critics, pronounces the Apocalypse of John to be "the most difficult and doubtful book of the New Testament."
The points proper for inquiry in connection with a history of the life of John, may be best arranged in the form of questions with their answers severally following.
I. Did the Apostle John write the Apocalypse?
Many will doubtless feel disposed to question the propriety of thus bringing out, in a popular book, inquiries which have hitherto, by a sort of common consent, been confined to learned works, and wholly excluded from such as are intended to convey religious knowledge to ordinary readers. The principle has been sometimes distinctly specified and maintained, that some established truths in exegetical theology, must needs be always kept among the arcana of religious knowledge, for the eyes and ears of the learned few, to whom "it is given to know these mysteries;" "but that to them that are without," they are ever to remain unknown. This principle is often acted on by the theologians of Germany and England, so that a distinct line seems to be drawn between an exoteric and an esoteric doctrine,—a public and a private belief,—the latter being the literal truth, while the former is such a view of things, as suits the common religious prejudices of the mass of hearers and readers. But such is not the free spirit of true Protestantism; nor is any deceitful doctrine of "accommodation" accordant with the open, single-minded honesty of apostolic teachings. Taking from the persons who are the subjects of this history, something of their simple freedom of word and action, for the reader's benefit, several questions will be boldly asked, and as boldly answered, on the authorship, the scope, and character of the Apocalypse. And first, on the present personal question in hand, a spirit of tolerant regard for opinions discordant with those of some readers, perhaps may be best learned, by observing into what uncertainties the minds of the greatest and most devout of theologians, and of the mighty founders of the Protestant faith, have been led on this very point.
The great Michaelis (Introd. vol. IV. c. xxxiii. § 1.) apologizes for his own doubts on the Apocalypse, justifying himself by the similar uncertainty of the immortal Luther; and the remarks of Michaelis upon the character of the persons to whom Luther thus boldly published his doubts, will be abundantly sufficient to justify the discussion of such darkly deep matters, to the readers of the Lives of the Apostles.
Not only Martin Luther as here quoted by Michaelis, but the other great reformers of that age, John Calvin and Ulric Zwingle, boldly expressed their doubts on this book, which more modern speculators have made so miraculously accordant with anti-papal notions. Their learned cotemporary, Erasmus, also, and the critical Joseph Scaliger, with other great names of past ages, have contributed their doubts, to add a new mark of suspicion to the Apocalypse.
"As it is not improbable that this cautious method of proceeding will give offense to some of my readers, I must plead in my behalf the example of Luther, who thought and acted precisely in the same manner. His sentiments on this subject are delivered, not in an occasional dissertation on the Apocalypse, but in the preface to his German translation of it, a translation designed not merely for the learned, but for the illiterate, and even for children. In the preface prefixed to that edition, which was printed in 1522, he expressed himself in very strong terms. In this preface he says: 'In this book of the Revelation of St. John, I leave it to every person to judge for himself: I will bind no man to my opinion; I say only what I feel. Not one thing only fails in this book; so that I hold it neither for apostolical, nor prophetical. First and chiefly, the apostles do not prophesy in visions, but in clear and plain words, as St. Peter, St. Paul, and Christ in the gospel do. It is moreover the apostle's duty to speak of Christ and his actions in a simple way, not in figures and visions. Also no prophet of the Old Testament, much less of the New, has so treated throughout his whole book of nothing but visions: so that I put it almost in the same rank with the fourth book of Esdras, and cannot any way find that it was dictated by the Holy Ghost. Lastly, let every one think of it what his own spirit suggests. My spirit can make nothing out of this book; and I have reason enough not to esteem it highly, since Christ is not taught in it, which an apostle is above all things bound to do, as he says, (Acts i.) Ye are my witnesses. Therefore I abide by the books which teach Christ clearly and purely.'
