"hath." This latter thought therefore he is accustomed to associate with them; and though in chap. i. 4 he does not expressly say that the seven Spirits there referred to are the possession of Jesus, this view of them is obviously a part of his general conception of the matter. In chap. i. 4, therefore, the source of the words addressed to Sardis is to be found. To the sixth church--that of Philadelphia--it is said, _These things saith He that is holy, He that is true, He that hath the key of David, He that openeth, and none shall shut, and that shutteth, and none openeth_[37]; and we can have no difficulty in recognising the germ of the extended description in chap. i. 14, 18, where we are told that Jesus Christ, in token of His holiness, hath "His head and His hair white as white wool, white as snow," and that He hath "the keys of death and of Hades." Lastly, we have the introductory address to the seventh church--that of Laodicea--_These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the beginning of the creation of God_[38]; and the origin of it is to be seen in chap. i. 5, where we are told of "Jesus Christ, who is the faithful Witness, and the first-born of the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth." Each salutation of the seven epistles is thus part of the description of the Son of man in the first chapter of the book; and it is a legitimate inference that the contents of the epistles are, like the salutations, only portions of one whole. (5) Many expressions are to be met with in the seven epistles which find their explanation only in those later chapters of the book where a reference to the Church universal cannot be denied. The _tree of life_ of the first epistle meets us again, more fully spoken of, in the description of the new Jerusalem.[39] The _second death_ mentioned in the second epistle is not explained till judgment upon the Church's enemies is complete.[40] The writing upon believers of the _new name_, promised in the third epistle, is almost unintelligible until we behold the hundred and forty-four thousand upon Mount Zion.[41] The _authority over the nations_, and more especially the gift of _the morning star_, referred to in the fourth epistle, cannot be comprehended until we are introduced to the vision of the thousand years and the last utterances of the glorified Redeemer.[42] The _white garments_ of the fifth epistle can hardly be rightly understood until we see the white-robed company standing before the throne and before the Lamb.[43] The mention in the sixth epistle of _the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from My God_, remains a mystery until we actually witness her descent.[44] And, finally, the _sitting in Christ's throne_ of the seventh epistle is only elucidated by the reign of the thousand years with Him.[45]