Pergamos: Pergamos is interpreted, "dividing their horns," for by his judgement he made a distinction between the virtues of the faithful and the perfidy of the Nicolaitans, that "the horns of the sinners might be broken, and the horns of the righteous one exalted."
To the Angel of the Church of Pergamus. This Church is exhorted to do penance, and reprehended, as the seat or throne of Satan. It is only said, that the bishop lives where this satanical seat is, that he had not denied the faith, even under the persecution, when St. Antipas suffered martyrdom, of whom see Tillemont in the persecution under Domitian, tom. ii, p. 119, and note 523; and Bollandus, April 11th; though the acts themselves be not of great authority.
Thou hast them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaites, which is compared to that of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a scandal before the children of Israel, by which they were seduced by the women of the Moabites, and fell into the sin of fornication and idolatry. (Numbers xxiv. and xxxi. 16.)
To him that overcometh, I will give the hidden manna; a happiness in heaven, which the eye hath not seen
And a white stone, with a new name written, as a mark of the happiness promised to all those who shall conquer. An allusion to th...
