before the Gospel, then we have a different basis on which to build our calculations. In the meridian of his life, there was, if we mistake not, vigor and fire in John. If such were not the case, we cannot imagine why Jesus, when he called his twelve apostles, and ordained them, distinguished James and John with the title Boanerges, or the Sons of Thunder; Mark iii. 17. Where in the Gospel or Epistles shall we look for the thunder? It is true that, in one instance, the tendency of John's mind to hyperbole seems to have broken out in the last sentence that we have any account he ever wrote; we mean at the very conclusion of his Gospel, where he tells us that if all the things which Jesus did had been written, the world itself, he supposed, could not contain the books, the last ember of the fire that burned so brilliantly in the Apocalypse. But in general the Gospel and Epistles are didactic, tender, persuasive. No one would conclude from them that their author was well described as a son of thunder. But our impression is, that in his early days, John had a character of great vigor. He was the son of a fisherman, and accustomed to the habits of a hard life; Matt. iv. 21. He was moved powerfully by the appeal of Jesus, when he called him at first, and immediately left the ship and followed him. His companion, for the most part, in his early labors as an apostle, was Peter; see Luke xxii. 8; Acts iii. 1, 11, and viii. 14; and they were both remarkable for their boldness, John as well as Peter, after they gained knowledge of the resurrection of their Master; Acts iv. 13, 29, 31. Such are the facts which the New Testament furnishes of the life and character of John. Now, suppose we were called on to sustain these views of John's character from his writings only, should we find sufficient in the Gospel and Epistles for that purpose? Would there not be something wanting? But if we suppose that John was the author of the Apocalypse, and that he wrote that book in the meridian of his days, and forty years, or nearly so, before he wrote the Gospel, then are not the means supplied by his writings for concluding that he was, in the prime and meridian of his life, what his Lord described him to be a son of thunder? Let the above considerations have the weight they justly deserve, and no more. We will now pass on to show, that there are sufficient points of resemblance between the Apocalypse and the undisputed writings of John to justify the conclusion that all were written by the same person. There are a class of evidences to this fact, which we shall intentionally exclude from this place; not because they are not strong and conclusive in themselves, (for they are truly so,) but because, in the first place, we are not competent to present them; and, secondly, because they would not be so readily understood by the larger part of our readers: we mean the points of resemblance between the diction and phraseology of the Apocalypse and the Gospel and Epistles, in the language in which they were originally written. True, we have been told, what we have no doubt is correct, that there is quite a difference between the original Greek of the Apocalypse and that of John's other writings; that the former is inelegant and full of barbarisms, while the latter is much more pure and classical. But notwithstanding this fact, (and we allow it to its full extent,) there are still points of resemblance in the phraseology, which seem to render it quite certain that the Apocalypse was written by the same hand that wrote the Gospel and Epistles. So far as the Greek is concerned, however, we must be content to lose the advantage which the comparison would give us. We take the common English version; and under the disadvantages of a translation, in which many points of resemblance cannot be preserved which are seen in the original, we propose to show that there is sufficient evidence to justify the conclusion that John was the author of the Apocalypse. We shall divide the instances of resemblance which we shall quote under the two heads of Diction and Metaphors. 1st. Diction. All Christendom knows that John uses the phrase logos, or word, to signify a person, as follows: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God;" John i. 1. "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth;" 14. This style of diction is peculiar to John. No other New Testament writer has it. See 1 John i. 1. "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life." See also v. 7, where Jesus is again called "the Word." Now, if we turn to the Apocalypse, we find the same phraseology there; for in speaking of Jesus, the revelator says: "He was clothed in a vesture dipped in blood; and his name is called the Word of God;" xix. 13. In no other part of the New Testament is logos, or word, used personally. Another striking trait of resemblance is the fact, that the favorite expression of the Gospel, viz., bearing witness, for declaring of the Gospel, and witness, record or testimony, for the truth declared, is very common in the style of John. See John i. 7; iii. 11, 32, 33; v. 31-36; viii. 13, 14; xviii. 37; xxi. 24. Nothing is more common than this phraseology in the Gospel. See also 1 John v. 7-11. Turn now to the Apocalypse. Here the same phraseology prevails. The revelator "bears record of the word of God, and the testimony of Christ;" i. 2. He was banished to Patmos for the word of God and the testimony of Christ; 9; the souls under the altar were slain for the word of God and the testimony which they held; vi. 9; and the saints overcame the accuser "by the word of their testimony;" xii. 11, 17. See also xix. 10; xx. 4; xxii. 18, 20. In closing the Gospel John says, "This is the disciple who testifieth of these things;" xxi. 24; in closing the Apocalypse he said, "He who testifieth these things saith," &c.; xxii. 20. Taking all these instances together, we can hardly refrain from the conviction that one hand must have framed the Gospel, Epistles and Apocalypse. Out of John's works, there is scarcely any usage of this particular kind to be found. Again. It was very common for John to use the word hour for time, or season, as " Mine hour is not yet come;" ii. 4; "The hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth;" 23; also, v. 25; vii. 30, &c. This is a prevailing idiom in the Apocalypse; iii. 3, 10; xiv. 7. There is one fact in regard to the crucifixion that John only has recorded, viz., the piercing of the Saviour's side with a spear; xix. 34-37. To this he applies the prediction in Zechariah xii. 10, "They shall look on him whom they have pierced." The only other instance in all the New Testament in which this fact is mentioned is Rev. i. 7. Does not this look very much like the same hand in both passages? There seems to be not only a recognition of the fact of the piercing of Jesus' side in both cases, but that they that pierced him should look on him. It is difficult to resist the conviction that both passages were written by the same person. Another peculiarity of the Apocalypse is the use of the words overcome and overcometh, for successful perseverance in Christian duties in the midst of trials and dangers. For instance, “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne;" iii. 21. See ii. 11, 17, 26; iii. 5, 12; xxi. 7. This is John's manner of speech. It appears strikingly in 1st Epis. ii. 13, 14; iv. 4; v. 4, 5. Let these cases suffice. We pass in the next place to consider 2nd. Metaphors. Jesus represented himself and his truth under the figure of light. John remembered this through his whole life. He incorporated it into the metaphors of the Apocalypse. Of the New Jerusalem he said, "The city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof: and the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it;" xxi. 23, 24. See also xxii. 5; 1 John i. 7. According to John's gospel, how frequently Jesus represented himself and his truth under the figure of light; i. 4-9; iii. 19-21; viii. 12; xii. 46. Sons of God. "He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son;" Rev. xxi. 7. "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God;" 1 John iii. 1. The same in the Gospel. "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name ;" John i. 12. The prevailing character in which Christ appears in the Apocalypse is that of a lamb; v. 6, 8, 12, 13; vi. 1, 16; vii. 9, 10, 14, 17; xii. 11; xiii. 8, 11; xiv. 1, 4, 10, &c., &c. This figure John mentions in his Gospel. See John i. 29, 36. "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." Besides the above there are but two other instances in the New Testament in which Christ is represented by the lamb, viz., Acts viii. 32; 1 Pet. i. 19. And the latter is so strictly the language of the Apocalypse, that one would think Peter must have seen that work before he wrote his epistle. "The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world ;" Rev. xiii. 8. "Redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was preordained before the foundation of the world." We do not maintain it is certain that Peter quoted from the Apocalypse; but if he did not, there seems such a unity of expression as we could scarcely expect except between men familiar with each other's forms of speech; and it will be remembered that Peter and John were fellow-laborers. The revelator represents the church as the bride, and Jesus as the bridegroom. See xxi. 2: "And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." Ver. 9: "Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife." See also xxii. 17. this metaphor occurs nowhere else in the New Testament except Now |