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S. JOHN. 
 
THE 
 MODERN AMERICAN 
 
 S. JOHN 
 GOSPEL, LETTERS, REVELATION 
 
 ^ 
 
 THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE IN MODERN AMERICAN FORM 
 
 AND PHRASE 
 
 WITH 
 
 NOTES AND INTRODUCTION 
 
 BY 
 
 FRANK SCHELL BALLENTINE 
 
 NEW YORK 
 THOMAS WHITTAKER 
 
 2 AND 3 BIBLE HOUSE 
 
Copyright, 1901 
 By Frank Schell Ballentine 
 
S. JOHN. 
 
 (Gospel.) 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 In the thirty- first verse of his twentieth chapter, 
 S. John gives the purpose he had in view in writing 
 his version of the Good News of our Salvation. 
 
 '' These are written,'' he there says, '^ so that 
 you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of 
 God, a?id so that believing you may have life in his 
 name. ' ' 
 
 To understand these words rightly we have to 
 think of S. John, the last of the Apostles, living on 
 to the close of the first century. He has learned 
 in the thoughts and experiences of the last fifty 
 years of his life what the manifestation of Christ's 
 life really is. He has become quickened by the 
 presence of the Paraclete who has brought all 
 things to his mind and has guided him into all the 
 truth. 
 
 Think of the Apostle John thus, and then think 
 of him living among men who were teaching that 
 the world was not made by the First God, but by 
 
vi PREFACE. 
 
 a certain Power far separated from the Royalty 
 which is above all and very distant from him, a 
 Power which does not know the God who is over 
 all and blessed forever. 
 
 Think of the great Apostle John in the last days 
 of his mortal life living among men who are thus 
 trying in the wisdom of their own vain imaginings 
 to cross the gulf between God and man. 
 
 He feels that he has learnt how that gulf is 
 bridged in the person of Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 He remembers our Lord's acts and his very words. 
 He knows that in him and in him alone does the 
 divine and human meet. He at once writes out 
 this witness. He makes it as clear and forcible as 
 he can for us children of men. 
 
 So in the deeper fulness of the truth as we find 
 it in his story of the Good News, John instructs 
 the Church, he refutes the prevalent heresy, he 
 supplies that uniquely spiritual picture of the life 
 of Christ, which we prize so highly as a comple- 
 ment to the other three. 
 
 Like the Revelation and the Epistles, the Gospel 
 also is divided into threes and sevens as will be 
 noticed in the body of the text. 
 
 Frank Schell Ballentine, 
 
 Chrisfs Church Rectory, 
 
 Scranton, Pa., Trinitytide, jgoi. 
 
S. JOHN. 
 
 (First Letter.) 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 S. John's first letter has rightly been called 
 catholic, or general because it was addressed to the 
 Church at large. And yet, the question has been 
 raised, was it so addressed? Was it addressed to 
 any one? Was it not rather a set treatise on a set 
 subject, intended to meet the needs of the particular 
 time in which it was written ? 
 
 However that may be we do know it met most 
 admirably the needs of that time and of all times 
 since, and it will continue to meet the needs of all 
 time to come. For, as some one has suggested, it 
 seems to have been intended as a supplement to his 
 Gospel, and whether so intended or not it is in 
 actual fact the supplement to all extant New Testa- 
 ment Scripture and the final treatise of inspired 
 revelation. In it the leading teachings of Chris- 
 tianity are stated in their final form. The teaching 
 of S. Paul and that of S. James are restated, no 
 
viii , PREFACE. 
 
 longer in apparent opposition, but in intimate and 
 inseparable harmony. Tiiey are shown distinctly 
 to be but two sides of the same great truth. 
 
 The connection between the Gospel and Letter 
 is very marked. The Gospel shows the way to 
 eternal life through belief in the incarnate Son 
 (S. John 20: 31). The Letter assures those who 
 believe in the incarnate Son that they have eternal 
 Hfe (i John 5 : 13). The one is an historical 
 statement of divine truth, the other an ethical 
 statement of it. The one sets forth the acts and 
 words which prove that Jesus is the Christ, the Son 
 of God. The other brings to light the acts and 
 words which are obligatory on those who believe 
 this great truth. 
 
 The Gospel has been well called a summary of 
 Cliristian Theology. This Letter gives us the first 
 great principles of Christian Ethics. Between the 
 two we have a wonderful setting forth of the funda- 
 mental teachings of Christianity. In the Gospel 
 they are given as the foundation of the Christian 
 faith. In the Letter they are shown to be the 
 foundation of the Christian life. In the Gospel 
 we see the perfect life of God as it was realized in 
 an historical person. In the Letter we learn how 
 to reproduce that life in ourselves even though in 
 the end we are compelled to acknowledge ourselves 
 but poor products and imperfect Christians. 
 
PREFACE. ix 
 
 Finally, the Gospel suggests principles of conduct 
 which the Letter lays down explicitly. The Letter 
 implies facts which the Gospel states as historically 
 true. 
 
 Like the Gospel and Revelation this Letter also 
 is divided into threes and sevens. It has Intro- 
 duction, main body of the Letter and Conclusion. 
 
 The main portion treats of two great subjects, 
 God as Light and God as Love, each of which 
 again is divided into seven distinct subdivisions. 
 Frank Schell Ballentine, 
 
 Chrisfs Church Re dory, 
 
 Scranton, Pa., Trinitytide, igoi. 
 
S. JOHN. 
 
 (Second Letter.) 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Short as this Letter is, it gives us a look at the 
 last of all the Apostles as we would not otherwise 
 see him. Here he appears before us as the shep- 
 herd of individual souls. Whether it is held to be 
 addressed to a Church or to a lady this holds true. 
 It is written, on either supposition, for the sake of 
 particular persons in whom he is particularly 
 interested. Here we see the Apostle, as it were, at 
 home. He is speaking as a friend to a friend, and 
 we enjoy the flavor of their social intimacy. We 
 have a precious specimen here of the private cor- 
 respondence of an Apostle. We are allowed to see 
 how the beloved disciple at the close of a long life 
 could write to a Christian lady respecting her 
 personal conduct. 
 
 Frank Schell Ballentine, 
 
 Christ'' s Church Rectory, 
 Scranton, Fa.^ Tritiitytide, igoi. 
 
 X 
 
S. JOHN. 
 
 (Third Letter.) 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 This is another sample of the private correspond- 
 ence of an Apostle. It is not an official letter 
 like those of S. Paul to Timothy and Titus, but a 
 private one, like that to Philemon. This Letter 
 was no doubt written about the same time as the 
 second Letter and so towards the close of S. John's 
 hfe. 
 
 The second and third Letters lead us to the more 
 average every-day life of Christendom at the end 
 of the first century. The tone of their Chris- 
 tianity is deep, earnest, severe and devout. Yet it 
 has the quiet of the Christian Church and home as 
 at present constituted. The writer is grave and re- 
 served. He condemns the spirit of heresy in the 
 second Letter. His condemnation of the spirit of 
 schism is written in the third. 
 
 Frank Schell Ballentine, 
 
 Christ^s Church Rectory, 
 
 Scranton, Pa., Trinitytide, igoi. 
 
THE REVELATION OF S. JOHN 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The Revelation of S. John is a Christian Epic. 
 It is more than that. It is The Great Universal 
 Epic of the Ages, The dramatic element runs like 
 a golden thread through the whole, and the lyric 
 bursts out from time to time in outpourings of the 
 soul towards God unsurpassed by the God-in- 
 toxicated prophets and Psalmists of old, yet it is the 
 epic which predominates and gives its majestic tone 
 and character to the whole. 
 
 A true understanding of this noble poem rests on 
 the recognition of the one great fact that the symbol 
 and not the image is the characteristic feature of its 
 figure of speech. 
 
 The imagery of other world poets can be fitted 
 into pictures. But Hebrew symbolism, such as 
 that of Revelation, never. 
 
 If this fundamental fact is remembered much 
 misunderstanding of this great Poet will be avoided 
 and his thought and feeling will be appreciated as 
 never before. In interpreting such symbolism we 
 need to school ourselves constantly in self-restraint. 
 We must not take it for granted that every partic- 
 
PREFACE. xiii 
 
 ular personage is meant to convey to our minds a 
 definite idea. We are not to spoil the effect of the 
 whole by stopping to look for a meaning in every 
 detail of a complex presentation. 
 
 The Revelation is a Vision of visions. It is not 
 to be judged by the laws of time. For while on 
 the shadowy background of this dream movement 
 the successive scenes do appeal to the imagination 
 as a sequence of dim but majestic pictures, yet the 
 relation of the several parts to the whole is not that 
 of temporal succession. The visions of the Seals, 
 and of the Trumpets, and of the Bowls, form three 
 distinct groups of scenes from three distinct points 
 of view. 
 
 The earlier visions of the Seals bring to our view 
 the ordinary phenomena of the world's great story, 
 — war, famine, death, revolution. The series of 
 the Trumpets shows us another, — a spiritual war 
 carried on in the world — a war of which the 
 changes and chances of this mortal life are but 
 the external signs and tokens, and the constant 
 reminders that *'our struggle is not against flesh 
 and blood, but against various orders of fallen 
 angels, against those who hold sway in the dark- 
 ness around us, against those wicked spirits in the 
 air above us." The third series of visions in which 
 the Bowls are brought to view shows us that the war 
 carried on here among men, and in men, has also 
 
xiv PREFACE. 
 
 its heavenly counterpart. In other words, the real 
 conflict in which we are all engaged is not simply 
 between good men and bad men, nor is it only be- 
 tween man as such, and the devil. Our God is the 
 All-ruler, his Son Jesus Christ is the Alpha and 
 Omega of his creation and government, and it is 
 he who is our all-conquering fellow who is con- 
 stantly planning and fighting for us. 
 
 From beginning to end the numbers three and 
 seven are constantly recurring. At first we read of 
 the Seven Stars and the Seven Gold Lampstands. 
 Then we hear of the Seven Angels of the Seven 
 Churches. The Book is sealed with Seven Seals. 
 There are Seven Kings. There are Seven Thun- 
 ders. The Lamb has Seven Horns and Seven Eyes 
 which are the Seven Spirits of God. There are 
 Seven Benedictions in the course of the Visions. 
 Seven Choruses are sung with ascriptions of from a 
 threefold to a sevenfold character. Seven Angels 
 come forward with Seven Trumpets. The Red 
 Dragon has Seven Heads with Seven Diadems. 
 He sweeps down a third of the stars. A third of 
 the Sun, Moon and Stars is darkened. A third of 
 earth, sea, trees, etc., is destroyed. There are 
 three woes. There are three books. There are 
 Seven Bowls in three acts. The Chorus of Baby- 
 
PREFACE. XV 
 
 Ion's woe is three times sung by three different sets 
 of men, Kings, Merchants, Seamen. 
 
 The Revealer delights in these symbolic numbers. 
 
 An intelligent and devout reader of the Book of 
 Revelation was once asked : '' What is the form 
 the Book presents to you ? ' ' 
 
 '* It is Chaos," was his reply. 
 
 And he voiced the sentiment of many who have 
 tried their best, and in vain, to unravel the thread' 
 of its meaning as it winds in and out among its 
 sublime and shifting scenes. 
 
 If one of Shakespeare's plays were presented to- 
 day so that preludes and contents, arguments and 
 comments, visions, choruses, prologues, and 
 epilogues, ran straight on in ordinary prose para- 
 graphs or verses, without any such ordering of the 
 text as the modern reader is used to, and without 
 the traditional modes of recitation which the 
 ancients with their stronger memory enjoyed, Chaos 
 would it indeed become. 
 
 That is just what has befallen the Book of the 
 Revelation of S. John. 
 
 Not that it is in the fullest sense of the term a 
 complete and well rounded Drama like one of 
 Shakespeare's plays. For it is not. Yet, as al- 
 ready intimated, it is dramatic and has the dramatic 
 
xvi PREFACE. 
 
 element running through it. It is like the relating 
 of a Drama. It is a narrative of scenes and acts 
 which passed before the eye of the Seer. 
 
 The Persons of the Drama. 
 
 In this communication of the Eternal Father to 
 his people there are three persons through whom it 
 comes, Jesus Christ, the Angel, S. John. Readers 
 and hearers are of course assumed. 
 
 1. Christ appears as the Lamb in the midst of 
 the Throne ; the Rider sitting on the White Horse ; 
 the Boy, the Seed of the Woman, the predestined 
 Shepherd of the Nations ; the Lamb on Sion ; the 
 Reaper of the earth ; as mounted again on his 
 White Horse at the head of the heavenly armies ; 
 as the Judge ; as occupying one Throne with God. 
 
 2. The enemies of Christ are : 
 First, the Destroyer. 
 
 This Destroyer evokes other agents from earth and 
 sea ; the Wild Beast, his False Prophet, the Figure 
 made on earth, animated by the False Prophet and 
 worshipped. Each of these breathes out another 
 Tempting Power. Then comes the Woman and 
 the Scarlet Wild Beast. As Christ is presented, not 
 
PREFACE. xvii 
 
 completely, but as completely as each subordinate 
 vision requires, so in order to present as complete 
 an idea as possible of his enemies they also are 
 brought before us under very diverse and thoroughly 
 characteristic aspects. They, too, can only enter 
 a Divine Drama in the form of Beings. Such 
 representations of foes are the two Riders who ride 
 across the heavens in the wake of the Conqueror 
 and the Destroyer. 
 
 3. The organic Priesthood is represented as 
 vested in Angels, just as the oversight of the 
 Churches is so represented in the Angels of the 
 Seven introductory Letters. The Priesthood of the 
 whole is found in those Blessed ones who have part 
 in the First Resurrection. 
 
 The organic human Priesthood may become 
 corrupt. It is thus the Dispenser or Steward of 
 God becomes a power adverse to his Master and 
 Author. He is the Third Rider (6 : 5,6). 
 
 4. There is a Fourth Figure, — the last Enemy 
 which will be destroyed, — Death. 
 
 The impersonation of Death as a living enemy is 
 universal. Such impersonation is necessary to 
 bring principles up to the possibilities of representa- 
 tion on their own true level. I'hus ^schylus has 
 Violence and Might rivetting the limbs of Prome- 
 theus, and Euripides has Death in dialogue with 
 Apollo. 
 
xviii PREFA CE. 
 
 5. The process of the conversion of man to 
 God is not described. It is the assumed fact of 
 the whole book. To the last the People of God 
 are living on in the midst of the Great World City. 
 It is not till the immediate approach of its over- 
 throw an Exodus is proclaimed. 
 
 The thought of the Four Principles dramatized 
 in the book is consistent through the whole of it. 
 
 The White-horsed crowned Christ (6:2) is the 
 final Conqueror (19:11). The Red-horsed De- 
 stroyer, and the False Steward of the Black-horse 
 who depraves religion (6:3-6) are analyzed in the 
 developed action into the Red Dragon, the Wild 
 Beast of the Sea, the False Prophet or Wild Beast of 
 the Land (19:19; 20:10; 13:11), and the Scarlet 
 Queen with her Wild Beast who perhaps is the 
 Dragon reappearing (17:3). The Destroyer and 
 all his destroying and corrupting agents are shown 
 first under the image of the Red and Black Riders. 
 They are conquered and perish (19 : 19,20 ; 20 : 10). 
 The Death and Hades of the Pale Horse (6:7,8) 
 restore their victims (20:13) and perish also 
 (20:14). 
 
PREFACE. xix 
 
 The Angel-Guide and S. John, 
 This Angel takes his part in the several scenes 
 according to the purpose of his Master and when 
 his part is done he twice comes to the side of S. 
 John and takes him with him to show him the Two 
 Cities. Up to this time he has his eye on him and 
 directs him by word. When he comes to him he 
 each time says : *' Here, I will show you." 
 
 The Angel has his commission to guide and to 
 exhibit, S. John has his to note and write down the 
 Revelation. He is represented as having the book 
 in which he is to write with him throughout the 
 scenes. 
 
 The Scene. 
 
 The external world in which, for us, spiritual 
 facts become known is not altered. But real be- 
 ings and real regions, to us commonly invisible, be- 
 come visible, and besides certain things are added, 
 that is, certain material forms are exhibited which 
 stand for physical and spiritual and political ab- 
 stractions. For, in an Apocalypse, abstractions 
 may wear forms of cities, persons, monsters. 
 
 The vast and immeasurable stage here brought 
 out plainly to our view has nothing to do with 
 playwright or artist. The universal soul of man 
 recognizes it and that is enough. All is unmeas- 
 ured alike in space and time. 
 
XX PREFACE. 
 
 The scene is shifted at three different points. 
 The Island of Patmos is first brought to view, then 
 earth and heaven as they are seen and understood 
 by an ordinary looker on, then a fresh Heaven and 
 a fresh earth. 
 
 The Scene of the first three chapters is Patmos. 
 
 The Seer next passes through the sky by a door 
 to the place of the mystic Hving Throne and the 
 Throned -One. 
 
 At the bidding of the voice he writes, he goes 
 down to a sea-beach, and then is set to measure the 
 earthly Temple. 
 
 He is taken to a Wilderness to see the World- 
 Queen. He is again near the Throne. Again he 
 is taken by the angel to a Mountain in a new earth 
 to see the descent of the New City, the Lamb's 
 Bride. 
 
 The Choric Songs. 
 
 Seven Choric Songs divide the Scenes at the 
 points of crisis. They emphasize the point attained, 
 commenting on what is past. In two instances 
 (11:15; 12:10) they disclose the outline of the 
 next immediate action. The last has two parts, 
 passing from the pasan of Victory to the Bridal 
 Song. In this they are like some of the mysterious 
 Ciioruses of Greek Tragedy. Read in series tliey 
 
PREFACE. xxi 
 
 give a distinct thread of the scenes viewed from 
 their own standpoint — the heavenly. One Chorus 
 (14:3) is only described, not given in full like the 
 rest. 
 
 Boldly and fully these Choruses recognize that 
 the reign of God, so far as its recognition is con- 
 cerned, is limited now by his own patience, and in 
 its fullness it has to be won. 
 
 The Attributes and Beatitudes are Three when 
 they are ascribed to God immediately around his 
 Throne. They are Seven when uttered by the 
 Angels. They are Four when offered by the rest 
 of Creation. In other words, the numbers here 
 must be regarded as more than symbols when used 
 in these relations to the Divine, the Perfect, and 
 the Created. 
 
 The typical construction of the Choruses is as 
 follows : 
 
 1. A verse sung by separate voices or by a 
 smaller number. 
 
 2. A full chorus sung by a second larger body 
 in one case duplicated or reechoed by a third yet 
 larger. 
 
 In the first (4: 8) the four Cherubs sing the verse, 
 the Twenty-four Elders the chorus. 
 
 In the second (5 :g) the Elders and Cherubs to- 
 gether sing the verse, many Angels the Chorus, 
 which is taken up again by all Creation. 
 
XX 11 rii I'll' A <!!<:. 
 
 Ji> tlic tliird (7 ■.()) llic Saved :.ii)/.^ llic verse. All 
 Aii^cls the (.'i)(>nis. 
 
 ill I he foiirlh Cm ii^) lie;i,veiily Vok <•;. ',iii|^ lh(r 
 vci.c, Ihe MMei!. the ( !h(»Mi!,. 
 
 'rh<- vvouls of Ihe hilh rhoiii:, ff/|:.ij ;ne iiol, 
 f^'ivcMi. lint il is Siiid its soiiimI lie^iiis wilh the 
 Voire of (.'hrist, then of the ("heiiil) ThroiKr, niid 
 the II;ii|)'. of Ihe ICIders, then hy the iniiidred ;iiid 
 ioily four llioii:,:iiid vir/dii < ()iii|>;iiiioiis of the 
 Latiih 
 
 'I'iic Sixth ('lioriis (15:2; is (hauled full. 
 
 The Seventh (.'horns (\<) : 1 7) is the < liniax. It 
 sum:. n|) the whole ieni;iiiiiii|^ ;m lion of the hook. 
 In ( onstriK tion it is doubled. lOach part has the 
 usual ujcnibcrs ol a Chorus, but inverted in liic 
 firHt part. 
 
 All llie:,<- (lionises are lyrics vvlii( h not only 
 (•(jiial, but e.isily siirjiass, those of iIk* (Hhervvise in- 
 imitable I'indar, while th(! I'oeni as a whole is a 
 nobler epic, a ^'rander poem and far more sublime, 
 th.iii the ollieivvis(r surpassingly great and most j»er- 
 fe( I of |»(jeni:;, the Iliad of 1 lom(;r. 
 
 The I)ii|'e over I'.abylon is no jiart of tlu.* 
 ('horuses, but it has a remarkable ( ()nstru( tion and 
 should be n()t(*d in conneetion with them. See notes 
 on iH : I -~n):/\. 
 
I'liKFACK. xxiii 
 
 '\\\(: Revelation is full of (Jlirist. The Lamb is 
 the axis round vvhieh the world of its scenery moves. 
 He is the key to the whole situation. He is the 
 ojjly infallible means through whom can be un- 
 locked the great secret truth of earth's real history. 
 So it is in him we see the victory of Christ's de- 
 voted ones. It is of him their song of trium[jh 
 tells. It is h(- who put the New Song in their 
 mouth. It is in him everything is reconciled and 
 made mete for the Father's use. 
 
 FkANK ScfiKLI- BaLLKN'JINK, 
 ChrisCs CJiurrh Rectory, 
 
 Srrunion, /'a., 7'ri>iitylide, ic^oi. 
 
S. JOHN. 
 
 (Gospel.) 
 
I. 
 
 In the beginning was the Word, 
 
 And the Word was with God, 
 
 And the Word was God. 
 He was in the beginning with God. 
 
 Everything made its appearance. 
 
 Through him, 
 
 And without him 
 Not a thing made its appearance. 
 
 What has made its appearance in him was Life, 
 And the Life was the Light of men. 
 
 And the Light keeps shining in the darkness. 
 And the darkness never became thoroughly 
 permeated by it. 
 
INTROD UCTION. S. John 
 
 A man sent from God made his appearance. 
 His name was John. 
 
 He came for witness 
 
 To bear witness about the Light, 
 
 So that everybody might believe through him. 
 He was not the Light, 
 But came to bear witness about the Light. 
 
 The Light, the True Light, which keeps hghting 
 
 everybody. 
 Kept coming into the world. 
 He was in the world. 
 And the world made its appearance through 
 
 him, 
 And the world never came to know him. 
 He came to his own possessions. 
 And his own people did not receive him. 
 
 But as many as received him, 
 
 To them gave he the right 
 
 To become children of God, 
 To those who keep believing in his name. 
 Who were begotten, not by blood, 
 
 Nor by the will of the flesh. 
 
 Nor by the will of man, 
 But by God. 
 
s.^.ToiiN INTRODUCTION. 5 
 
 3- 
 
 So the Word became flesh, and dwelt among lis, 
 
 And we looked at his glory. 
 
 Glory as of the only begotten from the Father, 
 Full of divine favor and truth. 
 
 John keeps bearing witness about him, and keeps 
 crying : 
 " This is he of whom I said, 
 He who is coming after me has come to be 
 before me. 
 For he was before I came into existence." 
 For out of his fulness we all kept receiving. 
 And favor upon favor. 
 For the law was given through Moses. 
 Favor and truth kept coming through Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 No one has ever yet seen God. 
 The Only Begotten Son 
 Who is in the bosom of the Father, 
 
 He has made him known. 
 
6 THE WORD MADE FLESH. S.John 
 
 I. 
 
 And the witness of John is this, when the Jews 
 sent Priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, 
 '' Who are you? " 
 
 " I am not the Christ," said he, nor did he deny 
 it. 
 
 " What then are you ? Are you Ehjah ? " 
 
 ''I am not." 
 
 '* Are you the Prophet ? " 
 
 ''No." 
 
 " Who are you? so that we may give an answer 
 to those who sent us. What do you say about 
 yourself ? ' ' 
 
 ''I am the voice of one crying in the wilder- 
 ness, 
 
 Make straight the way of the Lord, 
 
 as said the Prophet Isaiah." 
 
 They had been sent from the Pharisees. And 
 they asked him : 
 
 " Why are you purifying then, if you are not the 
 Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" 
 
 "I am purifying with water. But one whom 
 you do not know is standing among you, he who is 
 coming after me. I am not worthy to untie his 
 shoestrings." 
 
 These things were done in Bethany beyond 
 Jordan where John was purifying. 
 
S. JOHN MANIFESTED. 1 
 
 1: 29. 
 
 " Look ! the Lamb of God who is taking away 
 the sin of the world ! " said John the next day as 
 he saw Jesus coming to him. " This is he of whom 
 I said, A man who has come to be before me is 
 coming after me. For he was before I came into 
 being and I did not know him. But I came puri- 
 fying with water so that he might be made known 
 to Israel." 
 
 " I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a 
 dove," John continued to witness, "and it con- 
 tinued on him. And I did not know him. But 
 he who sent me to purify with water said to me : 
 Upon whomever you shall see the Spirit descend- 
 ing and continuing on him, he is he who is purify- 
 ing with the Holy Spirit. So I have seen and 
 have borne witness that this is the Son of God." 
 
 Again the next day after, John was standing and 
 two of his disciples. 
 
 "Look, the Lamb of God!" he said, looking 
 on Jesus as he was walking! 
 
 The two disciples heard him speak and followed 
 Jesus. 
 
 "What are you seeking?" said Jesus as he 
 turned and saw them following. 
 
 "Rabbi," that is, Teacher, they answered, 
 " where do you live ? " 
 
 "Come and see." 
 
8 THE WORD 3IADE FLESH. \^^,j^^ 
 
 They came and saw where he was living and 
 staid with him that day. For it was about four 
 o'clock. 
 
 One of the two who heard John speak and fol- 
 lowed Jesus, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. 
 He was the first to find his own brother Simon. 
 
 "We have found the Messiah," he said, which 
 means, the Christ. So he brought him to Jesus. 
 
 ''You are Simon the son of John," said Jesus 
 when he saw him. *' You shall be called Cephas," 
 which means a stone. 
 
 The next day Jesus wanted to go into Galilee. 
 He found Philip. 
 
 ''Follow me," he said. 
 
 Philip was of Bethsaida the city of Andrew and 
 Peter. He found Nathaniel. 
 
 "We have found him about whom Moses in the 
 law, and the Prophets wrote," he said, "Jesus of 
 Nazareth, the Son of Joseph." 
 
 " Can any good thing come out of Nazareth ? " 
 
 "Come and see." 
 
 " Look ! an Israelite, indeed, in whom is no 
 guile," said Jesus about Nathaniel when he saw him 
 coming. 
 
 " How is it that you are acquainted with me ? " 
 said Nathaniel to him. 
 
S.JOHN 3IANIFESTED TO INDIVIDUALS. 9 
 
 1: 48. 
 
 '' Before Philip called you while you were under 
 the fig-tree, I saw you." 
 
 '' Rabbi, you are the Son of God. You are the 
 King of Israel." 
 
 '^ Because I told you, I saw you under the fig- 
 tree, do you believe ? You shall see greater things 
 than these." 
 
 '' Most truly I tell you," Jesus continued. '' You 
 shall see heaven open, and the angels of God 
 ascending and descending on the Son of man." 
 
 2. 
 
 The third day there was a marriage in Cana of 
 Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there, and 
 both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the 
 marriage. And when the wine failed, the mother 
 of Jesus said to him : 
 
 '* They have no wine." 
 
 << What do you want me to do, mother ? " Jesus 
 answered. '' My time has not yet come." 
 
 ''Do whatever he tells you," said his mother 
 to the servants. 
 
 Now according to the Jews' way of purifying 
 there were set there six stone water jars containing 
 twenty or thirty gallons apiece. 
 
 ''Fill the water jars with water," said Jesus. 
 
 They filled them up to the brim. 
 
10 THE WORD MADE FLESH. S.John 
 
 2: 8. 
 
 *' Draw out now and carry it to the Master of 
 the feast." 
 
 They carried it. So when the master of the 
 feast tasted the water become wine and did not 
 know where it came from, but the servants who 
 had drawn the water knew, he called the bride- 
 groom. 
 
 ''Everybody at first sets out good wine," he 
 said, ''and when they have drunk freely, then 
 what is worse. But you have kept the good wine 
 till now." 
 
 Jesus did this beginning of his signs in Cana of 
 Galilee and made known his majesty, and his dis- 
 ciples believed in him. 
 
 3- 
 
 After this Jesus went down to Capernaum, he, 
 his mother, brothers, and disciples. But they 
 staid there only a few days. 
 
 The Jews' Passover was at hand, and Jesus went 
 up to Jerusalem, and he found in the Temple 
 those who were selling oxen, sheep and doves and 
 the changers of money sitting. So when he had 
 made a whip of cords he drove them all out of the 
 Temple, and the sheep and oxen. He poured out 
 the changers' money and overturned the tables. 
 
 "Take these things out of here," he said to 
 
S.JOHN MANIFESTED TO INDIVIDUALS. 11 
 
 those who were selling doves. '' Do not make my 
 Father's House a house of merchandise." 
 
 His disciples remembered it was written, 
 "The zeal for thine house hath eaten me up." 
 
 ''What sign do you show us," answered the 
 Jews, " seeing you do these things? " 
 
 ''Destroy this temple and in three days I will 
 raise it up." 
 
 "Forty-six years was this Temple in building 
 and will you raise it up in three days ? " 
 
 He was speaking of the temple of his body. So 
 when he was raised from the dead his disciples 
 remembered he had said this to them. So they 
 believed the Scripture and what Jesus had said. 
 
 4- 
 
 When he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, 
 during the feast, many believed in his name when 
 they looked at the signs he was doing. But Jesus 
 did not trust himself to them, because he had got- 
 ten to know everybody and did not need any one 
 to tell him about anybody. For he himself had 
 gotten to know what was in the man. 
 
 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicode- 
 mus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus 
 by night. 
 
 " Rabbi," he said, " we know you are a teacher 
 come from God. For no one can do these signs 
 which you are doing except God is with him," 
 
12 THE WORD MADE FLESH. S.John 
 
 '' Most truly I tell you," answered Jesus, " Ex- 
 cept a man is born from above he cannot see the 
 Kingdom of God." 
 
 " How can a man be born when he is old ? Can 
 he enter a second time into his mother and be 
 born?" 
 
 ''Most truly I tell you, Except a man is born 
 of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the King- 
 dom of God. What is born of the flesh is flesh. 
 What is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not won- 
 der because I told you. You must be born from 
 above. The Spirit breathes where he desires and 
 you hear his voice. But you cannot tell where he 
 comes from, nor where he is going. So is every 
 one who is born of the Spirit." 
 
 *' How can this be? " 
 
 *' Are you the teacher of Israel and do not know 
 this ? Most truly I tell you. We talk about what 
 we know and bear witness to what we have seen, 
 and you do not receive our witness. If I have told 
 you earthly things and you do not believe, how 
 shall you believe if I tell you heavenly things ? No 
 one has ascended up to heaven but he who came 
 down from heaven, that is, the Son of man who is 
 in heaven. And just as Moses lifted up the ser- 
 pent in the wilderness so must the Son of man be 
 lifted up so that whoever believes in him may 
 have eternal life." 
 
S.John MANIFESTED TO ALL. 13 
 
 3: 16. 
 
 For God so loved the world that he gave his 
 only begotten Son so that whoever believes in him 
 should not perish but have eternal life. For God 
 did not send his Son into the world to condemn 
 the world, but so that the world through Him might 
 be saved. He who believes in him is not con- 
 demned. But he who does not believe is con- 
 demned already because he has not believed in the 
 name of the only begotten Son of God. And the 
 condemnation is this, that light has come into the 
 world and men loved darkness rather than light, 
 because their deeds were evil. 
 
 For every one who keeps doing wrong 
 
 Hates the light, and keeps away from the light, 
 So that his deeds may not be detected. 
 But he who keeps doing right 
 Comes to the light 
 
 So that his deeds may be shown to have been 
 done in reliance on God. 
 
 5- 
 
 After this Jesus and his disciples came into the 
 land of Judaea, and he was staying there with them 
 and purifying. 
 
 John also was purifying in ^non near Salim, be- 
 cause there were many springs of water there. So 
 people kept coming and were being purified. For 
 John had not yet been thrown into prison. 
 
14 THE WORD MADE FLESH. ^ "John 
 
 3; 25. 
 
 There sprang up a questioning on the part of 
 John's disciples and a Jew about purifying. They 
 came to John. 
 
 ''Rabbi," they said, ''he who was with you be- 
 yond Jordan, to whom you bore witness, is puri- 
 fying and everybody is coming to him." 
 
 "A man can receive nothing," answered John, 
 " except it has been given to him from heaven. 
 You yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not 
 the Christ, but have been sent before him. He 
 who has the bride is the bridegroom. But the 
 friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears 
 him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's 
 voice. So this my joy is made full. He must in- 
 crease but I must decrease. ' ' 
 
 He who comes from above is above all. He 
 who is from the earth, from the earth he is, and 
 from the earth's point of view he speaks. He who 
 comes from heaven is above all. What he has 
 seen and heard he bears witness to, and no one re- 
 ceives his witness. He who has received his wit- 
 ness has set to his seal that God is true. For he 
 whom God has sent speaks the words of God. 
 For he does not give the Spirit by measure. The 
 Father loves the Son and has given everything into 
 his hand. 
 
S.JOHN MANIFESTED TO ALL. 15 
 
 a: 36. 
 
 He who believes in the Son, has eternal life ; 
 But he who does not obey the Son will not see 
 
 life; 
 But the wrath of God continues on him. 
 
 6. 
 
 When the Lord got to know how the Pharisees 
 had heard Jesus was making and purifying more 
 disciples than John, though Jesus himself was not 
 purifying but his disciples, he left Judaea and 
 went into Galilee. He must go through Samaria. 
 Then he came to a city of Samaria called Sychar 
 near a plot of ground which Jacob gave to his son 
 Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. So wearied 
 with his journey he was sitting just as he was by 
 the well. It was about noon. A woman of Sa- 
 maria came out to draw water. 
 
 " Give me a drink," said Jesus to her. 
 
 His disciples had gone to the city to buy food. 
 
 ** How is it that you, a Jew," she said, *'ask a 
 drink of me, a woman of Samaria ? " 
 
 The Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. 
 
 ''If you knew the gift of God," he said, "and 
 who it is who said, Give me a drink, you would 
 have asked him and he would have given you 
 living water." 
 
 "You have nothing to draw with. Sir, and the 
 well is deep. How can it be then that you have 
 
16 THE WORD 3IADE FLESH. vS. John 
 
 4: 11. 
 
 that living water ? Are you greater than our father 
 Jacob who gave us the well, drank of it himself, 
 and his children and cattle? " 
 
 ''Whoever drinks this water will thirst again. 
 But whoever drinks the water I shall give him shall 
 never thirst. For the water I shall give him shall 
 be in him a well of water springing up so as to 
 produce eternal life in him." 
 
 *' Give me this water. Sir, so that I may not 
 thirst, nor come all the way here to draw." 
 
 *'Go call your husband and come here." 
 
 *'I have no husband." 
 
 '' You have well said, I have no husband. For 
 you have had five husbands, and he whom you 
 now have is not your husband. When you said 
 that you spoke the truth." 
 
 *' I see. Sir, you are a Prophet. Our fathers 
 worshipped in this mountain, and you say in 
 Jerusalem is the place where men ought to 
 worship." 
 
 ''Believe me, woman, the time is coming when 
 you shall worship the Father neither in this moun- 
 tain nor yet at Jerusalem. You worship you do 
 not know what. We know what we worship, for 
 salvation is from the Jews. But the time is coming 
 and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship 
 the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father is 
 seeking such to worship him. God is Spirit and 
 
S.JOHN MANIFESTED TO ALL. 17 
 
 4: 24. 
 
 those who worship him must worship him in spirit 
 and truth." 
 
 '^I know Messiah, called the Christ, is com- 
 ing. When he has come, he will tell us every- 
 thing." 
 
 ^' I who am talking to you am he." 
 ■ His disciples then came and wondered because 
 he was talking to the woman. Yet no one said, 
 What are you seeking ? or. Why are you talking to 
 her? 
 
 The woman left her water pot and went into the 
 city. 
 
 '' Come see a man who told me everything I 
 ever did," she said to the men. '' Surely this is 
 not the Christ? " 
 
 They went out of the city and came to Jesus. 
 In the meantime his disciples kept urging him to 
 eat. 
 
 ''Rabbi, eat," they said. 
 
 "I have food to eat which you do not know 
 about." 
 
 '* Has any one brought him something to eat? " 
 they said to each other. 
 
 ''My food is to do the will of him who sent 
 me, and to finish* his work. Do you not say There 
 are still four months and then comes harvest? I 
 tell you, Lift up your eyes and look on the fields. 
 They are white already for harvest. And he who 
 
18 THE WORD 3IADE FLESH, s. JohK 
 
 4:36. 
 
 is reaping is receiving wages and gathering fruit 
 for eternal life : so that both he who is sowing and 
 he who is reaping may rejoice together. And in 
 this is that saying true : One sows, another reaps. 
 I sent you to reap what you never put any labor on. 
 Other men labored, and you have come into 
 possession of the fruits of their labors." 
 
 Many Samaritans of that city believed in Jesus 
 because of what the woman said: ''He told me 
 all I ever did." 
 
 So when the Samaritans came to him they kept 
 begging him to stay with them. So he stayed there 
 two days. 
 
 Many more believed because of what he himself 
 had said, and so they said to the woman : 
 
 '' Now we do not believe because of your saying. 
 For we have heard him ourselves and know this is 
 indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world." 
 
 7- 
 
 After two days Jesus went away from there into 
 Galilee. For he himself used to say : ''A Prophet 
 has no honor in his own country." So when he 
 came into Galilee the Galileans received him be- 
 cause they had seen everything he did in Jerusalem 
 at the feast. 
 
 So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee where 
 he had made the water wine. A nobleman whose 
 
S JOHN 3IANIFESTEI) TO ALL. 19 
 
 4: 46. 
 
 -son was sick at Capernaum was there. So when 
 he heard Jesus had come out of Jadaea into Galilee, 
 he went to him and kept begging him to come 
 down and cure his son, for he was at the point of 
 death. 
 
 ''Except you see signs and wonders," said 
 Jesus, ''you will not believe." 
 
 "Come down, Sir, before my child dies." 
 " You may go. Your child is living." 
 So the man believed what Jesus had said to him, 
 and went. And as he was now going down, his 
 slaves met him. 
 
 " Your son is living," they said. 
 So he asked them the -time he began to get 
 better. 
 
 " Yesterday at one o'clock the fever left him." 
 So the father knew it was at the same time that 
 Jesus said to him: " Your son is living." So he 
 himself believed and his whole household. 
 
 This is again the second sign Jesus did when he 
 had come out of Judaea into Galilee. 
 
20 TBE WORD MADE FLESH. S. John 
 
 II. 
 
 After this there was a feast of the Jews. So 
 Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 
 
 Now there was at Jerusalem by the sheepgate, a 
 pool, called in Hebrew, Bethesda. It had five 
 porches. In these lay a crowd of those who were 
 sick, some blind, some lame, some crippled. So 
 there was a man there who had been sick thirty- 
 eight years. 
 
 " Do you want to be cured? " Jesus said to him, 
 when he saw him lying and realized that he had 
 now been a long time in that condition. 
 
 "I have no one. Sir, when there is a move- 
 ment of the water to put me into the pool. 
 But while I am coming another steps down before 
 me." 
 
 "Rise. Take up your bed and walk." 
 
 The man was at once cured, took up his bed and 
 began to walk. ^ 
 
 Now that day was the Sabbath. 
 
 '*It is the Sabbath," the Jews said to him who 
 was cured. *' It is not right for you to be carrying 
 your bed." 
 
 '* He who cured me said : Take up your bed 
 and walk." 
 
 ''Who is the man who said to you : Take up 
 your bed and walk?" 
 
S.JOHN THE LIFE. 21 
 
 5: 13. 
 
 The man who was cured did not know who he 
 was. For there was a crowd in the place and 
 Jesus had gone away. Afterwards, however, Jesus 
 found him in the Temple. 
 
 ''Listen," he said, ''you are cured. Sin no 
 more so that a worse thing may not come on you." 
 
 The man went and told the Jews it was 
 Jesus who cured him. And for this reason the 
 Jews kept persecuting Jesus because he kept doing 
 these things on the Sabbath. 
 
 "My Father is working even till now," he 
 answered them, "and I am working." 
 
 So the Jews kept trying the more to kill him be- 
 cause he had not only broken the Sabbath, but 
 also said God was his Father, making himself 
 equal to God. 
 
 "Most truly I tell you," Jesus then answered, 
 
 " The Son can do nothing by himself. 
 Except what he sees the Father doing. 
 For whatever he is doing 
 These in the same way does the Son also do. 
 
 For the Father loves the Son 
 
 And shows him everything he himself does. 
 
 And he will show him greater things than 
 
 these 
 So that you may wonder. 
 
22 THE WORD MADE FLESH. %^^^'^ 
 
 For just as the Father raises the dead and 
 
 gives them hfe, 
 So the Son gives life to whom he desires. 
 For the Father judges no one, 
 But he gives all judgment to the Son. 
 
 So that everybody may honor the Son 
 Just as they honor the Father. 
 He who does not honor the Son, 
 Does not honor the Father who sent him. 
 
 Most truly I tell you, 
 
 He who hears what I say, and believes in him 
 who sent me 
 
 Has eternal life, and does not come into judg- 
 ment. 
 
 But has passed from death to life. 
 
 Most truly I tell you, 
 
 The time is coming, and now is. 
 
 When the dead shall hear the voice of the 
 
 Son of God, 
 And those who hear shall live. 
 
S.JOHN THE LIFE. 23 
 
 5:26. 
 
 For as the Father has life in himself, 
 
 So has he given the Son to have life in 
 
 himself, 
 And has given him authority to execute 
 
 judgment also, 
 Because he is the Son of man. 
 
 Do not wonder at this. 
 
 For the time is coming, 
 
 When all who are in the graves will hear 
 
 his voice. 
 And will come out. 
 
 Those who have acted generously, 
 To the resurrection of life. — 
 Those who have acted wickedly, 
 To the resurrection of judgment. 
 
 I cannot do anything by myself. 
 
 As I hear I judge. And my judgment is good. 
 
 For I am not seeking my own will. 
 
 But the will of the Father who sent me. 
 
 If I am bearing witness about myself, 
 
 My witness is not true. 
 There is another witnessing about me. 
 
 And I know what he is witnessing about me 
 is true. 
 
24 THE WORD MADE FLESH. %^2l^ 
 
 You sent to John and he witnessed to the truth. 
 But the witness I am receiving is not from man. 
 But I say this so that you might be saved. He 
 was a burning and a shining hght and you were 
 wilHng for a time to rejoice in his hght. But the 
 witness I have is greater than John's. For the 
 works the Father has given me to finish, the very 
 works I am doing, are witnessing about me, that the 
 Father has sent me. And the Father himself who 
 has sent me has borne witness about me. You 
 have neither heard his voice at any time nor seen 
 his shape. And what he told you is not continuing 
 in you. For you do not believe him whom he has 
 sent. You search the scriptures. For in them you 
 think you have eternal life. And they are they 
 which are witnessing about me. And yet you 
 will not come to me so that you may have life. 
 I do not receive honor from men. But I know that 
 you have not the love of God in you. I have 
 come in my Father's name, and you do not receive 
 me. If another shall come in his own name, you 
 will receive him. How can you believe, who keep 
 receiving honor from each other and do not seek 
 the honor which comes from God only ? Do not 
 think I will accuse . you to the Father. Your ac- 
 cuser is Moses on whom you have set your hope. 
 For had you believed Moses, you would have be- 
 lieved me. For he wrote about me. But if you 
 
S.JOHN THE LIFE. 25 
 
 5: 46. 
 
 do not believe his writings, how shall you believe 
 my words?" 
 
 2. 
 
 After this Jesus went away to the other side of 
 the sea of Galilee, that is, the sea of Tiberias, and 
 a great crowd followed him because they were look- 
 ing at the signs he was doing on those who were 
 sick. 
 
 Jesus went up into a mountain and sat there with 
 his disciples. 
 
 The Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near. 
 
 ^' Where shall we buy bread so that these may 
 eat ? " Jesus said to Philip, when he raised his eyes 
 and saw a great crowd come to him. 
 
 He said this to put him to the test. For he him- 
 self knew what he would do. 
 
 ''Two hundred dollars' worth of bread is not 
 enough for them," Philip answered, '' so that every 
 one of them may take a little." 
 
 ''There is a lad here," one of his disciples, 
 Andrew, Simon Peter's brother said to him. " He 
 has five barley loaves and two small fish. But 
 what are they among so many? " 
 
 " Make the people sit down." 
 
 There was a great deal of grass in the place. So 
 the men sat down in number about five thousand. 
 
26 THE WORD MADE FLESH. S.John 
 
 6: 11. 
 
 Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given 
 thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the 
 disciples to those who were set down. And of the 
 fish, also, as much as they would. 
 
 ''Gather up the broken pieces which remain 
 over," Jesus said to the disciples, when they were 
 filled, ''so that nothing may be lost." 
 
 So they gathered them together and filled twelve 
 baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves 
 which remained over after everybody had eaten. 
 
 "This is certainly the Prophet who was to come 
 into the world," the people kept saying when they 
 had seen the sign Jesus did. 
 
 So when Jesus got to know that they were going 
 to come and take him by force to make him a king, 
 he went away again into a mountain alone. 
 
 When evening had come his disciples went down 
 to the sea, got into a boat, and started to go over 
 the sea towards Capernaum. It was dark. Jesus 
 had not yet come to them. The sea was rising be- 
 cause of a strong wind which was blowing. So 
 when they had rowed three or four miles they saw 
 Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat. 
 They were frightened. 
 
 " It is I," he said. " Do not be afraid." 
 
 So they wanted to take him into the boat, and at 
 once it was at the land to which they were going. 
 
S.JOHN THE LIFE. 27 
 
 6: 22. 
 
 The next day the people who were standing on 
 the other side of the sea saw there was no other 
 boat there except the one Jesus' disciples entered. 
 They saw Jesus did not go with his disciples into 
 the boat but they had gone away alone. Yet other 
 boats came from Tiberias near the place where 
 they ate bread after the Lord had given thanks. 
 So when the people saw Jesus was not there, nor 
 his disciples, they also got into the boats and came 
 to Capernaum seeking Jesus. 
 
 ''Rabbi," they said when they had found him 
 on the other side of the sea, '' when did you come 
 here?" 
 
 '' Most truly I tell you," answered Jesus. ^' You 
 keep seeking me, not because you saw the signs, 
 but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do 
 not work for the food which is perishing but for 
 the food which continues to eternal life, which the 
 Son of man shall give you. For him has God the 
 Father sealed." 
 
 '' What must we do so that we may do the works 
 of God?" 
 
 " This is the work of God, to believe in him whom 
 he has sent." 
 
 " What sign do you show, then, so that we may 
 see and believe you ? What do you do ? Our 
 fathers ate manna in the desert as it is written : 
 He gave them bread from heaven to eat." 
 
28 THE WORD MADE FLESH. S Joun 
 
 6: 31. 
 
 *' Most truly I tell you, Moses did not give you 
 that bread from heaven. But my Father is giving 
 you the true bread from heaven. For the bread 
 which God gives is that which comes down from 
 heaven and gives life to the world." 
 
 *' Lord, always give us this bread." 
 
 *' I am the bread of life. He who keeps coming 
 to me shall never hunger, and he who keeps be- 
 lieving in me shall never thirst. But I told you, 
 You have seen me and do not believe. Every- 
 thing the Father gives me will come to me. Him 
 who comes to me I will in no way cast out. For I 
 have come down from heaven, not to do my own 
 will, but the will of him who sent me. This is the 
 will of him who sent me, that of everything he has 
 given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it 
 up at the last day. For this is the will of my 
 Father, that every one who keeps looking at the 
 Son and believing in him should have eternal life, 
 and I shall raise him up at the last day." 
 
 The Jews complained about Jesus because he 
 said, '' I am the bread which came down from 
 heaven." 
 
 ''Is not this Jesus the Son of Joseph," they 
 said, "whose father and mother we know? How 
 is it then he says, I have come down from 
 heaven ? ' ' 
 
SJOHN THE LIFE. 29 
 
 b: 43. 
 
 " Do not complain among yourselves," answered 
 Jesus. ''No one can come to me except the 
 Father who has sent me draws him, and I shall 
 raise him up at the last day. It is written in the 
 Prophets, 
 
 And they shall be all taught by God. 
 
 Every one who has heard and learned from the 
 Father comes to me. Not that any one has seen 
 the Father except him who is from God, he has 
 seen the Father. Most truly I tell you, He who 
 believes in me has eternal life. I am the bread of 
 life. Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness 
 and died. The bread which is coming down from 
 heaven is such that any one may eat of it and 
 never die. I am the living bread which came 
 down from heaven. If any one eats of this bread 
 he shall live forever. The bread I will give is my 
 flesh which I will give for the life of the world." 
 
 "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" 
 said the Jews as they began to dispute with each 
 other. 
 
 " Most truly I tell you," Jesus therefore said, 
 " Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and 
 drink his blood you have no life in you. He who 
 eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life 
 and I will raise him up at the last day. For my 
 flesh is food indeed and my blood is drink indeed. 
 
30 THE WORD MADE FLESH. S John 
 
 6:56. 
 
 He who keeps eating my flesh and drinking my 
 blood dwells in me and I in him. As the living 
 Father has sent me and I live by the Father, so he 
 who keeps eating me shall live by me. This is 
 that bread which came down from heaven. Not 
 as your fathers ate manna and died. He who 
 keeps eating this bread shall live forever." 
 
 Jesus said this in the synagogue as he was 
 teaching in Capernaum. 
 
 '' This is a hard saying," many of his disciples 
 said when they heard this. ''Who can hear 
 it?" 
 
 ''Does this offend you?" said Jesus. For 
 he knew in himself his disciples were complain- 
 ing at this. " What, then, if you should look at 
 the Son of man ascending where he was before ? 
 It is the Spirit who gives life. The flesh is of no 
 avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit 
 and are life. But there are some of you who do 
 not believe." For Jesus knew from the beginning 
 who did not believe and who should betray himT 
 So he said : " For this reason I said to you, No 
 one can come to me, except it has been given to 
 him from the Father." 
 
 From this time many of Jesus' disciples went 
 back and did not go about with him any longer. 
 
 " Surely you, too, do not want to go away? " he 
 then said to the twelve. 
 
S.JOHN THE LIFE. 31 
 
 6: 68. 
 
 ''Lord," Simon Peter answered, ''to whom 
 shall we go ? You have the words of eternal life, 
 and we have believed and know you are the Holy 
 One of God." 
 
 " Have not I chosen you twelve ? And one of 
 you is a devil." 
 
 He spoke of Judah Iscariot, the son of Simon. 
 For he was the one of the twelve who was going to 
 betray him. 
 
 After this Jesus kept going about Galilee. For 
 he did not want to go about Judaea, because the 
 Jews kept trying to kill him. 
 
 The Jews' feast of Tabernacles was near. 
 
 "Go away from here," his brothers said to him, 
 " and go into Jud?ea, so that your disciples also 
 may see the works you are doing. For no one 
 does anything in secret when he is seeking to be 
 known openly. If you are doing these things 
 show yourself to the world." For not even his 
 brothers believed in him. 
 
 " My time has not yet come," Jesus answered, 
 " but your time is always ready. The world can- 
 not hate you, but it hates me because I keep wit- 
 nessing about it that its deeds are evil. You go up 
 to the feast. I am not going up yet to this feast, 
 for my time has not yet fully come." 
 
32 THE WORD MADE FLESH. S.John 
 
 7; 9. 
 
 So when he had said this to them he continued 
 still in Galilee. But when his brothers had gone 
 up to the feast, then he also went up, not openly, 
 but as it were in secret. So the Jews kept looking 
 for him at the feast. 
 
 <' Where is he ? " they said. 
 
 There was a great deal of discussion among the 
 people about him. 
 
 '' He is a good man," some said. 
 
 ''No," said others, ''he is leading the people 
 astray. ' ' 
 
 And yet no one spoke openly about him for fear 
 of the Jews. 
 
 About the middle of the feast Jesus went up to 
 the Temple and was teaching. 
 
 " How does this man know letters when he has 
 never learned?" said the Jews as they kept won- 
 dering at him. 
 
 "My teaching is not mine," Jesus answered, 
 " but his who sent me. If any one wants to do 
 his will he will learn to know about the teaching 
 whether it is from God or whether I am talking on 
 my own authority. He who talks on his own au- 
 thority is seeking his own honor. But he who is 
 seeking the honor of him who sent him is true and 
 no evil is in him. Did not Moses give you the 
 
S.JOHN THE LIFE. 33 
 
 7: 19. 
 
 Law? And yet not one of you is keeping it. 
 Why are you trying to kill me ? " 
 
 ''You are possessed by a demon. Who is try- 
 ing to kill you ?" 
 
 '' I have done one work and you are all wonder- 
 ing. For this reason Moses has given you circum- 
 cision, not because it is from Moses but from the 
 Fathers, and on the Sabbath you circumcise a 
 man. If on the Sabbath a man receives circum- 
 cision so that the law of Moses should not be 
 broken, are you angry at me because I have com- 
 pletely cured a man on the Sabbath ? Do not 
 judge according to appearance. Judge truly." 
 
 '' Is not this he whom they are trying to kill ? " 
 said some of those of Jerusalem. *' But he is talk- 
 ing boldly and they say nothing to him. Surely 
 the rulers have not got to know that this is the 
 Christ ? Yet we know where this man comes 
 from. But when the Christ comes no one knows 
 where he comes from." 
 
 " You both know me," cried Jesus in the Tem- 
 ple as he was teaching, ''and you know where I 
 am from. I have not come on my own authority. 
 But he who sent me is true and you do not know 
 him. But I know him. For I am from him and 
 he has sent me." 
 
 So they kept trying to arrest him. But no one 
 
34 THE WORD 3IADE FLESH. S.John 
 
 7: 30. 
 
 laid hands on him because his time had not yet 
 come, 
 
 ** When the Christ comes," said many of the 
 people who believed in Jesus, '' will he do more 
 signs than this man has done ? ' ' 
 
 The Pharisees heard the people were murmuring 
 such things about Jesus, so they and the Chief 
 Priests sent officers to take him. 
 
 ''I am still with you a little while," said Jesus, 
 *' and then I am going to him who sent me. You 
 will seek me but will not find me, and where I am 
 you cannot come." 
 
 '' Where will he go that we shall not find him ? " 
 said the Jews to each other. *' Will he go to the 
 dispersed among the Greeks and teach the Greeks ? 
 What kind of a saying is this he said, You will 
 seek me but will not find me. And where I am 
 you cannot come." 
 
 ** If any one is thirsty," Jesus was standing and 
 crying in the last day, the great day of the feast, 
 "let him come to me and drink. He who keeps 
 believing in me, as the Scripture has said, rivers 
 of living water shall flow from him." But he 
 said this about the Spirit whom they who believed 
 in him were to receive. For the Spirit was not yet 
 given because Jesus was not yet glorified. 
 
 ** Surely this is the Prophet," some of the peo- 
 ple said when they heard this. 
 
S.JOHN THE LIGHT. 35 
 
 7: 41. 
 
 ''This is the Christ," said others. 
 
 "What?" still others said. ''Does the Christ 
 come out of Galilee ? Has not the Scripture said 
 the Christ comes from the seed of David, and out 
 of the town of Bethlehem where David was ? ' ' 
 
 So there was a division among the people because 
 of him, and some of them wanted to arrest him. 
 But no one laid hands on him. 
 
 So the officers came to the Chief Priests and 
 Pharisees. 
 
 " Why have you not brought him ? " they asked. 
 
 "No one has ever yet spoken like this man," 
 they said. 
 
 "What ! have you also been led astray? Surely 
 none of the rulers or Pharisees have believed in 
 him ? But this throng which does not get to know 
 the law is cursed." 
 
 " Our law does not judge the man before it hears 
 from him and gets to know what he is doing, does 
 it?" said Nicodemus. 
 
 For he who once came to Jesus by night was one 
 of them. 
 
 " Are you also of Galilee? Search and see that 
 out of Galilee rises no Prophet." 
 
 " I am the light of the world," said Jesus again 
 to them. " He who keeps following me shall not go 
 about in darkness but shall have the light of life." 
 
36 THE WORD MADE FLESH. S.John 
 
 8: 13. 
 
 " You are bearing witness about yourself," said 
 the Pharisees. *' Your witness is not true." 
 
 " Though I am bearing witness about myself, my 
 witness is true. For I know where I came from 
 and where I am going. But you cannot tell where 
 I came from and where I am going. You are 
 judging by appearances. I am not judging any 
 one. Yet if I judge my judgment is true. For I 
 am not alone, but I and the Father who sent me. 
 It is also written in your law that the witness of 
 two men is true. I am my own witness and the 
 Father who sent me is bearing witness about me." 
 
 '* Where is your father? " 
 
 '* You neither know me nor my Father. If you 
 knew me you would know my Father also." 
 
 Jesus said this in the Treasury as he was teaching 
 in the Temple. No one laid hands on him, for his 
 time had not yet come. 
 
 " Will he kill himself? " said the Jews. " For he 
 says, where I am going you cannot come." 
 
 ''You are from beneath," said Jesus. "lam 
 from above. You are of this world. I am not 
 of this world. So I said : You will die in your 
 sins. For if you do not believe I am he you will 
 die in your sins." 
 
 "Who are you?" 
 
 " Why do you ask the very thing I have been 
 talking about to you all along ? I have many 
 
S.JOHN THE TRUTH. 37 
 
 8: 26. 
 
 things to say about you and to judge. But he who 
 sent me is true and I am telling the world what I 
 have heard from him." 
 
 They did not understand that he was speaking to 
 them about the Father. 
 
 ''When you have lifted up the Son of man," 
 Jesus therefore said to them, ''then you will know 
 I am he and that I am doing nothing on my own 
 authority, but as my Father has taught me I am 
 saying this. He who sent me is with me. The 
 Father has not left me alone, for I always do what 
 pleases him," 
 
 As he was saying this many believed in him. 
 
 "If you continue to do what I tell you," said 
 Jesus to those Jews who believed in him, "then 
 you are my disciples indeed, and you will get to 
 know the truth and the truth will make you 
 free." 
 
 "We are Abraham's descendents and were 
 never in bondage to any one. How do you say : 
 You will be made free ? ' ' 
 
 "Most truly I tell you, Whoever keeps commit- 
 ting sin is the slave of sin. The slave does not re- 
 main in the house forever, but the son always re- 
 mains. So if the Son shall make you free, you 
 will be free indeed. I know you are Abraham's 
 descendants. But you are trying to kill me be- 
 cause what I tell you has no place in you. I am 
 
38 THE WORD MADE FLESH. S John 
 
 8 ; 38. 
 
 talking about what I have seen with my Father, and 
 you keep doing what you have seen with your 
 father. ' ' 
 
 '' Abraham is our father." 
 
 '^ If you were Abraham's children you would keep 
 doing what Abraham used to do. But now you are 
 trying to kill me a man who has told you the truth 
 which I have heard from God. Abraham did not 
 use to do this. You keep doing the deeds of your 
 father." 
 
 *'We are not bastards. We have one father, 
 that is, God." 
 
 **If God were your father you would love me. 
 For I came out of God and am here. Nor have 
 I come on my own authority. He sent me. Why 
 do you not understand what I say ? Because you 
 cannot bear to listen to me. You are of your 
 father the devil, and you are determined to do 
 what your father desires. He was a murderer 
 from the beginning. He did not continue in the 
 truth because there is no truth in him. When he 
 tells a lie he is talking about his own. For he is a 
 liar and the har's father. But because I tell you 
 the truth you do not believe me. Which of you 
 convicts me of sin ? And if I say the truth why 
 do you not believe me ? He who is from God 
 hears God's words. You do not hear them because 
 you are not from God," 
 
S.JOHN THE TRUTH. 39 
 
 8:48. 
 
 *' Are we not right in saying you are a Samaritan 
 and possessed by a demon?" 
 
 "I am not possessed by a demon, I am honor- 
 ing my Father and you are dishonoring me. I am 
 not seeking my own honor. There is one who is 
 seeking and judging. Most truly I tell you, Who- 
 ever keeps my saying shall never see death for- 
 ever." 
 
 '' Now we know you are possessed by a demon. 
 Abraham is dead and the Prophets. And you say, 
 If any one keeps my saying he shall never see 
 death forever. Surely you are not greater than 
 our father Abraham who died ? And the Prophets 
 died. Whom are you making yourself?" 
 
 *'If I am honoring myself my honor is nothing. 
 It is my Father who is honoring me, he of whom 
 you are saying, he is your God. Yet you never 
 became acquainted with him. But I know him. 
 And if I should say I do not know him I shall be 
 a liar like you. But I know him and keep his 
 word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my 
 day, and he saw it and was glad." 
 
 '' You are not yet fifty years old, and have you 
 seen Abraham? " 
 
 '* Most truly I tell you, Before Abraham was I 
 am." 
 
 They took up stones to throw at him. But 
 Jesus hid himself, and went out of the Temple, 
 
40 THE WORD MADE FLESH. S.John 
 
 4- 
 
 As Jesus was passing by he saw a man blind 
 from his birth. 
 
 "Rabbi," his disciples asked, ''who was the 
 sinner, this man or his parents so that he was born 
 blind?" 
 
 "Neither did this man sin, nor his parents. On 
 the contrary, this has happened so that what God 
 is doing might be made known in him. We must 
 do while it is day what he who sent me is doing. 
 The night is coming when no one can work. As 
 long as I am in the world I am the light of the world." 
 
 When he had spoken in this way he spat on the 
 ground, made clay of the spittle, anointed the eyes 
 of the blind man with the clay, and said : 
 
 " Go wash in the pool of Siloam," which means, 
 Sent. 
 
 So he went away, washed, and came seeing. 
 
 " Is not this he who used to sit and beg ? " said 
 the neighbors and tho^e who before had seen he 
 was blind. 
 
 " This is he," said some. 
 
 " No, but he is like him," said others. 
 
 " I am he," the man himself said. 
 
 " How were your eyes opened ? " they therefore 
 asked him. 
 
 "A man called Jesus made clay, anointed my 
 eyes, and said to me : Go to the pool of Siloam 
 and wash. So I went, washed, and received sight." 
 
S.John" THE TRUTH. 41 
 
 9: 12. 
 
 ''Where is he?" 
 
 " I do not know." 
 
 They brought the man who had been blind to 
 the Pharisees. It was the Sabbath when Jesus 
 made the clay and opened his eyes. So they also 
 again asked him how he had received his sight. 
 
 '' He put clay on my eyes and I washed and now 
 see." 
 
 <*This man is not from God," said some of the 
 Pharisees, " because he does not keep the Sabbath." 
 
 <' How can a man who is a sinner do such signs ? " 
 said others. 
 
 There was a division among them. 
 
 "What do you say about him in view of the 
 fact that he opened your eyes? " they again said to 
 the bHnd man. 
 
 ''He is a Prophet." 
 
 But the Jews did not believe he had been blind 
 and received his sight till they called his parents. 
 
 " Is this your son who you say was born blind ? " 
 they asked. " How then does he now see ? " 
 
 " We know this is our son and that he was born 
 blind. But by what means he now sees we do not 
 know, or who has opened his eyes we do not know. 
 He is of age. Ask him. He shall speak for him- 
 self." 
 
 His parents said this because they were afraid of 
 the Jews. For they had already agreed that if any 
 
42 THE WORD MADE FLESH. ^ .John 
 
 9: 22, 
 
 one should acknowledge him as the Christ he 
 should be excommunicated. So his parents said : 
 " He is of age. Ask him," 
 
 Then they again called the man who had been 
 blind. 
 
 *' Give God the praise," they said. '' We know 
 this man is a sinner." 
 
 '' Whether he is a sinner or not, I do not know. 
 One thing I do know, that I was blind and now I 
 see. ' ' 
 
 '' What did he do to you? How did he open 
 your eyes ? ' ' 
 
 " I have told you already and you did not listen. 
 Why do you want to hear it again ? Surely you 
 also do not want to be his disciples ? ' ' 
 
 ^' You are his disciple," they revilingly retorted. 
 " But we are Moses' disciples. We know God 
 spoke to Moses. But as for this fellow, we do not 
 know where he comes from." 
 
 '' Why, it is a strange thing that you do not know 
 where he comes from, and yet he has opened my 
 eyes. Now we know God does not listen to sin- 
 ners. But if any one is a worshipper of God and 
 does his will, he listens to him. Since the world 
 began it has not been heard that any one opened 
 the eyes of one born blind. If this man had not 
 been from God he could do nothing." 
 
S. John LOVE. 43 
 
 9: 34. 
 
 '' You were altogether born in sins, and do you 
 teach us ? " 
 
 They excommunicated him. 
 
 Jesus heard they had excommunicated him. So 
 when he had found him, he said : 
 
 '' Do you believe in the Son of God ? " 
 
 ^' Who is he, Lord, so that I may believe in him ? " 
 
 ' ' You have both seen him and he it is who is 
 talking with you." 
 
 ''Lord, I believe." 
 
 ''For judgment did I come into this world," 
 Jesus said, " so that they who do not see might see, 
 and so that they who see, might be made blind." 
 
 Some of the Pharisees who were with Jesus heard 
 this. 
 
 " Are we blind also ? " they said. 
 
 " If you were blind you would have no sin. But 
 now you say : We see. So your sin continues. ' ' 
 
 5- 
 
 "Most truly I tell you. He who does not go in 
 by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some 
 other way, is a thief and a robber. But he who 
 goes in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 
 For him the porter opens, and the sheep listen to 
 his voice. And he calls his own sheep by name 
 and leads them out. And when he has let out all 
 his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow 
 
44 THE WORD 3IADE FLESH, S.John 
 
 10:4. 
 
 him. For they know his voice. But they will not 
 follow a stranger but will flee from him. For they 
 do not know the stranger's voice." 
 
 Jesus gave them this illustration, but they did not 
 understand what he said. So he said to them again : 
 
 ''Most truly I tell you, I am the door of the 
 sheep. All who ever came before me are thieves 
 and robbers. But the sheep did not listen to them. 
 I am the door. If any one goes in by me he shall 
 be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture. 
 The thief only comes to steal and to kill and to 
 destroy. I came so that they may have life and 
 may have an abundance of it. I am the Good 
 Shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives his life for 
 the sheep. But he who is a hireling and not the 
 shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the 
 wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees. So the 
 wolf catches them and scatters the sheep. The 
 hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not 
 care for the sheep. 1 am the Good Shepherd. I 
 become acquainted with my sheep and my sheep 
 become acquainted with me just as the Father be- 
 comes acquainted with me and I become acquainted 
 with the Father, and I am laying down my life for 
 the sheep. I have other sheep which are not of 
 this fold. Them also must I bring and they shall 
 hear my voice. So they shall become one flock 
 under one shepherd. It is for this reason my 
 
S.John LOVE. 45 
 
 10: 17. 
 
 Father loves me, because I am laying down my life 
 so that I may take it again. No one is taking it 
 from me. I am laying it down of myself. I have 
 authority to lay it down and I have authority to 
 take it again. I have received this commandment 
 from my Father." 
 
 There was a division again among the Jews be- 
 cause of these words. 
 
 "He is possessed by a demon and is mad," 
 said many of them. '' Why do you listen to him ? ' ' 
 
 "These are not the words of one possessed," 
 said others. " Can a demon open the eyes of the 
 blind?" 
 
 It was the feast of the Dedication at Jerusalem. 
 It was winter. Jesus was walking in Solomon's 
 Porch in the Temple. The Jews came round him : 
 
 "How long do you make us doubt?" they 
 said. " If you are the Christ tell us plainly." 
 
 " I told you and you do not believe. What I 
 am doing in my Father's name bears witness about 
 me. But you do not believe me because you are 
 not of my sheep as I told you. My sheep are 
 listening to my voice, and I am getting to know 
 them and they are following me. I am giving them 
 eternal life and they shall never perish. Nor shall 
 any one snatch them out of my hand. My Father 
 who gave them to me is greater than all. And no 
 
46 THE WORD MADE FLESH. S.John 
 
 10:29. 
 
 one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand. 
 I and my Father are one." 
 
 The Jews took up stones again to stone him. 
 
 '' Many noble deeds have I shown you from the 
 Father. For which of those deeds are you be- 
 ginning to stone me ? " 
 
 ** We are not stoning you for a noble deed, but 
 for blasphemy. And because you, a man, are mak- 
 ing yourself God. ' ' 
 
 ** Is it not written in your law I said : 
 You are Gods ? 
 
 If he called them Gods to whom God's message 
 came, and the Scripture cannot be broken, do you 
 say about him whom the Father has made pure and 
 sent into the world : You are blaspheming because 
 I said, I am the Son of God? If I do not do the 
 deeds of my Father, do not believe me. But if 1 
 do, though you do not believe me, beheve the 
 deeds so that you may learn and keep learning 
 that the Father is in me and I in him." 
 
 They tried again to take him, but he escaped out 
 of their hands and went away again beyond Jordan 
 to the place where John at first was purifying. He 
 staid there. 
 
 " John did not do any sign," those who went to 
 him used to say. '' But everything John said 
 about this man was true." 
 
 Many believed in him there. 
 
SyToHN LIFE, LIGHT, TRUTH, LOVE. 47 
 
 6. 
 
 There was a man of Bethany the town of Mary 
 and Martha. His name was Lazarus. He was 
 sick. It was that Mary who anointed the Lord 
 with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair 
 whose brother Lazarus was sick. 
 
 '' Lord," his sisters sent and said to Jesus, ''he 
 whom you love is sick." 
 
 '' This sickness is not one which ends in death," 
 said Jesus when he heard this. " On the con- 
 trary it is for the honor of God, so that the Son of 
 God may be honored by it." 
 
 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and 
 Lazarus. So when he heard he was sick he staid 
 two days still in the place where he was. 
 
 '' Let us go into Judaea again," he afterwards 
 said to his disciples. 
 
 '' Rabbi," said his disciples, ''the Jews were 
 but now trying to stone you, and are you going 
 there again?" 
 
 " Are there not twelve hours in the day ? 
 
 If any one walks about in the day he does 
 not stumble, 
 Because he sees the light of this world. 
 But if any one walks about in the night he 
 stumbles 
 Because he has no light." 
 
48 THE WORD MADE FLESH. \^p^^ 
 
 " Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep," Jesus 
 added after he said this. '' But I am going to 
 wake him out of sleep." 
 
 ** Lord," said his disciples, ''if he has fallen 
 asleep he will recover." 
 
 Jesus had spoken of his death. But they thought 
 he had spoken of taking rest in sleep. 
 
 ''Lazarus is dead," he then told them plainly, 
 *' and I am glad for your sakes I was not there so 
 you may believe. And yet let us go to him." 
 
 " Let us also go so that we may die with him," 
 said Thomas called Didymus to the rest of the dis- 
 ciples. 
 
 When Jesus came he found Lazarus had been 
 in the tomb four days already. 
 
 Bethany is only about two miles from Jerusalem. 
 So many of the Jews had come to Martha and 
 Mary to comfort them about their brother. So 
 as soon as she heard Jesus was coming Martha 
 went and met him, but Mary kept sitting in the 
 house. 
 
 "Lord," said Martha, "if you had been here 
 my brother would not have died. But I know that 
 even now whatever you shall ask of God he will 
 give you." 
 
 " Your brother shall rise again." 
 
 " I know he will rise again in the resurrection at 
 the last day." 
 
S.JOHN LIFE, LIGHT, TRUTH, LOVE. 49 
 
 11 : 20. ' ' 
 
 " I am the resurrection and the Hfe," said 
 Jesus. ''He who keeps believing in me, though 
 he were dead, yet shall he live. And whoever 
 keeps living, that is, keeps believing in me shall 
 never die. Do you believe this? " 
 
 ^' Yes, Lord, I have learnt to believe that you 
 are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come 
 into the world." 
 
 When she had said this she went away and 
 called Mary her sister secretly. 
 
 ''Teacher is here and is calling you," she said. 
 
 As soon as she heard that, Mary rose up quickly 
 and came to Jesus. Jesus had not yet come into 
 the town but was in the place where Martha met 
 him. Then the Jews in the house with her com- 
 forting her followed her. For they saw Mary rise 
 up quickly and go out. 
 
 "She is going to the tomb to cry there," they 
 said. 
 
 When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him 
 she fell at his feet. 
 
 "Lord," she said, "if you had been here my 
 brother would not have died." 
 
 So when Jesus saw her crying and the Jews also 
 who came with her crying, he groaned in the 
 spirit and was troubled. 
 
 " Where have you laid him ? " he asked. 
 
50 THE WORD 3IADE FLESH. S^John 
 
 11: d4. 
 
 "Lord, come and see." 
 
 Jesus wept. 
 
 *' See how he loved him," said the Jews at this. 
 
 ** Could not this man who opened the eyes of 
 the blind, have caused that even this man should 
 not have died ? ' ' said some of them. 
 
 So Jesus again groaning in himself came to the 
 tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying on it. 
 
 ''Take the stone away," he said. 
 
 '' Lord," said Martha the sister of him who was 
 dead, "by this time he is stinking. For he has 
 been dead four days. ' ' 
 
 "Did I not tell you if you would believe you 
 should see the majesty of God? " 
 
 So they took the stone away from the place 
 where the dead was laid, and Jesus lifted up his 
 eyes. 
 
 "Father," he said, "I thank thee that thou 
 hast heard me, but I know thou hearest me 
 always. But because of the people standing by I 
 said it so that they may believe that thou hast 
 sent me." 
 
 "Lazarus, come out!" he cried with a loud 
 voice, when he had said this. 
 
 So he who was dead came out bound hand and 
 foot with grave cloths. His face was bound about 
 with a napkin. 
 
 " Undo him and let him go," Jesus added. 
 
S.John LIFE, LIGHT, TRUTH, LOVE. 51 
 
 11 : 44. 
 
 So many of the Jews who came to Mary and 
 saw what Jesus did, beHeved in him. But some of 
 them went away to the Pharisees and told them 
 what he had done. So the Chief Priests and the 
 Pharisees gathered a council. 
 
 ''What are we doing?" they said. " For this 
 man is doing many signs. If we let him alone in 
 this way everybody will believe in him, and the 
 Romans will come and take away both our place 
 and nation." 
 
 *' You do not know anything at all," said one of 
 them named Caiaphas, the High Priest that year, 
 " nor do you consider that it is expedient for us 
 that one man should die for the people instead of 
 the whole nation being destroyed." 
 
 He did not say this of his own accord, but being 
 High Priest that year he prophesied that Jesus 
 should die for the nation, and not for that nation 
 only, but so that he might also gather together in 
 one the children of God scattered abroad. 
 
 From that day they plotted to put Jesus to death. 
 So Jesus no longer kept going about openly among 
 the Jews, but went from that place to the country 
 near the wilderness into a city called Ephraim and 
 staid there with his disciples. 
 
THE WORD MADE FLESH. S. .Tohn 
 
 11: v>y^. 
 
 7. 
 
 The Jews' Passover was near. So many went 
 out of the country up to Jerusalem before the Pass- 
 over to purify themselves. So they kept looking 
 for Jesus and saying to each other as they were 
 standing in the Temple : 
 
 ''What do you think? that he will not come 
 to the feast?" 
 
 The Chief Priests and the Pharisees had given 
 orders that if any one learned where he was he 
 should show it so that they might arrest him. 
 
 So six days before the Passover Jesus came to 
 Bethany where Lazarus was who had been dead 
 whom he raised from the dead. They made him 
 a supper there. Martha was serving. But Lazarus 
 was one of those sitting at table with him. So 
 Mary took a pound of ointment of spikenard, very 
 costly, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped them 
 with her hair. The house was filled with the odor 
 of the ointment. 
 
 '' Why was not this ointment sold for three hun- 
 dred dollars and given to the poor? " said Judah 
 Iscariot one of his disciples who was going to 
 betray him. 
 
 '' Let her alone," said Jesus. For Judah did not 
 say this because he cared for the poor, but because 
 he was a thief and had the bag and carried what 
 
S.^JoHN LIFE, LIGHT, TRUTH, LOVE. 53 
 
 was put in it. *' Let her alone so that she may keep 
 it for the day of my burial . You always have the 
 poor with you, but you will not always have me." 
 
 So the great body of the Jews got to know Jesus 
 was there and they did not come for Jesus' sake 
 only, but so that they might see Lazarus also whom 
 he had raised from the dead. But the Chief Priests 
 plotted to put Lazarus also to death. For because 
 of him many of the Jews went away and believed 
 in Jesus. 
 
 The next day a great crowd which had come to 
 the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem 
 and took branches of palm trees and went out 
 to meet him. 
 
 They cried : 
 Hozanna ! 
 
 Blessed is the King of Israel who is coming in the 
 name of the Lord. 
 
 When Jesus had found an ass he sat on it, as it 
 is written : 
 
 ** Fear not daughter of Zion ! 
 Behold thy King coming, 
 Sitting on an ass's colt," 
 
 His disciples did not understand these things i 
 first, but when Jesus was glorified then they re- 
 membered they were written about him and they 
 had done them to him. So the people with him 
 when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised 
 
54 THE WORD 3IADE FLESH. S.John 
 
 12: 17. 
 
 him from the dead, bore witness. For this reason 
 also the people went and met him because they 
 heard he had done this sign. 
 
 " You see how you have gained nothing," said 
 the Pharisees to each other. "Why, the whole 
 world has gone after him," 
 
 There were some Greeks among those who 
 habitually went up to worship at the feast. So 
 they came to Philip who was of Bethsaida of Gal- 
 ilee. 
 
 ''We want to see Jesus, Sir," they said. 
 Philip came and told Andrew. Andrew and 
 Philip came and told Jesus. 
 
 *' The time for the Son of man to be honored 
 has come," Jesus answered. "Most truly I tell 
 you : 
 
 Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground 
 and dies 
 It continues by itself alone. 
 But if it dies. 
 
 It bears a great deal of fruit. 
 He who loves his life 
 
 Loses it. 
 He who hates his life in this world 
 
 Shall keep it to life eternal. 
 If any one is serving me let him follow me. 
 And where I am there will also my servant 
 be. 
 
S JOHN LIFE, LIGHT, TRUTH, LOVE. 55 
 
 12: 26. ) . > 
 
 If any one is serving me, 
 
 Him will my Father honor. 
 Now is my soul troubled. 
 And what shall I say ? 
 Father, save me from this hour. 
 
 But for this purpose did I come to this hour. 
 Father, honor thy name;" 
 ''I have both honored it," a voice then came 
 from heaven, ''and I will honor it again." 
 
 " It thundered," said the people who were 
 standing by and heard it. 
 
 '' An angel has spoken to him," said others. 
 ''This voice has not come for my sake," Jesus 
 said, "but for your sakes. Now is the judgment 
 of this world. Now shall the Ruler of this world 
 be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up out of the 
 earth, will draw all mankind to myself." 
 
 But Jesus said this intimating by what kind of a 
 death he was going to die. 
 
 "We have heard out of the Law," the people 
 answered, " that the Christ continues forever. So 
 how do you say : The Son of man must be lifted 
 up ? Who is this Son of man ? " 
 
 " The Light is still with you a little while," said 
 Jesus. "Walk while you have the light, so that 
 darkness may not come on you. For he who 
 keeps walking in darkness does not know where 
 he is going. Believe in the light while you have 
 
56 THE WORD MADE FLESH. ^[I'^J^^ 
 
 the light so that you may become children of 
 light." 
 
 Jesus said this and went away and hid himself 
 from them. But though he had done so many 
 signs before them yet they did not believe in him, 
 so that the word of Isaiah the Prophet might be 
 fulfilled when he said : 
 
 Lord, who hath believed our report ? 
 And to whom hath the arm of the Lord been re- 
 vealed ? 
 
 So they could not believe because Isaiah again 
 said: 
 
 He hath blinded their eyes, 
 
 And hardened their heart; 
 Lest they should see with their eyes, 
 
 And perceive with their heart, 
 
 And should turn 
 And I should cure them. 
 
 Isaiah said this when he saw his glory and spoke 
 about him. 
 
 And yet even many of the rulers believed in 
 Jesus. But because of the Pharisees they did not 
 say so, for fear of being excommunicated. For 
 they loved the praise which comes from men rather 
 than that which comes from God. 
 
 *' He who believes in me," Jesus cried, ''does 
 not believe in me, but in him who sent me. And 
 he who sees aie sees him who sent me. I have 
 
S.JOHN LIFE, LIGHT, TRUTH, LOVE. 57 
 
 12:46. ' ' ' 
 
 come as a light into the world so that whoever be- 
 lieves in me should not continue in darkness. And 
 if any one hears my words and does not believe, 1 
 do not judge him. For I did not come to judge 
 the world but to save it. He who rejects me and 
 does not accept what I say has one who is judg- 
 ing him. What I have said will judge him in 
 the last day. For I have not spoken on my own 
 authority. For the Father who sent me has com- 
 manded me what to say and how to talk about it. 
 I know his commandment is life eternal. So what 
 I talk about I talk about it just as the Father has 
 said to me." 
 
68 THE WORD MADE FLESH. S. Joun 
 
 13: 1. 
 
 III. 
 
 Before the Passover, when Jesus knew his time 
 had come to go out of this world to the Father, he 
 had loved his own who were in the world and he 
 loved them to the end. 
 
 They were at supper. The devil had already 
 put it into the heart of Judah Iscariot, Simon's 
 son, to betray him. 
 
 Jesus knew that the Father had given everything 
 into his hands, that he came out from God and was 
 going to God. So rising from supper and laying 
 aside his clothes he took a towel and tied it round 
 himself. He poured water into the bason and be- 
 gan to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them 
 with the towel which was tied round him. 
 
 '' Lord, do you intend to wash my feet? " said 
 Simon Peter when he came to him. 
 
 ''What I am now doing you do not now know. 
 But you will learn later on." 
 
 " You shall never wash my feet." 
 
 " If I do not wash you, you have no part with 
 me." 
 
 " Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and 
 my head." 
 
 **He who has taken a bath needs only to wash his 
 
S.JOHN LOVE IN HUMILITY. 59 
 
 13: 10. 
 
 feet and he is entirely clean. And you are clean. 
 But not all." 
 
 For he knew his betrayer. So he said : ''You 
 are not all clean." So after he had washed their 
 feet and again taken his clothes he sat down. 
 
 ' ' Do you understand what I have done to you ? ' ' 
 he said. " You call me Teacher and Lord. And 
 you say well. For so I am. If I, then, your 
 Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you 
 also ought to wash each other's feet. For I have 
 given you an example to do as I have done to you. 
 Most truly I tell you, The slave is not greater 
 than his master, nor is he who has been sent 
 greater than he who sent him. If you know this 
 happy are you if you do it. I am not speaking 
 about you all. I know whom I have chosen. But 
 I have done this so that the scripture may be ful- 
 filled : 
 
 He, who is eating bread with me. 
 Lifted up his heel against me. 
 
 From this moment I am telling you before it 
 happens so that when it has happened you may be- 
 lieve I am he. Most truly I tell you : 
 
 He who receives whomever I send, receives me. 
 He who receives me, receives him who sent me. ' ' 
 
60 THE WORD MADE FLESH. S. John 
 
 13 : 21. 
 
 2. 
 
 When Jesus had said this he was troubled in 
 spirit. 
 
 " Most truly I tell you," he said, " One of you 
 will betray me." 
 
 The disciples kept looking at each other in doubt 
 of whom he was speaking. 
 
 Now there was at table reclining on Jesus* bosom 
 one of his disciples whom he loved. So Simon 
 Peter beckoned to him : 
 
 " Tell us who it is about whom he is speaking," 
 he said. 
 
 *' Lord, who is it ? " he therefore said to Jesus 
 leaning back as he was on his breast. 
 
 " It is he to whom I shall give a piece of bread 
 after dipping it." 
 
 So when he had dipped the piece of bread he 
 gave it to Judah Iscariot, the son of Simon. And 
 after the piece of bread had been thus given to 
 him, Satan went into him. 
 
 ''What you are intending to do, do quickly," 
 said Jesus. 
 
 Now no one at the table knew why he said this 
 to him. For some thought because Judah had the 
 bag Jesus said : " Buy what we need for the feast," 
 or " to give something lo the poor." 
 
S.JOHN LOVE IN HUMILITY. 61 
 
 13:30. 
 
 So when he had received the piece of bread 
 Judah at once went out. 
 , It was night. 
 
 3- 
 
 ''Now is the Son of man honored," Jesus said 
 after Judah had gone out, " and God is honored 
 in him. And God will honor him in himself, and 
 will at once honor him. Little children, I am still 
 with you a little while. You will seek me, and as 
 I told the Jews, Where I am going you cannot 
 come, so now I tell you. I give you a new com- 
 mandment : Love each other. Love each other 
 just as I have loved you. By this will everybody 
 come to know that you are my disciples, — by the 
 love you have for each other." 
 
 "Lord," said Simon Peter, "where are you 
 going?" 
 
 " Where I am going you cannot follow me now. 
 But you shall follow me later on." 
 
 "Lord, why cannot I follow you now? I will 
 lay down my life for your sake." 
 
 "Will you lay down your life for my sake? 
 Most truly I tell you, The cock will not crow be- 
 fore you have denied me three times. " 
 
62 THE WORD MADE ELEiSR. S. .)oun 
 
 14:1. 
 
 IV. 
 
 " Do not let your heart be troubled," Jesus con- 
 tinued, " Believe in God, that is, believe in me. 
 In my Father's house are many abiding-places. If 
 it were not so I would have told you. I am going 
 to prepare a place for you. And if I am going and 
 shall prepare a place for you, I am coming again 
 and shall receive you to myself, so that where I 
 am you also may be. And where I am going you 
 know the way." 
 
 " Lord," said Thomas, "we do not know where 
 you are going, and how can we know the way? " 
 
 '' I am the way, that is, the truth, that is, the life," 
 said the Lord. " No one comes to the Father but 
 through me. If you had gotten to know me, you 
 would have known my Father also. And from now 
 on you have gotten to know him and have seen 
 him." 
 
 *' Lord, show us the Father and it is enough for 
 us." 
 
 *' Have I been so long with you and you have 
 not gotten to know me, Philip? He who has 
 seen me has seen the Father. So how do you say 
 then, Show us the Father ? Do you not believe I 
 
S.John LAST WORDS. 63 
 
 14: 10. 
 
 am in the Father and the Father in me? The 
 words I am speaking to you I am not speaking on 
 my own authority, but the Father dwelhng in me 
 is doing the works. BeHeve me that I am in the 
 Father and the Father in me, or else beheve me for 
 the very deed's sake. Most truly I tell you, He 
 who keeps believing in me shall do what I am do- 
 ing. And greater deeds than these shall he do, 
 because I am going to the Father. Whatever you 
 shall ask in my name I will do it, so that the Father 
 may be honored in the Son. If you shall ask any- 
 thing in my name I will do it. If you love me you 
 will keep my commandments. And I will pray the 
 Father and he will give you another Helper to be 
 with you forever, the Spirit of Truth, whom the 
 world cannot receive. For it neither looks at him 
 nor gets to know him. But you get to know him. 
 For he continues with you and is in you. I will 
 not leave you orphans. I am coming to you. Yet 
 a little while and the world looks at me no longer. 
 But you look at me. For I am living and you 
 will live. In that day you will learn that I am 
 in my Father and you in me and I in you. He 
 who has my commandments and is keeping them is 
 the one who is loving me. And the one who loves 
 me will be loved by my Father. And I will love 
 him and will make myself known to him." 
 
64 THE WORD MADE FLESH. S John 
 
 14: 22. 
 
 '' Lord," said Judah. Not Iscariot. *' Lord, 
 how is it you will make yourself known to us and 
 not to the world ? " 
 
 *' If any one loves me he will do what I tell him, 
 and my Father will love him, and we will come to 
 him and make our abode with him. He who does 
 not love me, does not do what I tell him. And 
 what I tell you is not mine, but the Father's who 
 sent me. I have said these things to you while 
 still present with you. But the Helper, the Holy 
 Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, 
 will teach you everything and bring to your remem- 
 brance everything I said to you. Peace I am leav- 
 ing you. My peace I am giving you. Not as the 
 world gives am I giving to you. Do not let your 
 heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. You heard 
 how I said, I am going away and am coming to 
 you. If you loved me you would have rejoiced 
 because I am going to the Father. For the Father 
 is greater than I. And now I have told you before 
 it happens, so that when it has happened you may 
 believe. I will no longer talk much with you. For 
 the ruler of the world is coming. He has nothing 
 in me. But this is done so that the world may 
 come to a knowledge of the fact that I love the 
 Father and as the Father gave me commandment 
 so I am doing. Rise, let us go from here. 
 
S.^JOHN LAST WORDS. 65 
 
 2. 
 
 I am the real vine and my Father is the vine- 
 dresser. Every branch in me which does not keep 
 bearing fruit he takes away. And every branch 
 which bears fruit he keeps trimming so that it may 
 keep bearing more fruit. Already you are trimmed 
 because of what I have told you. Continue in me 
 and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by 
 itself except it continues in the vine, no more can 
 you except you continue in me. I am the vine. 
 You are the branches. He who continues in me 
 and I in him keeps bearing a great deal of fruit. 
 For without me you can do nothing. If any one 
 does not continue in me he is thrown away as a 
 branch and is withered. So they are gathered, 
 thrown into the fire, and burned. If you continue 
 in me and my words continue in you, you shall 
 ask what you wish and it shall be done for you. 
 My Father is honored in your bearing a great deal 
 of fruit and becoming my disciples. Just as the 
 Father has loved me have I also loved you. Con- 
 tinue in my love. 
 
 If you keep my commandments. 
 You will continue in my love, 
 
 Just as I have kept my Father's commandments, 
 And continue in his love. 
 
66 THE WORD MADE FLESH. S.John 
 
 15: 11. 
 
 I have told you these things so that my joy may 
 be in you, and your joy may be made complete. 
 My commandment is this, that you love each other 
 just as I have loved you. No one has greater love 
 than to lay down his life for his friends. You are 
 my friends, if you do whatever I command you. 
 No longer do I call you slaves. For the slave 
 does not know what his master is doing. I have 
 rather called you friends. For I have made 
 known to you everything which I heard from 
 my Father. You did not choose me. I chose 
 you and appointed you to go and keep bearing 
 fruit and your fruit to continue, so that whatever 
 you shall ask of the Father in my name he may 
 give you. 
 
 I am giving you these commandments so that 
 you may love each other. If the world hates you 
 become acquainted with the fact that it has hated 
 me before it hated you. If you were of the world 
 the world would have a personal affection for its 
 own. But because you are not of the world, but I 
 have chosen you out of the world, the world hates 
 you. Remember what I told you, A slave is not 
 greater than his master. If they persecuted me, 
 they will also persecute you. If they kept my 
 word they will keep yours also. But they will do 
 everything to you for my name's sake, because 
 they do not know him who sent me. If I had not 
 
S.JopiN LAST WORDS. 67 
 
 15: 22. 
 
 come and talked to them they would not have had 
 sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin. 
 He who hates me hates my Father also. If I had 
 not done among them the deeds no one else did, 
 they would not have had sin. But now they have 
 both seen and hated both me and my Father. But 
 this happens so that what is written m their law 
 may be fulfilled : 
 
 They hated me without a cause. 
 
 But when the Helper has come whom I will send 
 you from the Father, that is, the Spirit of Truth 
 who proceeds from the Father, he will bear 
 witness about me. And you also are bearing wit- 
 ness because you have been with me from the 
 beginning. 
 
 I have told you this so that you may not be 
 offended. They will excommunicate you. Yes, 
 the time is coming when whoever kills you will 
 think he is doing God service. And they will do 
 these things because they never became acquainted 
 with the Father nor me. But I have told you this, 
 so that when the time has come you may remember 
 I told you about it. I did not tell you this from 
 the beginning, because I was with you. But now 
 I am going to him who sent me, and none of you 
 asks me. Where are you going ? But because I have 
 told you this, sorrow has filled your heart. And 
 
68 THE WORD MADE FLESH. S.John 
 
 16:7. 
 
 yet I tell you the truth, It is expedient for you that 
 I go away. For if I do not go away the Helper 
 will not come to you. But if I go I will send him 
 to you. So when he has come he will convict the 
 world of sin, and of goodness, and of judgment. 
 Of sin, because they do not believe in me. Of 
 goodness, because I am going to the Father and you 
 do not see me any more. Of judgment, because 
 the ruler of this world has been judged. I have 
 still many things to tell you, but you cannot bear 
 them now. But when the Spirit of Truth has 
 come he will guide you into all the truth. For he 
 will not speak on his own authority. But whatever 
 he hears he will talk about and will announce to 
 you the things to come. He will honor me. For 
 he will take of mine and will announce it to you. 
 Everything the Father has is mine. So I said he 
 is taking of mine and will announce it to you. 
 
 A little while and you are looking at me no longer. 
 And again a little while and you will see me." 
 
 '' What is this he is saying to us?" said some 
 of his disciples to each other. *' A little while and 
 you are not looking at me, and again a little while 
 and you will see me, and. Because I am going to 
 the Father." So they said: ''What is this he is 
 
S JOHN LAST WORDS. 69 
 
 16: 18. 
 
 saying, A little while? We do not know what he 
 is saying." 
 
 Jesus got to know they wanted to ask him, so he 
 said to them : 
 
 '' Do you inquire of each other about what I 
 said : 
 
 A little while and you are not looking at me. 
 And again a little while and you will see me? 
 
 Most truly I tell you, you will weep and lament 
 but the world will rejoice. And you will be 
 sorrowful. But your sorrow will be turned into 
 joy. A woman when she is in labor has pain 
 because her time has come. But when the little 
 one has been born she no longer remembers the 
 anguish for the joy that a man has been born into 
 the world. So you now have pain. But I will see 
 you again, and your heart shall rejoice and no one 
 shall rob you of your joy. 
 
 In that day you will ask me no question at all. 
 Most truly I tell you, If you shall ask anything of 
 the Father he will give it to you in my name. Be- 
 fore this you have asked nothing in my name. 
 Ask, and you shall receive so that your happiness 
 may be complete. 
 
 My talking to you has been in dark sayings. 
 The time is coming when I shall no longer talk to 
 
70 THE WORD MADE FLESH. S. John 
 
 16: 25. 
 
 you in dark sayings, but shall tell you plainly about 
 the Father. In that day you will ask in my name. 
 And I do not tell you I will pray the Father for 
 you. For the Father himself loves you because you 
 have loved me and have believed I came out from 
 beside the Father. I came out of the Father and 
 have come into the world. Again I am leaving 
 the world and am going to the Father." 
 
 ''Why, now you are talking plainly and not 
 saying any dark saying. Now we know you know 
 everything and do not need any one to ask you. 
 By this we believe you came out from God." 
 
 ''Do you now believe? Why, the time is 
 coming, yes, it has already come, when you will 
 be scattered, every one to his own, and will leave 
 me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the 
 Father is with me. I have talked about these 
 things with you so that in me you may have peace. 
 In the world you have tribulation. But take 
 courage. I have overcome the world. ' ' 
 
 3- 
 
 Jesus talked about these things and lifted up his 
 eyes to heaven. 
 
 "Father," he said, " the time has come. Honor 
 thy Son so that the Son may honor thee. Thou 
 gavest him authority over all flesh, so that he should 
 
S. JOHN PEA YING. 71 
 
 17 i 2. 
 
 give eternal life to all those whom thou hast given 
 him. And the eternal life is this, to become ac- 
 quainted with thee, the only true God, and Jesus 
 Christ whom thou didst send. I honored thee on 
 earth. I have finished the work thou gavest me to 
 do. And now, O Father, honor me with thine 
 own self with the honor I had with thee before the 
 world was. I made known thy name to the men 
 thou gavest me out of the world. They were thine 
 and thou gavest them to me out of the world. 
 Now they understand that everything thou hast 
 given me is from thee. For I have told them what 
 thou didst tell me, and they accepted it and be- 
 came truly acquainted with the fact that I came 
 out from thee and they believed thou didst send 
 me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the 
 world, but for those thou hast given me. For they 
 are thine. And all mine are thine and thine are 
 mine, and I am honored in them. And I am no 
 longer in the world, but these are in the world, 
 and I am coming to thee. Holy Father, keep 
 in thy name those whom thou hast given me, so 
 that they may be one just as we are. While I was 
 with them I kept in thy name those whom thou 
 hast given me, and I guarded them and not one of 
 them perished but the son of perdition so that the 
 Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming 
 to thee and I am talking about these things in the 
 
72 THE WORD MADE FLESH. S John 
 
 1» : 13. 
 
 world so that the)^ may have my happiness made 
 complete in themselves. I have told them what 
 thou didst say, and the world hated them, because 
 they are not of the world just as I am not of the 
 world. I am not asking thee to take them out of 
 the world but to keep them from the evil one. 
 They are not of the world just as I am not of 
 the world. Set them apart in the truth. What 
 thou dost say is truth. Just as thou didst send 
 me into the world so did I send them into the 
 world. And for their sakes I set myself apart, so 
 that they themselves also may be set apart in 
 truth. 
 
 Nor do I pray for these alone, but for those 
 also who believe in me through what they say, so 
 that they all may be one just as thou. Father, art 
 in me, and I in thee, so that they also may be in 
 us, so that the world may believe that thou didst 
 send me. And the honor thou hast given me I 
 have given them, so that they may be one just as 
 we are one, I in them and thou in me, so that they 
 may be perfected into one, so that the world may 
 get to know that thou didst send me and didst love 
 them just as thou didst love me. Father, it is my 
 desire that they also whom thou hast given me may 
 be with me where I am, so that they may look at 
 my honor which thou hast given me. For thou 
 didst love me before the foundation of the world. 
 
S- John PEA YING. tS 
 
 17: 25. 
 
 Good Father, the world did not get to know thee 
 but I got to know thee, and these got to know that 
 thou didst send me, and I made known to them 
 thy name and will make it known, so that the love 
 with which thou didst love me may be in them and 
 
 1 in them." 
 
74 THE WORD MADE FLESH. S.John 
 
 18: 1. 
 
 V. 
 
 When Jesus had said this he went out with his 
 disciples over the brook Kidron where there was a 
 garden which he and his disciples entered. 
 
 Judah also who was betraying him knew the 
 place. For Jesus often went there with his dis- 
 ciples. So when he had received the company of 
 soldiers and some of the temple guard from the 
 Chief Priests and Pharisees, Judah came with 
 lanterns and torches and weapons. 
 
 ''Whom are you seeking?" said Jesus as he 
 went out, aware of everything which was coming 
 on him. 
 
 ''Jesus the Nazarene." 
 
 "lam he." 
 
 Judah also who was betraying him was standing 
 with them. So when Jesus said to them, I am he, 
 they went backward and fell to the ground. 
 
 " Whom are you seeking ? " he again asked. 
 
 "Jesus the Nazarene." 
 
 " I told you I am he. So if you are seeking me 
 allow these to go away." He said this so that 
 the word might be fulfilled which he said : 
 
 Of those thou hast given me, 1 lost not one. 
 
S.JOHN SUFFERING. 75 
 
 18: 10. 
 
 Simon Peter had a sword, so he drew it, struck 
 the High Priest's slave, and cut off his right ear. 
 The slave's name was Malchus. 
 
 *' Put up the sword into the sheath," said Jesus 
 to Peter. * ' Shall I not drink the cup my Father 
 has given me ? " 
 
 2. 
 
 So the soldiers of the garrison, and the Colonel, 
 and the Jewish members of the temple guard, seized 
 Jesus, and bound him and led him to Annas first, 
 for he was father-in-law to Caiaphas the High 
 Priest that year. Caiaphas was he who advised 
 the Jews that it was expedient for one man to die 
 for the people. 
 
 Simon Peter followed Jesus and so did another 
 disciple. That disciple was known to the High 
 Priest. So he went in with Jesus into the court of 
 the High Priest. Peter kept standing outside at 
 the door. So the other disciple who was known to 
 the High Priest went out and spoke to her who 
 was tending the door and brought Peter in. 
 
 '' You also are not one of this man's disciples ? " 
 said the girl who was tending the door to Peter. 
 
 ''I am not," he said. 
 
 Now the slaves and the constables were standing 
 round a charcoal fire which they had made because 
 it was cold, and they were warming themselves, 
 
76 THE WORD MADE FLESH. \^P^^ 
 
 and Peter was standing with them warming him- 
 self. The High Priest asked Jesus about his dis- 
 ciples and about his teaching. 
 
 '^ I have talked openly to the world," Jesus an- 
 swered. "I always taught in synagogue and in 
 the Temple where all the Jews come together, and 
 in secret I talked about nothing. Why do you ask 
 me? Ask those who heard me what I talked 
 about with them. These know what I said." 
 
 '' Do you answer the High Priest in such a way ? " 
 said one of the constables standing by as he struck 
 Jesus with his hand. 
 
 ''If I have spoken evil, bear witness about the 
 evil. But if well, why do you strike me ? " 
 
 So Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the High 
 Priest. 
 
 Now Simon Peter was standing warming himself. 
 
 ''You also are not one of his disciples ? " they 
 said to him. 
 
 " I am not," he said. 
 
 " Did I not see you in the garden with him ? " 
 said one of the slaves of the High Priest, a relative 
 of the one whose ear Peter cut off. 
 
 Peter denied again. And at once a cock crew. 
 
 3- 
 So they led Jesus from Caiaphas into the gov- 
 ernor's quarters. It was early. They themselves 
 
S. JOHN SUFFERING. 77 
 
 18: 28. 
 
 did not go in, so that they might not be defiled, 
 but might eat the Passover. So Pilate went out to 
 them. 
 
 ''What charge are you bringing against this 
 man ? " he said. 
 
 '* If he had not been a criminal, we should not 
 have handed him over to you." 
 
 " Take him yourselves and try him according to 
 your law." 
 
 *' It is not lawful for us to put any one to death," 
 the Jews answered to this, so that the word of Jesus 
 might be fulfilled when he spoke intimating by what 
 death he was going to die. 
 
 So Pilate went into the governor's quarters again 
 and called Jesus. 
 
 '* You are the King of the Jews ? " he asked. 
 
 " On your own authority, are you saying this or 
 did others tell you about me ? " 
 
 '' Surely I am not a Jew ? Your own people and 
 the Chief Priests handed you over to me. What 
 have you done?" 
 
 '' My Kingdom is not of this world. If my 
 Kingdom had been of this world then my followers 
 would have gone on fighting so that I should not 
 be handed over to the Jews. But, as it is, my 
 Kingdom is not from here." 
 
 *' Then you are a King, are you ? " 
 
78 THE WORD MADE FLESH. S.John 
 
 18: 37. 
 
 "You say it, because I am a King. For this 
 purpose have I been born and for this purpose 
 have I come into the world, to bear witness to the 
 truth. Every one who is of the truth hears my 
 voice." 
 
 ''What is truth? " 
 
 When Pilate had said this he went out again to 
 the Jews. 
 
 '' I do not find even a single cause for bringing 
 a charge against him," he said. **But you have a 
 custom that I should release you one at the Pass- 
 over. So do you want me to release you the King 
 of the Jews?" 
 
 "■ Not this man, but Barabbas ! " they again cried 
 out. 
 
 Now Barabbas was a robber. 
 
 So Pilate then took Jesus and beat him, and the 
 soldiers platted a crown of thorns and put it on 
 his head, and a purple robe on him. And they 
 kept coming up to him and saying : 
 
 ''Long live the King of the Jews! " and they 
 struck him with their hands. 
 
 Pilate went out again. 
 
 " Look," he said, " I am bringing him out to you 
 so that you may know I find no cause for a charge 
 against him." 
 
 Jesus came out wearing the purple robe. 
 
 " Look, here is the man," said Pilate. 
 
S. JOHN SUFFERING. 79 
 
 19: 6. 
 
 '' Crucify him ! " the Chief Priests and their fol- 
 lowers cried out when they saw him. "Crucify 
 him!" 
 
 ''Take him yourselves and crucify him. For I 
 find no cause for a charge against him." 
 
 "We have a law, and by that law he ought to 
 die, because he made himself the Son of God." 
 
 So when Pilate heard this he was the more afraid, 
 and went into the governor's quarters again. 
 
 " Where do you come from ? " he asked Jesus. 
 
 He gave him no answer. 
 
 " Do you refuse to speak even to me ? Do you 
 not know I have authority to release you, and I 
 have authority to crucify you? " 
 
 " You would have no authority at all against 
 me, if it had not been given to you from above. 
 So he who handed me over to you has greater 
 sin." 
 
 From that time Pilate kept trying to release 
 him. 
 
 "If you let this man go you are not Caesar's 
 friend," the Jews cried out. "Whoever makes 
 himself a King opposes Caesar. ' ' 
 
 So when Pilate heard this he brought Jesus out 
 and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called 
 the Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. 
 
 Now it was the Preparation of the Passover and 
 about noon. 
 
80 THE WORD 3IADE FLESH. \^.^S^ 
 
 " Look, your King ! " said Pilate to the Jews. 
 
 " x\vvay with him ! Away with him ! Crucify 
 him ! " 
 
 '' Shall I crucify your King ? " 
 
 '' We have no King but Caesar ! " 
 
 It was the Chief Priests who answered. So Pilate 
 then handed him over to them to be crucified. 
 
S.JOHN SUFFERING. 81 
 
 19: 16. 
 
 VI. 
 
 So they took Jesus and led him away. And 
 carrying the cross for himself he went out to the 
 place called, The Place of a Skull, but in Hebrew, 
 Golgotha, where they crucified him and two others 
 with him, on each side one, and Jesus between 
 them. Pilate wrote a title also and put it on the 
 cross. It was this : 
 
 JESUS, THE NAZARENE, 
 THE KING OF THE JEWS. 
 
 So many of the Jews read it. For the place 
 where Jesus was crucified was near the city. It was 
 written in Hebrew and Latin and Greek. 
 
 *' Do not write, The King of the Jews," said the 
 Chief Priests of the Jews to Pilate, ' ' but that he 
 said, I am King of the Jews." 
 
 <' What I have written, I have written," answered 
 Pilate. 
 
 So when they had crucified Jesus, the soldiers 
 took his clothes, made four parts, to every soldier a 
 part, and also the coat. Now the coat was seam- 
 less, woven from the top throughout. 
 
82 THE WORD MADE FLESH. S.John 
 
 19: 24. 
 
 '' Do not let us tear it," they for this reason said 
 to each other, "but cast lots for it to see whose it 
 will be." 
 
 This happened so that the Scripture might be ful- 
 filled which says : 
 
 They parted my clothes among them 
 And for my vesture they cast lots. 
 
 So the soldiers did these things. 
 
 2. 
 
 Now there were standing by the cross of Jesus his 
 mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of 
 Cleopas and Mary Magdalene. 
 
 " Mother," said Jesus to her when he saw her 
 and the disciple he loved standing by, '' Mother, 
 look, your son." 
 
 ''Look, your mother," he then said to the dis- 
 ciple. 
 
 From that time the disciple took her to his own 
 home. 
 
 ''I am thirsty," said Jesus after this, knowing 
 that . everything was now finished so that the 
 scripture might be fulfilled. 
 
 There was sitting there a bowl full of sour wine. 
 So they put a sponge full of the wine on a hyssop 
 stalk and put it to his mouth. 
 
 *'It is finished," he said when he had received 
 the wine. 
 
S.JOHN . SUFFERING. 83 
 
 19: 30. 
 
 He bowed his head and gave up his spirit. So 
 the Jews asked Pilate to have their legs broken and 
 have them taken away so that the bodies might not 
 remain on the cross on the Sabbath. For it was 
 Preparation and the day of that Sabbath was a high 
 day. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of 
 the first and of the other who was crucified with 
 him. But when they came to Jesus and saw he 
 was already dead, they did not break his legs but 
 one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear and 
 at once blood and water came out. And he who 
 has seen has borne witness and his witness is true 
 and he knows he says what is true, so that you also 
 may believe. For these things happened so that 
 the scripture might be fulfilled : 
 
 " A bone of him shall not be broken." 
 
 And again another scripture says : 
 
 "They shall look on him whom ihey pierced." 
 
 3- 
 
 After this Joseph of Arimath?ea, a disciple of 
 Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked 
 Pilate's permission to take away the body of Jesus. 
 Pilate gave him leave. So he came and took away 
 his body. Nicodemus also came, he who once 
 came to Jesus by night. He came with a roll of 
 myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pound weight. 
 
84 THE WORD MADE FLESH. S.John 
 
 19: 40. 
 
 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in 
 linen cloths with the spices, in the way the Jews 
 bury. 
 
 In the place where he was crucified was a garden, 
 in the garden a new tomb, and in it no one had 
 ever yet been laid. So because of the Jews' Prepa- 
 ration, for the tomb was near, they laid Jesus there. 
 
^'20^1^ ^/S/iVG. «5 
 
 VII. 
 
 The first day of the week Mary Magdalene came 
 early while it was still dark to the tomb and saw 
 the stone taken from it and she ran and came to 
 Simon Peter and the other disciple whom Jesus 
 loved. 
 
 ''They have taken away the Lord out of the 
 tomb," she said^ ''and we do not know where 
 they have laid him." 
 
 Peter and the other disciple went out arid started 
 for the tomb. They both ran together, but the 
 other disciple kept outrunning Peter and came first 
 to the tomb. He stooped and looked in. He saw 
 the Hnen cloths lying but he did not go in. Simon 
 Peter also came following him and went into the 
 tomb. He saw the linen cloths, and the napkin 
 which was on his head not lying with the linen 
 cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself. So the 
 other disciple also who came first to the tomb went 
 in, and he saw and beHeved. For as yet they did 
 not know the scripture that he must rise from the 
 dead. 
 
 They went back home. • 
 
86 THE WORD 3IADE FLESH. \^?^^ 
 
 2. 
 
 But Mary kept standing outside the tomb crying. 
 So as she was crying she stooped down and looked 
 into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white 
 sitting where the body of Jesus had laid, one at the 
 head and one at the feet. 
 
 " Woman, why are you weeping? " they asked. 
 
 "Because they have taken away my Lord and I 
 do not know where they have laid him." 
 
 On saying this she turned round and saw Jesus 
 standing but did not know it was he. 
 
 ''Woman, why are you weeping?" he said. 
 *' Whom are you seeking ? " 
 
 '' If you have taken him away from here, Sir," 
 said Mary, supposing him to be the gardener, ''tell 
 me where you have laid him, and I will take him 
 away." 
 
 " Mary ! " 
 
 " Rabboni ! " she turned and answered him in 
 Hebrew. This means Teacher, 
 
 " Do not keep clinging to me. For I have not 
 yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers 
 and tell them : I am ascending to my Father and 
 your Father and my God and your God." 
 
 Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples : 
 " I have seen the Lord," and how he had said these 
 things to her. 
 
S^JOHN ASCENDING. 87 
 
 3- 
 
 So the same day, at evening, the first day of the 
 week, when for fear of the Jews the doors were shut 
 where the disciples were assembled Jesus came and 
 stood among them, and said : 
 
 ** Peace be unto you." 
 
 When he had said this he showed them his hands 
 and his side. So the disciples were glad when they 
 saw the Lord. 
 
 '* Peace be unto you," he said to them again. 
 "Just as the Father has sent me out, I also send 
 you." 
 
 When he had said this he breathed on them. 
 
 "Receive the Holy Spirit," he said. "If you 
 are putting away any one's sins, they are being put 
 away; if you continue to hold them, they have 
 been and are being held." 
 
 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, 
 was not with them when Jesus came. 
 
 " We have seen the Lord," the other disciples 
 said to him. 
 
 "Unless I shall see in his hands the print of the 
 nails," he answered, " and put my finger into the 
 print of the nails, and my hand into his side, I will 
 by no means believe." 
 
88 THE WORD 3IADE FLESH. S.John 
 
 20: 26. 
 
 So eight days later his disciples were again within 
 and Thomas with them and the doors were shut, 
 and Jesus came and stood among them. 
 
 '< Peace be unto you ! " he said. 
 
 " Reach your finger here and see my hands," 
 he then said to Thomas, ''and reach your hand 
 here and put it into my side, and do not become 
 faithless but believing." 
 
 '* My Lord and my God ! " exclaimed Thomas. 
 
 " Because you have seen me have you believed, 
 Thomas? Blessed are those who have not seen 
 and yet have believed." 
 
 So many other signs did Jesus do in the presence 
 of the disciples, which are not written in this book. 
 But these are written so that you may believe that 
 Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and so that be- 
 lieving you may have life in his name. 
 
S. John ASCENDING. 
 
 21: 1. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 After this Jesus showed himself again to the 
 disciples at the sea of Tiberias. He showed him- 
 self in this way. Simon Peter and Thomas called 
 Didymus and Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee and the 
 sons of Zebedee and two others of his disciples 
 were together. 
 
 '' 1 am going fishing," said Simon Peter. 
 
 " We also are going with you," they answered. 
 
 They went out, got into the boat, and that night 
 caught nothing. But when day was now breaking 
 Jesus stood on the beach, but the disciples did not 
 know it was Jesus. 
 
 '< Children," he said, '' you have nothing to eat, 
 have you ? ' ' 
 
 "No." 
 
 " Cast the net on the right side of the boat and 
 you shall find." 
 
 They cast it, and now they could not draw it for 
 the great number of fish. 
 
 "It is the Lord," said the disciple Jesus loved 
 to Peter. 
 
 So when Simon Peter heard it was the Lord he 
 wrapped his coat about him, for he was naked, 
 and threw himself into the sea. But the other 
 disciples came in the little boat, dragging the net 
 
90 THE WORD MADE FLESH. S.John 
 
 full of fish. For they were not far from the land, 
 but about three hundred feet. So when they got 
 out on the beach they saw a charcoal fire there, a 
 fish laid on it, and a loaf of bread. 
 
 ''Bring some of the fish you have just caught," 
 said Jesus. 
 
 So Simon Peter went aboard and drew the net to 
 land full of big fish, a hundred and fifty-three. 
 And for all there were so many the net was not 
 torn. 
 
 <' Come to breakfast," said Jesus. 
 
 None of the disciples dared ask him : Who are 
 you? For they knew it was the Lord. So Jesus 
 came, took the loaf, and gave to them, and the 
 fish also. 
 
 This is now the third time Jesus was made known 
 to the disciples after he had risen from the dead. 
 
 2. 
 
 So when they had breakfasted, Jesus said to 
 Simon Peter : 
 
 " Simon, son of John, do you love me more than 
 these?" 
 
 ** Yes, Lord, you know I have a personal affec- 
 tion for you." 
 
 '' Feed my lambs." 
 
 ''Simon, son of John," he said to him again the 
 second time, " do you love me? " 
 
S.^JOHN ASCENDING, 91 
 
 '' Yes, Lord, you know I have a personal affec- 
 tion for you." 
 
 '^ Take care of my sheep." 
 
 ^' Simon, son of John," he said to him the third 
 time, '' have you a personal affection for me? " 
 
 ''Lord," Peter answered, for he was grieved 
 because he said to him the third time : Have you 
 a personal affection for me? ''Lord, you know 
 everything, your own experience tells you I have 
 a personal affection for you." 
 
 "Feed my little sheep. Most truly I tell you : 
 When you were young, you girded yourself and 
 went wherever you desired. But when you are 
 old, you will stretch out your hands and another 
 will gird you and carry you where you do not wish 
 to go." 
 
 "Follow me," he added, having said what he 
 did to intimate the nature of the death by which 
 Peter was going to honor God. 
 
 Peter turned round and saw the disciple Jesus 
 loved following, who also leaned back on his breast 
 at supper and said: "Lord, who is he who is 
 betraying you ? " 
 
 "Lord," said Peter when he saw him, "and 
 what shall this man do ? " 
 
 " If I wish him to stay till I come what is that 
 to you? You follow me." 
 
92 
 
 So the saying went out among the brothers 
 that that disciple was not going to die. Yet Jesus 
 did not say to him he was not going to die, but, 
 '' If I wish him to stay till I come, what is that to 
 you? " 
 
 3- 
 
 This is the disciple who is witnessing to these 
 things and wrote them, and we know his witness is 
 true. 
 
 There are many other things which Jesus did ; 
 but if every one of them should be written, I sup- 
 pose even the world itself would not contain the 
 books which should be written. Amen. 
 
93 
 
 (Note.) 
 
 Most of the ancient authorities omit S. John 
 7:53-8:11, while those which contain it vary- 
 much from each other. For this reason, and for 
 the further reason that it interferes with the 
 continuity of the passage where it is found in 
 King James' Version, it is given as a separate 
 fragment here : 
 
 The ivoman taken in adultery. 
 
 Every man went to his own home : but Jesus 
 went to the Mount of Olives. And early in the 
 morning he came into the Temple and all the people 
 came to him. So he sat down and was teaching 
 them. 
 
 "Teacher," said the Scribes and Pharisees when 
 they had brought a woman taken in adultery and 
 set her among them, ''this woman was taken in 
 adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the Law 
 commanded us to stone such. But what do you 
 say ? ' ' 
 
 They said this to put him to the test so that they 
 might have a charge to bring against him. 
 
 But Jesus stooped down and kept writing with 
 his finger on the ground as though he had not 
 heard them. So when they kept asking him he 
 raised himself up : 
 
94 
 
 * ' Let him who is without sin among you first 
 throw a stone at her." 
 
 He stooped down again and went on writing on 
 the ground. 
 
 Those who heard this, convicted by their own 
 consciences, went out one by one from the oldest 
 to the last. 
 
 Jesus was left alone and the woman standing 
 among them. 
 
 ''Woman," he said, when he had lifted himself 
 up, and saw none but her, '' where are those 
 accusers of yours ? Has no one condemned you ? " 
 
 '*No one, Lord." 
 
 " Nor do I condemn you. Go, and from now 
 on keep sinning no longer." 
 
I S. JOHN. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 I. 
 
 What was from the beginning, 
 What we have heard, 
 What we have seen with our eyes, 
 What we looked at and our hands handled, 
 About the Word, the Life — 
 And the Life was made known, 
 
 And we have seen and are witnesses, 
 And tell to you the Life, the eternal, 
 Who was with the Father, 
 And was made known to us — 
 What we have seen and heard we tell you also, 
 So that you also may have a share with us 
 Yes, and our share is with the Father, 
 And with his Son Jesus Christ. 
 And we are writing these things, 
 So that our happiness may be made complete. 
 97 
 
98 GOD IS LIGHT. 18. John 
 
 1: 5. 
 
 2, 
 
 And the message we have heard from him is this, 
 
 And we announce it to you, 
 That God is Hght, 
 
 And there is no darkness at all in him. 
 
 If we say we are sharers with him, 
 And keep living in darkness, 
 We are liars, and do not do what the truth demands. 
 But if we keep living in the light, 
 As he is in the light, 
 We are sharers with each other. 
 And the blood of Jesus his Son frees us 
 From the guilt of every kind of sin. 
 If we say we have no sin, 
 We are leading ourselves astray, 
 And the truth is not in us. 
 If we confess our sins, 
 He is faithful and good. 
 To put our sins away for us. 
 And to free us from everything that is not right. 
 If we say we have not sinned. 
 We make him a liar, and what he has told us is not 
 in us. 
 
IS. JOHN GOD IS LIGHT. 
 
 2: 1. 
 
 (God is Light.) 
 
 3- 
 
 My little children I am writing these things to you 
 so that you may not sin. And if any one sins we 
 have a helper with the Father, that is, Jesus Christ 
 the good, and he is a means of appeasing God so as to 
 do away with our sins, and not so as to do away with 
 ours only, but also with the sins of the whole world. 
 And this is the way we become acquainted with the 
 fact that we are acquainted with him by continuing 
 to keep his commandments. He who says : I am 
 acquainted with him, and does not continue to 
 keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is 
 not in him. But whoever keeps doing what he 
 tells him, truly in him has the love of God been 
 perfected. This is the way we become acquainted 
 with the fact that we are in him : He who says he 
 is continuing in him ought himself also to keep 
 living just as he kept living. • . -.., r- 
 
100 
 
 4- 
 
 Dear brothers, it is not a new commandment I 
 am writing to you, but an old commandment which 
 you had from the beginning. The old command- 
 ment is the word which you heard. Again a new 
 commandment am I writing to you, and it is true 
 in him and in you, because the darkness is passing 
 away and the true light is already shining. 
 
 He who says he is in the light and keeps hating 
 his brother is in the darkness to this moment. He 
 who keeps loving his brother continues in the light 
 and no occasion of stumbling is in him. He who 
 keeps hating his brother is in the darkness and 
 keeps living in the darkness, and does not know 
 where he is going, because the darkness has blinded 
 his eyes. 
 
 5. 
 
 I am writing to you, little children. 
 
 Because your sins are put away from you for his 
 name's sake. 
 I am writing to you, fathers, 
 
 Because you have become acquainted with 
 him who is from the beginning. 
 I am writing to you, young men, 
 
 Because you have overcome the wicked 
 one. 
 
IS. JOHN GOD IS LIGHT. 101 
 
 2: 13. 
 
 4 wrote to you, little children, 
 
 Because you have become acquainted with the 
 Father. 
 I wrote to you, fathers. 
 
 Because you have become acquainted with 
 him who is from the beginning. 
 I wrote to you, young men. 
 Because you are strong. 
 And what God told you continues in 
 
 you, 
 And you have overcome the wicked 
 one. 
 
 6. 
 
 Do not love the world 
 
 Nor the things which are in the world. 
 If any one keeps loving the world, 
 
 The love of the Father is not in him. 
 
 For everything which is in the world, — 
 The desire of the flesh, 
 And the desire of the eyes, 
 And this life's love of display, — 
 
 Is not from the Father, but from the world. 
 
 And the world is passing away 
 
 And its desire. 
 But he who keeps doing the will of God 
 
 Continues forever. 
 
102 WALKING JN LIGHT EXCLUDES. ^I.-J^hn 
 
 7- 
 
 Little children, it is the last hour, and just as 
 you heard that antichrist is coming, even now 
 many antichrists have arisen. And from this we 
 come to know it is the last hour. They went out 
 from us, but they were not of us. For if they had 
 been of us they would have continued with us. 
 But they went out so that it might be made clear 
 that they are not all of us. And you have an 
 anointing from the Holy One, and you know every- 
 thing. I have not written to you because you did 
 not know the truth, but because you know it and 
 because no lie is of the truth. 
 
 Who is the liar, if not he who keeps denying 
 that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, 
 that is, he who keeps denying the Father and the 
 Son. Whoever keeps denying the Son has not even 
 the Father. He who keeps confessing the Son has 
 the Father also. As for you, let what you heard 
 from the beginning continue in you. If what you 
 heard from the beginning continues in you, you 
 also will continue in the Son and in the Father. 
 And this is the promise which he promised us, the 
 life which is eternal. 
 
IS. JOHN GOD IS LOVE. 103 
 
 2 : 26. 
 
 These things have I written to you about those 
 who are trying to lead you astray. And as for 
 you, the anointing which you received from him 
 continues in you and you do not need any one to 
 teach you. But as his anointing keeps teaching 
 you about everything, so is it true and is no He. 
 And just as it taught you, continue in him. And 
 now, little children, continue in him, so that, if he 
 shall be made known, we may have boldness, and 
 not be ashamed before him at his coming. 
 
 (God is Love.) 
 
 If you know he is good you are acquainted with 
 the fact that every one who keeps doing good has 
 been begotten by him. 
 
 See what amazing love the Father has bestowed 
 on us so that we may be called the children of God, 
 and we are children. For this reason the world is 
 not acquainted with us because it never became ac- 
 quainted with him. Dear friends, now are we 
 children of God, and it is not yet made clear what 
 we shall be. We know that if it shall be made 
 clear, we shall be like him. For we shall see him 
 just as he is. And whoever has this hope set on 
 him keeps purifying himself just as he is pure. 
 
104 EVIDENCE OF SONSHIP. l S. John 
 
 3: 4. 
 
 Whoever keeps sinning keeps acting lawlessly, 
 and sin is lawlessness. And we know that he was 
 made known so that he might take away our sins, 
 and in him is no sin. Whoever continues in him 
 does not keep sinning. Whoever keeps sinning 
 has never seen him nor become acquainted with 
 him. Little children, let no one lead you astray. 
 He who keeps doing what is good is good, just as 
 he is good. He who keeps sinning is of the devil. 
 For from the beginning the devil has been sinning 
 and keeps on sinning. It was for this purpose the 
 Son of God was made known, that is, to undo the 
 works of the devil. 
 
 Whoever has been begotten by God does not 
 keep sinning, because his seed continues in him, 
 and he cannot keep sinning, because he has been 
 begotten by God. It is in this way the children of 
 God are made known and the children of the devil. 
 Whoever does not keep doing good is not of God, 
 nor is he who does not keep loving his brother. 
 For the message which you heard from the begin- 
 ning is this, that we should love each other. Not 
 like Cain was of the evil one and killed his brother. 
 And why did he kill him? Because his deeds 
 were evil and his brother's good. 
 
IS JOHN GOD IS LOVE. 105 
 
 2. 
 
 Do not wonder, brothers, if the world keeps hat- 
 ing you. We know we have passed out of death 
 into life, because we love the brothers. He who 
 does not love continues in death. Whoever is a 
 hater of his brother is a murderer, and you know 
 that no murderer has eternal life continuing in him. 
 
 It was in this way we came to know love, be- 
 cause he laid down his life for us. And we ought 
 to lay down our lives for the brothers. But who- 
 ever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in 
 need, and has no pity for him, how does the love 
 of God continue in him ? Little children, let us 
 not keep loving in word, nor with the tongue, but 
 in deed and truth. 
 
 In this way we shall come to know that we are 
 of the truth, and shall persuade our hearts before 
 him. For if our heart condemns us, it is plain 
 that God is greater than our heart and knows 
 everything. Dear friends, if our heart does not 
 condemn us, we have boldness towards God. And 
 whatever we ask, we receive from him, because we 
 keep his commandments and do what is pleasing in 
 his sight. And his commandment is this, that we 
 should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ 
 and love each other, just as he gave us command- 
 ment. And he who keeps his commandments con- 
 
106 SOURCE OF SONSHIP. l S. John 
 
 3: 2-1. 
 
 tiinies in him, and he in him. And in this way 
 we get to know that he is continuing in us, that is, 
 from the Spirit which he gave us. 
 
 3- 
 
 Dear brothers, do not beheve every spirit, but 
 put the spirits to the test to see whether they are 
 from God, because many false prophets have gone 
 out into the world. 
 
 In this way we' get to know the Spirit of God. 
 Every spirit w^ho confesses that Jesus Christ has 
 come in the flesh is from God. And every spirit 
 who does not confess Jesus is not from God. And 
 this is the spirit of the antichrist you heard is 
 coming, and it is now already in the world. 
 
 You are of God, little children, and have over- 
 come them ; because greater is he who is in you 
 than he who is in the world. They are from the 
 world. For this reason they keep talking from the 
 worldly point of view and the world keeps listening 
 to them. 
 
 He who is learning to know God keeps listening 
 to us, 
 He who is not from God does not keep listen- 
 ing to us. 
 From this we keep getting to know the spirit of 
 truth 
 And the spirit of error. 
 
IS. JOHN GOD IS LOVE. 107 
 
 4: 7. 
 
 4- 
 
 Dear brothers, let us keep loving each other, be- 
 cause love is from God, and whoever keeps loving 
 has been begotten by God and is becoming ac- 
 quainted with God. He who does not keep loving 
 never became acquainted with God, For God is 
 love. In this was the love of God made clear in 
 us, because God has sent his only begotten Son 
 into the world so that we might live through him. 
 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he 
 loved us and sent his Son to be the means of ap- 
 peasing him so as to do away with our sins. 
 
 Dear brothers, if God loved us in such a way as 
 this, we also ought to keep loving each other. As 
 for God, no one has ever yet looked at him. But 
 if we keep loving each other, God continues in us 
 and his love is perfected in us. In this way we get 
 to know that we are continuing in him and he in 
 us, because he has given us some of his spirit. And 
 we have looked at the Son and bear witness to the 
 fact that the Father has sent the Son to be the 
 Saviour of the world. Whoever shall confess that 
 Jesus Christ is the Son of God, God continues in 
 him and he in God. And we have come to know, 
 and have believed, the love which God has in us. 
 
 God is love, and he who continues in love con- 
 tinues in God and God continues in him. In this 
 
108 SOURCE OF SONSHIP. ^ S. John 
 
 4: 17. 
 
 way is love made perfect with us, so that we may 
 have boldness in the day of judgment, because just 
 as he is so also are we in this world. There is no 
 fear in love, but rather does perfect love keep casting 
 out fear, because fear has punishment. But he who 
 keeps fearing is not made perfect in love. We 
 keep loving because he first loved us. If any one 
 says : "I keep loving God," and hates his brother, 
 he is a liar. For if he does not keep loving his 
 brother whom he has seen he cannot keep loving 
 God whom he has not seen. And this command- 
 ment we have from him, so that he who keeps lov- 
 ing God might love his brother also. 
 
 5- 
 Whoever keeps believing that Jesus is the Christ 
 has been begotten by God, and whoever keeps lov- 
 ing him who begot keeps loving him who has been 
 begotten by him. In this way we keep getting to 
 know that we are in love with the children of God, 
 that is, when we keep loving God and are con- 
 stantly keeping his commandments. For the love 
 of God is this, that we constantly keep his com- 
 mandments, and his commandments are not 
 grievous. For whatever has been begotten by God 
 keeps overcoming the world. And this is the vic- 
 tory which has overcome the world, that is, our 
 
IS. JOHN CONCLUSION. 109 
 
 5: 5. 
 
 faith. Yes, who is he who keeps overcoming the 
 world, if not he who keeps beheving that Jesus is 
 the Son of God ? 
 
 6. 
 
 This is he who came through water and blood, 
 that is, Jesus Christ ; not with the water only, but 
 with the water and with the blood. And it is the 
 Spirit who is bearing witness, because the Spirit is 
 the Truth. For those who are bearing witness are 
 three, the Spirit and the water and the blood, and 
 the three are one. If we keep receiving the wit- 
 ness of men the witness of God is greater. For 
 the witness of God is this, that he has borne wit- 
 ness about his Son. He who keeps believing in the 
 Son of God keeps having the witness in himself. 
 He who does not keep believing God, has made him 
 a liar, because he has not believed in the witness 
 which God has borne about his Son. And the wit- 
 ness is this, that God gave to us eternal life, and 
 this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has the 
 life. He who does not have the Son does not have 
 the life. I have written these things to you so that 
 you might know you have eternal life, that is, to 
 you who keep believing in the name of the Son of 
 God. 
 
110 FINAL INJUNCTION. lfJ?HN 
 
 o: 14. 
 
 7- 
 And the boldness which we have towards him is 
 this, that if we keep asking anything according to 
 his will, he keeps listening to us. And if we know 
 he is listening to us, whatever we are asking, we 
 know we have the petitions which we have asked 
 from him. If any one sees his brother committing 
 a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask and 
 God will give him life for those who are committing 
 sin which does not lead to death. There is sin 
 which leads to death. Not about that am I saying 
 he should pray. All want of goodness is sin, and 
 there is sin which does not lead to death. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 We know that no one who has been begotten by 
 God keeps committing sin, but he who was begot- 
 ten by God keeps him ; and the wicked one does 
 not get a permanent hold of him. 
 
 We know we are of God and the whole world is 
 lying in the evil one. 
 
 And we know the Son of God has come and has 
 given us understanding so that we may become ac- 
 quainted with him who is true. And we are in him 
 who is true, that is, in his Son Jesus Christ. 
 
 This is the true God and eternal life. Little 
 children keep yourselves on your guard against 
 idols. 
 
II S. JOHN. 
 
The Elder 
 To the chosen lady and her children 
 Whom I truly love, 
 
 And not I only, 
 But also all those 
 Who have come to know the truth ; 
 For the sake of the truth continuing in us, 
 
 And with us it will be forever. 
 Favor, mercy, and peace, shall be with us 
 
 From God the Father, 
 And from Jesus Christ the Son of the Father, 
 In truth and love. 
 I rejoice greatly because I have found some of 
 your children going about in truth just as we re- 
 ceived commandment from the Father. And now 
 I beg you, lady, not as though I wrote a new com- 
 mandment to you, but what we had from the be- 
 ginning, that we keep loving each other. And the 
 love is this, that we keep living in harmony with 
 his commandments. The commandment is this, 
 113 
 
114 WARNINGS. 2 S. John 
 
 6. 
 
 just as you heard from the beginning, that you 
 should Hve in it. For many deceivers have gone 
 out into the world, and they are not confessing that 
 Jesus Christ is coming in the flesh. This is the de- 
 ceiver and the antichrist. See to yourselves, that you 
 do not lose what we have done, but that you re- 
 ceive a full reward. Whoever goes on and does 
 not continue in the teaching of Christ, does not 
 have God. He who continues in the teaching, this 
 man has the Father and the Son. If any one is 
 coming to you and is not bringing this teaching, do 
 not receive him into your house and do not bid 
 him, Godspeed. For he who bids him. God- 
 speed, is sharing in his evil deeds. 
 
 Having many things to write to you I do not 
 wish to write with paper and ink, but I hope to 
 come to you, and to talk with you face to face so 
 that your happiness may be made complete. 
 
 The children of your chosen sister send you their 
 best wishes. 
 
Ill S. JOHN. 
 
The Elder 
 To dear Gaius, 
 Whom I love in truth. 
 
 Dear brother, I pray that you may be prosperous 
 in everything and be in good health, just as your 
 soul is prospering. For I rejoiced greatly when 
 brothers were coming and bearing witness to your 
 truth, just as you keep living in truth. I have 
 no greater joy than this, to hear of my children 
 living in the truth. 
 
 Dear brother, you are doing a faithful thing in 
 whatever you are doing towards the brothers and 
 the strangers. And they bore witness to your love 
 before the Church. And you will do well to for- 
 ward them on their journey worthily of God. For, 
 for the sake of the name, they went out taking 
 nothing from the heathen. So we ought to sup- 
 port such so that we may become their fellow- 
 workers for the truth. 
 
 117 
 
118 THE 3I0BAL. 3 S.John 
 
 I wrote something to the Church. But Dio- 
 trephes, who is striving to be the first among them, 
 does not receive us. For this reason, if I come, I 
 will bring to remembrance his deeds which he is 
 doing, prating against us with evil words. And 
 not content with this, he is neither receiving the 
 brothers himself, and those who have a desire todo 
 it he is hindering, and is casting them out of the 
 Church. 
 
 Dear brother, do not imitate the base but the 
 good. He who keeps doing good is from God. 
 He who keeps doing base things has not seen God. 
 Demetrius has the witness of all men, and of the 
 truth itself. Yes, we also bear witness, and you 
 know our witness is true. 
 
 I have many things to write to you, but I do not 
 care to write them to you with pen and ink. But I 
 hope to see you at once and we shall talk face to 
 face. 
 
 Peace be with you. 
 
 The friends send you their best wishes. 
 
 Give our best wishes to the friends by name. 
 
REVELATION. 
 
(Title.) 
 
 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, 
 
 Which God gave him to show to his slaves, 
 What must shortly happen. 
 
 And he made it known. 
 
 By sending his angel, 
 To his slave John, 
 Who was a witness to what God said, 
 
 And of the testimony which Jesus Christ 
 gave. 
 And of everything he saw. 
 
 Blessed is he who keeps reading. 
 
 And those who keep hearing the sayings of 
 
 the prophecy, 
 And constantly keep what is written in it. 
 For the time is near. 
 
 121 
 
122 DEDICATION. Rev. 
 
 1: 4. 
 
 John, 
 To the Seven Churches which are in Asia, 
 
 May favor be yours and peace, 
 From The Present and The Past and The Coming 
 One, 
 And from the Seven Spirits who are before his 
 
 throne. 
 And from Jesus Christ, 
 The Faithful Witness, 
 The First-born of the dead. 
 And The Ruler of the kings of the earth, 
 To him who loves us, and loosed us from our sins 
 by his blood. 
 And he made us to be a kingdom. 
 Priests to his God and Father, — 
 To him be the majesty and the dominion forever. 
 Amen. 
 
 Lo, he is coming with the clouds ; 
 And every eye will see him, 
 And those who pierced him ; 
 And all the tribes of the earth will mourn at sight 
 of him. 
 Yes, Amen. 
 
 I am Alpha and Omega, 
 
 Says the Lord, the God, 
 
 The Present and The Past and The Coming One, 
 The All-Ruler. 
 
REV. INTRODUCTION. 123 
 
 1:9. 
 
 I, John, your brother and fellow-sharer 
 
 In the tribulation and kingdom and endurance 
 in Jesus, 
 Was in the island called Patmos, 
 
 On account of God's message and the witness 
 of Jesus. 
 I was under the influence of the Spirit on the 
 Lord's day, 
 And heard behind me a loud voice like a 
 trumpet, saying : 
 ** Write what you see in a book, 
 
 And send to the Seven Churches. 
 To Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamum, 
 And to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Phila- 
 delphia, 
 And to Laodicea." 
 
 And I turned to see who was talking with me, 
 
 And when I had turned, 
 I saw Seven Gold Lampstands 
 
 And among the Lampstands, 
 One like the Son of Man, 
 
 Clothed with a garment down to his feet, 
 
 And girt about at the breasts with a gold girdle. 
 His head and his hair were white, 
 
 Like white wool, like snow, 
 
124 INTRODUCTION. Kev. 
 
 And his eyes like a flame of fire, 
 And his feet hke burnished brass, 
 
 As if it had been refined in a furnace, 
 And his voice like the voice of many waters. 
 And he had in his right hand Seven Stars, 
 And out of his mouth was a sharp two-edged 
 
 sword going, 
 And his face was like the sun shining in its strength. 
 
 And when I saw him I fell at his feet 
 
 Like a dead man. 
 And he laid his right hand on me, 
 
 And said : 
 ''Do not be afraid. 
 
 I am The First and The Last and The Living 
 One,— 
 I became a dead man, 
 And, lo, I am living forever and ever,— 
 And have the keys of Death and of Hades. 
 So write what you saw, what is. 
 
 And what is going to happen after this. 
 The secret truth of the Seven Stars which you saw 
 in my right hand, 
 And the Seven Gold Lampstands. 
 The Seven Stars are the Angels of the Seven 
 Churches, 
 And the Seven Lampstands are the Seven 
 Churches. 
 
REV. LETTERS TO THE CHURCHES. 125 
 
 To the Angel of the Church in Ephesus write : 
 
 This is what he is saying, 
 
 Who is holding the Seven Stars in his right 
 hand, 
 
 Who is walking among the Seven Gold Lamp- 
 stands : 
 
 I know your works and your toil and endurance, 
 
 And that you cannot bear evil men, 
 
 And put to the test those who say they them- 
 selves are Apostles, 
 
 And they are not, and you found them false ; 
 
 And you have endurance, 
 
 And did bear for my name's sake, 
 
 And did not become weary. 
 But I have this against you. 
 
 That you forsook your first love. 
 
 So remember from what you have fallen, 
 
 And change your mind and the purpose of your 
 heart, 
 
 And do the first deeds. 
 
 For if you do not, I am going to come to you. 
 
 And will move your Lampstand out of its 
 place. 
 But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the 
 Nicolaitans, 
 
 Which I also hate. 
 
126 INTRODUCTION, R^v. 
 
 He who has an ear, let him hear 
 
 What the Spirit is saying to the Churches. 
 
 To him who keeps overcoming, 
 
 To him will I give to eat of the Tree of Life, 
 Which is in the Paradise of God. 
 
Rev. letters TO THE CHURCHES. 127 
 
 2: 8. 
 
 And to the Angel of the Church in Smyrna write : 
 
 This is what he is saying, 
 
 Who is The First and The Last, 
 
 Who became a dead man and came to life again. 
 
 I know your tribulation and your poverty, 
 
 But you are rich. 
 
 And the blasphemy of those who say they them- 
 selves are Jews, 
 
 And they are not. 
 
 But are a synagogue of Satan. 
 Do not be afraid of what you are going to suffer. 
 
 Listen ! the Devil is going to throw some of you 
 into prison, 
 
 So that you may be put to the test. 
 
 And you will have tribulation ten days. 
 Be faithful to death 
 
 And I will give you the Crown of Life. 
 
 He who has an ear, let him hear 
 
 What the Spirit is saying to the Churches, 
 
 He who keeps overcoming 
 
 Will never be hurt at all by the second death. 
 
128 INTRODUCTION. Rev 
 
 2: 12. 
 
 To the Angel of the Church in Pergamum write : 
 
 This is what he is saying, 
 
 Who has the sharp two-edged sword : 
 
 I know where you are living, 
 
 Where Satan's throne is, 
 
 And you are holding fast to my name, 
 
 And you did not deny my faith. 
 
 Even in the days of Antipas, 
 
 My witness, my faithful one, 
 
 Who was killed among you. 
 
 Where Satan is living. 
 But I have a few things against you. 
 
 Because you have some there 
 
 Who are holding the teaching of Balaam, 
 
 Who kept teaching Balak to throw a stumbling- 
 stone 
 
 Before the children of Israel, 
 
 To eat things sacrificed to idols, 
 
 And to commit fornication. 
 
 So you also have some 
 
 Who are holding the teaching of the Nicolaitans 
 likewise, * 
 
REV. LETTEES TO THE CHURCHES. 129 
 
 2: 16. 
 
 So change your mind and the purpose of your 
 heart. 
 For if you do not, 
 I am going to come to you quickly, 
 And I will make war against them 
 With the sword of my mouth. 
 
 He who hath an ear, let him hear 
 
 What the Spirit is saying to the Churches. 
 
 To him who keeps overcoming, 
 
 To him will I give to eat of the hidden manna. 
 
 And I will give him a white stone, 
 And on the stone a new name written, 
 
 Which none but he who takes it knows. 
 
130 INTRODUCTION. Rev. 
 
 2: 18. 
 
 To the Angel of the Church in Thyatira write : 
 
 This is what the Son of God is saying, 
 Who has his eyes Uke a flame of fire, 
 And his feet are like burnished brass : 
 
 I know your deeds and your love, 
 
 And faith and ministry and endurance. 
 And that your last deeds are more than the first. 
 But I have this against you. 
 
 That you suffer the woman Jezebel, 
 Who calls herself a prophetess ; 
 And she teaches and seduces my slaves 
 To commit fornication, 
 And to eat things sacrificed to idols. 
 And I gave her time to reform, 
 And she does not wish to reform. 
 Look ! I am throwing her into a bed. 
 And those who are committing adultery with her 
 Into great tribulation. 
 If they do not reform. 
 And her children will I kill with death ; 
 And all the Churches will become acquainted 
 
 with the fact 
 That I am he who searches reins and hearts, 
 And I will give to each one of you 
 According to your deeds. 
 
Rev. letters TO THE CHURCHES. 131 
 
 2: 24. 
 
 But to you I say, 
 
 To the rest who are in Thyatira, 
 
 As many as have not this teaching, 
 
 Who did not become acquainted with the depths 
 
 of Satan, as they say, 
 I throw on you no other burden. 
 But what you have hold fast till I come. 
 
 And he who keeps overcoming, 
 
 And he who keeps my words to the end. 
 
 To him will I give authority over the nations, 
 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron, 
 
 Like earthenware is broken to pieces : 
 Like I also have taken from my Father. 
 
 And I will give him the Morning Star. 
 
 He who has an ear, let him hear 
 
 What the Spirit is saying to the Churches. 
 
132 INTRODUCTION. Rev. 
 
 And to the Angel of the Church in Sardis write: 
 
 This is what he is saying, 
 
 Who has the Seven Spirits of God, 
 And the Seven Stars. 
 
 I know your deeds, 
 
 That you have a name that you are living, 
 
 And you are a dead corpse. 
 Become watchful and strengthen the remaining 
 things, 
 
 Which are about to die. 
 
 For I have not found any of your deeds accom- 
 plished 
 
 Before my God. 
 
 So remember how you have received, 
 
 And did hear, 
 
 And keep it and reform. 
 
 So if you shall not watch, 
 
 I will come as a thief, 
 
 And you shall not get to know at all 
 
 What hour I will come on you. 
 But you have a few in Sardis 
 
 Who did not defile their clothes. 
 
 And they shall walk with me in white, 
 
 For they are worthy. 
 
Rev. letters TO THE CHURCHES. 133 
 
 o '■, 5. 
 
 He who keeps overcoming 
 
 Shall thus be clothed in white clothes, 
 
 And I will never blot his name out of the 
 Book of Life, 
 And I will confess his name before my Father, 
 And before his angels. 
 
 He who has an ear, let him hear 
 
 What the Spirit is saying to the Churches. 
 
134 INTRODUCTION, Kev. 
 
 And to the Angel of the Church in Philadelphia 
 write : 
 
 This is vvhat he is saying, 
 Who is holy, who is true, 
 
 Who has the Key of David, 
 Who opens, and no one shall shut, 
 
 Who shuts, and no one opens. 
 
 I know your deeds,- 
 
 Look, I have set before you an open door, 
 
 Which no one can shut, — 
 
 That you have little strength. 
 
 And yet you kept my word, 
 
 And did not deny my name. 
 
 Look ! I am giving some of the synagogue of 
 
 Satan, 
 Of those who are saying they themselves are 
 
 Jews, 
 And they are not, but are lying ; 
 Look ! I will make them come and worship 
 
 before your feet, 
 And get to know that I have loved you. 
 
Rev. letters TO THE CHURCHES. 135 
 
 Because you kept the word of my endurance, 
 I also will keep you from the hour of trial 
 Which is going to come on the whole world 
 To put to the test those who are living on the 
 earth. 
 
 I am coming quickly. 
 Hold fast what you have 
 So that no one may take your Crown. 
 
 He who keeps overcoming, 
 I will make him a pillar in the Temple of my 
 God, 
 And he shall never go out any more. 
 And I will write on him the Name of my God, 
 And the Name of the City of my God, the 
 
 New Jerusalem, — 
 She who is coming down out of heaven from 
 my God, — 
 And my own New Name. 
 
 He who has an ear, let him hear 
 
 What the Spirit is saying to the Churches. 
 
136 INTRODUCTION. Bbv. 
 
 3: 14. 
 
 And to the Angel of the Church in Laodicea 
 write : 
 
 This is what the Amen is saying, 
 The Faithful and True Witness, 
 The Beginning of the creation of God. 
 
 I know your works. 
 
 That you are neither cold nor hot. 
 
 And so because you are lukewarm, 
 
 And neither hot nor cold, 
 
 I am going to spue you out of my mouth, 
 
 Because you are saying, I am rich, 
 
 And have gotten riches, and have need of 
 nothing. 
 
 And you do not know you are the wretched one, 
 
 And miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. 
 I advise you to buy of me gold refined by fire. 
 
 So that you may become rich ; 
 
 And white garments. 
 
 So that you may clothe yourself, 
 
 And so that the shame of your nakedness may 
 not appear ; 
 
 And eye-salve to anoint your eyes, 
 
 So that you may see. 
 
Rev. LErrERS TO THE CHURCHES. 137 
 
 As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. 
 So be zealous, and reform. 
 Look ! I am standing at the door knocking. 
 If any one hears my voice and opens the door, 
 I shall come in to him and sup with him, 
 And he with me. 
 
 He who keeps overcoming, 
 
 I will give to him to sit down with me in my 
 throne, 
 As I also overcame, 
 
 And sat down with my Father in his throne. 
 
 He who has an ear, let him hear 
 
 What the Spirit is saying to the Churches. 
 
138 »EV. 
 
 4: 1. 
 
 VISION IN HEAVEN. 
 ( The Throne of God.) 
 
 After this I saw, 
 
 And lo, a door opened in heaven, 
 
 And the first voice which I heard 
 
 Was hke that of a trumpet talking with me, 
 
 And saying: 
 ** Come up here and I will show you 
 
 What must happen after this." 
 After this I was at once under the influence of the 
 Spirit, 
 
 And, lo, there was a Throne set in heaven. 
 
 And One sitting on it, 
 
 And he who was sitting on it was, to look at, 
 Like a jasper stone and a sardius. 
 
 And there was a rainbow round the Throne, 
 Whose appearance was like an emerald. 
 
Rev. 139 
 
 4: 4. 
 
 And round the Throne were twenty-four thrones, 
 And on the thrones I saw twenty- four Elders 
 sitting, 
 Dressed in white clothes, 
 And on their heads crowns of gold. 
 And out of the throne were going lightnings, 
 
 And voices and thunders. 
 And seven lamps of fire were burning before the 
 throne. 
 And these are the Seven Spirits of God : 
 And before the Throne, 
 
 As it were a glassy sea like crystal ; 
 And in the middle of the Throne and around 
 the Throne, 
 Four Living Creatures full of eyes before and 
 behind. 
 And the first Creature was like a lion, 
 And the second Creature like a calf, 
 And the third Creature had a face like a 
 
 man. 
 And the fourth Creature was like a flying 
 eagle. 
 And the four Living Creatures, 
 
 Each of which had six wings. 
 Were full of eyes all around, and within, 
 And they had no rest day and night, 
 Saying : 
 
140 Rev. 
 
 4: 8. 
 
 " Holy, holy, holy, 
 Lord, the God, the All-Ruler, 
 The Past, and The Present, and The Coming One." 
 
 And when the Living Creatures gave praise and 
 honor and thanks. 
 
 To him who was sitting on the throne, 
 
 To him who lives forever and ever. 
 The twenty-four Elders kept falling down before 
 him 
 
 Who was sitting on the Throne, 
 And kept worshipping him 
 
 Who lives forever and ever. 
 And kept throwing their crowns before the Throne, 
 
 Saying : 
 
 *' Worthy art thou, our Lord and our God, 
 To take praise and honor and the power. 
 For thou didst create everything, 
 
 And because of thy will they were, and 
 were created," 
 
Ebv. 141 
 
 5:1. 
 
 (The Book of Seals.) 
 
 And I saw on the right hand of him 
 
 Who was sitting on the Throne 
 A Book written within and on the back, 
 
 Close sealed with Seven Seals. 
 And I saw a strong Angel 
 
 Proclaiming in a loud voice : 
 *** Who is worthy to open the book, 
 
 And to undo its Seals ? " 
 And no one in heaven, or on the earth, 
 
 Or under the earth, 
 Was able to open the book, 
 
 Or to look at it. 
 And one of the Elders said to me : 
 '' Do not weep. 
 Look ! the Lion of the tribe of Judah, 
 
 The Root of David, 
 Has overcome to open the Book, 
 
 And its seven Seals." 
 
142 Rev. 
 
 5:6. 
 
 ( The Lamb in the Middle of the Throne. ) 
 
 And I saw in the middle of the Throne 
 
 And of the four Living Creatures, 
 
 And among the Elders, 
 A Lamb standing as if it had been slain, 
 
 With seven horns and seven eyes, 
 
 Which are the Seven Spirits of God, 
 
 Sent out into all the world. 
 And he came and took the Book 
 
 Out of the right hand of him 
 
 Who was sitting on the Throne. 
 And when he took the Book 
 
 The four Living Creatures 
 
 And the twenty-four Elders 
 Fell down before the Lamb, 
 
 Each with a harp, 
 
 And a gold bowl full of incense, 
 
 Which are the prayers of the saints. 
 And they sang a new song, 
 
 Saying ; 
 
Rev. 143 
 
 5:9. 
 
 '< Worthy art thou to take the Book, 
 
 And to open its Seals. 
 For thou wast slain, 
 And didst purchase to God 
 
 With thy blood, 
 Men out of every tribe, and tongue. 
 
 And people, and nation. 
 And madest them to our God 
 
 A kingdom and priests,^ 
 And they are reigning on the earth." 
 
 And I saw and I heard a sound of many Angels 
 Round the Throne, and the Living Creatures 
 and the Elders. 
 
 And the number of them 
 
 Was ten thousand times ten thousand, 
 And thousands of thousands. 
 
 And they kept saying in a loud voice : 
 
 ''Worthy is the Lamb that hath been slain 
 To take the power, 
 And riches, and wisdom, and might, 
 And honor, and majesty, and blessing." 
 
 And every created thing 
 
 Which is in heaven, and on the earth, 
 And under the earth, and on the sea, 
 And everything which is in them, 
 
 I heard saying : 
 
144 Rev. 
 
 5: 13. 
 
 *'To him who is sitting on the Throne, 
 
 And to the Lamb, • 
 Be the blessing, and the honor, 
 And the majesty, and the dominion, 
 
 Forever and ever." 
 
 And the four Living Creatures said : 
 ''Amen." 
 
 And the Elders fell down and worshipped. 
 
Rev. 145 
 
 6: 1. 
 
 The Powers of Judgment. 
 ( Captivity.) 
 
 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the 
 
 Seven Seals. 
 And I heard one of the four Living Creatures, 
 
 saying, 
 As if in a voice of thunder : 
 ''Come." 
 And I saw, and, io, a White Horse, 
 And he who was sitting on him had a bow, 
 And a crown was given to him, 
 And he came out conquering and to conquer. 
 
 (War.) 
 
 And when he opened the Second Seal, 
 
 I heard the second Living Creature, saying : 
 "Come." 
 
 And another, a Red Horse, came out, 
 
 And to him who was sitting on him 
 
 Was given power to take peace from the earth. 
 And so that they should kill each other, 
 And a big sword was given to him. 
 
(Famine.) 
 
 And when he opened the Third Seal, 
 
 1 heard the third Living Creature, saying : 
 
 "Come." 
 And I saw, and, lo, a Black Horse, 
 And he who was sitting on him had scales in his 
 
 hand. 
 And I heard as it were a voice 
 
 Among the four Living Creatures, saying : 
 '' A quart of wheat for a dollar, 
 
 And three quarts of barley for a dollar, 
 
 And see that you do not hurt the oil and the 
 wine." 
 
 (Death.) 
 
 And when he opened the Fourth Seal, 
 I heard the voice of the fourth Living Creature, 
 saying, 
 
 *'Come." 
 And I saw, and lo, a Pale Horse, 
 And the name of him who was sitting on him 
 
 Was Death. 
 And Hades was following with him, 
 And they were given authority 
 
 Over the fourth of the earth, 
 
 To kill with sword, and with famine, 
 
 And with death, 
 
 And by the wild beasts of the earth. 
 
RB1r. 147 
 
 6:9. 
 
 (The Waiting Martyrs.) 
 
 And when he opened the Fifth Seal, 
 I saw under the Altar 
 The souls of those who had been slain 
 
 On account of God's message, 
 
 And the witness which they held. 
 And they cried in a loud voice, saying : 
 " How long, O Master, the Holy, and True, 
 
 Dost thou not judge, and avenge our blood 
 On those who are living on the earth ? " 
 And there was given to each of them a white robe. 
 And they were told to rest yet a little while, 
 
 Till their fellow-slaves, also, and their brothers, 
 Who are going to be killed as they were, 
 
 Shall have finished their course. 
 
 (Opening of Day of Wrath.) 
 
 And I saw when he opened the Sixth Seal, 
 And a great shaking took place ; 
 
 And the sun became black as pitch, 
 
 And the whole moon became like blood, 
 
 And the stars of heaven fell to the earth. 
 Like a fig tree casting its unripe figs. 
 When it is shaken by a high wind. 
 
 And the heaven was removed like a scroll 
 When it is rolled up. 
 
"8 f:Y4: 
 
 And every mountain and island 
 
 Was moved out of its place. 
 And the kings of the earth, ' 
 And the princes and the colonels, 
 And the rich and the strong, 
 And every slave and freeman, 
 
 Hid themselves in the caves 
 
 And the rocks of the mountains. 
 And they kept saying to the mountains 
 
 And to the rocks : 
 " Fall on us, 
 
 And hide us 
 
 From the face of him who is sitting on the Throne, 
 
 And from the wrath of the Lamb. 
 For their wrath has come. 
 
 And who is able to stand it? " 
 
REV. 149 
 
 Proem to the Seven Trumpets. Part i. 
 (Judgment Restrained.) 
 
 After this I saw Four Angels 
 
 Standing at the four corners of the earth, 
 
 Holding the four winds of the earth, 
 
 So that no wind might blow on the earth, 
 
 Or on the sea, or on any tree. 
 And I saw another Angel 
 
 Ascend from the east, 
 
 With the Seal of the Living God. 
 And he cried in a loud voice to the Four Angels, 
 
 To whom it was given to hurt the earth, 
 
 And the sea, saying : 
 " Do not hurt the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, 
 
 Till we have sealed the slaves of our God in their 
 foreheads." 
 And I heard the number of those who were sealed, 
 
 A hundred and forty-four thousand, 
 Sealed out of every tribe of the children of Israel, 
 
150 Rev. 
 
 7! 5-. 
 
 Of the tribe of Judah were sealed twelve thousand : 
 Of tlie tribe of Reuben twelve thousand : 
 Of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand : 
 Of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand : 
 Of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand : 
 Of the tribe of Manassah twelve thousand : 
 Of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand : 
 Of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand : 
 Of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand : 
 Of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand : 
 Of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand : 
 
 Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thou- 
 sand. 
 
 After this I saw, and lo, a great throng, 
 
 Which no one could count 
 
 Out of every nation, 
 
 And out of all tribes and peoples and tongues, 
 
 Standing before the Throne and before the 
 Lamb, 
 
 Dressed in white robes, and palms in their hands. 
 
 And they kept crying in a loud voice. 
 Saying : 
 
 '' Salvation to our God 
 
 Who is sitting on the Throne, 
 And to the Lamb." 
 
Rev. 151 
 
 7: 11. 
 
 And all the Angels were standing round the Throne, 
 And the Elders and the four Living Creatures, 
 
 And they fell on their faces before the Throne, 
 And worshipped God, saying : 
 
 '^ Amen. 
 The blessing and the majesty and the wisdom, 
 
 And the thanksgiving. 
 
 And the honor, and the power, and the might, 
 
 Be unto our God 
 
 Forever and ever, 
 
 Amen." 
 
 And one of the elders answered 
 
 And said to me : 
 '' These who are clothed in the white robes, 
 
 Who are they and where did they come from? " 
 And I said to him : 
 
 ''My dear sir, you know." 
 And he said to me : 
 
 "These are those who are coming out of the 
 great tribulation. 
 And they washed their robes 
 And made them white in the blood of the 
 
 Lamb. 
 So they are before the throne of God, 
 And they are serving him day and night in his 
 Temple. 
 
152 Rev. 
 
 7:15. 
 
 And he who is sitting on the Throne 
 
 Will spread his tent over them. 
 They will hunger no more, nor thirst any 
 
 more, 
 Nor will the sun strike on them, nor any heat. 
 For the Lamb who is in the middle of the 
 Throne 
 Will be their shepherd, 
 And will guide them to springs of living 
 waters. 
 And God will wipe away every tear from their 
 eyes. 
 
 Proem to the Seven Trumpets. Part 2. 
 (Silence of Expectation.) 
 And when he opened the Seventh Seal, 
 There came a silence for half an hour. 
 
 And I saw the Seven Angels who stand before God, 
 And they were given Seven Trumpets. 
 
 And another Angel came, 
 
 And stood at the Altar holding a gold Censer ; 
 And he was given a great deal of incense 
 
 To add it to the prayers of all the devoted ones 
 On the gold Altar 
 Which was before the Throne. 
 
REV. 153 
 
 And the smoke of the incense, 
 
 With tb.e prayers of the saints, 
 
 Went up before God 
 
 Out the Angel's hands. 
 
 And the Angel took the Censer 
 
 And mixed it with the fire 
 
 From the Altar, 
 And threw it to the earth. 
 And there followed thunders and voices, 
 And lightnings 
 
 And an earthquake. 
 
 The Seven Trumpets. 
 And the Seven Angels 
 
 Who had the Seven Trumpets 
 Got ready to blow. 
 
 (Fire and Blood.) 
 And the First blew, 
 
 And there followed hail and fire mixed with 
 blood, 
 And they were thrown to the earth. 
 And the third part of the earth was burnt up, 
 And tlie third part of the trees was burnt up, 
 And all green grass was burnt up. 
 
154 «■?- 
 
 (The Burning Mountain.) 
 And the Second Angel blew, 
 
 And as it were a great mountain burning with 
 fire, 
 Was thrown into the sea. 
 And the tiiird part of the sea became blood, 
 And the third part of the creatures 
 Which were in the sea and had life died. 
 
 And the third part of the ships were destroyed. 
 
 (The Burning Star.) 
 
 And the Third Angel blew, 
 
 And there fell from heaven a great star 
 Burning like a torch. 
 And it fell on the third part of the rivers, 
 And on the fountains of the Waters, 
 
 And the name of the star is called Wormwood : 
 And the third part of the Waters became worm- 
 wood 
 And many men died of the waters, 
 Because they were made bitter. 
 
 (Sun, Moon and Stars Smitten.) 
 
 And the Fourth Angel blew, 
 And the third part of the sun was smitten. 
 And the third part of the moon, 
 And the third part of the stars, 
 So that the third part of them should be darkened, 
 And the day should not shine for the third part 
 of it, 
 And the night in the same way. 
 
Rev. 155 
 
 8: 13. 
 
 Interlude. 
 And I saw, 
 
 And 1 heard an Eagle flying in mid-heaven, 
 Saying in a loud voice : 
 
 *< Woe, woe, woe, 
 For those who are living on the earth, 
 Because of the blasts of the Trumpet 
 
 Of the three Angels who are yet to blow." 
 
 (The Pit of the Abyss.) 
 And the Fifth Angel blew his trumpet : 
 
 And I saw a star from heaven fallen on the earth : 
 
 And he was given the key of the pit of the abyss. 
 And he opened the pit of the abyss. 
 And there went up a smoke out of the pit. 
 Like the smoke of a great furnace. 
 And the sun and the air were darkened 
 Because of the smoke of the pit. 
 And out of the smoke came locusts to the earth. 
 
 And they were given authority. 
 
 Like the scorpions of the earth have authority. 
 
 And they were told not to hurt the grass of the 
 earth, 
 
 Nor any green thing, nor any tree. 
 But only such men, 
 
 As have not the seal of God on their foreheads. 
 
156 Rev. 
 
 9: 5. 
 
 And they were not given authority to kill them, 
 But to torture them five months. 
 And the torture inflicted by them 
 Was hke the torture of a scorpion, 
 When it strikes a man : 
 And in those days men will seek death, 
 
 And will in no way find it. 
 And they will desire to die, 
 
 And death will keep fleeing from them. 
 And the shapes of the locusts. 
 
 Were like horses prepared for war. 
 And on their heads they had 
 
 As it were crowns like gold. 
 And their faces were like men's faces. 
 And they had hair like the hair of women, 
 And their teeth were Hke the teeth of lions. 
 And they had breastplates like breastplates of 
 
 iron, 
 And the sound of their wings 
 
 Was like the sound of chariots of many horses 
 rushing to war. 
 And they have tails like scorpions, and stings ; 
 And in their tails is their power to hurt men five 
 
 months. 
 They have over them a King, — 
 
 The Angel of the Abyss, — 
 His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, 
 
 And in the Greek he has the name Apollyon. 
 
Rev. 157 
 
 9: 12. 
 
 The one Woe has passed. 
 Look ! two more woes are coming after it. 
 
 (The Four Angels Loosed.) 
 
 And the Sixth Angel blew, 
 
 And I heard a voice from the horns of the gold 
 Altar 
 
 Which is before God, 
 Saying to the Sixth Angel 
 
 Who had the Trumpet : 
 *' Loose the four angels 
 
 Which are bound at the Great River Euphrates." 
 And the four angels were loosed 
 
 Who had been prepared for the hour and day 
 
 And month and year, 
 So that they should kill the third part of men. 
 And the number of the armies of the cavalry 
 
 Was twice ten thousand times ten thousand. 
 I heard the number of them. 
 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, 
 
 And those who were sitting on them. 
 With fiery-red breastplates, 
 
 And smoky blue and sulphurous yellow ; 
 And the heads of the horses 
 
 Were like the heads of lions ; 
 And out of their mouths 
 
 Was going fire and smoke and sulphur. 
 
158 RKV. 
 
 By these three plagues 
 
 Was the third part of men killed, 
 By the fire and the smoke and the sulphur, 
 
 Which was going out of their mouths. 
 For the power of the horses is in their mouth, 
 
 And in their tails, 
 For their tails were like serpents, 
 
 And had heads ; 
 And with them they kept doing harm. 
 
 And the rest of mankind, 
 
 Who were not killed with these plagues, 
 Did not change their mind nor the purpose of their 
 heart 
 
 Concerning the works of their hands, 
 So that they should not worship demons, 
 
 And the idols of gold and of silver and of brass 
 
 And of stone and of wood. 
 
 Which can neither see nor hear nor walk : 
 And they did not change their mind nor the pur- 
 pose of their heart 
 
 Concerning their murders, nor their sorceries, 
 
 Nor their fornication, nor their thefts. 
 
fo!l- 15» 
 
 Proem Before Seventh Trumpet. Part i . 
 (John's New Inspiration.) 
 And I saw another Angel, a strong one, 
 
 Coming down out of heaven, 
 
 Clothed with a cloud. 
 
 And the rainbow was on his head, 
 
 And his face was like the sun, 
 
 And his feet like pillars of fire. 
 And he had in his hand a Little Book opened. 
 
 And he set his right foot on the sea, 
 
 And his left on the earth, 
 And he cried in a loud voice, 
 
 Like a lion roars. 
 And when he cried. 
 
 The Seven Thunders spoke with their own Voices. 
 And when the Seven Thunders spoke, 
 
 I was on the point of writing. 
 And I heard a Voice from heaven. 
 
 Saying : 
 " Seal up what the Seven Thunders said, 
 
 And do not write it." 
 
160 Kev. 
 
 10: f). 
 
 And the Angel whom I saw standing on the sea, 
 
 And on the earth, 
 Lifted up his right hand to heaven, 
 And sware by him who lives forever and ever, 
 
 Who created heaven and what is in it, 
 
 And the earth and what is in it. 
 
 And the sea and what is in it. 
 That there should be delay no longer : 
 But in the days of the Voice of the Seventh Angel, 
 
 When he is on the point of blowing, 
 The secret truth of God should be accomplished, 
 
 As he told the Good News to his slaves the 
 Prophets. 
 
 And the Voice which I heard from heaven, 
 
 I heard again talking with me and saying : 
 " Go, take the book which is open in the hand of 
 the Angel, 
 
 Who is standing on the sea, 
 
 And on the land." 
 And I went to the Angel, 
 
 And told him to give me the Little Book. 
 And he said to me : 
 "Take it. 
 
 And eat it up ; 
 And it will make your belly bitter. 
 
 But in your mouth it will be sweet as honey." 
 
Rev. 101 
 
 10: 10. 
 
 And I took the Little Book out of the Angel's hand, 
 
 And ate it up ; 
 
 And it was in my mouth sweet as honey ; 
 And when I had eaten it my belly was made bitter. 
 
 And they said to me : 
 '' You must prophesy again over many peoples, 
 
 And nations, and tongues, and kings." 
 
 Proem before Seventh Trumpet. Part 2. 
 
 (The Holy City During Heathen Prophecy of the 
 War Against God.) 
 
 And I was given a Reed like a rod. 
 
 And some one said : 
 " Rise and measure the Sanctuary of God, 
 
 And the Altar, 
 
 And those worshipping in it, 
 
 And the court which is outside the Sanctuary 
 
 Throw it outside, and do not measure it. 
 
 For it has been given to the nations ; 
 
 And the Holy City will they tread under foot 
 
 Forty- two months. 
 And I shall give authority to my Two Witnesses, 
 
 And they will prophesy twelve hundred and sixty 
 days, 
 
 Clothed in sackcloth." 
 
162 Rev. 
 
 11:4. 
 
 These are the two olive trees and the two lamp- 
 stands, 
 
 Standing before the Lord of the earth. 
 And if any one wishes to hurt them, 
 
 Fire goes out of their mouth. 
 
 And devours their enemies. 
 And if any one shall desire to hurt them, 
 
 He must be killed in this way. 
 These have authority to shut heaven 
 
 So that no rain may fall 
 
 During the days of their prophecy : 
 And they have authority over the waters 
 
 To turn them into blood, 
 
 And to smite the earth with every plague 
 
 As often as they shall desire. 
 And when they shall have finished their witness, 
 
 The beast who is coming up out of the Abyss 
 
 Will make war with them. 
 
 And overcome them and kill them. 
 And their dead bodies lie in the street of the great 
 City, 
 
 Which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, 
 
 Where also their Lord was crucified. 
 And from among the peoples and tribes and tongues 
 and nations, 
 
 Will men keep looking on their dead bodies, 
 
 Three days and a half. 
 
 And will not allow their dead bodies 
 
 To be laid in a tomb. 
 
Rev. 163 
 
 11: 10. 
 
 And those who are living on the earth 
 
 Will keep rejoicing over them, 
 
 And making merry ; 
 And they will send gifts to each other ; 
 
 Because these two prophets tormented 
 
 Those who were living on the earth. 
 And after three days and a half, 
 
 The breath of life from God entered into them 
 
 And they stood on their feet ; 
 And those who were looking at them 
 
 Became very much frightened. 
 And they heard a great voice from heaven, 
 
 Saying to them ; 
 *' Come up here." 
 And they went up to heaven in a cloud; 
 
 And their enemies looked at them. 
 And in that hour there was a great earthquake ; 
 
 And the tenth part of the city fell ; 
 And seven thousand people were killed in the earth- 
 quake ; 
 
 And the rest were frightened, 
 
 And honored the God of heaven. 
 
 The second Woe has passed : 
 
 Look ! the third Woe is coming quickly. 
 
164 Rkv. 
 
 11:16. 
 
 The Seventh Trumpet. 
 (Prelude.) 
 And the Seventh Angel blew, 
 
 And there followed loud voices in heaven, 
 And they said : 
 
 •' The Kingdom of the world 
 Has become our Lord's and his Christ's, 
 And he will reign forever and ever." 
 
 And the twenty-four Elders 
 
 Who were sitting before God on their thrones. 
 Fell on their faces and worshipped God, 
 
 Saying : 
 
 '' We thank thee, O Lord, 
 
 The God, the All-Ruler, 
 
 The Present and the Past, 
 Because thou hast taken thy great power 
 
 And didst reign. 
 And the nations were angry, 
 
 And thy wrath came, 
 
 And the time of the dead to be judged. 
 
 And to give their reward to thy slaves the 
 Prophets, 
 
 And to thy devoted ones. 
 
 And to those who fear thy name. 
 
 The small and the great. 
 
 And to destroy those who are destroying 
 the earth." 
 
Rev. 165 
 
 11: 19. 
 
 The Kingdom of the World Becoming the 
 Kingdom of Christ. 
 
 And the Sanctuary of God was opened in heaven 
 And the ark of his agreement was seen in his 
 sanctuary : 
 And there were hghtnings and voices, 
 
 And thunders, and an earthquake, and great 
 hail. 
 
 (The Woman and the Red Dragon.) 
 And a great sign was seen in heaven ; 
 A woman clothed with the sun, 
 And the moon under her feet, 
 And on her head a crown of twelve stars ; 
 And she was with child : 
 And she kept crying out, 
 Laboring in birth, and in pain to be delivered. 
 
 And another sign was seen in heaven ; 
 And look ! a great Red Dragon, 
 With seven heads and ten horns, 
 And seven diadems on his heads. 
 And his tail kept sweeping the third part of the 
 
 stars of the heaven 
 And throwing them to the earth. 
 And the Dragon kept standing before the 
 Woman 
 Who was about to be delivered. 
 So that when she was delivered. 
 He might devour her Child, 
 
166 Rev. 
 
 12: 5. 
 
 And she was delivered of a Son, 
 
 A Boy, 
 Who is to rule all the nations 
 
 With a rod of iron : 
 And her Child was caught up to God, 
 
 And to his Throne. 
 
 And the Woman fled into the wilderness, 
 Where she had a place prepared by God. 
 
 So that they might nourish her there 
 Twelve hundred and sixty days. 
 
 (War in Heaven.) 
 And a war began in heaven. 
 
 Michael and his angels began a war with the 
 Dragon. 
 And the Dragon warred and his angels ; 
 
 And their strength failed them, 
 And there was not even a place found for them any 
 more 
 
 In heaven. 
 And the great Dragon was thrown down, — 
 
 The Serpent, the old fellow, 
 
 He who is called ''Devil " and ''Satan," 
 
 The deceiver of the whole world, — 
 He was thrown down to the earth, 
 
 And his angels were thrown down with him. 
 
Rev. 167 
 
 12: 10. 
 
 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, 
 Saying : 
 
 ''Now has come the salvation, and the power, 
 And the kingdom of our God, and the authority 
 of his Christ. 
 For the accuser of our brethren is thrown down, 
 He who keeps accusing them before our God day 
 and night. 
 And they overcame him 
 
 Because of the blood of the Lamb, 
 And because of the message of their witness ; 
 And they carried the temper of not loving their 
 life even to death. 
 
 So rejoice, O heavens. 
 
 And you who are living in them. 
 
 Woe for the earth and the sea : 
 
 Because the devil has gone down to you, 
 
 With great wrath, 
 Because he knows that he has but a short time." 
 
 (Temptation on Earth.) 
 And when the Dragon saw 
 
 He was thrown to the earth. 
 He kept persecuting the Woman 
 
 Who bore the Boy. 
 
168 R«v. 
 
 12: U- 
 
 And the Woman was given the two wings 
 
 Of the Great Eagle, 
 So that she might fly into the wilderness 
 
 To her place, 
 
 Where she was being nourished for a time 
 
 And times and half a time, 
 From the face of the Serpent. 
 
 And the Serpent threw out of his mouth, 
 
 After the Woman, water. 
 To cause her to be carried away 
 
 By the stream. 
 And the earth helped the Woman, 
 
 And the earth opened its mouth 
 And swallowed up the river 
 
 Which the Dragon threw out of its mouth. 
 And the Dragon became angry with the Woman, 
 
 And went away to make war with the rest of her 
 descendants. 
 Who keep the commandments of God, 
 
 And hold the witness of Jesus : 
 And he stood on the sand of the sea. 
 
 (The Wildbeast out of the Sea.) 
 And I saw a AA'ildbeast coming up out of the sea, 
 With ten horns and seven heads. 
 And on his horns ten diadems, 
 And on his heads names of blasphemy. 
 
Kbv. 169 
 
 13:2. 
 
 And the Wildbeast which I saw- 
 Was Hke a leopard, 
 
 And his feet were Hke the feet of a bear, 
 
 And his mouth Hke the mouth of a Hon. 
 And the Dragon gave him his power, 
 
 And his throne, and great authority, 
 And I saw one of his heads 
 
 As if it had been slain to death ; 
 
 And his death -stroke was cured. 
 And the whole earth wondered after the Wild- 
 beast ; 
 
 And they worshijjped the Dragon, 
 
 Because he gave his authority to the Wildbeast. 
 And they worshipped the Wildbeast, 
 
 And said : 
 '* Who is like the Wildbeast ? 
 
 And who can war with him? " 
 And he was given a mouth speaking great things, 
 
 And blasphemies ; 
 And he was given authority 
 
 To continue forty-two months. 
 And he opened his mouth 
 
 For blasphemies against God, 
 
 To blaspheme his name and his tent, — 
 
 Those who tent in heaven. 
 And he was given authority 
 
 To make war with Christ's devoted ones, 
 
 And to overcome them. 
 
170 Rrv. 
 
 13:7. 
 
 And he was given authority over every tribe, 
 
 And people and tongue and nation. 
 And all wlio are living on the earth 
 
 Will worship him, 
 Every one whose name has not been written 
 
 In the Book of Life of the Lamb 
 
 Who has been slain from the foundation of the 
 world. 
 
 If any one has an ear, let him hear. 
 If any one leads into captivity, 
 
 Into captivity he is going. 
 If any one shall kill with the sword, 
 With the sword must he be killed. 
 Here is the endurance and faith of Christ's devoted 
 ones. 
 
 (The Wildbeast out of the Earth.) 
 
 And I saw another Wildbeast coming up out of the 
 earth. 
 
 And he had two horns like a lamb, 
 
 And he kept talking like a dragon. 
 And he was exercising all the authority 
 
 Of the first Wildbeast in his sight. 
 And he was making the earth, and those living in it, 
 
 Worship the first Wildbeast, 
 
 Whose death-stroke was cured, 
 
Rev. 171 
 
 13: 13. 
 
 And he kept doing great signs, 
 
 So that he even made fire come down out of 
 heaven, 
 
 On the earth in the sight of men. 
 And he kept deceiving those living on the earth 
 
 Because of the signs it was given him to do 
 
 In the sight of the Wildbeast ; 
 And he told those living on the earth 
 
 To make an image to the Wildbeast 
 
 Who had the stroke of the sword and lived. 
 And he was given authority to give breath 
 
 To the Image of the Wildbeast 
 So that the Image of the Wildbeast should both talk, 
 
 And cause as many as should not worship the 
 Image of the Wildbeast to be killed. 
 And he caused all, the small and the great, 
 
 And the rich and the poor, 
 
 And the free and the slaves. 
 To be given a mark on their right hand, 
 
 Or on their forehead ; 
 And so that no one should be able to buy or to sell, 
 
 But he who had the mark. 
 
 The name of the Wildbeast, 
 
 Or the Number of his name. 
 
 Here is wisdom. 
 
 He who has understanding, 
 
 Let him count the number of the Wildbeast ; 
 For its computation is by an ordinary human 
 method, 
 And its number is six hundred and sixty-six. 
 
172 Rev. 
 
 14:1. 
 
 (The Lamb and his Body-Guard.) 
 And I saw and lo, the Lamb standing on Mount 
 Zion, 
 And with him a hundred and forty-four thou- 
 sand, 
 With his Name and the Name of his Father, 
 Written on their foreheads. 
 And I heard a voice from heaven, 
 Like the voice of many waters. 
 And like the voice of loud thunder : 
 And the voice which I heard 
 
 Was like the voice of harpers playing on their 
 harps : 
 And they sang as it were a new song before the 
 Throne, 
 And before the four Living Creatures and the 
 Elders : 
 And no one could learn the song 
 
 But the hundred and forty-four thousand. 
 Who had been purchased out of the earth. 
 These are they who are not defiled with women, 
 
 For they are virgins. 
 These are they who keep following the Lamb, 
 
 Wherever he goes. 
 These were bought from among men 
 
 To be the first-fruits to God and the Lamb, 
 And in their mouth was found no lie. 
 They are without blemish. 
 
And I saw another Angel flying in mid-heaven, 
 With eternal Good News to proclaim 
 To those who are living on the earth, 
 And to every nation and tribe, 
 And language and people, 
 
 And he said in a loud voice : 
 
 " Fear God and do him honor, 
 
 For the hour of his judgment has come. 
 And worship him who made heaven and the earth, 
 And the sea and the spring of waters." 
 
 And another, a second, followed, 
 Saying : 
 
 '* She fell ! She fell ! Babylon the great ! 
 She who made all the nations drink 
 The inflaming wine of her fornication." 
 
 (Salvation.) 
 
 And another Angel, a third, followed them, 
 
 Saying in a loud voice : 
 " If any one worships the Wildbeast and its Image, 
 
 And receives a mark on his forehead, 
 
 Or on his hand. 
 He also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, 
 
 Which has been prepared unmixed 
 
 In the cup of his anger. 
 
174 Rev. 
 
 14:10. 
 
 And he will be tormented with fire and sulphur, 
 
 In the presence of the holy Angels, 
 
 And in the presence of the Lamb. 
 And the smoke of their torture keeps going up 
 
 Forever and ever. 
 And they have no rest day and night. 
 
 They who worship the Wildbeast and its Image, 
 
 And whoever receives the mark of its name." 
 
 Here is the endurance of the devoted ones, — 
 Those who continually keep the commandments 
 
 of God, 
 And the faith of Jesus. 
 
 And I heard a voice from heaven, 
 Saying: ''Write: 
 
 Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, 
 
 From this moment. 
 
 Yes, says the Spirit, 
 
 In the fact that they shall rest from their labors. 
 For their deeds are following with them." 
 
 And I saw and lo, a white cloud. 
 And on the cloud I saw some one 
 
 Like the Son of Man sitting. 
 And he had on his head a gold crown, 
 
 And in his hand a sharp sickle. 
 
Rev. 175 
 
 14: 15. 
 
 And another Angel came out of the Sanctuary, 
 
 Crying in a loud voice 
 
 To him who was sitting on the cloud : 
 " Send out your sickle and reap. 
 
 For the hour to reap has come. 
 
 For the harvest of the earth is over-ripe." 
 And he who was sitting on the cloud 
 
 Threw his sickle to the earth, 
 
 And the earth was reaped. 
 
 And another Angel came out of the Sanctuary 
 
 Which is in heaven. 
 He also had a sharp sickle. 
 
 And another Angel came out of the Altar, 
 
 He who has authority over the fire. 
 And he called in a loud voice 
 
 To him who had the sharp sickle, 
 
 And said : 
 " Send out your sharp sickle, 
 
 And gather the clusters of the vine of the earth. 
 
 For her grapes are fully ripe." 
 And the Angel threw his sickle to the earth. 
 
 And gathered the vintage of the earth, 
 
 And threw it into the winepress, 
 
 The great winepress of the wrath of God. 
 And the winepress was trodden outside the city. 
 
 And blood came out of the winepress. 
 
 To the bridles of the horses. 
 
 For sixteen hundred furlongs. 
 
176 Rev- 
 
 15:1. 
 
 The Seven Angels of the Bowls. 
 
 Three Acts. 
 (Prelude to the Whole.) 
 
 And I saw another sign in heaven, 
 
 Great and wonderful, 
 Seven Angels with Seven Plagues, 
 
 Which are the last. 
 For in them is finished the wrath of God. 
 
 (Choral Song of Victors.) 
 
 And I saw as it were a glassy sea 
 
 Mingled with fire. 
 And those who came conquering 
 
 From the Wild beast, 
 
 And from its Image, 
 
 And from the number of its name, 
 Standing by the glassy sea, 
 
 With harps of God. 
 And they kept singing the song of Moses the slave 
 of God, 
 
 And the song of the Lamb, 
 
 Saying : 
 
Rev. 177 
 
 15: 3. 
 
 ''Great and wonderful are thy works, 
 
 Lord God, the All-Ruler, 
 Good and true are thy ways, 
 
 Thou King of the ages. 
 Who shall not fear, O Lord, 
 
 And magnify thy name ? 
 For thou only art holy. 
 For all the nations will come and worship 
 
 before thee. 
 For thy good deeds are made known." 
 
 After this I saw 
 
 And the Sanctuary of the Tent of the Witness 
 in heaven 
 
 Was opened. 
 And there came out of the Sanctuary 
 
 The Seven Angels who had the Seven Plagues, 
 
 Clothed with linen pure and bright 
 
 And girded about their breasts with gold girdles. 
 And one of the four Living Creatures 
 
 Gave to the Seven Angels Seven Gold Bowls 
 
 Full of the wrath of God 
 
 Who is living forever and ever. 
 And the Sanctuary was filled with smoke, 
 
 From the splendor of God, 
 
 And from his power. 
 
And no one could go into the Sanctuary 
 
 Till the Seven Plagues of the Seven Angels 
 
 Should be finished. 
 And I heard a loud voice out of the Sanctuary 
 
 Saying to the Seven Angels : 
 '' Go and pour out the Seven Bowls 
 
 Of the wrath of God on the earth." 
 
 (First Bowl — Judgment Above.) 
 
 And the first went and poured out his Bowl 
 
 On the earth. 
 And it became a bad and painful sore 
 
 On the men who had the mark of the Wildbeast, 
 
 And who worshipped its Image. 
 
 (Second Bowl.) 
 
 And the second poured out his Bowl 
 
 Into the sea. 
 And it became blood like a dead man's ; 
 
 And every living thing in the sea died. 
 
 (Third Bowl.) 
 
 And the third poured out his Bowl 
 
 Into the rivers and the springs of the waters, 
 And it became blood. 
 
 And I heard the Angel of the waters, 
 Saying : 
 
Rev. 179 
 
 16:5. 
 
 ** Good art thou, 
 The Present and the Past, — 
 
 The Holy one, 
 Because thou didst thus judge. 
 For they poured out the blood of devoted ones, 
 
 And Prophets, 
 And blood hast thou given them to drink. 
 
 They are worthy." 
 
 And I heard the Altar saying : 
 " Yes, Lord God, 
 The All-Ruler, 
 True and good are thy judgments." 
 
 (Fourth Bowl.) 
 
 And the fourth poured out his Bowl 
 
 On the sun 
 And it was given authority to scorch men with fire. 
 
 And men were scorched with great heat. 
 And they blasphemed the name of the God 
 
 Who has the authority over these plagues. 
 And they did not reform 
 
 And do him honor. 
 
^°" 16: 10. 
 
 (Fifth Bowl — Judgment Beneath.) 
 
 And the fifth poured out his Bowl 
 On the throne of the Wildbeast, 
 And its kingdom was darkened ; 
 And they gnawed their tongues for pain, 
 And they blasphemed the God of heaven, 
 Because of their pains and their sores. 
 
 And they did not reform from their deeds. 
 
 (Sixth Bowl — Judgment at Euphrates.) 
 
 And the sixth poured out of his Bowl 
 On the great river, the Euphrates ; 
 
 And its water was dried up 
 
 So that the way might be made ready 
 
 For the kings who are coming from the east. 
 
 And I saw coming out of the mouth of the Dragon, 
 And out of the mouth of the Wildbeast, 
 And out of the mouth of the False Prophet, 
 
 Three unclean spirits like frogs. 
 
 For they are spirits of demons, doing signs. 
 
 And they keep going out to the kings of the 
 
 whole world, 
 To gather them together to the war 
 Of the great Day of God, the All-Ruler. 
 
Rev. 181 
 
 16: 15. 
 
 (Voice of Christ.) 
 '*Lo, I am coming like a thief. 
 Blessed is he who continues to watch, 
 
 And keeps his clothes, 
 Lest he goes about naked, 
 And they see his shame." 
 
 And they gathered them together into the place 
 Called in Hebrew, Har-magedon. 
 
 (The Seventh Bowl—Prelude to First Act.) 
 
 And the seventh poured out his Bowl 
 
 On the air, 
 And a loud voice came out of the Sanctuary 
 
 From the Throne, saying : 
 "It is done." 
 And there were lightnings and voices 
 
 And thunders. 
 And there was a great earthquake 
 
 Such as was not 
 
 Since there were men on the earth, 
 So great an earthquake, so mighty. 
 And the Great City was divided into three parts, 
 
 And the cities of the nations fell. 
 And Babylon the Great was remembered 
 
 In the sight of God, 
 
To give her the cup 
 
 Of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. 
 And every island fled away, 
 
 And the mountains were not found, 
 And great hail, 
 
 Every stone about a hundred pounds weight, 
 Kept coming down out of heaven on men. 
 And men blasphemed God, 
 
 Because of the plague of hail. 
 For its plague was very great. 
 
 First Act. Overthrow of Babylon. 
 (Secret Truth About Babylon.) 
 
 And one of the Seven Angels 
 
 Who had the Seven Bowls, 
 Came and talked with me, 
 
 And said : 
 '' Here! 
 I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute. 
 
 Who is sitting on many waters, 
 With whom the kings of the earth 
 
 Committed fornication. 
 And they who were living on the earth 
 
 Were made drunk with the wine of her fornica- 
 tion." 
 
llEv. 183 
 
 17: 3. 
 
 And he carried me away in the spirit 
 
 Into a wilderness. 
 And 1 saw a woman sitting on a scarlet Wildbeast, 
 
 Full of names of blasphemy, 
 
 With seven heads and ten horns. 
 And the woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, 
 
 And decked with gold and precious stone 
 
 And pearls. 
 And she had in her hand a gold cup 
 
 Full of abominations, 
 
 That is, the unclean things of her fornication, 
 And on her head a name written, — 
 
 Secret Truth, 
 
 Babylon the Great, 
 
 The Mother of the Prostitutes, 
 
 And of the Abominations of the Earth. 
 
 And I saw the woman 
 
 Drunk with the blood of Christ's devoted ones, 
 
 And with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. 
 And when I saw her, 
 
 I wondered greatly. 
 And the Angel said to me : 
 ** Why did you wonder? 
 
 I will tell you the secret truth about the woman, 
 
184 Rev. 
 
 17: 7. 
 
 And about the Wildbeast which was carrying her, 
 
 Which has the seven heads and the ten horns. 
 And those who are living on the earth will wonder, — 
 
 Those whose name has not been written in the 
 book of life, 
 
 From the foundation of the world, — 
 When they look at the beast. 
 
 How he was, and is not, and shall come. 
 
 Here is the mind which has wisdom. 
 
 The seven heads are seven mountains, 
 
 On which the woman is sitting. 
 And they are seven kings. 
 
 The five have fallen, the one is. 
 
 The other has not yet come. 
 And when he comes. 
 
 He must continue a little while. 
 And the Wildbeast which was, and is not. 
 
 Is itself also an eighth, and is of the seven ; 
 
 And he is going into destruction. 
 And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings, 
 
 Which have received no kingdom as yet ; 
 But they are receiving authority as kings, 
 
 With the Wildbeast, for one hour. 
 These have one mind, 
 
 And they are giving their power and authority 
 
 To the Wildbeast. 
 
Kev. 185 
 
 17: 14. 
 
 These will war against the Lamb, 
 
 And the Lamb will overcome them. 
 For he is Lord of lords, 
 
 And King of kings; 
 And they also will overcome, 
 
 Those who are with him, 
 
 And are called and chosen and faithful." 
 
 And he said to me : 
 
 " The waters which you saw. 
 
 Where the prostitute is sitting, 
 Are peoples and crowds. 
 
 And nations and languages, 
 And the ten horns which you saw, 
 
 And the Wildbeast, 
 These will hate the prostitute, 
 
 And will make her desolate and naked. 
 And will eat her flesh, 
 
 And will burn her up with fire. 
 For God put into their hearts to do his mind. 
 
 And to come to one mind, 
 And to give their kingdom to the Wildbeast, 
 
 Till the words of God should be accomplished. 
 And the woman whom you saw is the great* city, 
 
 Whicli has kingly power over the kings of the 
 earth." 
 
186 Rev. 
 
 18:1. 
 
 The Dirge of Babylon. 
 (A very bright Angel. The Leader of the Chorus 
 
 on Earth.) 
 After this I saw another Angel 
 Coming down out of Heaven, 
 With great authority. 
 And the earth was lit up with his brightness. 
 And he cried in a loud voice, and said : 
 
 " She fell ! She fell ! Babylon the great ! 
 
 And became the habitation of demons. 
 And a hold of every unclean spirit. 
 
 And a hold of every unclean and hateful bird. 
 For by the inflaming wine of her fornication 
 
 All the nations have fallen ; 
 And the kings of the earth 
 
 Committed fornication with her. 
 And the merchants of the earth 
 
 Grew rich by the power of her wantonness," 
 
Rev. 187 
 
 18: 4. 
 
 (A Voice out of Heaven.) 
 (The Leader of the Chorus above.) 
 
 And I heard another voice from heaven, 
 
 Saying : 
 '' Come out of her, my people. 
 So that you may not share in her sins. 
 
 And so that you may not receive of her plagues. 
 For her sins have reached even to heaven, 
 
 And God has remembered her iniquities. 
 
 Pay her back as she herself also paid back. 
 
 And double to her the double according to her 
 deeds. 
 In the cup which she mixed. 
 
 Mix for her double. 
 In as many things as she praised herself, 
 
 And grew wanton, 
 
 So much give her of torment and mourning. 
 For she keeps saying in her heart : 
 
 ' I am sitting a queen. 
 
 And am no widow. 
 
 And shall in no way come to grief.' 
 So in one day shall her plagues come, 
 
 Death and mourning and famine ; 
 And she shall be burnt up with fire ; 
 
 For strong is the Lord God who judged her. 
 
188 K^v- 
 
 ^°" 18: 9. 
 
 (The Chorus of Kings.) 
 
 And the kings of the earth, 
 
 Who committed fornication 
 
 And hved wantonly with her, 
 Shall weep and wail over her, 
 When they look at the smoke of her burning, 
 
 Standing away off for the fear of her torment, 
 Saying : 
 
 ' Woe ! Woe ! the Great City, 
 
 Babylon, the strong city ! 
 
 For in one hour has your judgment come.' 
 
 (The Merchants of Earth.) 
 
 And the merchants of the earth 
 Weep and mourn over her. 
 
 For no one buys their freight any more, 
 Freight of gold and silver. 
 
 And precious stone, and pearls. 
 
 And fine linen, and purple, 
 
 And silk, and scarlet ; 
 
 And all Tyine wood, and everything made of 
 ivory, 
 
 And everything made of most precious wood. 
 
 And of brass, and iron, and marble ; 
 
 And cinnamon, and spice. 
 
Rev. 189 
 
 18: 13. 
 
 And incense, and ointment, and frankincense. 
 
 And wine, and oil, 
 
 And fine flour, and wheat, 
 
 And cattle, and sheep ; 
 And freight of horses, and chariots, and slaves ; 
 And souls of men. 
 
 And the fruits which your soul desired 
 
 Have gone from you. 
 And everything which was dainty and sumptuous 
 
 Has perished from you. 
 And they shall never any longer be found. 
 
 (The Chorus of Merchants.) 
 
 The merchants of these things, 
 
 Who were enriched by her. 
 Shall stand away off for fear of her torment, 
 
 Weeping and mourning, 
 Saying : 
 
 ' Woe ! Woe ! the Great City, 
 
 She who was clothed in fine linen, and purple, 
 
 and scarlet, 
 And decked in gold, and precious stone and 
 pearl ! 
 for in one hour all this wealth has come to ruin.' 
 
(The Chorus of Seamen.) 
 
 And every shipmaster, 
 
 And every one who sails anywhere. 
 And sailors, 
 
 And all who work at sea, 
 Stood away off and cried out, 
 
 As they looked on the smoke of her burning, 
 Saying : 
 
 ' What city is like the Great City ? ' 
 And they threw dust on their heads. 
 
 And cried, weeping and mourning. 
 Saying : 
 
 < Woe ! Woe ! the Great City, 
 In which were enriched all who had their ships 
 
 in the sea. 
 Because of her costliness ! 
 
 For in one hour she has come to ruin.' 
 
 (Joy in Heaven.) 
 
 Rejoice over her, O heaven ! 
 
 And you devoted ones, and you Apostles, 
 
 And you prophets ; 
 For God has condemned her 
 
 For her condemnation of you." 
 
Rev. 191 
 
 18: 21. 
 
 (The Strong Angel's Symbol and Monody.) 
 And a strong Angel took up a stone, 
 
 Like a great millstone, 
 And threw it into the sea. 
 
 Saying : 
 "Thus with a mighty fall will Babylon, the Great 
 City, 
 
 Be thrown down. 
 
 And shall never be found again. 
 And the sound of harpers and minstrels, 
 And flute players and trumpeters. 
 
 Shall never be heard in you again. 
 And no craftsman, of whatever craft, 
 
 Shall ever be found in you again. 
 And the sound of a millstone, 
 
 Shall never be heard in you again. 
 And the light of a lamp, 
 
 Shall never shine in you again. 
 And the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride. 
 
 Shall never be heard in you again. 
 For your merchants were the princes of the earth. 
 For with your sorcery were all the nations 
 deceived." 
 
 And in her was found the blood of prophets and of. 
 devoted ones. 
 And of all who have been slain on the earth. 
 
1 qo Bey. 
 
 ^^^ 19: 1. 
 
 Prelude to Second and Third Acts. 
 
 After this I heard as it were a mighty voice 
 
 Of a great throng in heaven, 
 Saying : 
 
 ''Hallelujah! 
 The salvation, and the majesty and the 
 power. 
 
 Are our God's. 
 For true and good are his judgments. 
 For he has judged the great prostitute, 
 Who corrupted the earth with her fornica- 
 tion. 
 And he has avenged the blood of his slaves 
 At her hand." 
 And once more they have said : 
 
 ''Hallelujah! " 
 And her smoke keeps going up 
 
 Forever and ever. 
 And the twenty-four Elders 
 And the four Living Creatures, 
 Fell down and worshipped God, 
 Who sits on the Throne, 
 Saying : 
 
 " Amen. Hallelujah ! " 
 
And a voice came out of the Throne, 
 Saying : 
 
 " Give praise to our God, 
 All you his slaves. 
 You who fear him, 
 
 The small and the great." 
 
 And I heard as it were the voice of a great throng, 
 And as a sound of many waters. 
 And as the sound of loud thunders, 
 Saying : 
 
 "Hallelujah! 
 For the Lord our God, 
 The All-Ruler is reigning. 
 Let us rejoice and be very glad, 
 And let us give the praise to him. 
 For the marriage of the Lamb has come, 
 And his wife has made herself ready." 
 
 And she was given authority to clothe herself 
 Li fine linen, bright and pure : 
 For the fine linen is the good deeds of the 
 devoted ones. 
 
 And he said to me : ' ' Write : 
 
 Blessed are those who are invited 
 
 To the marriage supper of the Lamb." 
 
194 Rev. 
 
 19:9. 
 
 And he said to me : 
 
 '' These are true words of God." 
 And I fell before his feet to worship him. 
 
 And he said to me : 
 ''Do not do that. 
 
 I am fellow-slave of you and your brothers 
 
 Who have the witness of Jesus. 
 Worship God." 
 
 For the witness of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. 
 
 Second Act. The Last War. 
 
 ( Extermination of Powers of Evil.) 
 
 And I saw heaven opened ; 
 And lo, a White Horse, 
 And he was sitting on it, 
 He who is called Faithful and True ; 
 And in goodness he judges and makes war. 
 And his eyes are like a flame of fire, 
 And on his head are many diadems, 
 And he has a Name written. 
 Which no one knows but he himself. 
 And he is clothed with a garment 
 Sprinkled with blood ; 
 And his name is called : 
 
 The Word of God. 
 
Rev. 195 
 
 19: 13. 
 
 And the armies which are in heaven 
 Kept following him on white horses, 
 Clothed in fine linen, white and pure. 
 
 And out of his mouth was going a sharp sword. 
 With which he was to smite the nations. 
 
 And he will rule them 
 With a rod of iron. 
 
 And he kept treading the winepress 
 
 Of the fierce wrath of God, the All-Ruler. 
 
 And he had on his garment and on his thigh 
 A Name written : 
 
 King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. 
 
 (Birds to the Supper of God.) 
 And I saw an Angel standing in the sun. 
 
 And he cried in a loud voice. 
 
 And said to all the birds 
 
 Which fly in midair : 
 *' Come and be gathered together 
 
 To the great supper of God ; 
 So that you may eat the flesh of kings, 
 
 And the flesh of captains and the flesh of mighty 
 men. 
 And the flesh of horses 
 
 And of those who are sitting on them. 
 And the flesh of all men. 
 
 Both free and slave, and small and great." 
 
196 Rbv. 
 
 19: 19. 
 
 ( AVildbeast and False Prophet in Lake of Fire.) 
 And I saw the Wild beast 
 
 And the kings of the earth and their armies, 
 
 Gathered together to wage the war 
 
 Against him who was sitting on the horse, 
 
 And against his army. 
 And the Wildbeast was taken, 
 
 And with him the false prophet, 
 
 Who did the signs in its sight, 
 
 With which he deceived those 
 
 Who had received the mark of the Wildbeast, 
 
 And those who kept worshipping its Image. 
 The two were thrown alive into the lake of fire. 
 
 Which keeps burning with sulphur. 
 And the rest were slain with the sword of him 
 
 Who was sitting on the horse. 
 
 The sword came out of his mouth. 
 And all the birds were filled with their flesh. 
 
 (The Dragon Bound.) 
 And I saw an Angel coming down out of heaven 
 
 With the key of the Abyss, 
 
 And a great chain in his hand. 
 And he seized the Dragon, the Old Serpent, 
 
 Which is the Devil and Satan, 
 And bound him for a thousand years, 
 
 And threw him into the Abyss, 
 
 And shut it and sealed it over him. 
 
Rev. 197 
 
 20:3. 
 
 So that he should deceive the nations no longer, 
 Till the thousand years should be finished. 
 
 After this he must be loosed 
 For a little while. 
 
 (The First Resurrection.) 
 
 And I saw thrones, and those sitting on them, 
 
 And judgment was given to them. 
 And I saw the souls of those who had been be- 
 headed 
 
 On account of the witness they bore to Jesus, 
 
 And to the message of God. 
 And such as did not worship the Wildbeast, 
 
 Nor its Image, 
 And did not receive the mark on their forehead, 
 
 And on their hand. 
 And they lived and reigned with Christ 
 
 A thousand years. 
 The rest of the dead did not live 
 
 Till the thousand years should be finished. 
 
 This is the First Resurrection. 
 
 Blessed and holy is he 
 
 Who has })art in the First Resurrection. 
 Over these the Second Death has no authority. 
 But they will be priests of God and of Christ, 
 
 And will reign with him a thousand years. 
 
198 Rev. 
 
 20:7. 
 
 (War of Gog and Magog.) 
 
 And when the thousand years have been finished 
 
 Satan will be loosed out of his prison, 
 And will come out to deceive the nations 
 
 Which are in the four corners of the earth, 
 Gog and Magog, 
 
 To gather them together to the war. 
 And the number of them 
 
 Is like the sand of the sea. 
 And they went up over the breadth of the earth. 
 
 And surrounded the camp of Christ's devoted 
 ones, 
 
 And the beloved city. 
 And fire came down out of heaven 
 
 And devoured them. 
 And the Devil who used to deceive them 
 
 Was thrown into the Lake of Fire and Sulphur, 
 
 Where are also the Wildbeast and False Prophet. 
 And they shall be tormented day and night. 
 
 Forever and ever. 
 
 (Last Judgment and Second Death.) 
 
 And I saw a great white Throne, 
 And him who was sitting on it, 
 
 And from his face the earth 
 And the heaven fled away. 
 
Rev. 199 
 
 2U : 11. 
 
 And there was found no place for them. 
 And I saw the dead, 
 
 The great and the small, 
 Standing before the Throne, 
 
 And books were opened. 
 And another Book was opened, 
 
 Which is the Book of Life. 
 And the dead were judged 
 
 Out of what was written in the books, 
 
 According to their deeds. 
 And the sea gave up the dead 
 
 Which were in it ; 
 And Death and Hades gave up the dead 
 
 Which were in them. 
 And they were judged, 
 
 Every man according to his deeds. 
 And Death and Hades were thrown 
 
 Into the Lake of Fire. 
 
 This is the Second Death, — 
 
 The Lake of Fire. 
 And if any one was not found written in the Book 
 of Life, 
 
 He was thrown into the Lake of Fire. 
 
200 BBV. 
 
 Prelude to Third Act. 
 (All Things New.) 
 
 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. 
 
 For the first heaven and the first earth 
 
 Had passed away. 
 And the sea was no more. 
 And I saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem, 
 
 Coming down out of heaven from God, 
 Made ready as a bride 
 
 Adorned for her husband. 
 
 And I heard a loud voice out of the Throne, 
 
 Saying : 
 *' Look ! the Tent of God is with men, 
 
 And he will tent with them, 
 
 And they shall be his peoples, 
 
 And God himself shall be with them> 
 
 And be their God. 
 
 And he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, 
 
 And there shall no longer be any death ; 
 
 Nor shall there be any mourning, nor crying, 
 
 Nor pain any longer : 
 The first things have passed away." 
 
Rev. 301 
 
 21:5. 
 
 And he who was sitting on the Throne 
 
 Said : 
 ** Look ! I am making everything new." 
 
 And he said : 
 ''Write: 
 These words are to be relied on and are true." 
 
 And he said to me : 
 ''They have taken place. 
 I am the Alpha and the Omega, 
 
 The beginning and the end. 
 I will give to him who is thirsty 
 
 Of the spring of the living water freely. 
 He who keeps overcoming shall inherit these things, 
 
 And I will be his God, and he shall be my son. 
 But for the fearful and unbelieving. 
 
 And abominable, and murderers, 
 
 And fornicators, and sorcerers, 
 
 And idolaters, and all liars, 
 Their part will be in the Lake 
 
 AVhich is burning with fire and sulphur; 
 
 Which is the Second Death. 
 
 Third Act. Descent of the Holy City. 
 
 And there came one of the Seven Angels, 
 Who had the Seven Bowls, 
 Who were loaded with the Seven last Plagues : 
 
0()0 Kev. 
 
 "^""^ 20: 9. 
 
 And he talked with me, 
 
 Saying : 
 '' Here ! I will show you the Bride 
 
 The Wife of the Lamb." 
 And he carried me away under the influence of the 
 Spirit, 
 
 To a mountain great and high. 
 And showed me the Holy City Jerusalem, 
 
 Coming down out of heaven from God, 
 With the splendor of God. 
 Her light was like a very precious stone. 
 
 Like a jasper stone, clear as crystal, 
 With a wall great and high ; 
 
 With twelve gates, 
 
 And at the gates twelve angels ; 
 
 And names written on them. 
 
 Which are the names of the twelve tribes 
 Of the children of Israel. 
 
 On the east were three gates ; 
 
 On the north three gates ; 
 
 On the south three gates ; 
 
 On the west three gates. 
 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations. 
 
 And on them twelve names 
 
 Of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb. 
 And he who was talking with me 
 
 Had for a measure a gold reed. 
 
 To measure the city and its gates and its wall. 
 
Rev. 203 
 
 21:16. 
 
 And the City lay four square, 
 
 And its length was as great as its breadth. 
 And he measured the City with the reed, 
 Twelve thousand furlongs. 
 Its length and breadth and height were equal. 
 And he measured its wall, 
 
 A hundred and forty-four cubits, 
 Man's measure, that is, angel's measure. 
 And the building of its wall was jasper. 
 And the City was pure gold, 
 
 Like pure glass. 
 The foundations of the wall of the City were 
 adorned 
 With all kinds of precious stones. 
 The first foundation was jasper ; 
 The second, sapphire ; 
 The third, chalcedony ; 
 The fourth, emerald ; 
 The fifth, sardonyx ; 
 The sixth, sardius ; 
 The seventh, chrysolite ; 
 The eighth, beryl ; 
 The ninth, topaz ; 
 The tenth, chrysophrase ; 
 The eleventh, jacinth ; 
 The twelfth, amethyst. 
 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls ; 
 
 Each one of the different gates was of one pearl. 
 
204 Rev. 
 
 21 : 21. 
 
 And the street of the city was pure gold, 
 
 Like transparent glass. 
 And I saw no Temple in it 
 
 For the Lord God, the All-Ruler, and the Lamb, 
 
 Were its Temple. 
 And the City had no need of the sun, 
 
 Nor of the moon to shine on it 
 For the splendor of God gave it light, 
 
 And its lamp was the Lamb. 
 And the nations will walk in its light. 
 
 And the kings of the earth kept bringing their 
 splendor into it. 
 And its gates will never be shut by day. 
 
 For there will be no night there. 
 And they will bring the splendor 
 
 And honor of the Nations into it : 
 And nothing unclean will ever enter into it, 
 
 Or he who creates an abomination and a lie : 
 But only those who are written 
 
 In the Lamb's Book of Life. 
 
 (The River and Wood of Life.) 
 
 And he showed me a river of living water. 
 Bright as crystal. 
 Proceeding out of the Throne of God and the 
 
 Lamb, 
 In the middle of its street. 
 
R»v. 205 
 
 22:2. 
 
 x\nd on this side of the river and on that 
 
 Was the Wood of Life 
 
 Bearing twelve kinds of fruits, 
 
 Yielding its fruit every month : 
 And the leaves of the Wood 
 
 Were for the healing of the Nations. 
 
 And there will no longer be any curse. 
 
 And the Throne of God and of the Lamb 
 
 Will be in it : 
 
 And his slaves will serve him ; 
 
 And they will see his face ; 
 
 And his name will be on their foreheads. 
 And there will no longer be any night. 
 
 And they do not need any light of lamp, 
 
 Or light of sun ; 
 For the Lord God will give them light, 
 
 And they will reign forever and ever. 
 
 The Parting of the Second Guide Angel. 
 (His Attestation.) 
 
 And he said to me : 
 
 '' These words are to be relied on and are true, 
 And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the 
 
 prophets. 
 Sent his Angel to show to his slaves 
 What must shortly happen." 
 
206 Rev> 
 
 22:7. 
 
 (The Watchword of Jesus.) 
 
 " And lo, I am coming quickly. 
 Blessed is he who keeps the words 
 Of the prophecy of this Book." 
 
 (John's Affirmation and The Guide's Reproof.) 
 
 And I John am he 
 
 Who was hearing and seeing these things. 
 And when I heard and saw 
 
 I fell down to worship 
 
 Before the feet of the Angel 
 
 Who was showing me these things. 
 And he said to me ; 
 '* Do not do that. 
 
 I am fellow -slave of you, 
 
 And of your brothers the prophets, 
 
 And of those who are keeping the words of this 
 Book. 
 Worship God." 
 And he said to me : 
 
 " Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this 
 Book. 
 
 For the time is near. 
 
Bev. 207 
 
 22: 11. 
 
 He who is doing wrong, 
 
 Let him do wrong still. 
 And he who is filthy, 
 
 Let him be filthy still. 
 And he who is doing right, 
 
 Let him do right still. 
 And he who is devoted 
 
 Let him still be made devoted." 
 
 (The Watchword of Jesus.) 
 
 '< Lo, I am coming quickly, 
 And my wages are with me, 
 
 To pay each one in full as his work is. 
 I am the Alpha and the Omega, 
 The first and the last. 
 
 The beginning and the end. 
 Blessed are those who are washing their robes 
 So that they may have the right to come to the 
 Wood of Life, 
 And may enter in by the gates into the City." 
 
 (City Wall between Clean and Unclean.) 
 
 Outside are the dogs. 
 
 And the sorcerers. 
 
 And the fornicators, 
 
 And the murderers. 
 
 And the idolaters. 
 And every one who keeps loving and acting a lie. 
 
(Jesus attests the Angel's Mission.) 
 '' I, Jesus, sent my Angel 
 
 To witness to you these things for the Church. 
 I am the Root and the Offspring of David, 
 
 The bright, the morning Star." 
 
 (Response.) 
 And the Spirit and the Bride 
 
 Say, Come. 
 And he who hears. 
 
 Let him say. Come. 
 And he who is thirsty. 
 
 Let him come. 
 He who desires. 
 
 Let him take the living water freely. 
 
 (Jesus attests the Book.) 
 "I am witness to every one 
 
 Who is listening to the words of the prophecy of 
 this Book. 
 If any one shall add to them 
 God will add to him the plagues 
 Which are described in this Book. 
 If any one shall take away from the words 
 Of the book of this prophecy, 
 God will take away his part 
 From the Word of Life, 
 And out of the Holy City, 
 Which are described in this Book. 
 
He who is witnessing to these things says : 
 Yes, I am coming quicl^ly." 
 
 (Response.) 
 Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. 
 
 (Salutation.) 
 
 May the favor of the Lord Jesus Christ be with the 
 
 Devoted Ones. 
 
 Amen. 
 
S. JOHN.— NOTES, 
 
S. JOHN.— NOTES. 
 
 1:1. " /« the beginning was the IVord.^^ 
 
 The allusion here to the beginning of Genesis is obvious 
 at a glance. But John does not stop at that beginning 
 which Moses makes the point of departure. He ascends 
 still higher. His aim is more remote than that of his pred- 
 ecessor. Moses has immediately in view only the develop- 
 ment of the Jewish theocracy. John's aim is the second 
 creation, the recreation in Christ our Lord. For him, 
 therefore, Moses' beginning cannot suffice. He must plunge 
 into eternity. 
 
 The term Word of necessity contains an allusion to the 
 story of creation in Genesis. Eight times in the course of 
 that narrative, like the refrain of a hymn, occur the words : 
 " And God said.'''' 
 
 John gathers up all these sayings into a single saying. It 
 is a living saying. It is endowed with activity and intelli- 
 gence. From it all divine orders emanate. It is the basis 
 of all spoken words. It is the speaking Word himself. 
 
 1:4. " The Life was the Light of men.''^ 
 
 This profound word " light " appears in the language of 
 S. John to denote the knowledge of moral good, or moral 
 good fully conscious of itself in the living beings who 
 realize it. 
 
 213 
 
214 S. JOHN. 
 
 The word *' /r«M " expresses the same thing without a 
 figure. 
 
 Light, thus understood, is accessible to no being on the 
 earth except man. He alone is the one being endowed with 
 the necessary inward organ for the perception of it. 
 
 This inward organ was originally one. It is now divided 
 into conscience and reason. 
 
 Moral good does not emanate directly from the Word. It 
 proceeds from life. This life proceeds from the Word 
 directly and immediately to man. For as bodily sight is 
 one of the functions of physical life, so spiritual light is an 
 emanation from moral life. 
 
 The Word is light. But it is only through the medi- 
 ation of life he always must become so. This, then, is the 
 very relation the Good News of Christ's Kingdom restores 
 to man. We recover through the new creation in Christ 
 Jesus an inner light. Learning how to live as he lived, 
 this inner light springs up from our walking in newness of 
 life. The light gams in clearness in proportion as our 
 moral life grows in intensity. 
 
 I : i8. " TA^ Only Begotten Son . . . he has made 
 him knowny 
 
 Truth is God perfectly revealed and known. In Jesus 
 comes truth because he possesses and brings the adequate 
 revelation of the Divine Being. 
 
 The full and true knowledge of God cannot be the result 
 of philosophical investigation. Our understanding as such 
 can receive only certain isolated rays of the revelation of 
 God. It cannot succeed in unitmg these isolated rays into 
 a complete whole. Still less can it succeed in ascending to 
 the divine focus from which they emanate. 
 
NOTES, 215 
 
 I : 32. " / saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a 
 dove.'''' 
 
 Some passages are found in the Jewish teachers where 
 the Spirit who moved on the face of the waters at the cre- 
 ation is associated with the Spirit of the Messiah, and com- 
 pared to a dove brooding over her young without touching 
 them. 
 
 As this comparison was familiar to the Jewish mind, it 
 probably explains to us the form of the divine revelation. 
 The emblem admirably suits the decisive moment of Jesus' 
 purification. 
 
 2:4. " What do you wish ofnie, Mother ? " 
 
 All scholars agree that in the use of the word '« woman " 
 in addressing his mother, Jesus showed all due respect for 
 her, because in the East that was the ordinary way of ad- 
 dressing even one's mother. To us, however, this mode of 
 address seems harsh and disrespectful. For this reason we 
 have attempted a more natural translation by rendering it 
 as we ourselves would say, " mother." 
 
 •' What do you wish of me ? " 
 
 This rendering of Ti ejnoi kaisoi? is so radically different 
 from the ordinary rendering it is here accounted for. 
 
 Wherever the expression is used in Scripture the render- 
 ing above given is in harmony with the sequence of the 
 text, the logic of ideas, and the reality of the thought ex- 
 pressed. 
 
 To translate Ti emoi kai soi ? " What have I to do with 
 thee ? " it is necessary to arbitrarily suppose that in the 
 original, " common " is understood. Nor is this enough. 
 We must suppose the word " interest " also to be under- 
 stood. As if the original really said : What common inter- 
 est to you and me ? 
 
216 S. JOHN. 
 
 This literal word for word translation is not only at first 
 sight quite obscure, but no key to its meaning can be found 
 in the idioms of any language. The only ground for it ap- 
 pears to be in the fact that it was once adopted by some 
 one and so in lieu of his ignorance every following trans- 
 lator adopted it out of sheer necessity. "When, however, 
 we once stop to think carefully upon the circumstances in 
 which these words were originally spoken it gradually 
 dawns upon the mind that they were used as an idiom ex- 
 pressive of condescension and submission. 
 
 The mind is drawn to this presumption by a careful study 
 of the text in the original. It becomes a fixed conviction 
 with us when we also consider the contexts wherever else 
 in Scripture it is found. 
 
 Tt enioi kai soi ? is found in S. Mark 5:7, and S. Luke 
 8: 28. There it is spoken to Jesus by one possessed. The 
 possessed one sees Jesus at a distance, runs to him, throws 
 himself at his feet, and cries in a loud voice : Ti emoi kai 
 soi, lesou huie tou theou tou hupsistou ? and thea adds : «< I 
 adjure thee by God not to torment me." 
 
 We find in S. Matthew 8: 29-31, a like circumstance. 
 The possessed show their terror and implied submission. 
 For they cry out : " Ti hemin kai soi huie tou theou ? " and 
 then continue : " Hast thou come to torment us before the 
 time?" Then the demons become suppliants. "If thou 
 cast us out," they say, <• send us into the herd of swine." 
 
 Again. In S. Luke 4: 34, asking the question : " Ea,ti 
 hemin kai soi, lesou Nazarene ? " the demon continues, 
 " Hast thou come to destroy us ? I know who thou art. 
 The Holy One of God." 
 
 From all this it appears necessary that Ti emoi kai soi ? 
 must have a meaning suitable for the use of two extremes 
 
NOTES. 217 
 
 of character — demons speaking to Jesus — and Jesus speak- 
 ing to his mother. 
 
 Now is this question anything else than a question im- 
 plying submission and acquiescence? — the submission and 
 acquiescence of love, as in the case of Jesus speaking to 
 his mother — the submission and acquiescence of fear, as in 
 the case of demons speaking to Jesus ? 
 
 As ordinarily translated this text cannot be shorn of a 
 certain amount of harshness, grating to the native instinct 
 of every one who reads or hears it addressed by Jesus to 
 his mother. It is perplexing. It conveys no clear meaning 
 in any of the places where it is used. It is completely out of 
 accord both with the logical sequence of ideas and the na- 
 ture of the case. Whereas, on the other hand, the transla- 
 tion here given, is clear, in perfect accord with the trend of 
 thought wherever it is found, and so natural there appears 
 to be nothing to do but to adopt it. 
 
 Further. It is because Ti etnoi kai soi ? means, " What 
 do you wish of me ? " Mary at once says to the servants, 
 "Do whatever he tells you," It is because, Ti enioi kai 
 soi ? means, " What do you wish of me ? " the demons 
 asked the question to disarm Jesus, and then go on to say : 
 "I beg you not to torment me." It is for this reason they 
 become suppliants and ask him to send them into the herd 
 of swine. 
 
 2 : 14-23. " He found in the Temple those who were sell- 
 ing oxen^^ etc. 
 
 Jesus is not welcome in the Temple. He forces things 
 no further. It is impossible for him to go further. Other- 
 wise he would have been led to the career, not of a 
 Messiah, but of a Mahomet. 
 
218 S. JOHN. 
 
 In the presence of the cold reserve he meets with, he 
 retreats. This retrograde movement is for a time the 
 characteristic of the course of his work. The palace has 
 just closed against him. The capital remains open. He 
 continues his work there, but no longer in the fulness of 
 that Messianic sovereignty with which he has just pre- 
 sented himself in the Temple. He now^ confines himself 
 to teaching and signs, the prophetic instruments of his 
 work. 
 
 Such is the wonderful elasticity of the divine work in the 
 midst of this world. It advances only so far as faith per- 
 mits and a willing receptivity invites it. It yields to resist- 
 ance. It retires to its last entrenchment before a determined 
 opposition. But when this last stronghold of divine grace 
 has been reached it suddenly resumes the offensive. It en- 
 gages heroically in the final struggle, succumbs externally, 
 but conquers morally. 
 
 3:1. " TAere was a man of the Pharisees named Nico- 
 demus.^^ 
 
 The account here given of Nicodemus' visit to Jesus is the 
 most memorable example of our Lord's revelation of his 
 person and work. 
 
 The part of the conversation here given may be compared 
 with that of the Sermon on the Mount as related by S. 
 Matthew. The two passages have each a decidedly in- 
 augural character. 
 
 2i'- 2)- " Except a man is born fro?n above, he cannot see 
 the Kingdom of Gody 
 
 The phrase " Kingdom of God " or " Kingdom of 
 Heaven," is one which is continually recurring in the first 
 
NOTES. 219 
 
 three Evangelists. It is a most characteristic expression of 
 theirs. S. John, however, uses it rarely. Yet if we want 
 a commentary upon every passage in which it occurs in the 
 New Testament, if we want to know why the Good News 
 which the Apostles preached is called the Good News of 
 this Kingdom, it can be found in this verse and the conver- 
 sation which follows. 
 
 We find here the announcement of another kind of birth 
 from that which we call the natural birth. Yet this other 
 birth is not an unnatural birth. It is the truest and best of 
 all births. 
 
 ■ The Word that was with God and was God is the Creator 
 of men. His Life is the Light of men. Those who allow 
 this Light to penetrate the darkness of their hearts become 
 what they were always meant to be. They become true and 
 genuine Sons of God and joint heirs with Christ. They ful- 
 fil the purpose of him who called them out of darkness into 
 his marvelous light. 
 
 3:5. ^* Except a man is born of water and Spirit, he 
 cannot enter the Kingdom of God.^^ 
 
 Jesus had just spoken of seeing the Kingdom of God. 
 He now speaks of entering it. 
 
 To see a Kingdom is to have an apprehension of its 
 reality and its nature. To enter it, is to become a subject 
 of it. 
 
 But how can any man but choose to become a subject of 
 God's Kingdom ? Is he not of necessity a subject of it 
 already ? 
 
 Our consciences tell us we are the subjects of God's 
 Kingdom, We realize every day of our lives how strongly 
 its laws bind us. We cannot break a single one of them 
 without feeling the bad results of our action. 
 
220 S. JOHN. 
 
 This is the great contradiction of our lives. No theories 
 can rid us of it. 
 
 Man can enter into the Kingdom of God only through 
 the return of his spirit to its allegiance. 
 
 3:7,8. " Do not wonder because I told you : You must 
 be born fr 0711 above. The Spirit breathes where he wishes^ 
 
 We have adopted this rendering because of the 370 times 
 of the use of the original of the word rendered " wind " in 
 King James' version, it is nowhere else but here so trans- 
 lated. Why should it be rendered ".wind " and then im- 
 mediately afterwards in the very same verse be rendered 
 "Spirit"? 
 
 Again. There is another word for " wind " in the Greek. 
 This occurs 31 times in the New Testament. S. John uses 
 it in his sixth chapter. Would he not in all probability 
 have used this latter unambiguous word in this verse if he 
 wanted to convey that meaning ? Why should he use the 
 same identical word in two different meanings in the very 
 same verse ? 
 
 The rendering of both words in the eighth verse by the 
 same word in English, as here done, has the support of 
 much learning, critical acumen, and spiritual insight. It 
 rests on two of the greatest of the Fathers, Origen and 
 Augustin, two of the most learned of modern scholars, Al- 
 brecht Bengel and F. D. Maurice. 
 
 As F. D. Maurice so well says . " What need is there 
 here to introduce the sighing and soughing of the wind to 
 make our Lord's explanation clearer and more forcible ? 
 We should rather understand him to say: All the breath- 
 iiif^s of God's Spirit are free. They are never fixed and 
 fettered by material or mechanical conditions. Yon hear 
 
NOTES. 221 
 
 his voice continually. But whence the Spirit comes, 
 whither he is going, you know not. So is it with him that 
 is born of the Spirit. You cannot perceive the process of 
 birth. You hear the voice which indicates the birth. But 
 how the spiritual being came to be what he is, you know 
 not." 
 
 3: i6. *• For God so loved the world that he gave his 
 only begotten Son.''^ 
 
 Can we have anything more than such a gift as this to 
 teach us what the nature of God really is ? 
 
 The dread power that man has ever conceived, — that is not 
 God. The pursuing vengeance sin has ever imagined, — 
 that is not God. The unsatisfied anger sacrifice has ever 
 suggested, — that is not God. No, not at all. None of these 
 things is God. On the contrary, all that human thought 
 has ever gathered of tenderness, of forgiveness, of love, in 
 the relation of father to child — all this, in the faintness of 
 an earth drawn picture, all this and more also, is God to us. 
 
 4 :34. " My food is to do the will of him who sent w^." 
 
 To do the will of God is indeed food and drink in the 
 highest sense of those terms. For by this means alone can 
 we get the supply of all our truest needs and the satisfac- 
 tion of all our truest desires (Deut. 8:3; Matt. 4 : 4). 
 
 Analogies to this, and exemplifications of it are within the 
 limits of every man's experience. Yes, faint as these some- 
 times are, they help us to learn something of what this 
 spiritual sustenance was. 
 
 The command of duty, the cheering power of hope, the 
 stimulus of success, such forces supply to weak and weary 
 
222 S. JOHN. 
 
 nerves the vigor of new life. How often have they given 
 to already overworked and thoroughly fatigued muscles the 
 strength so much needed in an unexpected crisis ! 
 
 Under such circumstances the soldier forgets his wounds, 
 the martyr walks boldly to the lion or the flame, the worn 
 out traveler still plods perseveringly homeward. 
 
 5 : 24. " //e who hears my word and believes in him who 
 sent me has eternal life." 
 
 Eternal life is not to" be gotten and to be lived at some 
 future time. Belief in Christ and action in accordance 
 with that belief is eternal life. Eternal life is a condition 
 of life with reference to God and his truth. It is not a 
 question of beginning and ending and length of time. It 
 is simply a question of passing from the death of sin to the 
 life of right thought, and word, and deed. 
 
 5 : 40. " Yoii do not wish to come to fne." 
 
 The real hindrance to men's coming to Christ is here 
 again traced to the will. The hindrance is moral, not in- 
 tellectual. The result of a real wilhngness to know the 
 truth is not problematical. It is sure and certain as the 
 sun, " You search because you think you have." " If you 
 wished to come you would really have." 
 
 The lesson here taught is very wide in its bearing upon 
 the thoughts and actions of men. 
 
 It is to be learned in the closet rather than in the library, 
 in trustful action rather than in scholarship and thought. 
 
 Religion is not philosophy. God has never become 
 known to the world by intellectual knowledge. If an 
 humble heart wills to become a scholar, God wills to be- 
 come his effective Teacher. 
 
NOTES. 223 
 
 6 : 29. " TAis is the work of God, to believe in him whom 
 he has sent." 
 
 Faith and work are one. As soul and body together 
 make the one life of man so faith and work must go to- 
 gether to make his true spiritual life. 
 
 The energy of every work is in the faith which links the 
 soul with God. The outcome of all faith is in the act which 
 links the soul with man. 
 
 The work of life is faith. Faith works by love. 
 
 6 : 35. " I a7n the bread of life ^ 
 
 Jesus here explains what he meant in verse 27, when he 
 spoke of the food which endures to eternal life. The food 
 is himself. The labor requisite for obtaining this food is 
 faith. The expression, bread of life, means the bread which 
 imparts life. In using the image of bread, Jesus alludes to 
 his incarnation whereby " that eternal life who was in the 
 beginning with the Father,''^ became capable of being 
 grasped and fed on by men. 
 
 But if this food is to nourish us, action is requisite on our 
 part. We must come. We must believe. With glad and 
 trusting eagerness the famished heart urged on by spiritual 
 necessities must take possession of the heavenly food of- 
 fered it in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
 
 6 : 48. '• / a7n the bread of life.'' 
 
 Bread is the visible form which contains and imparts the 
 essence of life. The essence of life itself, however, is al- 
 ways unseen. So is it, Jesus means here to say, with the 
 Father and the Son. God is the source of eternal life. 
 The human nature of the Son of God is the visible form 
 which contains and imparts this life to the souls of men. 
 
224 S. JOHN. 
 
 It is now the time of the Jewish feast of the Passover. 
 The Jewish families from all parts of the country are as- 
 sembling to eat the flesh which tells of the deliverance from 
 Egyptian bondage on the one hand, and on the other hand, 
 of the birth of the nation's life. 
 
 Every day of the Temple service at this time tells of 
 flesh given in sacrifice for sin and eaten in maintenance of 
 individual life. 
 
 These words of Jesus uttered at this Passover and ful- 
 filled at the next, announce a gift of his own flesh as the 
 true Paschal Lamb, as the sacrifice for the sins of the world, 
 and as the food and sustenance of the truest life of man- 
 kind. 
 
 The blood is spoken of as distinct from the flesh. This, 
 of course, involves physical death. The eating of the flesh 
 would itself imply the thoughts of sacrifice and of suste- 
 nance, the removal of the death penalty attached to sin, and 
 the strength of life sustained by food. But the spiritual 
 truth fuller and deeper is this. At least we can more 
 readily see in it how the true element of life in the soul de- 
 pends upon such communion with Christ as is expressed by 
 drinking the blood itself. We must receive into the human 
 spirit the Spirit of Christ represented by it. For with this 
 alone comes the principle of our spiritual life. 
 
 No man really has spiritual life except in so far as he has 
 received into the innermost source of his being the life 
 principle revealed in the person of Christ. 
 
 This passes through and through his moral frame, like 
 the blood traversing the physical organism. It is hidden 
 from sight, indeed, in such a course, yet, nevertheless, pass- 
 ing from the central heart through artery and vein, it bears 
 life in its course to muscle, nerve, and tissue. So is it, we 
 
' NOTES. 225 
 
 say again, with the divine principle of the Light of Life, 
 Passing from the Eternal Light and Love of God, the heart 
 of the universe, through the humanity of Christ, it traverses 
 the soul of man, and carries life and energy to every part 
 of the human personality. 
 
 7 : 17. ^' If any one wishes to do his will he will get to 
 know about the teaching^ 
 
 Here again it is plainly shown that faith is not the result 
 of a logical operation of the mind. It comes to the soul of 
 a man only as a result of practical moral experience. 
 
 7 : 39. " The Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus ivas 
 not yet glorified.''^ 
 
 The work of the Spirit really consists in causing Christ 
 himself to live in the heart of the believer. It is evident, 
 therefore, that the Spirit could not come till after the per- 
 sonal consummation of Jesus. For it is not a non-perfected 
 Christ the divine Spirit was to communicate to humanity, 
 but the God-man arrived at his full stature, 
 
 8 : 32. " You will get to know the truth, and the truth 
 will make you free^ , 
 
 Truth is not a system of instruction in the inmost citadel 
 of its strength. It is a living power. It is not simply 
 something written and spoken. It is something felt with 
 the sensitiveness of living flesh and blood. It is something 
 lived out in the life of a pure and unselfish character. By 
 living such a life of truth a broader and deeper perception 
 of truth is come to. Being true, such characters '< in love 
 grow up into him in all things, who is the head, even 
 Christ." 
 
226 S. JOHN. 
 
 Truth and a pure and noble character are one and the 
 same. 
 
 8 : 33. " PVe are Abraham'' s descendants and were never 
 in bondage to any one^ 
 
 In this verse we see the characteristic of all untruth. 
 « They were never in bondage to any one." Bold, bare- 
 faced, effrontery. They can thus ignore so shamelessly the 
 facts of their history because they would not learn the les- 
 sons these were meant to teach them. What was the 
 Egyptian slavery? What was the Babylonish captivity? 
 W' hy are they at this very moment carrying Roman money 
 in their pockets, and paying Roman taxes ? 
 
 10 : 28. " / am giving them eternal life^ 
 
 As Jesus says further on in this Gospel, in his prayer to 
 the Father : " This is life eternal, to know thee, the only 
 true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." Eternal 
 life is a condition of life, not some future existence in time 
 and space. If we will have it, it is ours here and now. 
 
 10 : 34. <' You are Codsy 
 
 Every godlike function conferred by God and exercised 
 in his name, places him to whom it is entrusted in a living 
 relation to the Most High. It makes him share God's in- 
 spiration and constitutes him God's agent. In this way, 
 whether the man is a king, judge, prophet, or one of the 
 common people only, he becomes relatively a manifestation 
 of God. For as Scripture declares on this point : " In that 
 day, . . . the honse of David shall be as God, as the 
 Angel 0/ the Lord'' (Zech. 12 : 8). 
 
 1 1 : 25. ^^ I am the resurrection and the life.'* 
 
 He is the resurrection in the same sense in which he is 
 
NOTES. 227 
 
 the " water of life " and the " bread of life." As in him- 
 self he supplied every need of spiritual hunger and of 
 spiritual thirst, so Jesus declares himself to be the resurrec- 
 tion. He reveals in his own person all of the future life 
 men have ever thought of or hoped for. He is himself the 
 power that shall raise them up at the last day. He can, 
 therefore, raise us up now. 
 
 He is " the life." From this very fact, every one in com- 
 munion with him lives. 
 
 II' 35- " y^sus wej>^.'^ 
 
 A " God in tears " may provoke the smile of the stoic and 
 occasion the scorn of unfeeling faithlessness. But Christi- 
 anity is not a gospel of self-sufficiency. Its message is not 
 merely to the intellect. It is rather a salvation for the 
 whole man and for every man. As a result the sorrowing 
 heart of humanity has never seen the divinity of the Son 
 of Man more clearly than when it has seen his divine glory 
 shining through his human tears. 
 
 12 : 24. " Except a grain of wheat falls into the ground 
 and dies, it continues by itself ^ 
 
 We know that a grain of wheat must remain alone and 
 not really live unless it falls to the earth. Though it con- 
 tains in itself the germs of life, the life germs in the single 
 grain can burst forth only through contact with the earth 
 and its own death. It then gives life to blade and stalk 
 and ear. Its death is its true life. 
 
 This is not only a law of the physical world. Christ here 
 teaches that it is a law as well of the moral world. It is a 
 law to which his own life is subjected. With him, too, life 
 issues only through death. The moral power which is the 
 life of the world finds its source in the death of the Son of 
 Man. 
 
228 S. JOHN. 
 
 12 : 25. " //e who loves his life will lose it. lie who hates 
 his life in this world 7vill keep it to life eternal.'''' 
 
 In self-sacrifice and death is Jesus' glory. There is in 
 all human nature a principle which would seek as the high- 
 est good, the life of the body and soul, as distinct from the 
 higher life of the spirit. It shrinks from sacrifice and death. 
 The true principle of life, however, is of the spirit. To 
 realize this spiritual life, it is necessary to sacrifice the lower 
 physical and emotional life. 
 
 1 2 : 26. "7/" any one serves fne, let him follow me^ and 
 where 1 am there ivill also my servant be.'^ 
 
 The point of the whole teaching of Christ in this place is 
 missed unless we. think of the Greeks as present. They 
 had come as volunteer disciples. Do they know what dis- 
 cipleship to him means ? Are they prepared to follow him 
 in self-sacrifice ? Do they esteem eternal life at such a 
 price as to go through such a sacrifice to obtain it ? This 
 had been the condition of earlier discipleship. It is now 
 laid down again for the second time as the only condition 
 of true and loyal discipleship. Self-sacrifice is really self- 
 salvation. Self-seeking is always very near to hatred of 
 others. Often it is in reality at one with such hatred. 
 Self-sacrifice, on the contrary, is always akin to love of 
 others. Very frequently the two are the same. What that 
 means stands out the more clearly when we remember that 
 Love is life. 
 
 12 : 27. " A^ow is my soul troubled.^'' 
 Not a few would-be interpreters compel themselves to 
 read into these words what is really not there. 
 
 The troubled soul of Jesus asks: What shall I say? 
 
NOTES. 229 
 
 In this struggle is humanity struggling. In this victory 
 humanity has won. 
 
 13 : 35- " ^y ^^"-^ ^^^^^ everybody learn that ymi are my 
 disciples, by the love you have for each other. ^^ 
 
 Jesus here gives his disciples an indication of their real 
 and vital unity. They will always be linked to him and 
 to each other in the bond of love. 
 
 The apologists of the first Christian centuries delighted 
 to appeal to this striking fact. The common love of Chris- 
 tians was an entirely new thing in the history of mankind. 
 
 14 : II. •' He zvill give you another Helper.'''' 
 
 The word in the original Greek translated here in King 
 James' version, " Comforter^^ is literally a passive form and 
 means " called toxvards.''^ 
 
 Origen and Chrysostom were the first to interpret the 
 word as meaning " Comforter." Their influence resulted in 
 the adoption of this meaning in the Latin Vulgate through 
 which it became the established rendering in all the Eng- 
 lish versions. 
 
 To-day, however, it is acknowledged that the passive 
 form of the word should have a passive meaning, " he who 
 is called as a support or upholder." 
 
 14 : 17. " The Spirit of truth. ''^ 
 
 This expression serves to explain what Jesus means by 
 the " Helper." 
 
 Teaching by the medium of language can give only a 
 meagre and partial idea of divine things. However skil- 
 fully a medium might be used, it can produce at the most 
 only an image of the truth in the mind of the hearer. It is 
 for this reason Jesus compares the instruction he has been 
 
230 S. JOHN. 
 
 giving them, to the teaching of truth under the form of 
 illuslrations (S. John 1 6 : 25). 
 
 To receive the spirit of truth into heart and soul, on the 
 other hand, a moral preparation is necessary. The soul in 
 which he comes to dwell must be withdrawn from the sphere 
 of profane things. Accordingly Jesus has just reminded his 
 disciples of this important requisite. " Keep my command- 
 ments," he has just enjoined upon them, and here again he 
 has said of the Spirit that the world cannot receive him. 
 
 Heretofore, Jesus living wz//i the disciples had been their 
 Helper. Hereafter they are to have the Helper in their 
 own hearts. The Helper will still be Jesus, but Jesus, not 
 according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit (S. 
 John 15 : 26 ; 16 : 13 ; I S. John 5 : 6). 
 
 1 4 : 20. *' In that day you will learn that I am in my 
 Fat her y 
 
 They have asked for a manifestation of tlie Father. 
 They are here reminded again that the Spirit should so 
 bring the life of Christ to their heart that in it they would 
 recognize the manifestation of the Father. They need seek 
 no longer for a showing forth of God from without. For in 
 the depths of their inmost lives they can cry : •• Abba, 
 Father." 
 
 14: 21. ** He who has my commandments and is keeping 
 them is the one who is loving me" 
 
 In these words we see the successive degrees which lead 
 up to the full showing forth of Christ in the hearts of men. 
 The first step is the moral apprehension and practical 
 observance of our Lord's commandments. 
 
 The next step is the practical receptivity of the Father's 
 
NOTES. 231 
 
 love. He who loves Christ possesses this, and so there is a 
 special sense in which the Father loves him, 
 
 14 : 24. " He who does not love me does not keep viy 
 zvordsy 
 
 Jesus has already shown how the Father and the Son can 
 take up their abode in the hearts of the believers. He now 
 shows why they cannot take up their abode in the hearts of 
 those of the spirit of the world. 
 
 He who does not love Christ does not keep his word. 
 
 Christ's word is the Father's also. He who has rejected 
 the love of God as revealed in his Son has of himself closed 
 the channels of communion with God. God cannot dwell 
 with him because there is nothing in him which can be 
 receptive of the Divine Presence. 
 
 15:2. " Every branch which bears fruit, he keeps trim- 
 ming.''^ 
 
 Every fruitful branch must be trimmed. In the spiritual 
 training of Christ's disciples, natural impulses and affections 
 must be checked. Everything detrimental to their growth 
 in grace must be removed from their lives. Everything 
 which can misdirect or weaken the energy of the spiritual 
 life and diminish its fruitfulness must be taken away even 
 though this can be done only by a pang as sharp as the edge 
 of the pruner's knife. 
 
 15 :4. " The branch cannot bear fruit by itself.'''' 
 The branch apart from the vine has no original source of 
 life. So it is in the spiritual life of men. Apart from 
 Christ, they have no original source of life and fruitfulness. 
 
 15:11. " That my joy may be in you." 
 
 The joy here referred to is the joy which Christ himself 
 
232 S. JOHN. 
 
 possessed in the consciousness of his love to the Father and 
 of the Father's love to him. 
 
 The brightness of that joy lit up the darkest hours of his 
 human life. It is his will that it shall liglit up theirs. In 
 the consciousness of their love to God and of God's love to 
 them they shall have a joy which no sorrow can ever over- 
 come. 
 
 15 : 17. " I give y oil these cojumandments so that you may 
 love each other y 
 
 The work which Jesus exhorts to, is all love. It is love 
 in its hidden source, the love of the Father. It is love in 
 its first manifestation, the love of Christ. It is love in its 
 full outpouring, the love of believers for each other. Love 
 is its root, its stem, its fruit. 
 
 16 ; 12. " You cannot bear them nozu.'^ 
 
 The fact that there were truths Christ himself could not 
 teach is a lesson men who profess to teach in his name have 
 altogether too seldom well learnt. S. Paul found in it a good 
 rule for his own practical guidance. He was not forgetful 
 to feed men with milk when they could not bear stronger 
 food (I Cor. 3:2). 
 
 16 : 14. <* He will take of mine and will announce it to 
 you.''^ 
 
 We are not to understand by this that the revelation of 
 Christ as he made it himself was imperfect. Nothing was 
 wanting in his revelation of God. It was want of under- 
 standing in his disciples to take it in. This is what necessi- 
 tates the coming of the Holy Spirit to make his revelation to 
 be appreciated. By illumining the heart, the Spirit brings 
 home to it the things of Christ, and opens the eyes of its 
 
NOTES. 233 
 
 understanding to know him whom to know aright is life 
 eternal. 
 
 17:6. " / made knotvn thy name to the men thou gavest 
 tney 
 
 The name of God, " Jehovah," was an object of so much 
 fear among the Jews they did not dare to pronounce it, and 
 when they came across it in the sacred text they supplied its 
 place with *' Adonai." Jesus has dissipated these fears and 
 has revealed to men the great fact that the proper and true 
 name of the Divine Being is •' Father," and he has shown us 
 that our Father's chief attribute is love. 
 
 17 : 15, " I am not asking thee to take them out of the 
 world.'''' 
 
 The Christian ideal is not freedom from work. It is 
 strength to do it. It is not freedom from temptation. It is 
 power to overcome it. It is not freedom from suffering. It 
 is strength to endure it, nay, rather, it is joy in an abiding 
 sense of the Father's love. It is not absence from the 
 world. It is grace to make it the better for our life and 
 daily presence in it. 
 
 17:21. " That the zvorld may get to know that thou didst 
 send me. ^^ 
 
 The union of believers with God and with each other is 
 the proof of the divine origin of Christianity. By the sight 
 of this union the world is to be led to believe in Christ. 
 The brotherhood of Christians has always been the witness 
 of their common Fatherhood in God. The divisions of 
 Christians on the other hand, declares plainly their weak- 
 ness and furnishes excuse for the world's not believing in 
 Christ, 
 
 See note on 13 : 35. 
 
234 S. JOHN. 
 
 l8 : 6. " T/iey %ue7it backward and fell to the groundy 
 
 Guilt trembles before the calmness of innocence. Man 
 falls to the ground in the presence of God. 
 
 Once before it had been said by Jesus" enemies : " Never 
 did a man speak like this man." They had returned with- 
 out their prey. Again they have come to take him by force. 
 Conscience paralyzes their evil intentions. They fall before 
 him as the trees of the wood before the blast. 
 
 He surrenders to them, however, because his time has 
 come. 
 
 i8 : 9. " Of those thou hast given me I lost not one" 
 It is quite remarkable that in the terrible drama now begun 
 not one of the disciples was arrested nor made to suffer with 
 his Master. To the end, it is Jesus' will to shield them and 
 to be the only one to undergo the wicked treatment and the 
 death following. It is only after Calvary, the disciples 
 have to follow the way of sorrow and become martyrs to his 
 cause. 
 
 18 : 37. " For this purpose have I come into the world to 
 bear witness to the truth." 
 
 Jesus founds his Kingdom among men by his prophetic 
 work. The Truth is the sceptre he holds over the earth. 
 This mode of conquest is directly opposite to that by which 
 the Roman dominion was gained. So that, as in 12 : 25, the 
 judgment of the genius of Greece is declared, here, too, is 
 found the judgment of the genius of Rome. Here is the 
 formal accomplishment of S. Paul's saying : " The spiritual 
 man judges everything." 
 
 18:38. " What is truth?" 
 
 Pilate's exclamation appears to be but the profession of 
 
NOTES. 235 
 
 a frivolous scepticism. It is such a scepticism as is often 
 met with in the man of the world, and more especially in the 
 worldly minded statesman. 
 
 If Pilate had seriously sought truth, this was the time to 
 find it. He could not have turned away from Jesus so un- 
 ceremoniously and abruptly. 
 
 19:6. " Ta^e him yourselves and crucify him. For I 
 find no cause for a charge against him.''^ 
 
 Three years did not pass before Vitellius, proconsul of 
 Syria, sent Marcellus to take charge of affairs in Judea, and 
 ordered Pilate to Rome to clear himself of accusations 
 brought against him. The terrors to which he had suc- 
 cumbed in sacrificing Jesus became realities. Condemned, 
 deprived of his property, he was exiled. On the banks of 
 the Rhone at Vienna there is still pointed out a high pyramid 
 which passes for the tomb of Pilate. According to certain 
 traditions it was there, pursued by remorse, the exile 
 violently ended his life. Other legends represent him as 
 finding in his misfortunes the favor of Jesus. And so the 
 Abyssinian Church places him among its list of saints. 
 
 20 : 17. " Do not keep clinging to ;;/^." 
 
 The tense of the verb is present. In the original, there- 
 fore, it has not reference to a single act, but to a continuous 
 habit. 
 
 The fact is, Magdalene's act supposed a condition not yet 
 accomplished. He had not returned to earth to abide per- 
 manently with his disciples. For he had not yet ascended 
 to the Father. The permanent union with him we are to 
 enjoy is in his presence in the soul. The spirit of Mary 
 Magdalene's act, on the contrary, would prevent such a 
 presence. 
 
236 S. JOHN. 
 
 The coming of the Helper depends upon Jesus' going 
 to the Father. Magdalene is clinging to the visible pres- 
 ence. And how many of us are loath to learn the truth so 
 hard to learn : " It is expedient for you that I go away." 
 
 20 : 19. " Peace be utito you.^^ 
 
 These well-known words of greeting would come to the 
 disciples now as Mary's name came to her as seen in verse 
 sixteen of this same chapter. As the familiar tones fall upon 
 the ear, they bring the assurance of the beloved Teacher's 
 presence. 
 
 The words bear also another message to them. They 
 come as the voice of one from the world of spirit. The 
 living have often before tried in vain to see into the dark- 
 ness beyond the grave. Now the living has once for all 
 penetrated that darkness, driven away its fear, and brought 
 back the message of peace. Here is the message of the 
 conqueror of the grave, the declaration of the victory over 
 sin. It is the message of an at-one-ment between God and 
 man. And so as the declaration for all mankind it has come 
 through the Apostles of peace to all the sons of men. 
 
 See also note on 14: 27. 
 
 20 : 21. " Just as the Father has sent me out, 1 also send 
 youy 
 
 The disciples stand in the same relation to Jesus as he 
 stands to the Father. He declares to them, and they are to 
 declare to the world in his name, the fulness of the Father's 
 love, the peace between man and God witnessed to in his 
 life and death. 
 
 Jesus and the disciples stand also in the same relation to 
 the world. The world will hate, persecute, and kill them 
 as it hated, persecuted and killed him. They are sent as he 
 
NOTES. 2'61 
 
 was sent, however, and they will find in his presence in 
 their souls, the support and peace needful for strength and 
 encouragement to carry on the work in hand. 
 
 " Receive the Holy Spirit^ 
 
 The natural meaning of these words is : " Receive an 
 outpouring of the Spirit." This is not simply a promise of 
 the gift of the Spirit. Neither is it the outpouring of the 
 Spirit in its fulness. It is an earnest of that outpouring 
 which is to take place at Pentecost. 
 
 20 : 30, 31. "Many other signs did Jesus do in the presence 
 of the disciples, which are not written in this booky 
 
 It has not been S. John's intention to give a complete and 
 exhaustive picture of the life of Jesus. From the great mass 
 of facts he can lay his hands on, he selects only those ap- 
 propriate to that side of his life he wished to bring into 
 prominence with reference to what others have said and 
 written. 
 
I. S. JOHN.— NOTES. 
 
I. S. JOHN— NOTES. 
 
 This Letter is not addressed to any particular Church or 
 individual, but to the whole Church throughout the world. 
 It is as suitable to the Church in America at the beginning 
 of the twentieth Century as it was to that of Ephesus in the 
 first. 
 
 Introduction. 
 I : 1-4. 
 
 Like the first eighteen verses of his Gospel, so these four 
 verses form the introduction to this Epistle and like them 
 again they have the same kind of Hebrew Parallelism, 
 
 Like the introduction to the Gospel, so this introduction, tells 
 us that what the Apostle intends to write about is the Word 
 of Life. The authority on which the Apostle writes is also 
 given. It is his own personal experience. The purpose is 
 also here given. It is to complete his and their happiness. 
 
 The construction is somewhat involved and prolonged. 
 The four verses form three stanzas. The first and third 
 give the complete sense, and are as strophe and anti-strophe 
 to each other. The second is a digression in the way of 
 explanation. 
 
 Throughout this section S. John uses the plural as speak- 
 ing in the name of the whole Apostolic body of which he 
 was the last surviving member, 
 241 
 
242 1 S. JOHN. 
 
 1:1, " IV/iat 7vasfro7n the beginning.^^ 
 
 The similarity here to the opening of S. John's Gospel is 
 noteworthy. But the thought is somewhat difierent. There 
 the point is that the Word existed before the creation. 
 Here it is that the Word existed before the Incarnation. 
 
 Was. 
 
 This does not mean, came into existence. It means was 
 already existing. Christ was from all eternity. Antichrists 
 have arisen in time. 
 
 What we have heard. 
 
 With these words we pass from eternity to time. 
 
 What we have seen with our eyes. 
 
 Note the climax. Seeing is more than hearing. Then 
 in the next line the thought of having time to look at Christ 
 and then to handle him brings the climax to completion. 
 In other words, we see here the purpose of the Apostle with 
 the full force of the language at his command to insist on 
 the reality of the Incarnation. He speaks from personal 
 knowledge, he tells us, and that knowledge is based on the 
 combined evidence of all the senses. Compare S. John 
 I : 14. 
 
 What we looked at and our hands handled. 
 
 In the use of the word handled we have here a clear ref- 
 erence to the risen Christ (S. John 20 : 27). This reference 
 is the more noteworthy because the fact of the Resurrection 
 itself is not mentioned in this Letter. 
 
 The argument here has special force as coming from the 
 Apostle who had lain on the Lord's breast. No greater 
 proof of the reality of his body before and after his resurrec- 
 tion could be given. 
 
 About the zuord, the Life. 
 
 Word has the same meaning as it has in S. John's Gospel. 
 
NOTES. 243 
 
 It means tlie Son of God, in whom had been hidden from 
 eternity all that God had to say to man, and so he was the 
 expression of the Nature and Will of God, 
 
 And lell yoit the Life, the eternal. 
 
 The repetition of the article brings forward separately and 
 distinctly here the two notions of life and eternity. 
 
 This is a characteristic expression of S. John's. But this 
 fact is not so well understood as it ought to be from the fact 
 that " everlasting " has so often been used in place of it. 
 
 Eternal life with S. John has nothing whatever to do with 
 time. It depends altogether on our relation to Jesus Christ. 
 He tells us over and over again that eternal life can be 
 possessed in this world. See 3:15; 5 : 1 1, 13, 20. He never 
 applies «' eternal " to anything but life, except in Rev. 14: 6, 
 where he speaks of an eternal Gospel. 
 
 3. <' What we have seen and heard we tell you ahoy 
 
 The ideas of this half of the sentence is not the same as 
 that contained in verse one. The first stanza brings out the 
 thought of what the Apostle has to declare. This stanza 
 brings out the thought of ivhy he declares it, — to promote 
 mutual fellowship. 
 
 The thought here expressed is not carried out in this 
 Letter. So we shall miss the purport of it if we do not bear 
 constantly in mind that it was written as a companion of 
 the Gospel. 
 
 7'hat you also may have Coiiununion with tis. 
 
 Compare S. John 17 : II. Christ's prayer and S. John's 
 purpose were one and the same. 
 
 And with his Son Jesus Christ. 
 
 Two fundamental truths are here clearly laid down at the 
 outset, — the distinctness of personality and equality of 
 
244 1 >S'. JOHN. 
 
 dignity between the Father and the Son; the identity of the 
 eternal Son of God with the historical person Jesus Christ. 
 
 God is Light. 
 l: 5-2: 28. 
 This section is largely directed against the Gnostic teach- 
 ing that to the enlightened man all conduct is morally in- 
 difterent. Against every form of this teaching the Apostle 
 never wearies of declaring the divine truth committed to 
 liim. 
 
 The character of a man's conduct always shows whether 
 he is truly enlightened or not. 
 
 1:5. ** And the message which we have heard from him is 
 thisr 
 
 Here again is a striking parallel between the Gospel and 
 this Letter. After the introduction in the Gospel (S. John 
 1 : 19 ) the sentence with which the main story begins is 
 similar in form to this which begins the main part of this 
 Letter. 
 
 God is light. 
 
 This is the subject of the first main division of the Letter 
 as "God is Love" is of the second. This verse stands in 
 the same relation to the first great division of the Letter as 
 the first four verses do to the whole of it. 
 
 No one tells us so much about the nature of God as 
 S. John. Other writers tell us what God does and what 
 attributes he possesses. S. John tells us what he is. There 
 are three statements in the Bible which stand alone as 
 revelations of the Nature of God and they are all in the 
 writings of S. John : " God is spirit," " God is light," God 
 is love " (S. John 4 : 24 ; i S. John 1:5; 4:8). 
 
NOTES. 245 
 
 As the result of God's light we have intelligence and 
 holiness. Compare 2: 13, 14, 21, 27; ^-.t^. 
 
 There is no darkness at all in him. 
 
 In the introduction to S. John's Gospel we have the same 
 great thoughts in succession as here : Word, life, light, 
 darkness. 
 
 S, John is here laying the foundation of Christian ethics, 
 and the very first principle he would have us learn is that 
 there is a God who intellectually, morally and spiritually is 
 light. 
 
 1:6. " Keep going about in darkness." 
 
 A life of moral darkness can no more have communion 
 with God, than a life in a coal mine can have communion 
 with the sun. 
 
 1:7. «' As he is in the light.^^ 
 
 A life of moral light involves not only communion with 
 God but also with our brother men. 
 
 2 : I. '^ My little children.'' 
 
 This does not mean to indicate that he is addressing those 
 young in years. It is a term of endearment. 
 
 He has shown that even Christians commit sin. Now he 
 goes on to point out the remedy for sin and to exhort us to 
 keep from it. 
 
 A7td if any one sins. 
 
 S. John is not here intimating to the intending sinner that 
 sin is a light thing. He is rather speaking to the penitent 
 sinner. He is telling him that sin is not irremediable. 
 Sin and its remedy therefore are stated in immediate 
 proximity, just as they are found in life. 
 
246 1 S. JOHN. 
 
 Not for ours only, but also for the whole world. 
 
 Here again we have a thought analogous to what is 
 found in the Gospel. Compare S. John 17:20-23; 4:24; 
 I : 29. Believers have no exclusive right to the merits of 
 Christ. There' is no Pharasaic exclusiveness in any true 
 followers of Christ, nor indeed can there be. 
 
 2:3. " By cojitiuuivg to keep his commaiidmeiitsr 
 Divorced from holiness of life no enlightenment can be a 
 true knowledge of God. In other words, in morals, knowl- 
 edge without practice is worthless. Not pure speculation 
 alone, but true and right conduct, is the aim of every 
 philosophy worth the name, as well as of every theology. 
 
 There is then only one infallible way of proving to our- 
 selves that we know' God, and that is by doing his will in 
 sincerity and in truth. 
 
 2:11. " The darkness has blinded his eyesV 
 Animals kept in the dark become blind. This has 
 often happened to ponies and mules kept constantly in coal 
 mines. The organ never used loses its power. It is the 
 same in the moral sphere. The conscience which is con- 
 stantly ignored at last ceases to act, 
 
 2:13. " Yon have overcoine the tuicked one.'''' 
 Compare S.John 16:13, and remember that throughout 
 both the Gospel and this Letter, S. John always regards 
 eternal life as a prize already won by the believer ( S. John 
 3:36; 5:24; 6:47, 54; 17:3). 
 
 2: 14. *' IVhat God told you continues in you." 
 
 Here is an echo of S, John 15:7. This is the secret of 
 
NOTES. 247 
 
 their strength and the source of their victory. They con- 
 quer because they are strong and they are strong because 
 what God told them is in their hearts. God's will as re- 
 vealed in Scripture is a permanent power within them. 
 
 2:15. " Do not love the worldy 
 
 So speaks S. John here. But in his Gospel he tells us 
 God loved the world. Why should we be told not to do 
 what God did ? We are not. World is used in two 
 different senses in each place. God does not love the 
 world we are told not to love. He cannot love what is here 
 referred to as the " desire of the flesh, and the desire of the 
 eyes, and this life's love of display." He does, however, 
 love men, no matter how hostile to him they have become, 
 and so must we. Compare S. Matthew 6 : 24 with what is 
 here said and i S. John 4:4. 
 
 2 : 24. " Let what you heard — continue in youy 
 The word here translated continue is translated by three 
 different words in King James' version, abide, remain, con- 
 tinue. In S. John i : 39 ; 6 : 56 ; 14 : 10, 17, it is translated 
 dwell. In the same Gospel 4:40; 21 : 22, 23, it is trans- 
 lated tarry. In the same Gospel 6 : 27, it is endure. 
 In the same Gospel 14:25, it is be present. By 
 doing this the King James translators lose the emphasis 
 gained by repetition which is one of the prominent charac- 
 teristics of S. John's style. They also fail to convey to the 
 American mind a characteristic expression of S. John's 
 style of deep and precious meaning. 
 
 2 : 27. " You do not need any one to teach you.'''' 
 
 S. John is writing to well instructed Christians. He is 
 
248 1 S. JOHN. 
 
 not writing to give them knowledge of the first principles 
 of Christ, but to confirm and enforce what they have all 
 along known. 
 
 God is Love, 
 2 :29-5 : 12, 
 3:1. *'Love." 
 
 This is the key-note of this whole section. 
 
 7Vie children of God. 
 
 We must not confuse S. Paul's expression " sons of God " 
 with S. John's «' children of God," Both Apostles tell us 
 the fundamental relation of believers to God is a filial one. 
 But S. Paul calls our attention to the legal side, S. John to 
 the natural side. The latter is the closer, and yet we are 
 not to overlook the fact that according to Roman Law 
 adoption was absolutely equivalent to actual parentage. 
 
 3:4. " Whoever keeps sinning keeps acti7tg lawlessly y 
 Sin and lawlessness are convertible terms. 
 
 3:6. " Whoever continues in him does not keep sinning." 
 This does not mean the Christian never sins. The 
 Christian does sometimes sin (i : 8-10^. It simply means 
 what it says. The Christian does not keep sinning. 
 
 What S. John here puts forth as a series of aphorisms, 
 which mutually qualify and explain each other, S, Paul puts 
 forth in a dialectical argument (Rom. 7 : 20; Gal. 2 : 20). 
 
 3 : 9. " P/e cannot keep sinning." 
 
 It is a moral impossibility for a child of God to go on 
 sinning. It is only because of the imperfection of our 
 childhood in Christ that any 'sin at all is possible in us. 
 
 3 : 10. " 77ie children of God are made knozvn," 
 
NOTES. 249 
 
 A man's principles are invisible. Their results in action, 
 however, are open to all. Compare S. Matthew 7 : 16-20. 
 
 He who does not keep loving his brother. 
 
 To love God is to love our brother. Compare Galatians 
 5: 14. 
 
 3 : 14. " IVe know we have passed out of death into life 
 because we love the brothers.^'' 
 
 Love means life. Hate means death. 
 
 It was Cain who passed from life into death. Abel 
 really entered into life. And so it is very truly written of 
 him : "Although he is dead he is still talking to us." And 
 so as Philo so well puts it, " Cain really killed, not his 
 brother, but himself." 
 
 Left to himself, man naturally falls into selfishness. This 
 involves enmity towards those whose claims clash with his. 
 To love others, notwithstanding this, is proof that this nat- 
 ural state has been left. Life and love are two aspects of 
 the same fact in the moral world, as life and growth are in 
 the physical. The one marks the state, the other the ac- 
 tivity. 
 
 3:15. " Whoever is a hater of his brother is a murderer.'^ 
 
 S. John here passes from love to hate. There is no neu- 
 tral ground. All is either light or darkness, of God or of 
 the evil one. 
 
 A Christian can be neither loving nor hating, any more 
 than a plant can be neither growing nor dying. 
 
 The motives of the hater and of the murderer are the 
 same. The fact that one is deterred by laziness or fear from 
 carrying out his hatred into homicidal action, and tlie other 
 is not, makes no difference in the moral character of the 
 
250 1 S. JOHN. 
 
 men, though it makes all the difference in the eyes of the 
 law. This assertion is only applying to the sixth command- 
 ment the principle which the Lord himself applies to the 
 seventh (S. Matt. 5 : 28). 
 
 3:16. " // was in this way we came to know love.'''' 
 We have got our knowledge of what love is in the con- 
 crete example of Christ's self-sacrificing life and death. 
 Christ is the archetype of self-sacrificing love. Cain is the 
 same of brother-sacrificing hate. Love and hate are known 
 by their deeds. 
 
 3 : 22. " Whatever we ask we receive from him.^^ 
 When a good conscience gives us boldness towards God 
 our prayers are granted, because children in such close re- 
 lations to their heavenly Father cannot ask anything con- 
 trary to his will. 
 
 3 : 24. '« He who keeps his commandments continues in 
 hi my 
 
 Here again the Apostle insists on the main principle of 
 his exposition of Christian Ethics. Conduct is not only not 
 a matter of indifference. It is all important. We may 
 possess many kinds of enlightenment, intellectual and 
 spiritual. But there is no union with God, no true and 
 genuine knowledge of him, without obedience to his will. 
 
 From the Spirit. 
 
 This is the source from which all true knowledge comes. 
 
 4 : 1-6. This section is an amplification of the verse which 
 immediately precedes it. 
 
 4:1. " Do not believe every spirit.''^ 
 
 The Apostle has just been speaking of the Spirit by whom 
 
NOTES. 251 
 
 we come to know that God is dwelling in us. He now in- 
 timates there are other spirits also who need to be put to 
 the test. In those days as in this there were men who 
 were turning the faith in spiritual influence to an immoral 
 and mischievous account. 
 
 There are myriads of influences about us continually 
 which do not act upon our senses but upon our spirits. 
 They do not proceed from things which may be seen and 
 handled, but from the spirits of men. On week days as 
 well as on Sundays we are subject to the same kinds of 
 spiritual influences. But many of these are not good. 
 Many of them are not real. They are either the delusions 
 of fanatical enthusiasts or the lies of deliberate impostors. 
 We must therefore put them to the test. We must also re- 
 member that spiritual or wonderful powers are no absolute 
 guarantee of the possession of truth (Deut. 13: 1-5). We 
 are not to judge of teaching by wonders but wonders by 
 teaching (Gal. i : 8j. 
 
 4:4. " Have overcome them." 
 
 The Christian's work in this world is to conquer the 
 worldly spirit abroad in it. He must fight manfully against 
 that view of life which ignores or disgraces God, He must 
 contend unceasingly against every moral evil and intellectual 
 falsehood which is organized and marshalled by the great 
 enemy of our salvation. 
 
 4:6. '• He who is getting to know God keeps hearing us.^^ 
 Here we see coming to the surface that quiet confidence 
 
 of conscious strength which underlies the whole of this 
 
 Letter as it does also the Gospel. 
 
252 1 S. JOHN. 
 
 4:7. '• Beloved, let us keep Imnjtg each other." 
 
 For the third and last time the Apostle introduces the- 
 subject of brotherly love (3: 10-18; 2: 7-11). 
 
 Whoever keeps loving has been begotten by God. 
 
 God is the source of all love. So whatever love a man 
 has comes from God. 
 
 4:8. " God is love." 
 
 This is the third of S. John's great statements concerning 
 the nature of God : God is Spirit (S. John 4: 24); God 
 is light (I S. John 1:5), and God is love. 
 
 Of the three great truths this is the last but at the same 
 time the first, first in importance, first, because without it 
 the others are as nothing to us, first, because it not only 
 makes his nature far more clearly known to us, it brings 
 him very close to us. By it the Spirit is shown to be a per- 
 sonal being,* the Light partakes of warmth and life. 
 
 To the heathen world God is a powerful, terrible, and 
 often a cruel being. His wrath must be deprecated. His 
 ill will must be placated. To the Israelites of old he was a 
 just and a jealous God. He was, indeed, also merciful. 
 Yet nothing more was known of his inmost being than *« I 
 am that I am." 
 
 To the Christian alone is he known as Love. 
 
 In no book of the New Testament does this word love 
 occur so often as in these two and a half chapters (3 : I- 
 5 : 12). In no book of the New Testament, except the 
 fourth Gospel does the verb to love occur half so many 
 times as here. 
 
 " If nothing were said in praise of love throughout the 
 pages of this Letter, if nothing whatever throughout the 
 other pages of Scripture, and this one thing only were all 
 
NOTES. 253 
 
 we were told by the voice of the Spirit of God, * For God 
 is love ' ; nothing more ought we to require " (S. Augustin). 
 
 4:11. " We also ought y 
 
 As children of God we must exhibit his nature. We 
 must follow his example. We must love those whom he 
 loves. 
 
 4:12. " His love is perfected in us." 
 Our love for God is developed and perfected by our lov- 
 ing each other. 
 
 4:17. " ytist as he is so also are we in this world." 
 
 Our assurance with regard to the judgment is not pre- 
 sumption, because we have become in character like Christ. 
 He need never fear the judgment of Christ who by loving 
 has become like Christ. 
 
 Love moves towards others in the spirit of self-sacrifice. 
 Fear shrinks from others in the spirit of self-preservation. 
 
 Perfect love excludes fear and fear prevents love from be- 
 ing perfect. Yet no believer's love has ever been so perfect 
 as to entirely banish fear. But every believer experiences 
 that as his love increases his fear diminishes. 
 
 But it is to be remembered that servile fear is altogether 
 different from the childlike awe, which is a necessary ele- 
 ment in the creature's love for the Creator. And yet even 
 servile fear is sometimes necessary as a preparation for all 
 true love of God. 
 
 4 : 20. " Whofji he has seen." 
 
 His brother has been in sight and remains in sight. God 
 has been out of sight and remains out of sight. " Out of 
 sight out of mind " is a saying which holds good in morals 
 
254 1 S. JOHN. 
 
 and religion as well as in society. And if a man fails in 
 duties which he has ever before him and are easy, how can 
 he persuade us to believe he is performing those duties 
 which are out of sight and are hard ? 
 
 God has commanded us to love our brother men. If we 
 really love him then we will love them (Deut. 6:5; 
 Lev. 19: 18; S. Luke 10:27; S. John 14: 15). 
 
 5:1. " Whoever keeps believing that Jesus is the Christy 
 To believe that Jesus is the Christ is to believe that one who 
 was known as a man fulfilled a known and divine mission : 
 that he who was born and was crucified is the anointed, the 
 Messiah of Israel, the Saviour of the world. But, as 
 S. Augustin so well remarks, belief without love is the be- 
 lief of a demon. 
 
 5:5. " Not with the water only, but with the water and 
 with the bloody 
 
 Christ came, not merely to purify by his baptism, but to 
 give new life by his blood. " For the blood is the life." 
 
 This Letter is the companion treatise of the Gospel. 
 
 5:8. " Those who are bearing witness are three." 
 The Apostle is here answering the misgivings of those 
 who fancied that when he, the last of the Apostles was 
 gone, the Church would possess only second-hand evidence 
 as to the person and mission of the Christ. 
 
 5:11. " This life is in his Son." 
 
 Eternal life has its seat and source in the Son. He is the 
 Prince or Author of life (Acts 3 : 15). 
 
NOTES. 255 
 
 Conclusion and Summary. 
 5:13-21. 
 
 5 : 14. " And the boldness which we have." 
 
 For the fourth and last time the Apostle touches on the 
 subject of the Christian's boldness. Twice he speaks of it 
 in connection with the day of judgment (2:28; 4: 17); 
 twice in connection with approaching God in prayer (3: 21, 
 22; 5: 14). 
 
 According to his will. 
 
 It is only when men ignorantly ask for what is not good 
 for them their prayers are denied. Then they are not ac- 
 cording to God's will. 
 
II. S. JOHN.— NOTES. 
 
II. S. JOHN.— NOTES. 
 
 1-3. Like most of S, Paul's letters, the letters of S. 
 Peter, S. James, and S. Jude, and unlike the first Letter, 
 this Letter has a definite address and greeting. 
 
 1. « The Elder r 
 
 It is on account of his age the Apostle speaks of himself 
 thus. 
 
 To the chosen lady ajid her children. 
 
 It is not definitely known whether the word translated 
 lady refers to an individual or to a community. 
 
 2. " And with us it will be forever.''* 
 
 Here is an echo of Christ's farewell discourses (S. John 
 14: 16; I S. John 5 :6). 
 
 3. " Favor^ mercy and peace.** 
 
 This same triplet of heavenly gifts occurs again, and in 
 the same order, in the salutations of S. Paul to Timothy and 
 Titus. 
 
 In truth and love. 
 
 These two words, so characteristic of S. John are key- 
 notes of this short Letter. 
 
 4. " Just as we received cof?if?iandment.'''' 
 Commandment is the third key-note of this Letter. Love, 
 
 truth, and obedience, are the three leading ideas. They 
 partly imply, partly supplement each other. 
 259 
 
260 2 S. JOHN. 
 
 6. " And the love is thisy 
 
 In verse five obedience prompts love. Here love prompts 
 obedience. This is no vicious logical circle, but a healthy 
 moral connection. 
 
 Love divorced from duty will run riot. Duty divorced 
 from love will starve. 
 
 lo. " Do not receive him into your house" 
 Charity must not be shown to one man in such a way as 
 to do injury to another. Still less must it be shown in such 
 a way as to do more harm than good to the recipient. And 
 yet in our day and generation we need to be careful how 
 we follow this teaching. Circumstances alter cases. Chris- 
 tianity in the first century was not likely to become hard 
 and narrow by following such an injunction, and the in- 
 stances in which it was to be followed were clean cut and 
 plain. It is not always so to-day. It is better to err on the 
 side of charity than on that of harshness and a total lack of 
 Christlike sympathy. 
 
 12. " Having many things to write to you.'''' 
 
 There is a strong resemblance between this conclusion 
 
 and that of the Third Letter. They were evidently written 
 
 about the same time. 
 
III. S. JOHN.— NOTES. 
 
III. S. JOHN.— NOTES. 
 
 1. Like the second Letter and most others in the New 
 Testament, this one also has a definite address. 
 
 2. " / am praying,*^ etc. 
 
 This verse is a model for all friendly wishes of good for- 
 tune to others. 
 
 7. " Taking nothing of the heatheny 
 
 Hence the necessity for men like Gains to help. 
 
 9. <' / wrote something to the Church.'''' 
 
 This reference seems to be to a letter not now in exist- 
 ence. 
 
 The Church seems to be the one to which Diotrephes be- 
 longed, 
 
 10. " Is casting them out of the Church.^^ 
 Diotrephes seems to have had sufficient influence in some 
 
 congregation to exclude from it those who received brother 
 Christians of whom he did not approve. 
 
 11. *^ He who keeps doing good is of God" 
 
 Such a one has God as the source of his moral and 
 spiritual life. He is a child of God. 
 363 
 
264 3 S. JOHN. 
 
 12, *' Demetrius has the witness of all tneny 
 
 Diotrephes sets an example to be abhorred, but Deme- 
 trius sets one to be imitated. Who Demetrius was we know 
 nothing further. That he was the silversmith of Ephesus 
 who caused S. Paul so much trouble, now become the fel- 
 low-helper of those he once persecuted is only the barest 
 conjecture, yet one worth mentioning because of its furnish 
 ing a possible parallel to S. Paul (Acts 19: 24). 
 
 And of the truth. 
 
 The witness given Demetrius was in the first place that 
 of disciples. But there was another witness. This was 
 the spirit of truth which guided and illumined them in their 
 estimate. 
 
 14. " Peace be tvith you^ 
 
 Instead of the usual farewell we have here an ordinary 
 blessing with Christian fulness of meaning. Compare 
 S. John 20: 19, 26; I S. Peter 5 : 14; Ephesians 6:23; 2 
 Thessalonians 3: 16; Galatians 6: 16. 
 
 By tiajne. 
 
 This phrase occurs in the New Testament in only one 
 other place (S. John 10: 3). As shepherd of the Churches 
 of Asia S. John would imitate the Good Shepherd and 
 know all his sheep by name. 
 
REVELATION.— NOTES. 
 
REVELATION.— NOTES. 
 
 We had for a long time been personally quite convinced 
 that the Revelation of S. John is a magnificent Poem, and 
 that it ought to be printed entire in Hebrew Parallelisms, 
 before our attention was called to Archbishop Benson's 
 posthumous work, "The Apocalypse, A Study." We 
 had not only been so convinced, but we had actually 
 arranged a great part of it in parallelisms, but we had not 
 the boldness to apply it to the whole work. We have 
 adopted his general arrangement of acts and scenes. 
 
 1:3. " Blessed is he who keeps reading.'''' 
 This is the first of the seven benedictions of the Apoca- 
 lypse (1:3; 14:13; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7; 22:14). 
 
 4:2. " There tuas a throne set in heaven.'''' 
 See Introduction under Scene. 
 
 There is a description of the throne of God in the book 
 of Enoch 14 : 17-23 very much like this. S. John may 
 have read it. Compare Jude 15 ; Ezekiel i ; Daniel 7. 
 
 Some one sitting on it. 
 
 Compare Micaiah's speech (i Kings 22: 19). 
 
 The enthroned one is not named. This is in accord with 
 the Jewish reluctance to name Jehovah. 
 267 
 
268 REVELATION. 
 
 Tlie thought of the enthroned one is kept before us 
 through the whole book (5 : I, 7 ; 6 : 15 ; 20 : 1 1 ; 21:5). 
 We are reminded that the great world drama moves for- 
 ward ever under the eyes of the Great All-Ruler. 
 
 Compare Isaiah 6:5; Ezekiel i : 26, etc. ; Daniel 7:9; 
 Deuteronomy 4: 12; Exodus 24: 10, 11 ; 33 : 23. 
 
 4:4. " Twenty-four elders.''^ 
 
 In the similar vision of Ezekiel no human beings are 
 seen. Their appearance here is significant. They are the 
 representatives of Christ's completed Church, They are 
 the twelve tribes doubled, some say, to indicate the union of 
 the Heathen with the Jewish Church, or, they are the twelve 
 Patriarchs joined with the twelve Apostles, and so represent 
 the true spiritual successors, as priests to God, of those 
 twenty-four courses arranged by Da-vid (i Chron. 24: 1-19). 
 
 The same thought is touched on in the double song of 
 Moses and the Lamb (chap. 15: 3), and in the gates and 
 foundations of the New Jerusalem (21 : 12, 14). 
 
 4:11. ^^ Worthy art thou our Lord and our God." 
 Here we have the praise of God the Creator by his 
 
 creatures as such. In the next chapter we have the praise 
 
 of the Redeemer. 
 
 5:8. " Each with a harp and gold bo^vh full of incense. ^^ 
 It is not the Church alone which is interested in the rev- 
 elation which will throw light on life's mysteries and the de- 
 lay in the coming of Christ's Kingdom. The whole crea- 
 tion is groaning and travailing in pain while looking and 
 longing for the great consummation. So here we see the 
 four living creatures who represent creation joining with the 
 
NOTES. 269 
 
 twenty-four elders who represent the Church, in the adora- 
 tion of the Lamb who holds the great secret of life in the 
 hollow of his hand. The harps represent the praises of the 
 Church and the bowls of incense the prayers. 
 
 Incense held a conspicuous place in the ritual of the 
 Temple. And so we read in Psalm 141 : 2, " Let my prayer 
 be set forth in thy sight as the incense." 
 
 5:9. " TAey keep singing a new song." 
 This is the first chorus, the chorus of the purchased pos- 
 session. 
 
 5:12. '< The pmveTy etc.^^ 
 
 The praises ascribed to this book are either sevenfold as 
 here, fourfold as in the next verse, or threefold as in 4 : 1 1 ; 
 19:1. 
 
 This is the second chorus, the chorus of the Angels. 
 
 5:13. "And every created thing J^ 
 
 This is the third chorus; the chorus of the universe. The 
 song of the "purchased possession," echoed by the hosts of 
 angels, is now merged in the utterance of all. The song of 
 praise rises from all quarters, and from every form of cre- 
 ation. The whole universe, animate and inanimate, join in 
 the glad acclaim. 
 
 This idea is thoroughly Hebrew. The Hebrew mind de- 
 lighted in representing every bird, every beast, every ele- 
 ment of creation as joining with them in the praise of God. 
 See the last Psalms. Compare also Philippians 2 : 10. 
 
 The two preceding songs were in honor of the Lamb. 
 Here the Throned One and the Lamb are praised alike. 
 
270t HEVELATION. 
 
 This linking of the Lamb with God as the Throned One is 
 common througliout the book. See 6:i6; 7:17; 19:6, 
 7 ; 21 :22; 21 : 23 ; 21 : I ; 22: 3. 
 
 6:1. " And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the 
 seals." 
 
 It is at this chapter the most difficuU work of the inter- 
 preter begins. Many and various have been the interpreta- 
 tions of what follows, and only those who keep to broad and 
 general principles can hope to keep close to the truth of 
 what is from here on the burden of the seer's message. 
 
 The mission of Christianity is not to abolish all the evils 
 of the earth at once and by external compulsion but only by 
 degrees and through an internal conviction. And that not 
 by means of peoples and nations and languages as a whole 
 but through the individual believer. 
 
 The seals seem to speak a double message. To the world 
 they say : " When the Son of man comes, will he find faith 
 on the earth ? " To the Church they say : " In the world 
 you will have tribulation : but take courage, I have overcome 
 the world." 
 
 There are two lines of thought in the world and they 
 give rise to two apparently contradictory pictures. We are 
 shown what the world would be if the principles of Christ 
 were fully and'universally accepted. On the other hand we 
 see the world as it really is because men do not accept 
 them. 
 
 The scenes which the seals unfold are the pictorial state- 
 ments of Christ's utterances in S. Matthew 24 : 6, 7. The 
 Church through them is warned to be ready for her mission 
 of suffering. 
 
NOTES. 271 
 
 6:1. " ^-i/i^ I heard one of the four living creatures, say. 
 ing . . . Coiney 
 
 The living creatures cry : " Come," and they are responded 
 to by the coming of the horsemen. 
 
 As ah-eady seen the living creatures represent the whole 
 of animate nature, that nature and creation of God which 
 IS groaning and travailing in pain together, waiting for 
 the manifestation of the sons of God. They bid the pains 
 and troubles come because they recognize them as the nec- 
 essary precursors of creation's true King. 
 
 6:2. «' Conquering and to conquer y 
 
 This vision of the first horseman is the symbol of Christian 
 victory. It was thus the early Christians ever pictured 
 Christ. He had ascended up on high leading captivity cap- 
 tive. This faith in him was well and thoroughly placed. 
 But their expectation was at fault. It was at fault in the 
 fact that they did not allow time for the abomination of 
 desolation to work. But war, famine, and death must in- 
 tervene. It is through these the conquerer himself came. 
 It is through these we must come. 
 
 6:4. " And another horse came out, a red horse.^'' 
 Here is a distinct and unmistakable declaration that we 
 must look for wars and rumors of wars. The advent of 
 the highest good does not bring peace, but a sword. In 
 other words, peace of course is its ultimate goal to which it 
 must of necessity come, but only through war, desolation, 
 and destruction of everything that is radically opposed to 
 it. 
 
 Here must ever be the true Christian's position with refer- 
 
272 REVELATION. 
 
 ence to war. It is an evil. But it is a necessary evil to 
 the attainment of that which is good. So those who take 
 part in war are not here condemned, nor anywhere else in 
 Scripture. It is those who are the occasion of offenses, 
 
 6:6. ^' A quart of wheat for a dollar ^ 
 
 The word translated a dollar was the average day's wage 
 of an ordinary laborer and of a soldier. And so we think 
 the nearest general equivalent among us to-day is a dollar. 
 
 The amount of food here mentioned was the amount of 
 food sufficient to support a man for a day. This was a ter- 
 ribly high price for food. It suggests a very great scarcity 
 as the result of a famine. 
 
 6 : 8. " A pale horse . . . Deaths 
 
 Hades follows ready to gather up the slain. 
 
 This scene is the darkest and most terrible. Single forms 
 of death were before revealed. Now the great king of 
 terrors himself appears. This scene gathers up in itself all 
 the awfulness of the past scenes. It is the central scene of 
 the seven and it is the darkest. It is the midnight of sor- 
 rows and acquaintance with grief. And so we often find 
 the middle things of life particularly dark. So Bunyan 
 places his valley of the shadow of death just midway be- 
 tween the wicket gate and the golden city. Dante seems to 
 work from the same sort of hint and found his obscure wood 
 and wanderings just midway along the road of life. 
 
 The vision deepens in its central scene, like the horror of 
 darkness in Abraham's vision. 
 
 6:9. " 7he fifth seair 
 
 The voice which is now heard is not the cry of a groan- 
 
NOTES. 273 
 
 ing world. It is the call of the oppressed and troubled 
 Church. Where is the promise of that early vision of vic- 
 tory ? The opening of this fifth seal is the answer. The 
 Church must follow her Lord. As the glowing vision of 
 Bethlehem with its " peace on the earth to men of good 
 will," gave way to Gethsemane and the cry " My God, my 
 God, why hast thou forsaken me ? " so the glowing dream 
 of a quick conquest over all evil in the earth must leave 
 Christ's true followers and in its place must rise up the 
 reality of an agonizing, persecuted Church, and the voice of 
 its anguish must be heard : " How long, O Master! " 
 
 The seals, then, are the tokens that the victory of Christ's 
 Church must be like her Lord's, a victory through apparent 
 failure and certain death. 
 
 7 : I. <■* After i/iis^ 
 
 The two visions of this chapter i-8 ; 9-17, each introduced^ 
 \)y the same phrase, extend the opening of the sixth seal 
 very considerably beyond that of the others. But they are 
 really episodical. 
 
 The winds are emblems of trouble and judgment. 
 
 7:4. '< A}?d I heard the number of those who were 
 sealed.'''' 
 
 There is always an appropriate symbolism in the num- 
 bers of the Apocalypse. Twelve is used as the number of 
 those who in every age have been called out to witness for 
 some truth which the world needed. The twelve tribes of 
 Israel were the appointed witnesses of a pure theology and 
 a pure morality in the darkest days of idolatry and sensual 
 license. The twelve Apostles became the inheritors of a 
 similar, though higher, spiritual work. The number twelve, 
 then, stands for a world witness of divine truth. The 
 
274 BE VELA TION. 
 
 twelve multiplied by twelve, or the one hundred and forty- 
 four thousand represent the growth into full numbers of the 
 choice ones of God. 
 
 The arrangement of the names is significant. Of course 
 they are here meant to signify the tribes of the true Israel 
 of God. Judah comes first and Benjamin last. The other 
 ten are included in them as an envelope stanza. 
 
 7:9. *« After this I saza, and lo, a great throng.^'' 
 These are the same as those last seen, but under different 
 conditions. Those were seen in tribulation. The sealing 
 was a sign of security amid their trials. It was, as it were, 
 the Church's Passover. These are celebrating their triumph. 
 It is now, as it were, the Church's Feast of Tabernacles. 
 
 7 : 10. " Salvation to our God.'''' 
 
 Here is another sublime and holy chorus. This is the 
 voice of rejoicing and salvation which is in the tents of the 
 righteous. For the Lord, who is their strength and song, 
 has become their salvation (Psalm 118: 14). 
 
 7:11. ^'^ And all the angels ivere standing routed the 
 throne . . . saying : Amen. " 
 
 The great concourse of angels now add their " Amen " to 
 the cry of the " purchased possession," and at once break 
 out into a sevenfold ascription of praise. 
 
 The sevenfold doxology is specially appropriate here be- 
 cause it implies a divine completeness, for it is in this vision 
 we are shown the close of the Church's agony. 
 
 8:1. *' And when he opened the Seventh Seal.''^ 
 The visions of the seals are associated with the contents 
 of the roll (chap. 5 : i, 2). The book represents God's 
 
NOTES. S75 
 
 purposes and principles of government in relation to the 
 history of the world. The openings of the seals show us 
 some typical scenes in the course of the world's history 
 which are unfoldings of principles and truths in the great 
 Book of Life. 
 
 8:2. '^ And I saw." 
 
 The series of visions which is now introduced extend to 
 the close of the eleventh chapter. 
 
 There is a marked correspondence of arrangement be- 
 tween these and the visions of the seals. As there, so here, 
 there are introduced two subordinate visions towards the end 
 of the series. The sixth seal was followed by the vision of 
 the hundred and forty-four thousand and then by the un- 
 numbered throng (7:1-8; 7:9-17). The sixth trumpet 
 is followed by the vision of the little book and of the seven 
 thunders, and then by the measurement of the Temple 
 (10: i-ii ; II : 1-14). 
 
 The general intention of these interposed visions is simi 
 lar. In both cases they give us an insight into the inmost 
 life of the Church. The main visions give us more ex- 
 ternal aspects. The interposed visions show us the inner 
 and more spiritual aspects. The openings of the seals show 
 us the great outer features of world and Church history. 
 The interposed visions of chapter seven show us the calm 
 and the strength of the people of God. It is the same with 
 the visions of the trumpets. The main visions give us the 
 trumpet voices of God's manifold providences summoning 
 the world to surrender to him. The subsidiary visions point 
 to the witness and work of the true children of God and the 
 more secret growth of the Church of Christ. 
 
 Another similarity between the seals and the trumpets is 
 in the separation between the first four and the last three. 
 
276 REVELATION. 
 
 The first four trumpets, like the first four seals, are grouped 
 together. The first four seals are introduced by the cry : 
 " Come." The first four trumpets are followed by judg- 
 ments on natural objects, wliile the last three are introduced 
 by the thrice repeated cry of " Woe," and have so been 
 called the " Woe Trumpets." 
 
 But while there is this correspondence of arrangement, 
 the general import of the visions is very different. In the 
 seventh seal we are brought to the eternal quiet of God's 
 presence. We have been taught that the Church may find 
 her way a thorny one but peace comes at last. After the 
 seventh trumpet, however, it is not simply peace but triumph 
 we are assured of. 
 
 The visions are not to be thought of as scenes of events 
 chronologically succeeding each other. The one set shows 
 us the way through trouble to rest. The other shows the 
 way through conflict to triumph. The one set shows us the 
 troubles which befall the Church because of the world. The 
 other shows us the trouble which falls on the world because 
 the Church is advancing to the conquest like Israel of old 
 to the possession of the promised land. 
 
 8:2. •* IVie seven angels 70/10 stand before God.'''' 
 
 These represent the complete circle of God's power in 
 judgment. They are not to be taken literally. For just as 
 the seven spirits are but symbols of the complete and mani- 
 fold influences of the one Holy Spirit, the third person in 
 the Trinity, so the seven angels are symbols of that com- 
 plete and varied messenger force which God has continually 
 at his command. 
 
 Seven trumpets. 
 
 The trumpet was used of old to summon the people to- 
 
NOTES. 211 
 
 gather for worship, or festival, or war (Num. lo : 4-8), 
 See also Exodus 19: 19; Numbers 29: i; Psalm 81 : 3. 
 These seven symbolical trumpets have the same kind of 
 announcements to make. Ijut it is mainly as an alarm of 
 war these revelation trumpets sound. The land of promise 
 must be rescued from the tribes and peoples who are cor- 
 rupting it. As the Canaanites of old had to be swept away 
 lest their wickedness should spread abroad a moral death, 
 so are the judgments of these trumpets sent out to under- 
 mine, to clear away, and finally to destroy, all the evil 
 powers which are wasting the earth. 
 
 8 : 3. " And another angel.''^ 
 
 There is no need to ask who the several aiigels are. 
 They are but symbolical as the whole book is symbolical. 
 These angels are symbolical of those agencies, whether 
 personal, or natural, or supernatural, which are being em- 
 ployed by him who is sitting on the throne. 
 
 8 : 6. ^^ And the seven angels . . . got ready to bloT.v.''^ 
 The aim of these visions seems to be to give the seer, and 
 
 through him the Church at large, some idea of the general, 
 kind of events which always mark the decay of the king- 
 dom of wrong, and the gradual establishment of the kingdom 
 of our God. 
 
 The history of the world is not to be worked out in a 
 hurry to suit the impatient desires of us children of men. 
 It cannot be so for the very reason that it is a development 
 and a discipline. 
 
 9 : 10. " And they have tails like scorpions, and stings. 
 And in their tails is their power to hurt men five months.^* 
 
278 REVELATION. 
 
 These two lines complete the envelope stanza begun by 
 the following two lines : 
 
 Ajid they were not given authority to kill them 
 But to torture them five vionths. 
 
 The exigencies of the symbolism here are quite beyond 
 the features of the ordinary locust. "What the writer means 
 to do is to show us a plague in which devastation, malice, 
 king-like authority, intelligence, seductiveness, fierceness, 
 and strength meet together under one directing spirit to 
 torture men. 
 
 In the history of advancing truth there come times when 
 confused and partial ideas of right darken the minds of 
 men, so that out of the darkness emerge strange and 
 mongrel teachings. The outcome of such teaching is war 
 and tyrannous oppression. But those who have the seal of 
 God on their foreheads cannot be fundamentally and per- 
 manently hurt. For the real sting of false conceptions is 
 not in the havoc of open war. It is the wounded soul and 
 conscience. From this part of the book, then, as from 
 other parts of it, we can learn that it is subtle and plausible 
 errors of teaching and of life which pave the way for the 
 great world catastrophies and cruel revolutions. 
 
 9:11. ^^ Abaddon . . . ApollyonJ' 
 
 Abaddon is Hebrew for Destruction. 
 
 ApoUyon is Greek for Destroyer. 
 
 The picture is vivid and forcible, and its full and certain 
 meaning will be plain hereafter. But now the only sure 
 thing about it is that it lets us see and realize the vehement 
 and earnest way in which the sacred writers describe the 
 subtle, venomous power of sin, and the merciless destruc- 
 tiveness of its work. Compare Romans 3:12-18 for S. 
 Paul's description of the world-wide devastations of sin. 
 
NOTES. 279 
 
 9:14. " T/ie four angels . . . at the great river 
 Euphrates.'''' 
 
 Euphrates was the great barrier between Jerusalem and 
 Babylon which were natural foes to each other. It was the 
 boundary line between the old and the new life of Abraham. 
 It was the Rubicon of his spiritual history. The four 
 angels loosed at Euphrates, then, signify changes analagous 
 to disturbances on the great frontier between the spiritual 
 city and the world city. 
 
 10 : I. *^And I sazv another strong angel.''^ 
 
 Here begins the first of the two interposed visions in this 
 part of Revelation corresponding with the two coming in 
 after the opening of the sixth seal. 
 
 This first part (10 : i-ii) is the vision of the Little Book. 
 The seer is commanded to eat it. From sweetness it turns 
 to bitterness. Here is the token that the very fidelity he 
 bears to God will cause him sorrow and dismay. For he 
 is sent to witness unpalatable truths to the mighty men of 
 earth who will not hesitate to bring distress upon him and 
 every evilwork. 
 
 But he has seen celestial visions and he knows that 
 victory is sure. 
 
 The second interposed vision expands the same thought 
 under different imagery. There is a Holy of Holies in the 
 Church where the true witnesses of Christ are lightened 
 with celestial fire and made strong as adamant for their 
 work of peril. 
 
 10 : 2. " And he had in his hand a little book open.''"' 
 Three books are spoken of in the Apocalypse. The first 
 is the book of the course of this world (5 : i). The last is 
 
280 REVELATION. 
 
 the Book of Life (20: 15; 21 :2'j). Between these comes 
 the ever open book of God's promises and the witness of his 
 righteousness and power. 
 
 10 : 5-7. *^And the Angel ivhom I saw standing on the 
 sea" etc. 
 
 The gesture of the uplifted hand gives emphasis to the 
 oath (Gen. 14:22; Ex. 6:8; Dan. 12:6-9). 
 
 The secret truth of God does not mean something which 
 cannot be understood. It means a secret. But it means a 
 secret which is to be made known. 
 
 Compare with the reference here to the secret truth, 
 the good news and the last S. Paul's statement : " We shall 
 not all sleep," etc. in i Corinthians 15 : 51, 52. It shows a 
 decided union of thought between the two apostles and also 
 throws light on the teaching about the first resurrection 
 in Revelation 20: 5, 6. 
 
 10 : 9. " Take it and eat it up.''* 
 
 See Ezekiel 3: 1-3; Jeremiah 15: 16. This implies the 
 complete mastering of the contents of the book till its princi- 
 ples are thoroughly familiar and loved (Ezek. 3 : 10). As the 
 Psalmist says : " Thy words have I hid within my heart." 
 He who would carry God's word to others must first of all 
 himself " read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest it." 
 
 10 : 10. *'And 1 took the Little Book . . . and ate 
 
 it up:' 
 
 It was sweet to the taste but bitter to the stomach. It is 
 always the same. The love of Christ constrains men but 
 the very ardor of their affection brings them into tribulation. 
 The flaming zeal to emancipate men from their sins stirs the 
 
NOTES. 281 
 
 soul with a holy joy. But how sorely tempted they soon be- 
 come to desist from their tliankless task and battle no longer 
 with the unexpected difficulties which constantly arise ! 
 
 lo: II. " YoH must prophesy again. ^^ 
 
 Yes, difliculties arise constantly in the way of the herald 
 of Christ's Cross, and all these will cause much bitterness in 
 his soul. But he must not desist. He must prophesy still. 
 For, while it is most sure that victory will come at last, it is 
 only by such a means it can ever come. The kingdoms of 
 this world will at length become the kingdoms of our God 
 and of his Christ, but it will be through persecutions, apos- 
 tasies, judgments. This is the sad vision he must reveal. 
 But this very vision will lead to the unfolding of the more 
 truly spiritual aspects of the Church's work and her conflict 
 with the multiform spirit and power of evil. 
 
 Chapter 11:1-14. 
 
 We now come to the measuring of the Temple, the second 
 of the visions here interposed. 
 
 No matter what corruptions invade the Church, this vision 
 shows us, the kernel of the Church will never be destroyed. 
 Out of her will always arise those who are true to the 
 Master's commission, and their words are words of power. 
 
 As Jerusalem and Babylon have been considered as sym- 
 bols so here the Temple and the court of the Temple are 
 symbols. The Gospel has elevated the history and places 
 of the past into a grand allegory. It has breathed into their 
 dead names the life of an ever-present symbolism. 
 
282 UEVELATION. 
 
 1 1 : I. " And I was given a reed like a rody 
 The measuring here spoken of, like the sealing of chapter 
 seven, is a sign of preservation during impending dangers. 
 
 11:2. " And the court which is outside the Temple.''^ 
 
 Our Lord had said Jerusalem should be trodden down by 
 the heathen (S. Luke 21 : 24). The sacred seer here 
 catches the thought and its deeper meaning. It is the 
 treading under of sacred things when the beast power, or the 
 spirit which actuates the lower world, tramples, like the 
 swine, the pearls of divine grace under foot, and turns 
 fiercely on those who gave them. 
 
 But there is a limit to this desecration : forty-two months. 
 The same length of time is expressed in different ways 
 throughout the book. Sometimes we have twelve hundred 
 and sixty days as in verse 3 and in chapter 12:6. In other 
 places forty-two months as here and in chapter 13 : 5. A 
 similar period seems to be meant in chapter 14 : 14, where 
 " time, times and half a time," may be a way of expressing 
 three years and a half. The idea is taken from Daniel (Dan. 
 7:25; 12:7, II). 
 
 This incorporation of the expressions used by Daniel re- 
 minds one that the laws and principles of God's government 
 are identically the same in all ages. As a result of this, the 
 principles which receive illustration in one set of historical 
 events, receive similar illustrations in succeeding ages. So 
 the words of Daniel were not exhausted in the age of Anti- 
 ochus. Nor have the visions of the Apocalypse been ex- 
 hausted in the overthrow of any one nation or the corruption 
 of any single Church. 
 
 11:3. 
 
 And I shall give authority to my two witnesses.'''* 
 
NOTES. 283 
 
 To understand the rest of this vision we must keep in 
 mind the vision of Zechariah on which it is based (Zech. 4). 
 
 Throughout the whole time of the Church's profanation 
 and distress there will never be wanting true witnesses for 
 eternal righteousness and the government of God's good 
 Providence. So we are always to keep in mind that there 
 are ever abiding, if hidden, sources of divine and spiritual 
 strength. 
 
 11:3. " And I shall give authority to my two witnesses.^^ 
 
 Two witnesses were required for competent evidence 
 under the old dispensation (Deut. 17:6; 19:15), and so we 
 have Moses and Aaron, Elijah and Elisha, Joshua and Zerub- 
 babel. In the New Testament times our Lord sent out his 
 disciples '* two and two," as afterwards S. Paul and S. Bar- 
 nabas were sent out by his Church, Two can give each 
 other their mutual support. Two different characters are 
 brought to bear on the same great work. 
 
 The prophesying extends through twelve hundred and 
 sixty days, a symbolic period, yet corresponding to the dura- 
 tion of time of the witnessing for God of other great 
 worthies. Elijah bore witness under rainless skies for the 
 same length of time. Thus long did a greater than Elijah 
 offer the water of life to the children of men. 
 
 11:7. " And xvhen they shall have finished their witness. ^^ 
 It is only after their work has been done the wild beast 
 
 has power over them. 
 
 Every man has his day for work. Not till that day is 
 
 over does the night come on when he can no longer work. 
 
 1 1 : 1 1, " And after the three days and a half.''^ 
 Compare Ezekiel 37 : i~io. Our Lord's resurrection also 
 must have been here in mind, 
 
284 REVELATION. 
 
 The grain of wheat dies, but it is only through that death 
 it can bear its fruit. So among the cliildren of men. The 
 cause of truth and righteousness may seem dead for a while, 
 but it must soon rise again into a newer and stronger life. 
 So these witnesses rise again and then go up into heaven. 
 They have been humiliated before their enemies. They 
 also are exalted. 
 
 II : 13. "And in that hour there was a great earth- 
 quake,^'' etc. 
 
 Rejected reformation is now avenged in a violent revolu- 
 tion. The city which might have been purified with the 
 welcome consent of its own will is now purged by the spirit 
 of eternal judgment (Isaiah 4: 4). Good is effected, even 
 though it is only through fear. Salvation is wrought, even 
 though it must be by fire. 
 
 II : 14. " The second zvoe is past." 
 
 The third of the woe trumpets, and the last of the seven 
 trumpets, is now ushered in. 
 
 The end is not to be delayed any longer than after the 
 sounding of this trumpet. This last woe trumpet, there- 
 fore, is the trumpet which will usher in the closing woe, 
 and the finishing of the mystery of God. It brings us to 
 the very end. 
 
 II : 15. " l^he kingdom of the ■world.'''' 
 
 It is the kingdom of tlic world, it is to be noticed, not as 
 King James' version has it ^'^ the kingdoms,^'' which has be- 
 come ("hrist's. The contest is not for separate nationalities, 
 
NOTES. 285 
 
 it is for the kingdom of the world. It is a contest for the 
 overthrow of the kingdom of evil and the establishment of 
 the kingdom of good, that is, God. And he will reign 
 forever and ever. 
 
 II : l6. "And the twenty-four elders . . . on their 
 thrones,''^ 
 
 These twenty-four elders represent the Church of God in 
 all ages. They sit with Christ in heavenly places, even 
 while they are toiling and sorrowing on earth. 
 
 II : 17. " IVe thank thee, O Lord'' 
 
 The echo of the second Psalm sounds throughout this 
 Chorus of grateful praise. It is a chorus of thanksgiving to 
 God that the hour has come for the overthrow of the king- 
 dom of evil, the manifestation of the Sons of God and the 
 acknowledgment throughout the world of the sovereignty 
 of the Lord and of his Christ. 
 
 The overthrow of that evil kingdom means woe to those 
 who have supported it. The woe heretofore has been for 
 the saints. Now it is for their enemies. 
 
 11:19. " And the Temple of God was opened in heaven.''' 
 The Temple is opened to its very inmost recesses. Not 
 the holy place alone is disclosed but the holiest of all. 
 The secret abode of the safeguarded children of God is re- 
 vealed. Now that the end has come there is no need that 
 these should be hidden any more. So the ark of God's 
 covenant is now clearly seen. 
 
 And out of the Temple or round about it, as round the 
 sacred peak of Sinai, the lightnings are seen, and voices 
 
286 REVELATION. 
 
 and thunders are heard, tokens of that holy law which the 
 power of the world had defiled. 
 
 12 : I. **^ And a great sign was seen in heaven.''* 
 The picture here drawn is of the Church, the bride of 
 Christ. She is all glorious in her condition and in her sur- 
 roundings. She rises superior to all changes and lays all 
 lesser lights of knowledge tribute to her noble cause. 
 
 12:2. " And she keeps crying out . . . in pain to be de- 
 livered.'''' 
 
 All life dawns in anguish according to the ancient fiat 
 (Gen. 3: 16). But this is not all. There is an anguish of 
 the Church which Christ laid on her. It is the law of her 
 life that she must bring forth Christ to the world. It is not 
 simply that she must encounter pain, but that she cannot 
 work deliverence without enduring suffering. And so the 
 Apostles continually realized. 
 
 12:3. •' And another sign was seen in heaven.*^ 
 
 The dragon stands for some dread and hostile power an- 
 tagonistic to the spread of the kingdom of Christ. Here is 
 a fit emblem of him whom our Lord declared to be a mur- 
 derer from the beginning. The red color is the color of 
 blood and fire and so is a very fit symbol of slaughter and 
 destruction. 
 
 With seven heads and ten horns and seven diadems, etc. 
 
 The dragon is one, yet diverse. He is an evil spirit di- 
 verse in the variety of his power. Compare 17 : 3 
 7, 10, 12. 
 
 This picture represents all the varying forces and sue- 
 
NOTES. 287 
 
 cessive empires which have opposed or oppressed the peo- 
 ple of God, and sought to destroy their efforts for good. It 
 is the spirit of evil at enmity with God. 
 
 And the dragon keeps standing before the wo/nan. 
 
 The spirit of evil is ever on the watch to destroy the first 
 beginnings of good. So Pharaoh was ever on the alert to 
 destroy the offspring of Israel. So Herod kept watching 
 his opportunity to destroy the Christ. It was the same 
 spirit at work in those old heathen countries which practiced 
 the exposing of young infants in the wilderness to the 
 mercy of wild beasts and the weather or to die of starva- 
 tion. The same spirit is on the alert to-day in all heathen 
 lands. But last of all, and far worse than all, the same 
 identical spirit is abroad in Christian lands, and not only so, 
 but it is here where he is gathering his richest harvest. 
 And both men and women who name the name of Christ 
 are doing their best to assist him in his efforts to have it so. 
 
 12:5. " And she was delivered of a son.^^ 
 
 This boy is Christ. But though the basis of the vision 
 is in the historical fact, the vision itself reaches over a wide 
 area and is to teach us that there are irreconcilable princi- 
 ples at work in the world, and they are all to be traced 
 either to the Spirit who is in Christ or to the spirit of the 
 devil. 
 
 And her child was caught up to God. 
 
 Christ ascended into heaven where he was before, this 
 reminds us, but it should also assure us, that precisely for 
 this very reason all life in Christ is really beyond the power 
 of the evil one. 
 
 Twelve hundred and sixty days. 
 
 This period corresponds in its length to the time during 
 
288 REVELATION. 
 
 which the witnesses prophesied. It is the period of the 
 Church's witness against predominant evil. 
 
 12:7. " And there was war in heaven^ 
 
 This is one of those passages which have ever been re- 
 garded as more or less perplexing. It has afforded material 
 for many poetic fancies and much speculative interpretation. 
 
 The narrative of the woman's flight seems to be suspended 
 that this passage may be here inserted. 
 
 This vision, then, is the vision of the overthrow of the 
 evil one by Christ. It shows us the death-blow given to the 
 prince of this world by the Lord of Love and of Life. 
 
 12 : 10. '* Now is co7ne the salvation^ and the power." 
 The words of this doxology are like an echo of the Lord's 
 prayer, or we might rather say an antiphon to it. Here the 
 prayer " Thy kingdom come," is assumed as answered. It 
 has come. But it is not the full establishment of the king- 
 dom which is here described. It is rather the manifestation 
 of it. "We are now made to realize that Christ is King. 
 The accuser of the brethren is thrown down. Of course 
 then there is joy in the presence of God and also, as well, 
 among men. 
 
 12:12. " Knowing that he has but a short time." 
 The painful consciousness of defeat has roused a deeper 
 and more obstinate rage. He may be overcome and smitten 
 to death, but he yet has power to do much harm. 
 
 12: 14. " And the woman was given the two wings of 
 the great eagle." 
 
 The woman is persecuted and driven into the wilderness 
 
NOTES. 289 
 
 but it is with the wings given her by her Lord she flies. 
 The serpent drives her into the wilderness. But it is just 
 there she is to find her place prepared. The way which is 
 hard is the way which is most blessed. Neither the eagle 
 power nor the heavenly sustenance had been hers but for the 
 devil's hate, 
 
 13:3, " And I saw one of his heads as if it had been 
 st?iitlen to death." 
 
 But the death-blow has been healed. That is, the fruits 
 of Christ's victory will not at once appear. The actual death 
 will not immediately follow. The power of evil, on the 
 contrary, rises with new vigor. 
 
 13:4. " And they worshipped the dragon." 
 The spirit of the beast is adored wherever worldliness 
 prevails. Nothing succeeds like success. The ascription of 
 praise to the beast is a parody of that to God (see 12:7. 
 Compare Psalm 112; Micah 7: 18). 
 
 We can hear the echo of this ascription, " Who is like 
 the beast ? coming down through the centuries from the lips 
 of the Romans as they talk with each other or lounge 
 together in the forum." The echo of the same comes to us 
 also from the Champs Elysees, from Piccadilly, from Wall 
 Street, from the round world over where men consider 
 passion, rank, wealth, the world-power in any shape, as their 
 God. 
 
 13:5. " And he was given authority." 
 
 There is consolation in these words. What he has was 
 given him. So behind his reckless and apparently 
 irresistible power there stands the veiled but real power of 
 God. 
 
290 REVELATION. 
 
 13:6. " Those who are tenting in heaven.^'' 
 Those to whom the name of the Lord is a strong tower, 
 and who have their tent of witness in this world, can yet 
 tent their spirits in heaven where their treasure is. Com- 
 pare Philippians 3 : 20. 
 
 13:9. " If any one has an ear let him hear" 
 This echo of his Master's words calls marked attention to 
 the warning words of the next verse, and with it forms an 
 envelope stanza of thorough rhythm and parallelism. The 
 whole spirit of the stanza shows that the weapons of Christ's 
 Saints are the weapons of endurance and of faith and that by 
 the use of such weapons they bear the most effective witness 
 for Christ and his Church. 
 
 13:11. " And I saw another beast coining up out of the 
 earth.''^ 
 
 This second beast is less monstrous in appearance than 
 the first. His power lies in deception as well as in violence. 
 Yet the whole of his work is to magnify the first beast. 
 
 The advancing intelligence of the world, its increase in 
 worldly knowledge and wisdom, and the wider diffusion of 
 general culture and thought, produce a change in the 
 general fashion of life. But the world-spirit is the same. 
 This second beast then is that change which is a change of 
 mode, but not of spirit, — a change of manners but not of 
 morals. 
 
 This beast rises from the earth, the other from the sea. 
 As, then, the sea represents the tumultuous impulses and 
 passion of men, the earth stands for the more fixed element 
 of human thought and wisdom, that is, society consolidated 
 and disciplined by worldly intelligence and culture. 
 
NOTES. 291 
 
 13:13. " //e even makes Jire come doivn out of heaven.'''' 
 This is the counterpart of the work of tlie two wit- 
 nesses and of Elijah (see 11:5, and i Kings 18 : t^?)). This 
 is one of the features of the deceivableness of unrighteousness 
 which so effectually deceives men. They do not consider 
 that there is a holy fire which inspires the lips and lives of 
 the holy, and there is an unhallowed fire which is of hell 
 and inspires only to hellish thoughts and actions. 
 
 13: 14. " And he is deceiving those who are living on 
 the earth.'''' 
 
 When men lose the sense of duty and stop no longer to 
 ask : Is it right ? they become an easy prey to some 
 specious deception. For this reason the Scriptures con- 
 stantly warn us on this point and do their best to keep us on 
 our guard. See Deuteronomy 13 : 1-3 ; S. Matthew 23 : 24 ; 
 2 Thessalonians 2 : 9. 
 
 Mere greatness either of thought or of achievement in the 
 world of action is no guarantee of a good cause. 
 
 " Might is right " is the motto of worldliness. " Right is 
 might " is the motto of faith. And they who hold to the 
 last can never worship the image of the beast under any 
 conceivable circumstances. 
 
 13 : 16. " And he caused all . . . to be given a niark.^^ 
 We have already read of the sealing of the servants of God 
 in their foreheads (7 : 3). We shall hear of it again (22 : 4). 
 Here we see the power of evil has its mark. As slaves 
 received a brand in their flesh to indicate to whom they 
 belonged, so it must be in the spiritual conflict. 
 
 Both marks are to be taken symbolically. The right 
 hand is the symbol of toil and social intercourse. The 
 
292 REVELATION. 
 
 forehead is the symbol of character, for time is ever writing 
 its tale upon men's brows. 
 
 13:18. " Here is wisdom^ 
 
 This most difficult enigma is introduced by these words of 
 preface. 
 
 The enigma implies that the understanding of the number 
 and the name is attainable. 
 
 Of one thing we may be sure, and that is, that the wisdom 
 which is to solve this enigma is moral rather than intel- 
 lectual. It is that wisdom which is from above, which " is 
 first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full 
 of mercy and good fruits, without variance, and without 
 hypocrisy." 
 
 The six hundred and sixty-six is a symbolical number and 
 expresses all that it is possible for human wisdom and power 
 and might to attain to, when directed by an evil spirit, 
 instead of by the Spirit which is from above. It indicates a 
 state of marvelous earthly perfection, when the beast power 
 has reached its highest development, when culture, and 
 civilization, and art, and song, and science, and reason, have 
 combined to produce an age of gold, if not a golden age in 
 the best acceptation of that term. 
 
 14: I. ** And I saw and lo, the Lamb standing on 
 Mount Zion.^' 
 
 We now come from the survey of the powers of evil to a 
 vision of the powers of good. We have seen the strength 
 and authority of the beast. We can now see the true fol- 
 lowers of the Lamb. There are seven angels introduced in 
 this chapter. And in contrast to Babylon, Zion is intro- 
 duced. The Lamb is the King, and the one hundred and 
 forty-four thousand represent his faithful soldiers and serv- 
 ants and the true Israel of God. See note on 7 : 4. 
 
NOTES. 293 
 
 14 : 2. " And I heard a voice from heaven. ^^ 
 As a voice from heaven bore witness to Christ at his 
 baptism, at his transfiguration, and at the grave of Lazarus, 
 so here the voice is heard by the surrounding saints. Com- 
 pare the 29th Psahn. 
 
 14 : 6. " And I saw another angel.'' 
 
 The good news of man's salvation is proclaimed to all 
 nations. 
 
 No doubt the whole cycle of the gospel preaching is in- 
 cluded in this vision, though it may have special reference 
 to ages when the light of the good news of God has gone 
 out with revived lustre and given warnings against acquies- 
 cence of evil with unmistakable distinctness. 
 
 14:8. " And another, a second angel followed.'''' 
 The gospel angel is followed by the angel who proclaims 
 against Babylon. 
 
 The doom of the capital of the world-spirit follows the 
 proclamation of the Gospel. Babylon was not on the 
 Euphrates alone. She was later on the Tiber. Then she 
 was on the Bosphorus. She has since moved to the banks 
 of the Seine, the Thames, and even to America. She is 
 everywhere where the same evil principles are at work 
 which were working in the Babylon of the Chaldees and 
 finally brought her to the dust. See chapter 16:9 ^"^ 
 chapter 17. 
 
 14 : 13. " Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord'' 
 
 We are not told whose voice is now heard. But it is a 
 
 blessing of priceless worth. They are words of faith and 
 
 eternal hope. They tell us the dead in Christ are happy 
 
 and at rest. Their work is done. It has not been in vain 
 
294 REVELATION. 
 
 in the Lord. This is the second of the seven benedictions 
 of this great Poem (1:3; 14 : 13; 16 : 15 ; 19 : 9; 20: 6; 
 22 : 7 ; 22 : 14). 
 
 14 : 14. " And I saw, and lo, a white cloud, etc.''* 
 
 There can be little doubt that Christ himself is here 
 
 meant (S. Matt. 24:30; Acts 1:9). Compare S. John 
 
 5 : 7 and Daniel 7 : 13, The crown is the crown of victory. 
 
 The sickle shows that the harvest has come (Joel 3: 12-14; 
 
 S. Mark 4: 26-29). 
 
 14 : 15. " Send out your sickle and reap.** 
 
 There is a difference between the vintage and the har- 
 vest. There is an autumnal gladness about the harvest. 
 There are tokens of judgment in the vintage. The wine- 
 press of God's wrath must now be brought into use. An 
 angel from the Temple calls for the harvest. An angel 
 from the altar calls to an angel from the Temple to gather 
 in the vintage. 
 
 The angel rises from the altar beneath which the mur- 
 dered saints had cried : " How long ? " and proclaims : 
 " Send out your sharp sickle. . . . For her grapes are 
 fully ripe." 
 
 14:18. "And another angel . . . who has authority 
 over the fire.** 
 
 The two scenes, the souls crying beneath the altar 
 (6 : 9, 10), and the angel mingling incense with the prayers 
 of the saints (8: 5), must here be kept in mind. It is the 
 angel who had charge of the altar fire, and who threw the 
 ashes betokening judgments to the earth who calls in a loud 
 voice : " Send out your sharp sickle," 
 
NOTES. 295 
 
 14 : 20. •* And the wine press was trodden outside the 
 cityr 
 
 This is a figure representing vengeance. The red juice 
 of the grape strongly suggests the shedding of blood (Com- 
 pare Isaiah 63 : 2-4). 
 
 Sixteen hundred is four multiplied by itself and then mul- 
 tiplied by a hundred and so is symbolical of a judgment 
 complete and full and reaching to all corners of the earth. 
 The whole world of which Satan is called the prince, is 
 judged, and condemned, and punished. 
 
 15; I. ^^ And I saw another sign in heaven . . . 
 seven angels." 
 
 It is not necessary to ask what seven angels these are. 
 It is sufficient to notice that they bring with them the seven 
 last plagues. This fact shows us that the set of visions now 
 to be seen carry us down to the end of the world-age. 
 There are to be no other plagues after these. They are the 
 last. The bowls of incense, like the trumpets and the seals 
 bring us to the final consummation of all things. 
 
 15:2. " IVith harps of God.'' 
 
 This is not to be considered as a phrase equivalent to 
 great harps or glorious harps, simply. Great and glorious 
 no doubt they are. But they are far more than this. They 
 are God's harps not man's. What S. John really tells us is 
 that the noblest melody in the ears of God and of all truly 
 discerning men is the melody which sounds through a life 
 of faith and patient suffering and love. The power of such 
 a life, he shows us, is in God, not in ourselves. The music 
 of such a life is the music which God produces, not man. It 
 is he who draws the sweetest tones from the strings which 
 
296 REVELATION. 
 
 are smitten with pain and sorrow. Yes, all the genuine 
 music of life, all the purest and noblest tones of its enchant- 
 ing symphony is God given and comes only through suffer- 
 ing. And so it is with this song of triumph we now hear 
 sung. Its accompaniment comes from a harp not its own, 
 but God's, For if it is only through much tribulation we 
 can enter into God's Kingdom, so is it only through many 
 trials here below we gain the ability and the power to sing 
 a song worthy of the Lamb and in harmony with him. 
 
 15:3. " They keep singing the song of Moses the servant 
 of God, and the song of the Lamb.''^ 
 
 The song of Moses was a psean of victory over Pharoah 
 and his host (Exodus 14:26-31; 15:1-21). Israel stood 
 by the Red Sea and saw the tokens of the overthrow of the 
 great world power of that day. So this spiritual Israel 
 stands by the fire-blent sea of glass and sings the song of 
 triumph over the doom of the great world powers of every 
 age. 
 
 But this spiritual Israel not only sings the song of Moses. 
 They also sing the song of the Lamb, He is the very 
 centre and circumference of their thought and worship. 
 Their victory has been through him. It was he »fho put 
 this new song in their mouths. It is he through whom all 
 things came into existence, through whom they continue to 
 exist. 
 
 16 : 10. " The fifth poured out his bowl on the throne of 
 the beast. ^^ 
 
 The bowls of judgment gradually dissolve the integrity 
 and organization of the kingdom of the wild beast. The 
 result of the principles on which it has been based begin to 
 
NOTES. 297 
 
 show themselves. First comes moral disease in individuals. 
 Then we see a corrupt tone of national morals spread 
 through every class of society. Then comes that fierce 
 pride of vaunted light which scorches everything it touches. 
 Where these are, disorganization is not far off. Evil goes 
 out a murderer and comes home a suicide. 
 
 i6 : 12. '< And its zuaie/- zuas dried upy 
 
 The symbolical meaning of the Euphrates was shown in 
 the note on 9 : 14. 
 
 Euphrates was the natural obstacle to war between Baby- 
 lon and Jerusalem. So is there a great interposed boundary 
 of public opinion which restrains evil from breaking out in 
 its ruder and more violent forms. Men may be hostile to 
 spiritual religion, yet they scarcely like to shock public 
 sentiment, or to incur the charge of depraving public morals. 
 But there comes a time when this is no longer so. False 
 principles have been taught. Corrupt manners have been 
 tolerated. The light of better things has been darkened. 
 Public sentiment has lost all sense of shame, and so the 
 general decorums of life, which have acted as a break- 
 water against the tide of outrageous evil, are swept away. 
 Then is the Euphrates dried up. Then has the way been 
 prepared for the hostile powers of evil to cross boldly over 
 and to invade the whole sacred soil of human life. It is the 
 gathering together of all the forces of evil for one final 
 struggle with the followers of Christ. 
 
 16:15. " Blessed is he who continues to watch." 
 This is the third of the seven benedictions of the Apoc- 
 alypse (1:3; 14:13; 16:15; ^9 = 95 20:6; 22:7; 
 22: 14), 
 
298 REVELATION. 
 
 i6:i6. ^^ Har-Magedony 
 
 This is the high table-land surrounded by hills which was 
 the great battle-field of the Holy Land. This old battle-field 
 becomes the symbol of the decisive struggle between the 
 good and the bad. The war of principles, the war of fash- 
 ion, the war of morals culminates in a Har-Magedon. The 
 progress of the spiritual struggle in the individual must lead 
 in the same way to this mount of decision. 
 
 16:17. " // is done." 
 
 " It is finished," said our Lord on the cross and then 
 gave up his spirit. So here the end has come. The termi- 
 nation of the scenes of sin and suffering is at hand. For 
 the last of the last plagues has been sent out. 
 
 17:2. " / wi// shoiv you the jtidgvient of the great pros- 
 titute.''^ 
 
 This chapter and the following give the more minute ac- 
 count of great Babylon. The Evangelist is now told more 
 particularly her character, crimes, power, and position. But 
 to understand what is really taught by this we must remem- 
 ber what has already been intimated (14 : 8). 
 
 17:9, " Here is the juind which has wisdom^ 
 It needs the wisdom which comes from above to look at 
 many incidents of the world's history and not find them so 
 many rocks of offense (Psalms 73 : 2, 3 ; 119 : 165). 
 
 The description here given seems to be drawn from 
 Rome, the seven hilled city, yet the further explanation in 
 verse ten widens our thoughts and shows us that the literal- 
 ism on which the scene is based is used to convey a broader 
 symbolical meaning. 
 
NOTES. 299 
 
 Chapters i8: 1-19:4. 
 The portion of the last chapter from verse seven to the 
 end gives a kind of parenthesis, a pause in the drama of 
 vision which is resumed again at the beginning of this 
 chapter. The actual overthrow itself is not seen, but the 
 four agencies which are put forward to that end are here 
 most vividly described. First we have the angel who pro- 
 claims her moral fall ( 1-3). The voice from heaven gives 
 the vivid description of her sudden overthrow and of the 
 wonderful sensation it occasioned (4-20J. Then we hear 
 the angel who tells of the irremedial character of the over- 
 throw (21-24). And finally we hear the chorus of the 
 heavenly throng rejoicing over the victory (19 : 1-4) . 
 
 18: 12. ** And fine linen and purpled 
 
 In the description of Dives clothed in purple and fine 
 linen (S. Luke 16: 19) we have a suggestive comparison. 
 
 Thyine -wood. 
 
 This was sweet scented and was a favorite wood for 
 doors, panels and ceilings. Its rich brown hue was often 
 relieved by inlaid ivory. 
 
 18: 13. ** Slaves ; and souls of men y 
 
 The traffic in slaves is mentioned as part of the commerce 
 of Tyre in Ezekiel 27: 13. The number of slaves in Rome 
 was enormous. But the climax of wicked worldliness is 
 reached in the last article of commerce — souls of men. It 
 gives the finishing touch to a picture of society wholly 
 given up to worldly pleasure and indolence and the basest 
 kind of selfishness. It lays every market of the world un- 
 der tribute to add to its luxuriousness and readily sacrifices, 
 not only the happiness, but the lives and liberties of their 
 fellow-creatures, to their own enjoyment. 
 
300 REVELATION. 
 
 18:14. " And the fruits which your soul desired^ 
 The descriptive passage is interrupted by this stanza in 
 which Babylon herself is directly addressed. It is in har- 
 mony with the fervor of the whole chapter that the descrip- 
 tive tone should for a moment give place to this apostrophe. 
 The desire of the wicked has perished. 
 
 18: 15. " The merchants of these things'^ 
 The description is here resumed, and the lamentation 
 with which this portion ends is perfectly parallel to the la- 
 ment of the kings, only here there is the characteristic dif- 
 ference — they bewail the sudden decay of wealth, 
 
 18: 17. ^* And every shipmaster^ 
 
 Now begins the lament of the shipmasters and sailors. 
 Compare Ezekiel 27 : 25-35. 
 
 " There is no greater woe 
 Than to remember days of happiness 
 Amid affliction." 
 
 18:19. " Woe! Woe! the great city." 
 
 This lament is parallel with the lament of the merchants 
 and the kings. The difference is the appropriate refer- 
 ence to the shipping interests. 
 
 There is another feature of the parallelism to be noted, 
 the refrain of the last line of each lament. The kings say : 
 " For in one hour your judgment came." The merchants : 
 " For in one hour such great riches were desolated." The 
 shipmasters and sailors: "For in one hour she was deso- 
 lated." 
 
 18: 20. " Rejoice over her, O heaven ! " 
 The second part of the chapter closes with this invitation 
 to the saints to rejoice. 
 
NOTES 301 
 
 The covetous and the worldly mourn, for their affection 
 has been set on things below. But it is just the opposite 
 with those whose habitation is in heavenly places. For the 
 wealth of holiness is imperishable. 
 
 19: I. ^^ After this I heard . . . a loud voice of a great 
 throng in heaven.''^ 
 
 The saints who were bidden to rejoice are now heard 
 singing their song of praise as with one mighty voice. 
 
 It begins and ends with Hallelujah. For while the sec- 
 ond Hallelujah is separated from the body of the song in 
 the text by the descriptive words : " And a second time 
 they have said," it clearly belongs to the chorus as its final 
 word of praise. 
 
 The Evangelist, as he writes, seems to hear once more 
 the strains of this glorious anthem. He writes down the 
 words. Then there comes a musical pause. The second 
 Hallelujah follows. Then he writes : " And once more 
 they have said: Hallelujah." 
 
 The word Hallelujah occurs in this passage four times. 
 It is not found anywhere else in the New Testament. But 
 fifteen of the Psalms begin or end with it. It is generally 
 translated: «< Praise ye the Lord." 
 
 This chorus of the heavenly throng is the echo of the an- 
 cient utterance that " Salvation belongs to God." It is a 
 threefold ascription of praise. It is a triumphant affirma- 
 tion that: "The salvation and the glory and the power" 
 are all God's. 
 
 19:4. ^^ And the twenty-four elders and the four living 
 creatures.'''' 
 
 The Church universal, which the elders represent, and 
 the whole creation, which the living creatures represent, join 
 in the refrain : " Amen. Hallelujah." 
 
302 REVELATION. 
 
 19 : 5. " And a voice came out of the throne. " 
 In response to this invitation the voice of praise is heard 
 again. All nature's mighty tones are mingled in this grand 
 acclaim. It is human. It is majestic. It is glorious. 
 
 19:6. " Has been made King.'''' 
 
 The exultation of the heavenly throng is because of this 
 great fact. The Kingship of their God has been made 
 manifest. It has been once and for all vindicated against 
 all who denied him and hated his rule. He it was who 
 was always reigning, and he has now most conclusively 
 shown it. 
 
 The joy of the heavenly host rises also from the prospect 
 of the closer union between the Lamb and his Bride. 
 
 19:9. " Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage 
 supper. ^^ 
 
 This is the fourth of the six benedictions of the Apoc- 
 alypse (1:3; 14:13; 16:15; 19 : 9 ; 20 : 6 ; 22 : 7, 14). 
 
 19 : 10. " And I fell down before his feet to worship hi7n." 
 The impulse was a natural one. The immediate check 
 put to it here and in 22 : 8, 9 supplies an indirect evidence 
 to the genuineness of the whole book, and gives it a moral 
 tone immeasurably superior to the vision-books of pre- 
 tended revelations. Here on the other hand it is well to 
 remember that Jesus always accepted the homage of his 
 Apostles and Mary, and there was never the least indica- 
 tion of a rebuke (S. Matt. 28:9, 17). He was the one 
 also whom all the angels of God were bidden to worship 
 (Psalm 97 : 7 ; Heb. I : 6). 
 
 19 : 1 1. " And I saw heaven opened.^* 
 
 This description is like that of the opening of the first 
 
NOTES. 303 
 
 seal. But now with added splendor the vision is re- 
 newed. 
 
 19:17. " And I smv an angel standing in the sun.^' 
 
 Here begins the description of the overthrow of the beast 
 and the false prophet. 
 
 The sun is the symbol of the divine presence. Compare 
 I : 16; 10: I ; 12 : I. 
 
 The supper here is in contrast to the marriage supper of 
 the Lamb. 
 
 The vision is a great figurative representation of the de- 
 feat of the anti-Christian powers and principles in the 
 world. 
 
 20 : 2. " And he seized thedragony 
 
 We have here the description of the binding of Satan 
 (S. Matt. 12:29; Col. 2: 15). 
 
 A thousand years was the period at which Rabbis fixed 
 the duration of Messiah's kingdom. It should not be taken 
 literally here any more than the other numbers of the book. 
 
 20 : 4. " And judgment was given to them.'''' 
 
 They were given judicial powers. The saints are now 
 
 seen to reign, and judge and live with Christ. The full 
 
 and true powers of life are all theirs, 
 
 20 : 6. '• Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first 
 resurrection.^'' 
 
 Here is the fifth of the seven benedictions of the Apoca- 
 lypse (1:3; 14: 13; 16: 15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7, 14). 
 
 20 : 7. " And when the thousand years have been accom- 
 plished . . . God and Magog.'''' 
 
304 REVELATION. 
 
 The binding of Satan implied restraint put upon the 
 freedom of his action. Now the restraint is taken away. 
 God and Magog are deceived by him. Under them the 
 great gathering of the turbulent and reckless enemies of the 
 faith takes place. They gather together to the war which 
 has been spoken of in chapters i6 and 19. The Euphrates 
 is dried. The devil is loosed. The unclean spirits have 
 gone out. The last phase of the long war between good 
 and evil, between Christ and Beliel, has now been entered 
 on. 
 
 Compare Ezekiel 38 and 39. 
 
 20 : 1 1. " And I saw a great white throned 
 
 The beast and the false prophet and the devil who 
 worked through them have been overthrown. The judgment 
 of human beings now follows. 
 
 The whole description here as in the rest of the book is 
 poetic in form and calls for poetic interpretation. 
 
 The throne is great and white to set it in strong contrast 
 to the others mentioned in the book (4: 14; 20:4). It is 
 white in token of the purity of the judgment which follows. 
 Throughout the book " he who was sitting on it " is referred 
 to as God (4:355:1). But here this is not to be thought 
 of to the exclusion of the Son, who sits with his Father on 
 his throne (3 : 21). 
 
 20 : 15. " And if any one was not found written in the 
 book of life he was thrown into the lake of fire." 
 
 This is the third time in these two short verses, like a re- 
 frain at the close of each clause, we have the terrible words 
 " the lake of fire." Into this lake Death and Hades are 
 thrown. The dragon was thrown into it. The beast and 
 the false prophet also were thrown into it. All this is 
 
NOTES. 305 
 
 clearly meant to teach us that man's last enemy is destroyed. 
 And so we read in the next chapter, " there will be no more 
 death." 
 
 21 : I. " And I saw a new heaven and a netv earth.^^ 
 We now have a description of the Lamb's bride the New 
 Jerusalem (21 : 1-22: 5). 
 
 In the original Greek the word translated " new" means 
 new in quality in contradistinction to " new " in the sense 
 of recentness of time. This word " new " of quality is the 
 one used throughout this description, and, indeed, through- 
 out the whole of the Revelation. 
 
 21:2, " And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem coming 
 dow7i out of heaven.'''' 
 
 The beast comes up out of the sea (13: i). The new 
 Jerusalem comes down out of heaven. The world can 
 never of itself evolve a truly golden age or ideal state. 
 
 21:4. " And there tvill no longer be any death, etc.'''' 
 This splendid array of negatives comes as a herald of the 
 
 positive peace of the new Jerusalem. No sea, no tears, no 
 
 death, no mourning, no crying, no pain, 
 
 21:7. ^^ He who ozierco??ies." 
 
 Again we hear the echo of the promises to the seven 
 Churches. 
 
 21:9. <' And there ca?ne one of the seven angels who had 
 the seven bowls." 
 
 Here follows the description of the New Jerusalem. It 
 has been said that half the errors of the Church have been 
 due to prosaic minded men who could not discern the differ- 
 
306 REVELATION. 
 
 ence between figure and fact. And men of unpoetical and 
 vehement temperamanthave blundered over the descriptions 
 here given and have so discredited the whole of the 
 Apocalypse in the eyes of many. 
 
 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls showed 
 to the seer the scarlet clad prostitute, the great and guilty 
 Babylon. So here one of the same company of angels 
 shows him the pure Bride of the Lamb, the new and holy 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 21 ; lo. " To a mountain great and high." 
 
 The glimpse of God's coming glories is best gained from 
 
 the consecrated heights of self-surrender and prayer. 
 
 There are Beulah heights and transfiguration heights from 
 
 which we many gain glimpses of the city and the glory of 
 
 her Lord. 
 
 21 : 15. " Had for a measiire a gold reed." 
 The allusion is to Ezekiel 15:3. The measuring rod here 
 is of gold. That used in chapter 1 1 : I was not said to be 
 gold. The measurement there was the symbol of preserva- 
 tion amid impending danger. The measuring here is more 
 glorious. It exhibits the beauty and glory of the city 
 which is now at peace. 
 
 21 : 16. " And the city lies foursquare" 
 
 The height also is equal to the length and breadth. The 
 city thus represents the symbol of perfect symmetry. This 
 is all that is needed. For this vision is not meant any more 
 than that of chapter 4, or that of Ezekiel's in his first chapter, 
 to be represented by painting to the eye. The city here is 
 placed on a hill, so the deep strong mountain foundations 
 may be included in the measurement. The main thought. 
 
NOTES. 307 
 
 though, is to realize the harmony and proportion of the 
 community. 
 
 21 : 17. *^ And he measured its walls, a hundred and 
 forty -four cubits.'''' 
 
 The recurrence of the number a hundred and forty-four 
 recalls chapter 7 : 4. See note there. 
 
 21 : 18. " And the city was pure gold^ 
 
 Gold is said to have reference to the sun, that is, to the 
 symbol of the face of God or Christ, and so to the mani- 
 festation of divine love. 
 
 The wealth of heaven, then, is love. Love is the circu- 
 lating medium of all holy activity. All who dwell in the 
 holy city are encompassed by it. All who tread the streets 
 of the city move along the ways of love. 
 
 21 : 22. " And I saw no Tetnple in it.''^ 
 
 In Ezekiel's vision the vast and splendid proportions of 
 the Temple marked its exceptional glory and formed a con- 
 spicuous part of what he tells us. But S. John passes on 
 to a higher state of things. He saw no Temple. What he 
 saw was God all and in all. 
 
 21 : 23. ** A7id the city has no need of the sun, etc." 
 Here again the shechinah is alluded to. Light is the 
 
 emblem of true knowledge and holiness. God is light 
 (I John I : 5). Compare Isaiah 60 : 19 and S. John I : 7-9. 
 
 22 : 6. " And he said to ;;/<?." 
 
 With these words we enter on the consideration of the 
 seven last sayings and the conclusion of the Revelation. 
 
 It IS the angel who is here talking. Compare chapter 21 
 and verse 9 of this chapter. 
 
308 REVELATION. 
 
 The expression here : " These words are to be relied oh 
 and are true," has reference to the whole book of Revela- 
 tion. 
 
 22 : 7. " And lo, I am coming quickly ^ 
 
 These are the words of Christ. 
 
 This blessing is the sixth of the seven benedictions of the 
 Revelation (1:3; 14:13; 16:15; 19:9; 20 : 6 ; 22 : 7 . 
 22:14). 
 
 22 : 8. " And I John atn he." 
 
 This declaration of the seer reminds one of the openipg 
 of his first Letter (i S. John i : 1-3). 
 
 And when I heard and saw. 
 
 Wonder and awe took possession of the seer and he again 
 attempted to offer divine homage to the angel-minister 
 (19:10). 
 
 This twice offered and twice refused worship reminds 
 us that to render to all their due is wise and seemly and 
 Christlike. But to offer exaggerated homage to any one is 
 to invert God's order and to degrade man whose true glory 
 it is that he is God's creature. 
 
 22: 12. "Lo, I a7n coming quick ly.'*'' 
 
 Here, again Christ speaks. 
 
 God gives back to each one his work, says S. John. 
 Retribution is no dream. It is a terrible fact. It is written 
 large over all nature. 
 
 22 : 14. ^^ Blessed are those who are washing their robes.^'' 
 
 Those mentioned here are blessed because by what they 
 
 do they have a right to the tree of life. This is the last of 
 
 the seven benedictions (1:3; 14 : 13; 16:15; '9 : 9; 20: 6; 
 
 22 : 7). 
 
NOTES. 309 
 
 22: i6. "/, Jesus, have sent viy angel.'" 
 
 Here only does our Lord reveal his name, though from 
 1 : 13, i8 on it has been obvious that he is the revealer as 
 was expressed in the title i : i. 
 
 22 : 17. * ^And the Spirit and the bride say coined 
 The cry of all creation is for its true Lord, The Apoc- 
 alypse is the book of the Coming One. 
 
 22 : 18. " -/ am a witness to every one^ 
 
 This is the final word of the seer. We may compare 
 Deuteronomy 4:2; 12 : 32. 
 
 The words here penned are a solemn protest against the 
 spirit which handles the word of God rashly or deceitfully, 
 which adds its own thoughts or makes its own wishes the 
 parents of its interpretations, which dilutes the force of its 
 warnings, or impoverishes the fulness of its promises. 
 
 22 : 21. " The favor of the Lord Jesus ^ 
 
 The favor of the Lord Jesus is the last word here left in 
 our ears, so that whatever have been the dangers or diffi- 
 culties, whatever have been the persecutions and afflic- 
 tions depicted in this book, here is strength and love in 
 the Lord. Whoever we are, wherever we may live, our 
 power and wisdom must come from him. Without him we 
 cannot understand this book. Without him its teaching 
 cannot be obeyed. 
 
The 
 
 Modern American Bible 
 
 The Books of the Bible in 
 Modern American Form 
 and Phrase with Introduc- 
 tions and Notes .... 
 
 BY 
 
 FRANK SCHELL BALLENTINE 
 
 IRew C;e6tamcnt Series 
 
 1. St. Mark, 
 
 2. St. Matthew, St. Peter, St. Jude and St. 
 
 James, ..... 
 
 3. St. Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, 
 
 4. Epistles of St. Paul and the Epistle to 
 
 the Hebrews, . . • . 
 
 5. St. John's Gospel, Epistles and the Rev- 
 
 elation, ..... 
 
 Stifles of :©lnOfng 
 
 i6mo, (3%x6 inches) cloth, limp, gilt top, per vol., 
 i6mo, Maroon leather, limp, gilt top, per vol.. 
 
 — Ready 
 
 — Ready 
 — Ready 
 
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 —Readv 
 
 50c 
 $1.00 
 
 THOMAS WHITTAKER 
 
 2 AND 3 Bible House, NEW YORK 
 
The Modern American Bible. 
 
 Opinions of the Press. 
 
 The Evangelist, New York. 
 " The greatest gain is in the presentation of the text to the 
 eye." 
 
 The Standard. 
 
 Chicago, III. 
 " It does not become colloquial and weak in its effort to 
 be modern." 
 
 The Presb5rterian, Philadelphia. 
 
 " The author has devoted much care and pains to his under- 
 taking. Under the arrangement renewed interest is awakened 
 in familiar truth, and in some cases a better understanding 
 of it may be obtained. The spirit that characterizes this at- 
 tempt to modernize the Bible writings is reverent and 
 devout." 
 
 The Christian Intelligencer, New York. 
 " The conversational parts of the Bible are arranged as in 
 all modern stories, after the method of Henri Lasserre in his 
 Les Saints Evangiles. The volumes are conveniently 
 small; can easily be carried in one's pocket, are neatly 
 bound in flexible cloth with gilt top." 
 
Sunday-School Times, Philadelphia. 
 " We have come to appreciate the value of simplicity, and 
 Mr, Ballentine seeks to make the narrative more simple and 
 more natural to American readers than it is in either the 
 authorized or revised version. The effect is generally 
 good. , , . The greatest innovation is in the close render- 
 ing of the tenses of the original Greek," 
 
 The Church Standard, Philadelphia. 
 " Mr. Ballentine's translation is both pleasing and edifying. 
 It is another illustration of the fact that any faithful and 
 reverent translation, on whatever particular plan it may 
 be made, is a publication of the Word of God and must 
 tend to edification. In addition to the translation, Mr. 
 Ballentine gives an appendix of copious notes, some o( 
 which are really admirable." 
 
 The Outlook, New York. 
 
 " Mr, Ballentine emphasizes the American form ; he uses 
 dollars and cents in his version, not pounds, shillings, pence, 
 and farthings. He makes some popular changes, too — 
 * charger ' to ' dish ; ' • mammon ' to * money ; ' ' watch 
 of the night,' ' first hour,' etc., to our present designations 
 of time. The arbitrary divisions into chapters and verses 
 are dropped, and the print runs, not in two narrow 
 columns, but across the page. The notes well emphasize 
 the text." 
 
 The Watchman, Boston, Mass. 
 " This is a brave undertaking to colloquialize in current 
 phrase tlie book which has come down to us in the com- 
 manding form given to it by King James' revisers, and em- 
 balmed in reverent memory. It will strike different readers 
 
pleasantly or the reverse, according to their predisposition 
 from education and religious sentiment. There can be no 
 doubt that it ploughs up the crust of superficial familiarity, 
 and compels one to think a little deeper into what the 
 writer meant to say. The accompanying notes are bright, 
 judicious and helpful." 
 
 The Churchman, New York. 
 
 " The attempt to tell the Gospel story in the ordinary 
 form of our American literature, was a sensible and useful 
 idea. One gains from Mr. Ballentine's version of the Greek 
 text new light and added clearness. His short, epigrammatic 
 sentences . . . have directness and force, and familiarity of 
 diction: . . . 
 
 The translation ... is generally successful in avoiding 
 the archaisms which . . . are doubtless a stone of stumbling 
 to vast multitudes. 
 
 The notes are brief, suggestive and usually add some dis- 
 tinct thought to the interpretation." 
 
 The Wilkes Bane Record. 
 
 November 9, 1900. 
 " Mr. Ballentine has very wisely recognized the fact that 
 a modernized New Testament would be welcomed in every 
 home and in every study and he has after much labor filled 
 this long felt want. To read it is to read something new and 
 even children will be much more likely to become favorably 
 impressed with the gospel narrative where it is freed from 
 obsolete words and from archaisms which confuse, than if 
 they are brought up exclusively on the old versions. To 
 read the Scriptures in this attractive guise adds clearness to 
 the narrative and the reader gets a flood of new light. 
 Every lover of Holy Writ should have it." 
 
The Scranton Republican. 
 
 December i, 1900. 
 " The Revised Version of Scripture is not a new translation. 
 It is but a revision of King James' version. It is not an 
 American translation. It is English. In other vi'ords there 
 are many words and phrases both in King James and the 
 Revised Version which are not only not understandable to 
 an American of ordinary education, they are thoroughly 
 misleading. For this reason there is considerable room for 
 a distinctively American translation such as we find in the 
 Modern American Bible. This translation is unique in be- 
 ing distinctively American. It is unique in another respect. 
 We refer to the treatment of the conversational parts. For 
 by this method it has succeeded in putting the scenes in our 
 Lord's life before us with a dramatic force and vividness 
 which we have never heretofore realized. In this respect 
 it is delightful." 
 
 Wilkes Barre Daily News. 
 
 January 8, 1901. 
 
 ** These translations of the sacred writings are made in 
 modern idiomatic English and are carried through in this 
 spirit and this atmosphere. At first thought this would seem 
 impossible without losing something of the stately and 
 sacred character of the Gospels. But as one reads these 
 translations, he is impressed by the fact that the following 
 lines are not only maintained without a suspicion of any un- 
 toward character, but the reader is impressed more and 
 more as he turns the pages with the thought that the nar- 
 rative is particularly engaging and absorbingly interest- 
 ing. . . . 
 
 The attempt has been made and successfully made to 
 make the English Bible more intelligible, more interesting, 
 and, to use a phrase that at least contains a suggestion of the 
 
meaning — more popular. The student of ihe Bible in go. 
 ing through these pages is beguiled by the cohesion of the 
 story, and by the fact that it is narrative, and withal sur- 
 rounded by the most delicate distinctions in meanings, and 
 with the reverence which should always apply to the sacred 
 histories." 
 
 The Alumni Register. 
 (university of pennsylvania.) 
 
 January, 1901. 
 "The Modern American Bible, edited by the Rev. Frank 
 Schell Ballentine, '82 College, is the kind of book that re- 
 quires careful examination before one can appreciate the 
 reason for its existence. The first impression that one has 
 in regard to all such books is apt to be unfavorable, inas- 
 much as our feeling of reverence for the authorized version 
 and our familiarity with the language of it are such as to 
 make us regard any change in that language as unnecessary. 
 Much has been done, however, in the last few years to 
 bring out clearly, on the printed page, the character of the 
 Biblical narratives. Poetry has been indicated by printing 
 it as such, quotations are shown by quotation marks or dif- 
 ferent type, etc., and in this respect, the Modern American 
 Bible ... is an excellent work. . . . No one can ques- 
 tion the propriety of attempting, by reverent study, to get 
 as close as possible to the exact meaning of the original text. 
 A great deal of attention has been paid by Mr. Ballentine to 
 the rendering of the Greek tenses, and in most cases his 
 work may be regarded as successful." 
 
 Hartford Seminary Record. 
 " We are inclined to extend a welcome to every effort 
 now being made to render the text and contents of the Bible 
 clearer by any reasonable device of rctranslation or typo- 
 graphical rearrangement. . . . 
 
We note with interest an American project called the 
 Modern American Bible. . , . 
 
 The plan of this work is to offer a wholly new English 
 version, couched in diction entirely modern, and presented 
 typographically without verse divisions and with various 
 small devices of disposition on the page that shall display 
 the assumed character of each passage. . . . 
 
 The volumes are daintily printed and bound in a size for 
 the pocket. 
 
 The motive of this effort is excellent. . . . V/ie transla- 
 tion is lucid, vigorous, scholarly in its effort to uncover the 
 basic qualities of the text. . . . 
 
 It would be a long task to discuss the notes in detail. In 
 the main, they are finely intended, and often exceedingly 
 apt. . . . 
 
 To those who are seeking means to make the New Testa- 
 ment vivid . . . these volumes will be decidedly service- 
 able." 
 
 Individual Opinions. 
 
 The Church House I2TH and Walnut Sts., Phil'a. 
 
 " I can imagine many a teacher holding a class of intel- 
 ligent boys and girls easily by means of the conversations and 
 dialogues and modern phrases, interpreting old and familiar 
 
 words and truths." 
 
 Alfred J. P. McClure, 
 Financial Secretary, General Clergy Relief. 
 
 " For many years to come, I hope your translation of the 
 Gospels will be found within easy reach upon my desk. 
 May I say without seeming irreverence that it is a most de- 
 lightful book ? . . . That you . . . should have found time 
 and inspiration for this beautiful task seems to me won- 
 derful." 
 
 W. E. Plumley, 
 Head Master, School of the Lackawanna, Scranton. 
 
" Every attempt to make the English Bible more intelli- 
 gible, more interesting and more popular is a matter of gen- 
 eral commendation. But when the attempt is replete with 
 such literary appreciation, painstaking scholarship, and con- 
 secrated devotion . . . it is a matter of general congratula- 
 tion." 
 
 Walter H. Buell, 
 Professor, Hotchkiss School, Lakeville, Conn. 
 
Date Due 
 
 
 
 
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