7. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Verses 1-7.--This first epistle, addressed to the church in Ephesus, comes from the Lord Jesus, who holds the stars in his right hand; who gives commission to the ministry, gives them authority as his ambassadors to negotiate with mankind, communicates to them the light which they diffuse in the world, sustains them in their respective spheres, and controls them as they move in their orbits. He walks in the midst of the candlesticks, as the sun in the system of nature, trimming and snuffing the lamps that they may burn more clearly. This is the second epistle sent from Christ to the church of Ephesus. Paul, who is thought to have planted this church, (Acts xviii. 19,) had written to those Christians some thirty years before, while he was a prisoner in Rome. (Eph. i. 4; vi. 20.) Paul and John were nothing more than Christ's amanuenses,--"the pen of a ready writer." (Ps. xlv. 1; 1 Cor. iii. 7.)--"The angel of the church" is at once a symbolic and collective name, including also the idea of representation:--not a pope or any other prelatic personage. No doubt in our Saviour's estimation the saints take precedence here of the "bishops (overseers.) and deacons," as they do in Phil. i. 1; Eph. iv. 8-12. All ecclesiastical officers are Christ's gift to the church; but the object or recipient of the gift is more valued than the gift. And just here is the point where prelates "do greatly err, not knowing the Scriptures." They have arrogated to themselves the honourary title of "clergy;" and for the sake of distinction, and to give plausibility to their ambitious pretensions, call the membership of the church the "laity,"--contrary to the express decision of the unerring Spirit. Peter cautions the "elders" that they be not as "lords over God's _heritage,"_--_lot, clergy;_ where it is obvious that the body of the people, as distinguished from their rulers, are denominated the _clergy._ Moreover, it is evident to any unbiased reader, that the membership, and not a bishop only, are addressed by our Lord in these epistles; as when he says,--"some of you." (v. 10.) Hence it may be inferred that there is no proof in these epistles on which to erect the antichristian hierarchy of diocesan prelacy; and consequently that ecclesiastical government is by divine right, lodged in the hands of a plurality of presbyters.