the faithful and true witness”――ὁ μάρτυς ὁ πιστὸς, κ.τ.λ., Re. iii. 14. Of this testimony which the Lord Jesus came to bring to man respecting eternal realities, the writer of this book says that he regarded _himself_ as a witness. To the office of bearing such testimony he had been dedicated; that testimony he was now to bear, as he had always done. ¶ _And of all things that he saw._ Ὅσα τε εἶδε. This {38} is the common reading in the Greek, and according to this reading it would properly mean, “_and_ whatsoever he saw;” that is, it would imply that he bore witness to “the word of God,” _and_ to “the testimony of Jesus Christ,” _and_ to “whatever he saw”――meaning that the things which he saw, and to which he refers, were things _additional_ to those to which he had referred by “the word of God,” and the “testimony of Christ.” From this it has been supposed that in the former part of the verse he refers to some testimony which he had formerly borne, as in his gospel or in his preaching, and that here he refers to what he “saw” in the visions of the Revelation as something _additional_ to the former. But it should be remembered that the word rendered _and_――τε――is wanting in a large number of manuscripts (see Wetstein), and that it is now omitted in the best editions of the Greek Testament――as by Griesbach, Tittmann and Hahn. The evidence is clear that it should be omitted; and if so omitted, the reference is to whatever he had at any time borne his testimony to, and not particularly to what passed before him in the visions of this book. It is a general affirmation that he had always borne a faithful testimony to whatever he had seen respecting the word of God and the testimony of Christ. The correct rendering of the whole passage then would be, “And sending by his angel, he signifies it to his servant John, who bare record of” [_i.e._ whose character and office it was to bear his testimony to] “the word of God” [the message which God has sent to me], “and the testimony of Jesus Christ” [the testimony which Christ bore to the truth], “whatsoever he saw.” He concealed nothing; he held nothing back; he made it known precisely as it was seen by him. Thus interpreted, the passage refers to what was a general characteristic of the writer, and is designed to embrace _all_ that was made known to him, and to affirm that he was a faithful witness to it. There were doubtless special _reasons_ why John was employed as the medium through which this communication was to be made to the church and the world. Among these reasons may have been the following: (a) That he was the “beloved disciple.” (b) That he was the only surviving apostle. (c) That his character was such that his statements would be readily received. Comp. Jn. xix. 35; xxi. 24; 3 Jn. 12. (d) It _may be_ that his mind was better fitted to be the medium of these communications than that of any other of the apostles――even if they had been then alive. There is almost no one whose mental