the Greek text.  He assigns the best reason and strongest argument against idolatry:—­“I am thy fellow-servant,” a creature as well as yourself:  we are servants of one Lord, who alone is the object of our devotion, “Worship God.”  This is the best counsel, enforced by the most cogent reasoning,—­“For the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy.”  This sentence may be read,—­“The Spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus;” and it will be equally true.  “To him give all the prophets witness,” (Acts x. 43;) for “the Spirit of Christ was in them;” (1 Pet. i. 11;) and this fact is well known to holy angels. (Eph. iii. 10; 1 Pet. i. 12.) So this angel plainly declares.

11.  And I saw heaven opened, and, behold, a white horse:  and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True:  and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.

12.  His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns:  and he had a name written, that no man knew but he himself.

13.  And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood:  and his name is called The Word of God.

14.  And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

15.  And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron:  and he treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

16.  And he hath on his vesture, and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

Vs. 11-16.—­“Heaven opened” once more, allows the apostle to look upon Messiah the Prince going forth to fresh conquests.  As he began, (ch. vi. 2,) so he continues, “in righteousness to judge and make war;” not as the ambitious tyrants who “destroy the earth,” (ch. xi. 18.) He has here three names,—­“Faithful and True, The Word of God, king of kings and Lord of lords; yet he has a “name written which no man knoweth but he himself.”—­His infinite essence and eternal generation are incomprehensible by angels and men.—­He is, however, known by his mediatorial titles,—­“faithful and true” to all covenant engagements; as the prophet of the church, he “declares the Father,” making known the “word of God;” and his lordship is at once a warning to his enemies and security to his friends.—­“On his head were many crowns,” emblematical of his numerous victories over the princes of the earth, especially the “ten kings,” (ch. xvii. 14.)—­“His eyes as a flame of fire,” going though the whole earth “in every place,” (Prov. xv. 3;) render it impossible for his enemies to elude discovery. (Jer. xxiii. 24.)—­His “vesture dipped in blood,” refers to his victories over all his malicious and impenitent foes. (Is. lxiii. 1-3; Rev. xiv. 20.)—­His “armies on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean,” are uniformed like their leader, (ch. xii. 7;) for “they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful,” (ch. xvii. 14.)—­The weapon with which he “smites the nations” that oppose him, is the “sharp sword,” an emblem of his ruinous and avenging justice; for he “tradeth the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.”—­“On his thigh,” where he wears his sword, there is a legible inscription, indicating his universal and rightful authority.