clear and shrill sound, as we now give the name “clarion” to a certain wind-instrument. The Hebrew trumpet is often referred to as employed, on account of its clearness, to summon people together, Ex. xix. 13; Nu. x. 10; Ju. vii. 18, &c.; 1 Sa. xiii. 3; 2 Sa. xv. 10. 11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send _it_ unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto [76]Ephesus, and unto [77]Smyrna, and unto [78]Pergamos, and unto [79]Thyatira, and unto [80]Sardis, and unto [81]Philadelphia, and unto [82]Laodicea. 11. _Saying._ That is, literally, “the trumpet saying.” It was, however, manifestly the _voice_ that addressed these words to John, though they _seemed_ to come through a trumpet, and hence the trumpet is represented as uttering them. ¶ _I am Alpha and Omega._ Ver. 8. ¶ _The first and the last._ An explanation of the terms Alpha and Omega. See Notes on ver. 8. ¶ _And, What thou seest._ The voice, in addition to the declaration, “I am Alpha and Omega,” gave this direction that he should record what he saw. The phrase, “what thou seest,” refers to what would pass before him in vision, what he there saw, and what he would see in the extraordinary manifestations which were to be made to him. ¶ _Write in a book._ Make a fair record of it all; evidently meaning that he should describe things as they occurred, and implying that the vision would be held so long before the eye of his mind that he would be able to transfer it to the “book.” The fair and obvious interpretation of this is, that he was to make the record in the island of Patmos, and then send it to the churches. Though Patmos was a lonely and barren place, and though probably there were few or no inhabitants there, yet there is no improbability in supposing that John could have found writing materials there, nor even that he may have been permitted to take such materials with him. He seems to have been banished for _preaching_, not for _writing_; and there is no evidence that the materials for writing would be withheld from him. John Bunyan, in Bedford jail, found materials for writing the _Pilgrim’s Progress_, and there is no evidence that the apostle John was denied the means of recording his thoughts when in the island of Patmos. The word _book_ here (βιβλίον), would more properly mean _a roll_ or _scroll_, that being the form in which books were anciently made. See Notes on Lu. iv. 17. ¶ _And send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia._ {51} The churches which are immediately designated, not implying that there were no other churches in Asia, but that there were particular reasons for sending it to these. He was to send _all_ that he should “see;” to wit, all that is recorded in this volume or book of “Revelation.” Part of this (ch. ii., iii.) would appertain particularly to them; the remainder (ch. iv.‒xxii.) would appertain to them no more than to