per

dious. This church is not reproved, because fons, who held the doctrines of Balaam and of the Nicolaitans, lived in the town of Pergamos. Had they merely lived in that town, she would have been no more accountable for their errors, and would have been no more reproved by Chrift for them, than fhe would have been for those of the votaries of Auguftus, fculapius, or Diana, who lived in Pergamos, and worshipped in the three temples of these heathen deities. But fhe is reproved, because she allowed perfons, who openly held thefe errors, to live in communion with her, and to enjoy the privileges of the Christian name and church. She ought to have given them a firft and fecond admonition; and if, after thefe, they had obftinately adhered to their errors and fins, she should have rejected them from the communion of the church, according to the fcripture rule. Titus iii. ro." A man that is an heretic “after the first and second admonition reject."

Verse 16th.-Repent, or elfe I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against thee with the fword of my mouth,

Chrift calls upon them to repent of their neglect of difcipline, affuring them that, if they did not, he would quickly come unto them, and inflict upon them thofe judgements which, in the

facred

facred fcriptures, are denounced upon those who obftinately adhere to dangerous errors and fins. In reproving them for the neglect of discipline, Chrift fays that he will fight against them with "the fword of his mouth;" thereby intimating, that the discipline obferved in Christian churches should not be penances of merely human inftitution; but all that discipline, and that only which is appointed in the facred fcriptures for the church of Chrift; and that, however, in confequence of human refinements, those churches which neglect discipline may escape the cenfure, perhaps meet the approbation of the men of the world at least, they must draw upon themselves the judgements denounced, in the word of God, against those who fear man more than God, and defire the praise of men more than the praife of God.

Verse 17th. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit faith unto the churches. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white ftone, and in the ftone a new name written, which no man knoweth, faving he that receiveth it.

Every person who hears this epiftle is called upon seriously to attend to its import; because it

was

was dictated by the unerring Spirit of God, and contains most important reproof and inftruction for all, in every age, who fhall be placed in a fituation fimilar to that of the church in Pergamos. To every individual, who overcomes the temptations to which he is exposed, Chrift will give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone.

The hidden manna is a fymbolical phrase taken from the command, which God gave to the If. raelites in Exodus xvi. 32, 34, to lay up an omer full of manna in a golden pot, in the ark of the covenant, in the most holy place in the tabernacle, as a perpetual memorial of the food, by which God miraculously fed them, for forty years in the wilderness. Of this hidden manna the apostle speaks, in Heb. ix. 4. This hidden manna was also a type of Chrift, the bread of life, John vi. 48,-58. The manna which fell in the fields was gathered and eaten by all the Ifraelites, without exception, as their daily food, while they were in the wildernefs; but, during that period, or rather during the whole period of the Mofaic difpenfation, not one of them was allowed to eat of the hidden manna, which was laid up in the ark of the covenant, and continued there, until Christ appeared as the bread of life, when a more perfect and fpiritual difpenfation was opened up. Hence to eat of the hidden manna, is not only to have their fouls nourished

and

and strengthened by the spiritual provision which the gospel affords in this world; but also to partake of that fpiritual food, in its higher ftate of perfection forever in the heavenly world, to which the gospel difpenfation is preparatory. It is to have their fouls nourished up to eternal life. It is to worship, serve and enjoy God, in purity and perfection, forever in heaven; of which place and ftate the holy place, in which the hidden manna was laid up, is a type. In fine, it is to glorify and enjoy God forever, as directed by the word of God and the difpenfations of grace by Jefus Chrift, of which the ark of the covenant, in which this manna was hid, was a type.

The white ftone is a fymbol taken from an antient, but well known cuftom, in courts of judicature, of delivering a white ftone to those pannels who upon trial were abfolved, and a black ftone to those who were condemned. But, in this white ftone, there is fomething which was not in the white ftone of abfolution, in the antient courts. For, in this ftone, there was a new name engraven, a name which none knoweth, faving he that receiveth it. By the white ftone which Chrift fhall give them, it is meant, that God "fhall justify them freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in

66

66

Jefus Chrift." A mere abfolviture from guilt, and deliverance from condemnation, is not the whole of the bleffing which is promifed; for, in VOL. I.

L

the

the white ftone, a new name is written. This infcription is effentially different from the white ftone; but being engraven in it, it is infeparable from it, and given by God along with the white ftone. This new name is the name of fons of God, which in fcripture is given to thofe, "who being "in Christ Jefus are new creatures, from whom old "things are paffed away, and to whom all things

66

are become new." Gall. vi. 15,-" For in "Chrift Jefus neither circumcifion availeth any thing, nor uncircumcifion, but a new creature." In their perverted ftate, their old name was that of fons of men; or, in the language of fcripture, children of the devil: But, having put off, con"cerning the former converfation, the old man, "which is corrupt according to the deceitful lufts, "and having been renewed in the fpirit of their mind, and having put on the new man, which "after God is created in righteoufnefs and true holiness," the new name of fons of God is given to them. This renovation of their nature is the gift of God, through the mediation of Chrift, the agency of the Spirit, and the belief of the truth, as well as their juftification is; and though, in its own nature, it is diftinct from juftification, it is in fact infeparable from it, like the new name, which is infeparable from the white flone in which it is engraven. John i. 12, 13." But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the "fo ns