Which is in the [midst of the] Paradise of God."Paradise, the garden of God, was applicable as a name to the Garden of Eden, in which our first parents resided while they were still in harmony with God, before their disobedience; and the same term is Scripturally applied as a name to the new earth when restitution blessings shall, during our Lord's Second Presence (the Millennium), have brought it to perfection as the fit abode of those who, under Divine favor, shall then prove worthy of life everlasting. It is this same Paradise of the future on this earth that our Lord referred to when addressing the penitent thief, and that is elsewhere referred to as 'the third heaven'-'new heavens.and a new earth.' (2 Cor. 12:2, 4; 2 Pet. 3:13.)"-Z. '01-198.

2:8. And [unto] BY the angel.-The mouthpiece of the Lord to the second epoch of the Church was St. John himself. He was the one whom Jesus specially loved (John 13:23; 20:2; 21:7, 20); to him Jesus committed His choicest earthly possession (John 19:26); length of days were implied in the Lord's statement, "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?" (John 21:22.) He died at Ephesus at the age of 100, four years after writing the Apocalypse. Polycarp, Ignatius and Papias, his disciples, record that he was a tower of strength to the Church when the Roman Emperors Nero, Domitian and Trajan were endeavoring to destroy the hated sect. When all his capacity to work was gone, and he had no strength even to stand, he used to be carried into the Christian assemblies where he would repeat the exhortation, "Little children, love one another." "The end of the commandment is love" (1 Tim. 1:5); and it is significant that the epoch of the Church especially under St. John's faithful and loving care receive no reproof whatever from the Lord.

Of the church in Smyrna.-Greek, myrrh. The word means "bitter," and, as applied to the history of the church from A. D. 73 to 325, is peculiarly appropriate. This era comprised persecutions under Nero, when Christian women were soaked with tar and burned as torches to light the path of his chariot; under Domitian, in the year 95, when 40,000 suffered martyrdom; under Trajan in the year 100; under Antoninus; under Severus in the year 127, when beautiful and amiable young women were stripped naked before insulting mobs and gored to death by wild cattle; under Maximinus in A. D. 235; under Decius in 250, when all Christians were driven from their estates; under Valerian in 257: under Aurelian in 274; and under Diocletian in A. D. 303.

Write. St. John wrote more of the New Testament than any other except St. Paul.

These things saith the First and the Last.-"In no other sense or way could He be the First and the Last than as the only direct creation of the Father, through whom all else was created. Any other view would be in conflict with the Scriptures. (Rev. 3:14; Col. 1:15; 1 Cor. 8:6; John 1:1-3, Diaglott.)"-Z.'16-346; Rev. 1:11, 17.

Which was dead, and is alive. This, in itself, must have been a message of comfort and hope to the suffering martyrs.-Rev. 1:18.

2:9. I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty."Some of the most sublime pictures of Christian endurance that the world has ever seen were enacted during the Smyrna period of the Church."-Z. '16-346.

But thou art rich.-"The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich."-Prov. 10:22; Luke 12:21; 1 Tim. 6:18; James 2:5. And I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not.-" "They are not all Israel which are of Israel.' (Rom. 9:6, 7.) 'He is not a Jew which is a Jew outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is out. ward in the flesh; but he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart.'"-Z.'99-68.

But are the synagogue of Satan.-"Sold under sin, by our first parent, Adam, his family became 'slaves of sin' through the weakness of heredity. (Rom. 5:12, 21; 6:16-23; 7:14; 8:20, 21.) In this captive condition they have been blinded by the god (ruler) of the present evil world (condition) who puts evil before their minds as good, and darkness for light. (2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 6:12; Isa. 5:20.) He has general control; first of the masses through ignorance; and secondly, of the more intelligent through pride, selfishness, etc."-E205, 189.

2:10. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. -Some were covered with the skins of wild beasts and torn in pieces by devouring dogs; some were tortured in red-hot iron chairs; the throats of Christian infants were cut; and edicts were published in all places against the Christians, who were exposed, without protection, to the common rage.-Matt. 10:22.

Behold, the Devil.-"It is because there are such beasts as lions, bears and leopards, with known characteristics, that governments were likened to them; and so, it is because there is a Devil, with known characteristics, that the fourth empire is likened to him.” (A. 259.) The Devil used the Roman empire as an instrument.

Shall cast some of you into prison-Restrain your liberties and opportunities for service.

That ye may be tried. "Those who have read the history of this period can understand the depths of these words."-Z. '16-346; Jas. 1:2, 3; 1 Pet. 1:6, 7.

And ye shall have tribulation ten days.-"The ten symbolic days refer to the last and most severe persecution under the Roman Emperors-that of the reign of Diocletian, A. D. 303-313." (Z. '16-346.) "This persecution continued from February 23, A. D. 303, to June 13, A. D. 313. It began in Nicomedia, and became universal. Some were impaled alive; some had their limbs broken, and were left to expire. Some were roasted by slow fires; some suspended by their feet with their heads downward, and, a fire being placed under them, were suffocated by the smoke. Some had melted lead poured down their throats; the flesh of some was torn off with fingers and toes. Houses filled with Christians were set on fire. Numbers of Christians were tied together and thrown into the sea. Seventeen thousand were slain in one month; and during the continuance of this persecution in Egypt alone 144,000 Christians died by violence, besides 700,000 that died through the fatigues of banishment or the public works to which they were condemned. Coins were struck, and inscriptions set up recording the fact that Christian superstition was now utterly exterminated."-McC.

Be thou faithful unto death.-"It is required of all consecrators that they shall 'die daily,' and that the end, with us as with our Lord and Head, shall be literal death. As it is written: 'I have said, Ye are gods [elohim mighty ones], all of you sons of the Highest; yet ye shall die like men, ye shall fall like one of the princes'-not like Prince Adam, convicts; but like Prince Jesus, par ticipators in His death. (Psa. 82:6, 7.)”—F444.

And I will give thee a Crown of Life.-"The Apostle James speaks of the same crown and calls it the Crown of Life. (Jas. 1:12.) The Apostle Peter speaking of the same calls it the Crown of Glory. (1 Pet. 5:4.) The thought at the bottom of each of these expressions is the same; namely, the custom in olden times of running races and the giving of a crown to the successful runner at the end of the course. Our reward will be the Crown of Life in the sense that we shall get life on the highest plane, inherent life, immortality. It will be a Crown of Righteousness in the sense that only those who are approved of God as righteous will thus be rewarded and glorified-the righteousness of the Lord fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit."-Z. '03-190; Rev. 3:11; 2 Tim. 2:15; Isa. 62:3; Phil. 3:14.

2:11. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; he that overcometh.-The overcomer of this Gospel Age only.

Shall not be hurt of the Second Death. His victory is eternal.

2:12. And [to] BY the angel.-The messenger whose testimony was of special value to the Church while the Papacy was rising into power was Arius. He "maintained that the Son of God was totally and essentially distinct from the Father; that He was the first and noblest of those beings whom God had created-the instrument by whose subordinate operation He formed the Universe; and therefore inferior to the Father both in nature and dignity." (Buck.) "The controversy spread like a flame throughout the empire. Accordingly the first ecumenical council was held at Nice, A. D. 325, consisting of 318 bishops, most of whom were from the East. The gist of the question to be settled by the Council of Nice lay in the argument of Arius: "The Father is a father; the Son is a son; therefore the Father must have existed before the Son; therefore once the Son was not; therefore He was made, like all creatures, of a substance that had not previously existed.' The creed, as finally adopted, condemned the heresy of Arius and fixed the doctrine as it has been held in the church to this day. Of all the bishops only Thomas of Marmarica, and Secundus of Ptolemais, held out against the threat of banishment by the Emperor. Arius was excommunicated and banished, and his books burnt."-McC.

"From the time the Nicene Creed was promulgated and accepted, A. D. 325, there was practically no more Bible study for over twelve centuries. During all that time Bible study was considered unnecessary, because the Apostolic Bishops had formulated the creeds as proper statements of the Church's faith. To study the Bible would have meant the studying of how to fight against the Emperor and the bishops." (Z. '15-253.) "As a result of the failure of these bishops to stand by the Word of the Lord, God's people for centuries have been confessing a Divine trinity, which is incomprehensible; and meantime been neglecting the trinity taught by the Bible, which is more reasonable. If the trinity of the creeds was questioned, hands were lifted in horror, and the questioner was told that the subject was a mystery, which he could not possibly understand, but to doubt which would mean his damnation! The mysterious proposition was sometimes stated to be 3x1 is 1; but others stated

it differently, 1x3 is 1. No wonder if some of the more intelligent specimens of our race declared themselves incapable of understanding such mathematics, and too honest to confess and profess what they could not believe!" (B. S. M.) The witness of Arius created a profound impression. "The doctrine was carried, in the fifth century, into Africa, under the Vandals; and into Asia, under the Goths. But it sunk almost at once, when the Vandals were driven out of Africa, and the Goths out of Italy, by the arms of Justinian. However, it revived again in Italy, under the protection of the Lombards, in the seventh century, and was not extinguished till about the end of the eighth. Arianism was revived in the West by Servetus, in 1531, for which he suffered death."-Buck.

Of the church in Pergamos.-From Purgos, a tower or citadel. "The name was originally given to a remarkable hill, presenting a conical appearance when viewed from the plain, and strongly fortified by nature and art." (S. B. D.) Concerning the literal city of Pergamos, of which the rising Papacy was the antitype, we read, “The sumptuousness of the princes raised Pergamos to the rank of the first city of Asia as regards splendor. It was a sort of union of a pagan cathedral city, a university town, and a royal residence, embellished during a succession of years by kings who all had a passion for expenditure and ample means of gratifying it."-McC.

From the witness by Arius in 325 to the witness by the next special messenger of the Church was the long period of 835 years; and during all that time the Papacy was slowly rising, pushing itself higher and higher. "The first ecumenical council of Nice (325), in its sixth canon, makes only an incidental mention of the Roman bishop. The first pope, in the real sense, was Leo I (440-461). The bishops of the African and the Spanish churches submitted to his demands, and he gained an important foothold even in the East. In Gaul, however, he met with a most determined resistance. Gregory I (590-604) saw that the bishops of Rome could not enjoy the ecclesiastical supremacy at which they aimed until they threw off their political dependency. The triumph of the Catholic Church over Arianism in Spain greatly promoted his plans; but he did not as yet actually possess the power of the mediaeval popes. In the seventh and eighth centuries a series of important events gave the popes a high and influential position among the secular governments of the world. The actual power was, however, for several centuries, not commensurate with their claims and aspirations. In 1073, Hildebrand (Gregory VII), after being for