among the Jews like unto him. "And the first begotten of the dead." The words in the original are προτοτοκτος ἐκ των νεκρών, which fhould have been tranflated, The first born of, or on account of, the dead." In the epifle to the Coloffians chap. i. 18. Jefus is ftiled the firft born from the dead, which, in the original, is the very fame with the words in this verfe. To fhew us that he who is thus called the first born of the dead dead is true God, it is faid verses 16, 17, of that chapter; "For by him were all things created "that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible "and invifible, whether they be thrones, or domi nions, or principalities, or powers, all things were "created by him and for him, and he is before all things, and by him all things, confift." In the patriarchal age, the first born was the prieft of his family; and under the Mofaic dif penfation, the first born were virtually the priests; because God exprefsly declares, Numb. iii. 11, 12, 13. that he took the Levites for his priests instead of the First Born. By the dead we are to understand those who are spiritually dead: those who in the language of scripture" are dead in trefpaffes and 66 fins. For to be carnally minded is death." Hence the first born of the dead, is the priest of those who were fpiritually dead. Jefus is our great High Prieft. But his priestly office was rendered neceffary only by the fin and depravity of man. If men had not been guilty, there would have been no need for Chrift as their prieft, to take away their fin by the one facrifice of himself. If men had been pure they could have approached immediately, in acts of devotion, to a pure God; and therefore would not have needed Chrift to intercede with God for them, as their prieft. The Apoftle gives us a full account of the priestly office of Chrift in the epiftle to the Heb. chap. vii. 17,-28. "And "And the prince of the kings of the earth." By the kings of the earth, we are to understand not only all the kings of the earth in general, but especially all the kings and emperors of the Roman empire, in its heathen, and in its papal state, with all the feparate kingdoms into which it hath been divided in that laft ftate. The prophet Daniel predicted the rife, the decline and downfall of the Roman empire, as the laft of the four kingdoms which should bear rule over all the earth, in chap. ü. 31,-43. And then in the 44th verse, he foretold that the God of heaven should set up a kingdom, even Chrift's kingdom, which fhould deftroy all these kingdoms and continue for ever. " And in "the days of these kings fhall the God of heaven "set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroy. "ed and the kingdom fhall not be left to other 66 people, but it shall break in peices, and confume "all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever." The fame prediction is more fully explained in the feventh chapter of Daniel's prophecies. In the 13th and 14th verfes of that chapter, he thus predicts and reprefents Chrift by his well known name The Son of Man, as the prince of the kings of the earth: "I faw in the night vifions, and be"hold one like the Son of Man came with the "clouds of heaven, and came to the Antient of days, and they brought him near before him. "And there was given him dominion, and glory, and |