whatever, that he had not been there before. Nay, more; he must have been in that island long before, if the evidence, to be submitted hereafter to the reader, be well founded.

The title of the Syriac version of the Apocalypse has also been offered as an evidence for a date prior to the reign of Domitian. It runs thus: "The Revelation which was made to John "the Evangelist, by God, in the island of Patmos, "into which he was banished by Nero the Cæsar." To this evidence it is objected that the Apocalypse was not in the first Syriac Version, which was made very early. This may be true; but it is equally true that Ephrem the Syrian, who lived about the year 370, several times quotes the Apocalypse in his sermons, which yields a strong argument (though not a positive proof) that a translation must then have been in existence, and known to the members of the Syrian congregations. But even had no translation existed prior to the Philoxenian version, which was made in the year 508, the argument remains, that the tradition of the Syrian churches ascribed the Apocalypse to the days of Nero; and the presumption is, that the Greek manuscripts whence they made their version exhibited the above title.

I will not detain the reader longer on Ecclesiastical traditions respecting the time at which

the Apocalypse was written. (Those who wish
for farther information on this subject should
consult Lardner, who has collected the whole
with great labor; also Michaelis' Introduction
to the New Testament.) But it should be con-
stantly recollected, that, however numerous the
authors are, who ascribe it to the end of Domi-
tian's reign, the testimony of all of them may be
resolved into that of one individual, whom they
copied, namely Irenæus; that another tradition
placed the date in the reign of Nero; and ano-
ther in that of Claudius: and hence it follows,
that the true date, if it can be settled, must be
ascertained on some other evidence. That is,
their conflicting testimonies must, if possible, be
tried by some standard on which reliance may
be placed, to ascertain which of them should be
received as true. It may be proper, however,
to examine another argument against an early
date, brought forward by Vitringa, also by Len-
fant and Beausobre in their preface to the Reve-
lation, and quoted with approbation by Lardner;
and this shall be attempted in the next section.
I
pass unnoticed a fourth tradition, which
says that John was banished to Patmos in the
reign of Trajan; and a fifth, which places his
banishment in that of Hadrian; as both these
necessarily pre-suppose that the Apocalypse was
not written by the apostle John-a question

which has been so well treated of by Newton, Lardner, Woodhouse, and other British Critics, to say nothing of foreigners, that it does not deserve another moment's consideration.

§ 2. Of the Arguments for a late Date, founded on the supposed State of the Asiatic Churches when the Apocalypse was written.

Michaelis, alluding to the testimony of Epiphanius, who twice states the Apocalypse to have been written in the reign of Claudius, says:"To this single testimony of a writer "who lived three hundred years later than St. "John, two very material objections have been "made. [He means by Blondel, Lardner, and

others.] In the first place no traces are to be "discovered of any persecution of the Christians "in the reign of Claudius: for though he com"manded the Jews to quit Rome, yet this com"mand did not affect the Jews who lived out "of Italy, and still less the Christians."

This argument-often advanced by those who contend for a late date to the Apocalypse-assumes, as not to be questioned, that John's visit to Patmos was by compulsion, in consequence of persecution; but he himself does not say so; he only states that he was there, διὰ τὸν λόγον τοῦ BEO, "for the word of God"-words which, taken

in their strict and proper sense, do not convey that idea; and shall we be content, on a question of this kind, to receive the traditions of men who would have us believe, without giving their authority, that John was cast by order of Nero or of Domitian into a vessel of boiling oil, and came out unhurt?

Michaelis thus states the second objection that had been made [viz. by Vitringa, Lenfant and Beausobre, and Lardner]: "That the seven "flourishing Christian communities at Ephesus,

Smyrna, &c. existed so early as the reign of "Claudius, is an opinion not easy to be recon"ciled with the history given, in the Acts of the Apostles, of the first planting of Christianity. "in Asia Minor. Besides it is hardly possible "that St. John resided at Ephesus, from which

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place it is pre-supposed that he was sent into "banishment, so early as the time of Claudius: "for the account given, Acts xix, of St. Paul's "stay and conduct at Ephesus, manifestly im

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plies that no apostle had already founded and governed a church there. And when St. Paul " left the place, the Ephesians had no Bishop: "for, in an Epistle to Timothy, written for that purpose, he gave orders to regulate the church "at Ephesus, and to ordain bishops. This argument (he adds) may perhaps be strengthened "by observing, that the second Apocalyptical

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Epistle, ch. ii. 1, is addressed to the angel of "the church of Ephesus, that is, as is commonly understood, to the bishop."

The objection just stated rests on mere assumptions and on false facts. It is first assumed that John was banished to Patmos; secondly, that he resided at Ephesus before his banishment; thirdly, that he could not have been in Patmos but in consequence of such banishment; fourthly, that there was no bishop (or elder) at Ephesus when Paul left that city; because, fifthly, an epistle was written to Timothy to ordain bishops there. Now it is singular enough, that so many facts should be assumed, without offering proof of the truth of any one of them: no, nor can any one of them be proved. We learn from the 18th chapter of the Acts, that when Paul left Athens he came to Corinth, and found there a certain Jew named Aquila; and that this was in the reign of Claudius,—a fact which deserves particular notice; for the decree of Claudius, which commanded all Jews to depart from Rome, and which was the cause of Aquila and his wife Priscilla leaving Italy and proceeding to Corinth (Acts xviii. 1, 2), was issued in the eleventh year of that Emperor's reign, answering to A. D. 51. We also learn from the Acts of the Apostles, that his stay at Corinth was one year and six months in all, (for the account of

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