of the reign of Domitian, and that he returned to Ephesus immediately after the death of that emperor, which happened in the year 96: and as the Apostle states, that these visions appeared to him while he was in that island, we may consider this book as written in the year 95 or 96. In farther support of this date, I shall quote the following passage from Beausobre and L'Enfant's preface to the Revelation. After adducing Irenæus, Origen, Eusebius, and several other antient fathers, all of whom placed the banishment of St. John to Patmos in the latter part of the reign of Domitian, they proceed to make the following judicious observations: "To this so constant a tradition we must add other reasons, which prove farther that the Apocalypse was not written till after Claudius and Nero. It appears from the book itself, that churches had already been established for a considerable time in Asia Minor, since St. John reproaches them, in the name of Jesus Christ, with faults which do not take place immediately; he blames the church at Ephesus for having left its first love; that at Sardis, for having a name that it lived, and was dead; that at Laodicea, for having fallen into lukewarmness and indifference. Now the church of Ephesus, for example, was not founded by St. Paul

St. Paul till the latter part of the reign of Claudius; and when he wrote to them from Rome in the year 61 or 62, so far from reproaching them with any defect of love, on the contrary he commends their love and their faith. It appears from the Revelation, that the Nicolaitans formed a sect when this book was written, since they are expressly named; instead of which they were only foretold and described in general terms by St. Peter in his second Epistle, which might be written in the year 67, and by St. Jude, about the time of the destruction of Jerusalem under Vespasian. It is evident, from divers passages of the Revelation, that there had been then an open persecution in the provinces. St. John himself had been banished to Patmos for the testimony of Jesus Christ. He praises the church of Ephesus, or its bishop, for its constancy under affliction, which seems to imply persecution. This is still more clear in the words addressed to the church of

Smyrna; I know thy works and thy tribulation;' for the word used in the original almost always signifies persecution in the writings of the New Testament, as it is explained in the following verse. In the 13th verse of this second chapter, mention is made of a martyr named Antipas, who was put to death at Pergamus. Although antient

antient ecclesiastical history furnishes us with no account of this Antipas, it is however certain, according to all the rules of language, that what is here said, is to be understood literally, and not mystically, as some interpreters have done, contrary to all probability: A martyr was put to death at Pergamus, where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is.' It being thus impossible to refer the persecution mentioned in the first chapters of the Revelation to the time of Claudius, who did not persecute the Christians, or to that of Nero, whose persecution did not extend to the provinces, we must necessarily refer it to Domitian, according to ecclesiastical tradition." This internal evidence appears to me a strong argument in favour of the date which has been assigned to the Revelation.

III. In the first chapter, St. John asserts the divine authority of the predictions which he is about to deliver; addresses himself to the churches of the Proconsular Asia; and describes the first vision, in which he is commanded to write the things then revealed to him. The second and third chapters contain seven Epistles to the seven churches in Asia; namely, of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamus, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea, which relate chiefly to their then re

spective circumstances and situation (b). At the fourth chapter the prophetic visions begin, and reach to the end of the book. They contain a prediction of all the most remarkable revolutions and events in the Christian church, from the time of the Apostle to the final consummation of all things. An attempt to explain these prophecies does not fall within the design of this work; and therefore I refer those, who are disposed to study this sublime and mysterious book, to Mede, Daubuz, Sir Isaac Newton, Lowman, Bishop Newton, Bishop Hurd, and many other excellent commentators. These learned men agree in their general principles concerning the interpretation of this book, although they differ in some particular points; and it is not to be expected that there should be a perfect coincidence of opinion in the explanation of those predictions, which relate to still future times; for as the incomparable Sir Isaac Newton observes, "God gave these and the prophecies. of the Old Testament, not to gratify men's curiosity, by enabling them to foreknow things, but that after they were fulfilled they might be interpreted by the event, and his own providence,

not

(b) Some commentators have thought that these Epistles to the Seven Churches describe the character and fate of the churches in the last days.

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not that of the interpreters, be then manifested thereby to the world."-" To explain this book," says Bishop Newton, "perfectly, is not the work of one man, or of one age; but probably it never will be clearly understood, till it is all fulfilled." It is graciously designed, that the gradual accomplishment of these predictions should afford, in every succeeding period of time, additional testimony to the divine origin of our Holy Religion.