C A r. l .. A evelattonof theApocalypfe. 23 'Philadelphia, ofwhichmention is made in this place ( for there are three of this name)is belonging toLidia,or rather that county which is called Cecumena, that is burnt up, in the confines ofDelia andA/11- .P, a City that of old time, evenwhen it did flourifh molt ofall , had but fewCitizens in it, becaufe of the perillous dwelling which the often earthquakes made there, molt of them live in the Country, yet a man maywortihly marvell at thefe few,faith Strabo,who by reafon of the love they bear to the place, are fecure of danger, and careleffe of their own fafety; or rather may one marvell what the builders of the City meant, to found it in filch a place. Laodicea, lying by the ri- ver Lyetu, was one ofthe greateft Cities ofPhry,ia , Which border- ethon Caria, neer unto the Coloffan.r, towhom Paid being bound at Rome, wrote, commanding that the Epiftle fhould be openly read in the Church ofLoodicea, the letters ofwhich Church likewife he bids fhouldbe readofthe Coloffians,Colof1:4.16. It was a City once ofgreat riches, partly through the kindneffe ofthe Citizens, whoby their wills had given it a great a bundance ofwealth partly by means of the fale ofWoolle, which was excellent both for foftnefle and Crowlike blackneffe, for which caufes it was much in requc t among the neighbour Countrys. Such are thefe(even Cities to which chis Prophecy was given by name, thus fiwmmarily defcribed. One may here perhaps marvell, where Nome was at this time , to which, for faving further labour, this Epiftle might have been written in Rcad ofall other Churches,as which boafteth her felf to be the head ofall. Truly Chrifts memorymight feem to fail him,who hathpalled by his vicar, not once calling on him by any one Epiftle , who yet was to have beenonely fpoken to. But the reafon why he wrote not to hirr;is.at hand; He knew he couldnot erre,neither had needofan ad- monither. Let this omif ion therefore be oneof the prerogatives of that holy Sea. ta. Then I turned me to fee, &c. To fee is fotrtetimes taken for perceiving, by that figure by which the kinde is put for the generali ; au Exodus 3o. verfe aS. , The "Whele peo- ple í.IW the Thunders and Lightnings , and the found of the Trumpet, &c. That is, perceived. But yet it abideth here in the proper fignification feeing he had perceived the matter enough before by hearing, he now turned himfif to ufe thebenefit of the other fence of feeing : And therefore the other word is transferred from the native fignification ofir,by voice, noting out the minwholehe thought the voice to be. ,dnd R'he-n IWae tnrncd , I faw
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