(7) And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go [and] take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.
(7) The other part of this chapter concerning the particular calling of John to the receiving of the following prophecy, which is enjoined him, first by sign, in three verses, then in plain words in the last verse (Revelation 10:9-11). To the setting forth of the sign belong these things: That John is taught from heaven to ask for the book of the prophecy in this verse: for these motions and desires God inspires that asking for the book, he is charged to take it in a figurative manner, the use of which is expounded in (Revelation 10:9) (as in) (Ezekiel 2:9) whence this similitude is borrowed: lastly that John at the commandment of Christ took the book, and found by experience that the same as proceeding from Christ, was most sweet, but in that it foretells the afflictions of the Church, it was most bitter to his spirit.