THE
MAKING OF CHRISTIANITY

JOHN C.C.CLARKE, D.D.

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for thefoundbsg df a. College ui. tJks Colonf

The Making o/Christianity

AN EXHIBIT OF HEBREW AND CHRISTIAN
MESSIANIC APOCALYPTICAL PHI
LOSOPHY AND LITERATURE

BY
JOHN C. C. CLARKE, D. D.
Formerly Professor in the Old University of Chicago and the
Cliicago Baptist Union Tlieelogical Seminary

NCW YORK
T.H'E"A3006IATED AUTIIORO, Inc:
1914

Copyright, 1914
BY
JOHN C. C. CLARKE

THE APOCALYPSES

THE HEBREW OF

THE CHRISTIAN OF

PSALMS

JOHN THE BAPTIST

JOB

JESUS

JONAH

ST. MAITHEW

EZEKIEL

ST. MARK

ZECHARIAH

EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL

ISAIAH

EPISTLES OF ST. PETER

DANIEL

EPISTLE OF ST. JUDE

II. ESDRAS

EPISTLES OF ST. JOHN

ENOCH

EPISTLE TO HEBREWS

PHILO

ST. JOHN'S REVELATION

CONTENTS

GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO A STUDY OF THE
APOCALYPSE OF ST. JOHN  13
A Key in the Letters to the Churches . . .17
General characteristics of the letters, 18; They match seven sec-
tibns of The Apocalypse in reverse order, 18; They are sec
tion-markers, 19; They indicate a deliberate and artistic
construction of The .Apocalypse, 19; Comparative Tabula
tion of the letters and the sections, 20; Many lights from the
letters, 27.
The Material or Substance op the Apocal'wse . . 28
Is the chief facts and doctrines of Christianity, 28; Is also a body
of figures and symbols, 29; This preceded Christianity, 29;'
The fourteen principles, 30; Its relation to a preceding
literature, 31; The System of the Pharisees, 33; The
Hebrew Apocalyptical System, 34; Origin and meaning of
the name The Word of God, 34; Quotations from Philo,
34; The Son of God, 35 ; These elements in The Epistle To
the Hebrews, 35; These elements in Psalms, II, XLV, and
CX, 36; The' name "Son of Man," 39; Quotations from
Philo', 39; This name in Psalm VIII and Hebre-ws IT, 41;
And iri Isaiah IX, LXVI, 41; The name The Light, 42;
Quotations from Philo, 43; The word of God as The
Di-nder and Bond, 44; Philo and Enoch quoted, 45;
The name The Anointed, 46; This name in Psalms and
Isaiah, 4.8; Cyrus as a symbol, 49; The name The Lamb,
49; Involves the philosophy of salvation, 50; Ideas in the
word Logos, 51; Philo quoted, 52; The name The High
Priest, .'53; jesus set the mediation above kingship, 54;
The atonement before creation, 54;" The Shepherd, sS;
Other apocalyptical ideas, 55; The Paraklete, 56; God's
calling The Word to him, 57; The Paraklete a Convicter,
57; The Breastplate of Judgment, or Logion, 58; Philo
quoted, 59; The Lamb a Paraklete, 59; Importance of
these ideas, 60; Pharisees and Essenes, 61; Character of
the Hebrew Apocalyptical System, 61; Its presence in
Ezekiel, Daniel, Zechariah and Isaiah, 62.
Numbers and OTHER S-sfMBOLS IN the Apocalypses ._ . 6;
Seven, seventy and half-seven, 65; Quotations from Philo, 66,
67; Symbols of a presence of a Messiah, 68.

8 Contents
The Hebrew ApocALYPricAL System Itemized . . 7°
The Writings oi- Philo  7,?
The Book of Enoch  .74
Its character, 74; Analysis and quotations, 75; Referred to in
the New Testament, 87.
Influence and EtFEcr op the Jewish Apocalyptical
System  88
THE BOOK OF DANIEL  90
A general view of it, 90; How it has been regarded, 91 ; Rcsult.s
hitherto of the study of it, 9a; Another critical view of it,
93; Its probable date, 95; The text of Daniel, 96.
Chapter I  125
Difficulties in it as a history, 125; Daniel as a symbol, 126;
Cyrus as a symbol, 126.
Chapter II  126
As history, 127; Daniel a symbol of the revealer, 127; The
king's dream, 127; Symbols of kinds ot wickedness, 127;
Svmbolical of the Apocalyptical System, 1 28.
Chapter III . . . '  128
Is a section, 128; Symbolical of the Apocalyptical System, 129;
Symbols of the Son of Man, 129; The Half-seven, 129.
Chapter IV . . ...... 129
Is a complete section, 129; The name Nebuchadnezzar, 129;
Not history, 130.
Chapter V ........ . 133
Not history, 133; Symbolizes the Apocalyptical System, 133;
The inscription is Half^seven, 134; Darius and Cyrus as
symbols, 135.
Chapter VI '.  136
Not history, 136; Symbolizes the Apocalyptical Sy.<ili'm, 137;
Darius and Cyrus as symbols, 1^7.
Chapter VII . . '. . '  137
No historical dale, 137; Is a book of the Hebrew Apocalyptical
System, 138; The beasts arc symbols of kinds of sin, 138;
Symbols and phrases are like Enoch's, 140; Paraklete, 141;
The pretence of a vision, 141
Chapter VIII  142
Not history, 142; Beasts arc the apocalyptical symbols, 142;
The 2300 Evening-mornings, 144.
Chapter IX  145
Not history, 145; Daniel's praver like Enoch's, 146; Symbolizes
the Hebrew Apocalyptical System, 147; Symbolism in 70,
62, 7 and half-seven, 147; The Slain Lamb, i.v8; The
Paraklete, 149.
Chapter .X ........ . 749
Is closely conformed to the Apocalyptical Svstem, 149; The
symbols of the Messiah, 149; The book of life, 151; Mich
ael, 151.

Contents 9
Chapter XI . . . . , . . . .151
Uses Syrian history for apocalyptical symbols, 151.
Chapter XII . . ' ' . . . . . . je^
Is a continuation of chapter XI, 153; Declares the Judgment
Day, 154; Is almost an epitome of the last part of Enoch,
154; Sleepers of earth-dust, 154; The glory of the saints,
154; The numbers 1290 and 1335.
THE BOOKS OF JONAH AND JOB . . . .156
Are versions of the common Hebrew Apocalypse, but
with unique figures of rhetoric.
APOCALYPTICISM IS MESSIANISM . . . .158
APOCALYPSES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT . . 159
The apocalyptical doctrines were widely prevalent, 159; The
bases of religions are always in Reason, 159; The Two
Chief Problems, 160; The Apocalypses attempted to
solve both, 162; Christianity continued the Hebrew
Apocalyptical Sy.stem, 163; Jesus assumed all the apocalyp
tical names, 163; Jesus and the .Apostles solved the second
great problem, and completed the middle part of the Hebrew
Apocalyptical System, bj' the doctrine of spirit life, 163;
They largely followed Philo, 163.
THE APOCALYPSE OF JOHN THE BAPTIST . . 164
John's doctrines and words are those of the apocalyptical S5'stem
165.
THE APOCALYPSES OF JESUS CHRIST . . .167
The doctrines and words of Jesus are largely the old apocalypti
cal ones, 167.
An Apocalypse in Matt. XIII ...... 169
A seven of parables, 169; The Kingdom of Heaven, 169; The
Sower, 172; The Tares, 172; The Seed, Leaven and Treas
ure, 173; "The Merchant, 173; The Net, 173.
An Apocalypse In Matthew XXIV, XXV . . .174
Whole discourse is apocalj'ptical, 179; The phrase "This gen
eration," 180.
An Apocalypse in John IIT, i to 21 . . . . . 181
SAINT JOHN'S APOCALYPSE OF JESUS CHRIST . 183
General character of it, 184; Its design, 185; Derives much from
the Prophets, 185; Elements from Enoch, 186.
John's Chapter I .  186
Is a Title Page and Introduction, 186; Definition of Apocalypse,
186; This is Jesus Christ's Exposition, 188; Circumstances

IO Contents
at that time, 189; St. John came forward to proclaim Jesus
Christ The Word and Son of God, and finish the Bible, and
to systematize Christian Theology, 189; Divine authoriza
tion is aflSrmed, 190; St. John "In his Spirit," 191; The
most of this chapter is made of figures and phrases out of
the Hebrew Apocalj'ptical System, 191; St. John makes
that system Christian, 192; "The semblance of visions and
voices, 193; The description of The Son of Man and Word
of God, 194; Comparison of St. John's phrases with those
of Philo and Enoch, 194; The letters from The Spirits or
Angels, 198.
John's Chapters II and III ...... 201
The elements in the letters, 20;; They correspond to, and indi
cate, the seven sections of the book, 205 ; They are personal
addresses, 205; Are of universal address 206; Their
demands for deeds, obedience and repentance are like the
apocalyptical literature, 206; They lift the Apocalypse into
tlie highest moral plane, 208.
St. John's First Section. It is chapters IV to VIII. i. . 208
Chapter IV. The text, 208; The verses are like some of Enoch
and Ezekiel, 210; Presents the first apocalyptical doctrine,
210.
Chapter V. The text, 212; Presents the second and third apoc
alyptical doctrines, 213; The Book of God, and the Re
vealer, 214; The names of the Messiah are from the Old
Testament, 215. .
Chapter VI. The text, 219; Exhibits the middle parts of the
apocalyptical system, 220; Exhibits symbols of wickedness,
220; Cain as a symbol, 221; Enoch quoted, 221; Prayers
of the dead, 221; Verses 6 to 11 exhibit the eighth doctrine,
222; The state of the dead, 222; Verses 12 to 17 exhibit
the eleventh apocalpytical doctrine; the conflict till the end
of time, 223; Cain as a symbol, 224; The Paraklete con
victer, 224.
Chapter VII. The text, 225; The symbols of the powers and
agents of God, 226; Fallen angels, 226; Symbols of the
middle doctrines of the system, 227,- The white robes, 227;
Verses 15 to 17 exhibit the last six doctrines, 228; Ele
ments from the Psalms and Isaiah, 228; The Silent Lamb,
230; The letter to the Laodiceans, 230; The seven Angels
are God's Word, 231; Cain a symbol, 232.
Section II. It is chapters VIII to XI. . . . 233
Chapter VIII. The text, 233; Presents S3mibols of the first
part of the apocalyptical system, 234; Is similar to Enoch's
figures, 235.
Chapter IX. The text, 236; Presents the fourth doctrine, 237;
Is like Enoch's figures and II. Thessalonians II, 237;
Abaddon, 237; The Devil, 238; The symbolical five, like
Philo's, 239; symbols of sins, 239.

Contents 1 1
Chapter X. The text, 240; The book of God's secrets, 241;
God's oath, 241.
Chapter XI. The text, 242; Exhibits the last half of the apo
calyptical system, 244; Elements from Ezekiel and Zecha
riah, 244; Twice Messiah, 246; The temple and ark as
symbols, 248; The last things, 249; The letter to Philadel
phia, 249; Resembles Isaiah, 250; The crown, 251; The
blessed dead, 252; Ideas frora Nehemiah, 252.
The Third Section. It is cliapters XII to XIV . . 253
Chapter XII. The text, 253; Begins anew with a view of
heaven before the creation, 254; The Son of God and Man,
254; Satan, 255; The rod of iron, 255; The Paraklete, 255;
The half-seven symbol of The Word of God, 256; The
fallen angels, 256; Exhibits the first four apocalyptical
doctrines, 258.
Chapter XIII. The text, 258; Exhibits the fifth and sixth
doctrines, 260; Cain as a sjTnbol of sin, 260; Philo quoted,
261; The half-seven symbol, 262; Balaam as a symbol,
263; The number (666) of the beast, 264
Chapter XIV. The text, 266; Displays the last six apocalypti
cal doctrines, 268; "The Song of the Lamb, 268; Babylon
a symbol, 269; Ideas from Isaiah, 270; The Spirit a witness,
271; The letter to Sardis, 272.
The Fourth Section. It is chapters XV to XIX, t6 . . 273
Chapter XV, 273. Drawn from Isaiah, 274; Symbols of God's
wrath, 275; Songs of Moses and the Lamb, 275; Figures
•from Isaiah, Exodus XV, and Psalm XXIII, 275; The
Shepherd, 276; Symbols of the blessed dead, 279.
Chapter XVI. "The text, 279; Figures the middle doctrines of
the system, 281; Ideas from 7.yaia/j and Z)a»/e/, 281; Verses
14 to 21 exhibit the warring of sinners against God, 282;
Mageddon a symbol from Old Testament, 282; Babylon a
symbol, 282.
Chapter XVII. The text, 283; Text of Chapter XVIII, 284;
Text of Chapter XIX to verse s, 286.
Chapters XVII, XVIII, and XIX, exhibit the fifth, sixth,
and eleventh doctrines, 286; Symbols of sin in chapter
XVII, 287; Cain a symbol, 287; Philo quoted, 287; Baby
lon a symbol of sin, 288; Ideas from Isaiah, 288; The text
of Chapter XIX, 6 to 15, 289; The blessed dead, 290; The
Faithful Witness, 290; 'The Flaming eyes, 290; The sword
of his mouth, 290; Ideas from Isaiah, 290; The mysterious
name, 291; The rod of iron, 292; Ideas from Isaiah, 293;
The letter to Thyatira, 295; The searcher of reins and
hearts, 297; The Paraklete Convicter, 298; The Burden,
298; The Morning Star, 299; Jezebel, 300; Gnosticism,
300.

12

Contents

The Fifth Section. It is chapter XIX, i6 to 25.
Chapter XIX, 16 to 23. The text, 301; Exhibits the last
doctrines of the apocalyptical system, 301; Names of the
Word of God, 301; Gog and Magog, 304; The Beast and
the Pseudo-Prophet, 305; Gnosticism, 306; Balaam a
symbol, 306; Nikolaitans and Cain, 307; Ideas like Philo's,
308; Ideas from Isaiah, 309; The letter to Pergamum,
310; The Faithful Witness, 311; Antipas should be
autoptos., 311; Hidden manna, 312; Tests of these inter
pretations, 313.
The Sixth Section. It is Chapter XX ....
The text, 313; Displays last things, 315; The Millenium is the
state of the blessed dead with Christ, 317; Gog and Magog
were the Scythians, 318; The Second Death, 321; The
Letter to Smyrna, 321; Its chief feature is the Second
Death, 322.
The Seventh Section. It is Chapter XXI and XXII to
verse 5.
The text, 323; Suggests all the apocalyptical doctrines, and
exhibits last things, 325; Is influenced by Isaiah, Ezekiel
and Psalms, 325 ; The Tree of Life, 329 ; This tree in Enoch,
329; God the Light, 329; Philo on God as Light, 329;
Comparison with Daniel XII, 330; The letter to Ephesus,
332; Paradise and the Tree of Life, 333.
The Peroration
Apocalypses of Other Apostles
In The Epistle to the Hebrews
In The Epistles op St. Paul
In Romans VIII,
Sixty quotations from Philo, 350
In Ephesians ....
In Colossians ....
In Thessalonians
In The Epistles of St. Peter
In The First Epistle of St. John
In The Epistle of St. Jude .
In The Gospel of Mark
The Place of Philo
The Spirit In The Apocal-ypses
Appendix A. Enoch In The New Testament
Appendix B. On II Esdras .
Appendix C. On Jonah and Job

300

313

323

333336
•337 344345
3S73583S8359362
365366
383 394397
405
411

THE APOCALYPSE OF SAINT JOHN

GENERAL INTRODUCTORY VIEW
It would ordinarily be absurd to begin a study of a
series of connected mysterious books with the last of the
series, particularly when that last one is involved in peculiar
difficulties, and can itself be explained only by the others
of the series. This absurdity, however, must be here com
mitted, because, although there are many apocalyptical
books, and we must use them all to explain St. John's, this
latter furnishes special keys and clues to its mysteries,
throws special lights on the preceeding books, furnishes
general principles of interpretation, and not only is the
most complete and systematic of the apocalyptical books,
but is also a great receptacle and solvent of a great amount
and variety of material that is scattered and disconnected
in older literature.
The usual or progressive constructive method must,
however, be mainly followed. The Apocalypse of St. John
will be first viewed only by breaking up a certain crust of
misconceptions that have invested it with a false character.
When the crust is broken and a certain number of facts
thereby shown, we may tum back, and demonstrate by
history and literature the structure, character, and value of
the whole series of books, thus discovering how much the
last is the best.
By a preliminary cursory examination of St. John's
13

14 The Apocalypse of Saint John
Apocalypse we obtain an authorization for going back to
older literature for a great number of keys and dues.
No book in the Bible or in the world's literature bas
exercised, or now exercises, so immense an influence on
human thought, study, and faith as St. John's Apocalypse.
And yet, the most learned and careful students of the Bible
are agreed that no satisfactory key to its mysteries has ever
been published. Nevertheless, no other book is more
dogmatically and positively treated. Unfortunately, every
explainer has assumed that he knew the general character
of the book; and that assumption has made it impossible
for him to achieve good results. This process has gone on
for nineteen hundred years, until the time has come when
the first move of the student must be to imlearn, discard,
and forget a great mass of lumber which has been tacked
on to this book.
It has been assumed that the Apocalypses were conceived
for prophecies, and are prophetical, because the name
Apocalypse may be approximately translated Revelation.
Really it means Uncovering; and as we proceed it will be
demonstrated that the Apocalypses are only in a mbst
general way prophetical, while, in wonderful and minute
ways, they are uncoverings of great principles, great facts
of divine and human nature, and of the ways of God. The
Apocalypses uncover the destinies of mankind; but far less
in the details than in the reasons for them, and in the laws
and purposes of God.
It Is not to be supposed that St. John's Apocalypse, or
any of the others, makes a claim to be a first tmcovering,
or a discovery, of things previously unknown. No such
meaning is inherent in the name Apocalypse. The name
means Exposition, and does not mean, nor imply, prophecy.
In the following pages an effort is made to enable a

Introductory View 15
reader to see the Apocalypse as the early Christians saw
it, by a restoration of the settings, accessories, and lights
that existed when the book was written. It will be novel
td most readers ; but it is presented with such an array of
facts and evidences that it may claim a respectful hearing,
if not tmiversal acceptance. Necessarily it will be dis
putatious, expository, and minute, making its structure by
an accumulation of facts and quotations, and by gathering
into a coherent self-proving system the elements scattered
in a considerable literature.
It has come to pass that the general holding of erroneous
ideas of the nature and purposes of the Apocalypse has
become the guide and constructor of the attacks upon its
popular estimation. It is assumed by many that the com
mon estimate of its value is ill founded, and that therefore
it never had value, and is now outgrown and exhausted.
In the following pages an exposition is presented which does
not aim to bolster any theories or dogmas, nor to assert the
value of the principles and facts declared by- the Apo
calypse, but does aim to show what the asserted principles
and facts were, and why they were asserted.
If this exposition seems to reduce the value oi Daniel and
The Revelation as prophecies, perhaps it will make them
more esteemed by those readers who can accept their prin
ciples and facts as true ones, honoring God and helping
human souls. Certainly it magnifies the chief pophetic
elements of these books in their general aspect. It may
appeal to the Christian by honoring the Old Testament, and
by exhibiting the meaning of much of the words of Jesus
and the Apostles in a new light. It may appeal to rational
minds by its recognition and explanation of very remarkable
facts in the history of human thinking. It may appeal to
logical minds by its recognition of remarkable performances

1 6 The Apocalypse of Saint John
in logic by ancient Jews. It may appeal to all that is best
in sesthetic culture by its recognition of the art, imagination,
rhetoric, and beauty in this masterpiece of literature.
The most strenuous part of the battle for the destruction
or the defense of Christianity itself is now, and must be,
waging around the apocalyptical parts of the Bible, and the
apocalyptical elements in the creeds. This is the axis of
Christian doctrine. It is "the Firing Line" where Chris
tianity is preserved or lost.
The attackers of conservative Christianity bring forward
two engines of assault. One attacks the authoritative
basis of faith, and would substitute for it rationalistic self-
confidence, or agnostic vacancy, with creeds of rationalistic
priiiciples. Christianity can meet this attack, and main
tain itself both historically and rationally; but only by new
statements of its philosophy and logic. The writer of this
page has attempted something of this work in another book.*
The second engine is one that was built by the orthodox,
captured by the enemy, and reversed in its line of faring.
It is the assumption that revelation is chiefly prophecy of
events, and that in that fact is the chief value of the Bible,
and especially of the Apocalypses. In fact, the greater
part of the Bible and the whole of the Apocalypses is a
structure of principles and facts, having only small and
minor elements of prophetic forecast of individual events.
The method pursued in the following exposition is as
simple as the subject matter allows. First. A definite key
is found in the Apocalypse of St. John itself. By this key
certain facts are established in respect to the general char
acter and purpose of the book, and certain definite con-
*Man and His Divine Father. G. P. Clarke, Upper Alton,
III., p. 368. $1.^0. This is a statement of the principles and logic
of reasonable psychology, and the philosophy of the Bible.

Introductory View 17
elusions are reached as to the artificial construction, the
originality, and the symbolical rather than the prophetic
purport of the Apocalypse. Second. Under the guidance
of this key, a scrutiny is made of the words and terms of
the Apocalypse, and the distinctive words and phrases are
discovered. Third. These words and terms are then
studied in respect to their origin and meaning; and they are
found originating long before the Christian era, and fully
organized in a complete logical and philosophical doctrinal
system by Jews. Fourth. This system is then traced in
its complete development, partly in the Old Testament
and partly in other Jewish books. Fifth. This system is
found to be the substance of Christian doctrine and of a
large part of the New Testament, so that neither Daniel,
Isatah, Zechariah, The Psalms, Ezekiel, nor any large part
of the New Testament, can be understood, nor Christianity
itself be known in its history and doctrinal significance,
until the comparison of these with the Jewish Apocalyptical
System is made. Sixth. Daniel and St. John's Apocalypse
are analysed and then are illustrated by quotations from
Jewish writers.
It has been found necessary to insert many references
backward and forward, because the books explained con
tain from twenty to forty repetitions of the same things, and
it is impossible and undesirable to repeat quotations many
times. THE KEY m THE LETTERS TO THE CHURCHES
In the second and third chapters of St. John's Apo
calypse are seven short letters nominally addressed to the
seven churches in the seven cities of Asia Minor which were
nearest to Patmos. These letters have thrilled and inspired
with delight multitudes of the most intelligent and spiritual

i8 The Apocalypse of Saint John
souls. These at least carry intelligible meanings, although
each of them contains phrases which the reader cannot
explain until he has solved the enigmas of the other parts
of the book.
. Each letter begins with the phrase, "For (not 'unto')
the Angel of the church in  write"; and purports tobe
an address from one of the " Seven Spirits of God." Each
letter contains some title or description of the Messiah
derived from Chapter I, and some other descriptive phrases
which are derived from subsequent chapters. Each letter
contains some injunction or warning respecting spiritual
life or fidelity in the war with sin. Each letter ends with a
promise of a great blessing to the individual Christian who
conquers; and these promises are invariably in figures,
words, and phrases, derived from subsequent chapters.
A careful reading of the whole book of the Revelation
discovers that there are many repetitions of certain ideas,
principles, and representations. After certain climaxes have
been exhibited, the text returns to a certain point, which is
always a representation of the Creator's Throne, and then
it proceeds again through a definite sequence of spectacles
to the Judgment Day. The book thus divides itself into
seven definite sections which are identical in their general
representations, but vary in their phrases, imagery, and
symbols, and in the emphasis laid on their parts.
Having observed these facts, the reader may observe
that the phrases and symbols which are the climax of the
last section are used in the first letter, and those of the first
section are used in the last letter. Acting on this hint, we
discover that the seven letters and the seven section-climaxes
mate with, match, or correspond to, each other in regular
order, but in reversed sequence. In that fact the structure
of the Apocalypse is laid open. The reader only needs

Introductory View 19
to compare the phrases of the letters with those of the other
chapters, and he will then have found the ends of the sections.
He can then find in the several sections the other ideas,
symbols, and phrases of the several correspondent letters.
This discovery has far-reaching and momentous con
sequences. The book instantly shows itself to be wholly
artificial, deliberate, and artistic. The presumption is
immediately raised that it is not, and does not pretend to
be, a series of messages received and spectacles seen ; but is
a series of symbolical exhibitions of principles, facts, and
doctrines. In this symbolical character the letters them
selves partake, and are divested of the character of letters to
actual Christian churches, and become section-markers only.
In the light of this discovery, it is found that the repre
sentations in the seven sections follow always the same
sequence; and it is a logical sequence, by which a natural
connection of the ideas is indicated. The whole book
ceases to be a set of prophecies, and becomes a logical
sequence of doctrines derived from a first principle or fact,
and it only seems to be prophetical because the doctrines
in the series relate to the ways and purposes of the Creator,
and because the narrator has professed to set himself in
the eternity before creation.
To these results the first chapter contributes, when com
pared with the letters ; for the phrases and figures of the
first chapter, which are used also in the letters, are derived
from older Jewish books, in which they are not prophetical,
but are symbolical of the ideas, principles, and doctrines of
a defined Jewish philosophical theology. Indeed, some of
the most remarkable ones are found in older Jewish books
of writers who show no sympathy with, nor even knowledge
of, the Messianic prophecies and expectations, although, of
course, they were familiar with them.

20

The Apocalypse of Saint John

For convenience, a partial exhibition of the correspond
ence of the letters and the sections is here made.

The First Section.
Rev. iv to viii, I.
V, 5, p. Christ is keeper of
the seals. He is worthy to open
the seals.
The -vision is of things before
the creation. iv, II. God is saluted as
Creator. V, 6, 12. The Lamb is slain
before the creation.
V, IJ. Every created thing
praises lum.
V, g. The Lamb's faithful
ness was unto death.
Chapters v and vi exhibit
the war with sin, in which many
saints are faithful unto death.
vi, Ij, l6. Consciences are
awakened, and men who have
been kings, princes, captains,
strong, and rich, are alarmed and
humbled, and want to be covered .
V, 9. Christ is said to have
purchased souls with his blood
and made them Kings and
Priests. iv, 4; vi, 11; vii, g, 13, 14.
The holy people wear white
robes, washed and made white
by the blood of The Lamb.
vi, l§. The wicked do not
Want to see the ways of The
Lamb. vii, ly. Tears are to be
wiped away.
vi, g, II, vii, 14. The re
deemed pass through "Great
tribulation." vii, I J, 17. "They serve
The Lamb day and night in his
temple." He will be their guide
and shepherd.
V, 0 13; vii, Ij, 17. The
Lamb's throne is seen. "The

The Seventh Letter.
Rev. iii, 14 to 22.
14. Christ is "The Amen,"
which means confirmation and
jaithjul, and -witness.
14. He is The Beginning of
creation. In i, 8, 17, is the same fig
ure.

75, 16. An admonition is
given to the class of persons who
are not earnest in God's service.

Verse IJ. Souls that think
themselves rich, are poor, wretch
ed, miserable, blind and naked.
They are advised to buy white
garments and pure gold refined
by fire, from Christ.

Verse 18. They are advised
to buy balsam for their eyes,
that they may see.

Verse ig. "As many as I
love I chasten.'' They are bid
den to repent.
Verse 20. "I stand at the
door and knock." "I will come
to him." Verse 20. "1 -will give to
him to sit with me on my throne,

Introductory View

21

Lamb is in the midst of the
throne." The redeemed are be
fore the throne. "He that sitteth
on the throne shall spread his tent
over them."
vii, i6, 17. "They shall
hungerno more." "The Lamb
shall feed them."
V, j. "The Lion of Judah
Has conquered."

as I sat with my Father on his
throne."

Verse 20. "I will sup with
him and he with me."
Verse 21. "I also conquered."

The Second Section.
Rev. viii, 2, to xi ind.
xi, I. ig. The temple in
heaven is opened. The wor
shippers are .therein. The ark
of the covenant is seen.
xi, 15. The kingdom is be
come Christ's.
xi, 3. Two -witness testify,
suffer, and go to heaven. They
are symbols of "The M'^ord of
God." xi, 18. Faithful prophets,
and those that revered Christ's
name are to be rewarded. The
wicked rejoice over the abused
prophets. xi, 17. The Lord has as
sumed his great power in and
over his people, and reigned.
xi, 8. Jerusalem is called
Sodom and Egypt.
xi, 2. The court of the tem
ple is desecrated.
xi, IJ. 7,000 were killed.
xi, 7. "The King of the
Abyss" has an organized host
of adherents opposed to the wor
shippers in the temple.
xi, 13. "The rest were
affrighted, and gave glory to the
God of Israel."
xi, 18. "The time came to
give their reward to thy servants,
the prophets." "Thy wrath came, and the
time of the dead to be judged."

The Sixth Letter.
Rev. iii, 7 to ij.
Verse 7. Jesus is The Holy
One. He hasDavid's key. He
says, "I have set an open door."

Verse 8. "Thou didst keep
my word and didst not deny
my name."

Fer.w 8. " Thou hast a little
power from God."
Verse g. False Jews are
condemned.

Verse g. False Jews are
called Satan's congregation, or
synagog. Verse 0. "I will make them
worship before thy feet, and
know that I have loved thee."
Verse 10. "Because thou
didst keep the word of my pa
tience, I will keep thee from the
hour of trial, that hour which
is to come upon the whole earth."

22

The Apocalypse of Saint John

xi, i8. "The time came to
give the saints their reward."

xi, Ij. "The kingdom of
the world is become our Lord's:
and He shall reign forever and
ever." xi, I. "Measure the temple
of God, and the ahar, and them
that worship therein."
xi, Ij, ig. The kingdom is
called the Lord's and Christ's,
and he is saluted as Lord God,
The Almighty.
"The ark ot the covenant" is
seen in Heaven. "The ark of
the covenant" contained stones
inscribed with the names God
and Jehovah. It is also named
"The ark of the testimony."

Verse II. "Hold fast, that
no man take thy crown (or gar
land)." Verse II. "I come speedily."

Verse 12. "I will make him
a pillar in the temple of my
God." Verse 12. "I will write
upon him the name of my God
* * * and my own new name."

The Third Section.
Rev. xii, xiii, xiv.
xiv, 6, 8, g, IJ, 15, 17, 18.
The seven spirits are sent out.
xiii, J, 14, l§. The typical
wicked person (also a beast)
receives a deadly wound, but
lives. His followers make images
of him, and bear his mark, and
accept a living death.

The Fifth Letter.
Rev. iii, I to 6.
Verse i. The speaker has
the seven Spirits of God, and the
seven stars.
Verse I. "Thou hast a
name that thou livest and art
dead."

xiii, 4, 7, 8. The beast wars
with saints, and overcomes many
souls. xiv, I J. The works of those
that die in the Lord follow them.
xii, II. Saints conquer be
cause of the word of their testi
mony. xiii, 10. "Here is the patience
and the faith of the saints."
xiv, I, 7. "Fear God: for

Verse 2. "Be watchful!"
Verse j. "Strengthen the
rest of things which were about
to perish." Verse j. "I have found no
works of thine perfected before
my God." Verse 3. "Remember how
thou hast received and didst
hear, and keep it."

Verse 4. If thou shalt not

Introductory View

23

the hour of his judgment is
come." xiv, 18. "The grapes of the
earth are ripe.' '
xiv, 4, 5. "These are they
which were not defiled. In
their mouths was found no lie.
They are without blemish."
xiv, I The 144,000 are in
white. {See vii, g.)

xiii, 8. Saints whose names
are in the book of life of The
Lamb will not worship the beast .
xiv, 4, 13. "These follow
The Lamb whithersoever he go
eth. These were purchased for
first-fruits unto God, and unto
The Lamb."
"Blessed are the dead which
die in The Lord from henceforth .
Yes! saith The Spirit, when they
shall rest from their labors: for
their works follow (or accom
pany) them."

watch, I will come as a thief:
and thou shalt not know what
hour I will come."
Verse 4. "Thou hast a few
names which did not defile their
garments. They are worthy."
'Verse 4. "They shall walk
with me in white."
Verse 5. "He that conquers
shall be arrayed in white."
Verse 5. "I will in no wise
blot his name out of the book
of Ufe." Verse 5. " I will confess his
name before my Father, and
before his angels."

The Fourth Section.
Rev. XV to xix, 15.
xix, II. The Word of God
has eyes as a flame.
(See also i, 14.)
xvii, 14. They that conquer
are faithful.

xvii; xviii; xix, 2, 3. Sin
is symbolized as a luxurious,
blasphemous woman, teaching
idolatry, vice and sorcery.

xviii, 8. "In one day shall
her plagues come; death, and
mourning, and famine, etc."

The Fourth Letter.
Rev. ii, 18 to 2g.
Verse 18. The Son of God
has eyes as a flame.

Verse IQ. "1 know thy
works, and thy love and faith,
and ministry and patience, and
that thy last works are more than
the first." Verse 20. "Thou sufferest
the woman Jezebel, who calls
herself prophetess, who teaches
my servants to commit fornica
tion, and to eat things sacrificed
to idols." Verse 21. " I gave her space
to repent, and she repented not. ' '

24 The Apocalypse of Saint John

See Isaiah xiii, i6; xiv, 21,
22. See page 215.

xix, II, 13. "The Faithful
and True," who is "The Word of
God," judges in righteousness."
xix, 8. "It was given unto
her that she should array herself
in fine linen * * * for the fine
linen is the righteous deeds of the
saints." xvi, I J, 14. "I saw out of
the mouth of the dragon * * *
spirits of daimones.
xix, 2. "She corrupted the
earth." xvi, Ij. "Blessed is he that
watcheth, and keepeth his gar
ments." xix, 7. "The marriage of
The Lamb is come."
xix, 10. "Worship God!
For the testimony of Jesus is the
spirit of prophecy."
xix, Ij. "He (The Word
of God) shall rule them -with a
rod of iron."

299.

See full explanation on page

Verse 22. "I do cast her
into a bed, and them that com
mit adultery -with her into great
tribulation." Verse 23. "And I vrill kill
her children." Verse 23. "I am he who
searches reins and hearts."
Verse 23. "I will give to
each of you according to your
deeds." Verse 22. Some "know not
the deep things of Satan."

Verse 2j. "That which ye
have, hold fast."
Verse 2 j. "Hold till I come."
Verse 26. "He that keeps
my words, to him will I give,
etc." Verses 26, 27. "To him will
I give authority over the nations,
and he shall rule them with a
rod of iron * * * as I also have
received from my Father."
Verse 28. I will give him the
Morning Star.

The Fifth Section.
Rev. xix, 12 to 21.
This section is mostly made
up of final spectacles, and is a
second conclusion of the fourth
section, or overlaps it.
xix, 21. The Rider on the
White Horse kills "With the
sword which came forth out of
his mouth." xvi, 13. The dragon is seen.
xvi, 10. The throne of the
beast is seen.

The Third Letter.
Rev. ii, 12 to 17.

Verse 12. The promiser has
"The sharp two edged sword."

Verse 13. "Thou dwellest
where Satan's throne is."

Introductory View

25

xvii, 17. Kings give their
kingdoms to the beast.
xix, ig. The beast and kings
assemble. xvi, Ij. "Blessed is he that
watcheth and keepeth his gar
ments." xviii, 23. "With thy (Baby
lon's) sorcery were all the nations
deceived." xix, II. The rider (The
•Word of God) is "Faithful and
True." xix, I J. "He is arrayed in
a garment stained with blood."

xvi, I J. Unclean spirits
come from the mouth of the
pseudo-prophet. xix, 20. The pseudo-pro
phet is cast into a crater.
xvi IJ. The beast is with
the pseudo-prophet. xix, 20. ""They twain (beast
and pseudo-prophet) were cast
into the lake of fire."
xix, II, Ij. The Lord is
seen as a rider. "He treads the
winepress of the fierceness of the
wrath of Almighty God."
xix, 21. "And the rest were
killed with the sword of the rider,
which came forth out of his
mouth." xix, 7, g. The marriage sup
per of The Lamb is announced.
XV, j. The tabernacle of the
testimony is opened. It con
tained a stone bearing Jehovah's
name. xix, II to 16. Christ is called
Faithful, True, The Word of God,
King of Kings, and Lord Lords.
"He hath a name written which
no one knoweth but he himself."

Verse ij. "Thou didst not
deny my faith."

Verse I J. The Greek version
says, "Antipas was my faithful
witness, who was killed where
Satan dwells.
The Greek text is admitted
to be bad. The Syriac version
has no Antipas. It says, " There
was seen (which in Greek might
be autoptos') He my witness,
He my faithful one, who was
killed where Satan dwells."
Verse 14. " Thou hast some
who hold the teaching of Balaam,
etc."

Verse ij. So hast thou also
some that hold the teaching of the
Nikolaitans in like manner."

Verse 16. "Repent there
fore; or else I come to thee
quickly." Verse 16. ".And I will make
war against them with the sword
of my mouth."
Verse 17. " I will give of the
hidden manna" (from the ark of
the testimony). Verse 17. "I will give him a.
white stone, and upon the stone a
new name written."
Verse 17. "A name which
no one knoweth but he that re
ceiveth it."

26 . The Apocalypse of Saint John

The Sixth Section.
Rev. XX.
Verse IJ. Death and Hades
give up the dead.

XX, 4. Souls of slain saints
live with Christ.
XX, 8, 10. Satan congregates
the nations for war with God.
The deceiving pseudo-prophet is
with him.
XX, JJ. " Satan shall be
loosed."

XX, 3, 7, 8. "For a little
time Satan shall be loosed."
XX, 12. "The dead were
judged out of the records of the
books, according to their works."
XX, 6. "Blessed is he that
hath part in the first resurrec
tion. Over these the second
death hath no power."
XX, 14. ' Thi^ is the second
death."

The Second Letter.
Rev. ii, 8 to II.
Verse 8. " These things saith
The First and The Last, who was
dead and lived."
This is from i, 18, where it
is also said, "I have the keys of
death and Hades."
Verse g. " I know thy tribu
lation and poverty, but tiiou art
rich." Verse g. "I know the blas
phemy of them which say they
are Jews, and they are not, but
are a congregation of Satan."
Verse 10. "Fear not the
things which thou art about to
suffer. The Devil is about to
cast some of you into prison."
Verse 10. "Ye shall have
tribulation ten days."
Verse 10. "Be thou faithful
unto death, and I will give thee
the crown of life."
Verse II. "He that conquers
shall not be hurt by the second
death."

The Seventh Section.
Rev. xxi, xxii to j.
xxii, 4, y. "They shall see
his face * * * The Lord God
giveth them light."
XX, I, 7. " He that conquers
shall inherit all things."
xxii, 3. "His servants shall
do him service."
XX, I, 8. "The fearful and
unbelieving and abominable, and
* * * sorcerers and idolators
and all liars, their part shall be in
the lake that burneth with fire
and brimstone."

The First Letter.
Rev. ii, I to 7.
Verse I. He holds the seven
stars. He walks in the midst of
the seven golden lamps. (This
from i, 12 to 20.)
Verses 2, 3. "Thou didst
bear on account of my name."
Verse j. " Do the first
works." Verse 2. " Thou canst not
bear evil men, and didst try them
which call themselves Apostles
and are not, and didst find them
false."

Introductory View 27
xxi, 23. "The Lamb is the Verses 4, j. "Repent, and do
light thereof." the first works, or else I will move
thy lampstand out of its place."
xxii, 2. " On this side of the Verse 7. "To him that con-
river, and on that was the tree of quers will I give to eat of the tree
life." of life which is in the paradise of
God."
Collation of the letters and of the seven sections discloses
such resemblances of all to each that, without any other
guidance, a presumption would arise that the seven sec
tions are seven repetitions of the same identical ideas and
facts. It becomes apparent that this is the case, the repeti
tions enabling the author to use a greater affluence of
imagery and to vary his emphasis of special ideas, not
only in the sections, but also in the letters. The seven-fold
form of composition is also a part of the author's use of the
symbolical number seven.
Collation of the seven sections helps to disclose how
much of the matter is St. John's O'wn rhetoric, and how
much is from other sources; and it leads to a discovery
that the substance of The Apocalypse is in many parts of
The Old Testament, and is there not prophetically, but
symbolically, and in the terms, figures, and phrases of
"The Apocalyptical System" which St. John reproduces
and perfects. St. John is found exhibiting ideas by the
use of words or ideas from Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, The Psalms, Zechariah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Isaiah,
and very often by phrases, figures, and symbols which are
elsewhere found only in the apocalyptical book of Enoch,
or in the essays of the philosopher and allegorist Philo.
It may not be inferred that the letters were designed
for a key to the Apocalypse; because it is not probable that
St. John thought a key necessary. The symbols, ideas,
figures, and phrases which he uses, and the whole system of
his book, were matter then so common, so familiar to the

28 The Apocalypse of Saint John
Jews, that it probably did not occur to him that a key was
desirable. He was apparently chiefly intent on making
The Apocalyptical System appear divine, wise, and true,
and then making it centre on Jesus and exalt him.
The reversed order of the letters is not a fanciful rhetori
cal play. It is probably a part of St. John 's plan to empha
size the doctrine that God's purposes were complete in his
beginnings, and that "The Word of God" is both "The
Beginning" and -' The End." This is the golden thread on
which the seven clusters of jewels are strung, and it is made
into a closed ring by bringing the beginning and the end
together. This idea is the central and formative one in the
Jewish Apocalyptical System, shaping both its philosophy
and its figures or symbols. A kindred purpose made
Isaiah and the Book of Enoch speak of "The First and
The Last," made Daniel use the phrase " Evening-morning,"
and made Philo call " The Word of God " " The Beginning.' '

The Material, or Substance, of The Apocalypse.
If, while comparing the seven sections of The Apoca
lypse with each other, we neglect, for the present, the ques
tion whether or not St. John saw actual visions, and received
new prophecies of specific events to come, and if we look
only at the general facts and principles exhibited in the so-
called visions and words, it is at once plain that the chief les
sons of the book are the great chief facts and doctrines of the
Christian faith, and that they are presented in the natural
order in which they should logically follow each other. No
person, probably, who knows or knew Christianity, has
ever read The Apocalypse without feeling or seeing that it
is a wonderful compendium of the chief facts, principles,
and doctrines of Christianity.

Introductory View 29
The Apocalypse, in its substance, is also an aggregation
of spectacles, and of proclamations or addresses attached to
the spectacular exhibitions. It describes itself as a series
of visions displayed and of words heard. Prima facie such
a self-description cannot be set aside, and can scarcely be
modified by any interpretation. And yet it might be that our
understanding of this self-description is superficial, warped,
clouded, and unreasonable.
It must be remembered that the book was written in and
for an age in which ideas, rhetoric, and modes of expressing
ideas, were very different from ours. The Jewish and
Christian readers had other books of the same principles
and doctrines, and of very similar visions, spectacles, and
proclamations, which these readers did not, and were not
expected to believe were real visions, spectacles, and divine
proclamations : then we must observe that ancient literature,
and define the actual relations of The Apocalypse to that
literature. The Apocalypse of St. John contains also a very large
number of parts which are either quotations or suggestions
from Hebrew Prophets, Isaiah, Zechariah, Ezekiel, Daniel,
and The Psalms: then the actual relations of The Apoca
lypse and these scriptures must be noted.
In fact, it is certain that the greater part of the body of
The Apocalypse, alike its doctrines, principles, mystical
symbols, and its most peculiar phrases, is derived from a
previously common literature, supplemented and made
Christian by the new material of the Christianity that
centred in Jesus.
That such is the substance of The Apocalypses of The
New Testament is demonstrated in the following pages.
The substance of each of the seven sections of The
Apocalypse of St. John is, in its general essence, as follows:

30 The Apocalypse of Saint John
First. The Creator is observed, with symbols of his
physical and spiritual power, as a perfect person, creating,
ruling, and decreeing. He is holy, just, and good. His
ends were foreordained and complete in his beginnings.
Second. God is revealed as his "Word." He is also
"The Lamb," and "The Son of Man," and "The Anointed
One" (Messiah, Christos). He effects salvation by his
blood shed before the creation, and by his advocacy.
Third. In the purposes of God, there was decreed a
"Kingdom of God," which is a kingdom of repentance,
righteousness, love, obedience, and faith; and in which
"The Word of God," and "The Spirit of God," lead, direct,
and fight for the righteous.
Fourth. Sin began in angels before the creation of the
world. Fallen angels incited men to rebellion and sin.
They are figured as "Fallen Stars," and fierce beasts, and
warriors. Fifth. Wicked men war against God and his people.
They are figured as beasts, or parts of beasts. These sym
bolical parts represent sets, or groups of the kinds of sin,
or the faculties that sin.
Sixth. False religions and philosophies, producing and
abetting the worst kinds of wickedness, are figured as parts,
or images, of beasts, or are named " The Pseudo Prophet,"
and Balaam, and Cain.
Seventh. "The Word of God," as "The Anointed,"
and as "The Lamb," is present among men. He is "The
Witness," and "The Light." The Apocalpyse is his
"Uncovering" of facts and truths.
Eighth. Human souls are represented as living after
death. The ;vicked are in confinement. The righteous are
near God, happy, and praying for the defeat of the wicked.
Ninth. The Kingdom of God on Earth is extended

Introductory View 3 1
and made victorious by the faithfulness and testimony of
the righteous people. "The Lamb" is its "Light," The
Spirit of God is the instructor and leader.
Tenth. The kingdom includes souls of all races of men.
Eleventh. Sin and trouble will continue on earth till
the end of time or of the life of the race.
Twelfth. "The Word," or "Lamb," will come again
for a day of general judgement. He will be the " Judge."
Thirteenth. The wicked will be punished forever.
Fourteenth. The righteous will be happy forever.
Such being, as is universally agreed, the general char
acter of the substance of The Apocalypse, what is the rela
tion of that substance to other literature ?
At an early date Hebrew scholars perceived, or reasoned
out from their sacred books, many of the conclusions that
are, more or less logically, inferences from the doctrine that
all beings and all substance were created by a personal per
fect God. They first fixed the doctrine that, because The
Creator was personally perfect and The Maker of all things,
the ends of God in regard to men were sure, and were in
cluded in his beginnings, and were good and righteous ends
worthy of God. The Apocalypse of St. John, and with it
all other Scripture, and even Christianity itself, are the un-
foldings of that proposition.
To many Hebrews this proposition, or doctrine, was a
philosophy, or a rational logical deduction. It is not our
purpose here to argue that this was good logic and philoso
phy. It was then believed by no other people in the
world; for the belief of the eternal uncreated existence of
matter was then universal except among Jews.
To show how Jews stated the doctrine, two quotations
from Philo of Alexandria may suffice. Philo lived from
about 30 B. C. to about 40 A. D.

32 The Apocalypse of Saint John
"¦Do you doubt whether the imperishable and everlasting
and blessed God is unchangeable in his counsels? and whether
He abides by the designs which He originally formed? * ¦* *
There is nothing uncertain nor even future to God, who has the
boundaries of time subject to himself * * * and in aion {i. e., eter
nity), nothing is past or future, but| everything is present! only.
On Gods Unchangeableness, Ch. 6.
If any one were to ask me, what was the cause of the creation
of the world, I, having learned from Moses, should answer, that
the goodness of the living God is the cause. On God's Unchange
ableness, Ch. 2j.
But the majority of the Jews, like the majorities every
where, were not philosphers. Nevertheless, the majority,
or nearly all the Jews, accepted and maintained the philo
sopher's conception of God and his purposes. Then, as
always, the academicians, the calm and silent men of rea
son and logic, formulated and established the public opin
ion and thenational creed. Themajorityacceptedthecreed
and the philosophy only as utterances of Prophets, and
words out of the sacred books ; but, in fact, the words of
Prophets and Scriptures were recitations and echoes from
thestudents and logicians. And it will be further shown in
pages following, that not only the great principles of the
philosophers' and logicians' creed, were repeated 'by the
Prophets, but also an immense number of the other infer
ences, doctrines, and forms of expression, and figures of
speech, used by the philosophers and logicians, were both
the substance an d the form of many of the sayings and writ
ings of the most revered Prophets ; e. g., in Isaiah XLIVto
* In these pages free use is made of the admirable trans
lation of Philo by C. D. Yonge, 4 vols., in Bohn's Library, which is
obtainable from all booksellers.

Introductory View 23
XLVI, God is called Maker, Lord, Holy One, Saviour, The
Just (or Righteous) One; and creation and decreed ends
are mentioned ; and it is said that every knee shall bow to
his sworn purpose, and his salvation shall not tarry.
By the most of the Jews the designed ends of God in
creation were called the " Will of God, " and the " Decrees
of God;" but when these titles were questioned, and their
defense was demanded, the appeal was to the philosophers
and the logicians; and these, working in the depths where
fundamental facts and eternal principles are found, set the
basic principle in their conviction that a personal, perfect,
and beneficent Creator was the Cause of all matter and the
Father of all spirits.
The first and simplest form of the system of faith form
ulated said God has decreed just and beneficent ends for
men. His law is righteous, and He will maintain it. At
last there will be a "Judgment Day," followed by eternal
blessed life of the righteous, and eternal punishment of the
wicked. This* was the system of doctrine of the Pharisees,
Essenes, and Therapeutae, who made pretensions to wise
philosophy. But these sects in reality were associations of
Jews in whom the creed had become shrunken and nearly
effete, the philosophy morbid, the logic dry and dismal, and
the spiritual life had lost its enthusiasms and its sweetness.
Other Jews, earlier than the organization of the Phari
sees, very much enlarged the system of connected doctrines
derived, they thought, from the basic doctrine. This en
larged system also the unlearned minds accepted, because
they found it, either explicitly, or inferentially, or sugges
tively, in the Hebrew Scriptures. This enlarged system
* See Josephus, Antiquities, XIIT, j, g; XVIII, l; Wars oj the
Jews, II, 8; Philo, on the Freedom oj the Virtuous, Ch. 12. Frag
ments jrom EuseUus's Preparation oj the Gpspel, VII, 8.

34 The Apocalypse of Saint John
may appropriately be called "The Hebrew Apocalyptical
System. " We may further say that it is the primitive form
of The Apocalypses, and of Christianity.
The Jews first set about a grand effort to make a reason
able statement of the nature of God and of his acts: and to
explain how the infinite and perfect God could act, create a
world, and stand in relations to finite human beings.
They found their starting point and their material in the
first chapter of Genesis. They said God acted by speaking;
and his word was Himself; and what he first created was a
thought, an incorporeal ideal of what he would create, and
was a Likeness, or Image of his Word, and was a " Second
Word of God. "
The Word of God was not at first separable from God.
He was still with (in Greek, pros) God. This doctrine
about The Word of God is most fully stated for us by
Philo, who, however, was not the maker of any part of it,
nor indeed an originator of anything, but merely recited
ideas, as already old and accepted, which he tried to fortify
by attaching them to his allegorical explanations of The
Hebrew Bible.
The following quotations from Philo are only a few of
the many relating to this doctrine that could be cited :
" Speaking He created * * * His Word is his deed." OnThe
Sacrifices oj Abel and Cain. Chap. i8.
" The Word is more ancient than all creation * * * God used
this as his instrument for the perfect arrangement of all things."
Abraham's Migration. Ch. l.
" The Word of God is between God's goodness and his author
ity." On The Cherubim. Ch. g.
" The Second Deity is The Word of the Supreme Being." Ques
tions and Solutions, II, 62.
This primal doctrine that the self-revelation of God was
his Word, was developed by the Hebrews into a wider signi-

Introductory View 35
ficance by logic and by their interpretation of The Old
Testament. When they declared God to be a perfect per
son, they also declared his Word, which was his Image, to
be also a perfect person, and " The Son of God, " although
they recognized that this name was imperfect. Philo said
as follows: "God is the Father of the Divine Word." On Fugitives, Ch. 20.
"God appointed as Superintendent of the sun and stars, his own
Word, his Firstborn Son." Noah's Planting, I, 12.
"The Father of the universe has caused that incorporeal being
who is the Divine Image to spring up as the Eldest Son, whom in
another place Moses calls The Firstborn." On the Conjusion oj
Tongues, Ch. 14.
"The High Priest in the Kosmos is the Di-vine Word, God's own
Firstborn Son." On Dreams, I, 37.
This conception that "The Word of God" is "The Son
of God," the Jews of the Christian era obtained, as Philo
did, by reasoning and philosophy, but it was incorporated
into many and ancient parts of The Old Testament.
For example : In the Second Psalm they read,
"The Lord said unto me, Thou art my Son. This day I have
begotten thee * * * Kiss the Son."
Here then is another part of the material of St. John's
Apocalypse, and also of- the substance of Christianity and
of The New Testament. When St. John wrote, "In the
beginning was The Word, and The Word was in-relation-
with (pros) The God, and The Word was a God. This One
was in the beginning in-relation-with (pros) The God. All
things became through him," he was reciting phrases of the
Hebrew Apocalyptical System, and applying them to Jesus.
The beginning of The Epistle To The Hebrews is also
an application of the Hebrew Apocalyptical phrases to
Jesus. It begins with the words:

36 The Apocalypse of Saint John
God, speaking anciently in many portions and many ways to
(or for) the fathers about the last part of the days, spoke of these
things to (or for) us by a Son, whom He constituted heir of all
things, through whom also He made the ages (orworids) etc.'"
Here the translators have said, "Hath in these last days
spoken," etc., because they failed to recognize the place
which The Logos Doctrine holds in Christianity. But the
writer of the epistle had in his view God before creation
speaking in reference to the last times by his Word who was
his Son.
Also the writer of The Epistle To The Hebrews intro
duces into its first chapter parts of the Second Psalm, as
above quoted, and part of Psalm XLV, "Thy throne,
O God! is forever and ever," etc.; and part of Psalm CX,
"The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand
until I make thine enemies thy footstool," etc., and he con
nects these with " The Son of God. " Why ? These Psalms
do not in themselves convey to the common reader any inti
mation that they are parts of a common system of ideas, or
that the name "Son of God" is their connecting link; but
any one familiar with the Jewish Apocalyptical System
knows that these three Psalms are full of terms of that sys
tem. We have then The Epistle To The Hebrews making
itself our teacher, to show us that the Jewish Apocalyptical
System is the material of those three Psalms, connecting
them together.
The Second Psalm is a quite complete statement of the
whole Jewish Apocalyptical System, and mentions many
of its terms, viz. : The Lord, The Decrees, The Anointed,
'*In reference to the Logos Doctrine in the Epistle To The
Hebrews, see page 337, etc.

Introductory View 37
The King, The Son, The Rod of Iron, The Rebellion of
Sinners, The Inheritance of the Saints, The Faith of the
Saints, and the Wrath of God.
The Forty-fifth Psalm exhibits only part of the system,
viz.: the King's war and triumph, in which He is The
Anointed and has a throne, a sword, a bride, and a remark
able name; all of these being common elements of the
Apocalyptical System.
The One Hundred and Tenth Psalm describes "The
Son" at God's "Right Hand," ruling with "The Rod," and
as a "Judge," and also Drinking water, all of which are
very important features in a section of "The Apocalypse."
It has been necessary to extend the above observations
on the names "Word of God" and "Son of God," because
they inhere in the origin, and are largely the substance, of
a great system of doctrines, conceptions, and phrases, a
system which became common among the Jews, was incor
porated in Christianity, and reached its most elaborate pro
clamation in The Apocalypse of St. John.
Other logically connected doctrines, and other figures
and phrases closely related, followed. The next in logical
order is the name "Son of Man," which is so large an ele
ment in The Gospels, and is the name which Jesus usually
applied to himself, and is a name of The Messiah in Dan.
VII, 13, andiJev. /, 13 : XIV, 14. It is a term of such tran
scendent importance, that whoever fails to discern some
thing of its meaning and of its origin, must largely fail to
understand either Judaism or Christianity:' for it is the
term in which, or around which, centre, or circle, all the
mysteries of the Divine and the Human in Jesus, and all the
philosophy of God's interest in human beings, and his plan
and method in his dealing with sin and salvation.
The name in the New Testament Greek is Ho Huids

38 The Apocalypse of Saint John
ToU Anthrdpou, which is The Son of Mankind. In the
Syriac New Testament it is Bareh d' Nosho, which also is
The Son of Mankind. In Dan. VII. 13 it is Bar Anash
and Huids Anthrdpou, but there it is not a title or name;
for only a comparison is made with "Son of a Man."
There was and is in Syriac a word, Barnosho, which is equiv
alent to Manson, and is the common term for Man, or A
man, but this is something very different in form and
meaning. The name "The Son of Mankind" would, in all lan
guages, mean The Perfect Man, and The Real Man, and
The Generic Man, and The Typical Man. In Hebrew it
may mean The Ideal Man, and The Archetypal Man, and
The First Man; because, in the Hebrew modes of expres
sion, a first person, who has the characteristics of a Son of a
class of persons, may be called a Son, although he is not a
descendant. The Jews were confronted, as all human beings are con
fronted, with the questions, "Why does the Creator care for
men?" and "What does he care?" and "What has he done
for their earthly and eternal happiness?" These are the
transcendent and everlasting questions. The Hebrews
grappled with these questions, and went with them to the
profoundest depths of human thought; and answered them
with the doctrine that, as man is eternally inseparable from
his Creator, the Creator is eternally morally inseparable
from men. In a blind and staggering way, feebly and grop
ing, the Hebrews walked a road illuminated by a light from
the Father's home; and although, at times, they forgot
obedience, and faith, and love, they never forgot Him who
"made man in his own image. "
In time, the Jews set themselves to the task of explain
ing the first chapter of Genesis and all that was involved in

Introductory View 39
it. The earlier results and doctrines we cannot well trace.
We come to the era of Christ, and we find them finished and
defined in Philo's books, but evidently then old and widely
spread. Philo is only their exponent, the explainer of their
logical and philosophical origin.
Philo said that the first man produced by The Creator
was " The Word of God. " He was an Image of God, and
was, in no sense, earthly. He was Ideal, Intellectual
(noetds), Incorporeal, although, being The Word, He was
a Person, vital and powerful.
The Word of God, being an Image of God, created the
"Likeness of God," and Adam, a "Likeness of the Likeness
of The Image of God," a "Third Man." The Word of
God was " The Firstborn Son of God. " The Ideal " Arche
typal Man" was so inseparable from "The Word of God"
that he also was "The Firstborn Son of God." Adam, the
first man of earth, was a son of that mankind which was
archetypally in the Likeness and Image of God. So, man,
Mankind, The Word of God, and God, were eternally con
nected and related. The life of mankind was involved in
God, and the Creator was involved in the career of his chil
dren. So, although Philo himself does not use the name
"Son of Man," the two names "Son of God" and "Son of
Mankind" had, long before the era of Jesus, come into
Hebrew books and phrases, as interchangeable with each
other, and with the name "Word of God." A few quota
tions from Philo may be made here:
"The archetypal seal would be the Idea of the Ideas, The Word
of God." On the Creation oj the World, Ch. 8.
"Man made according to God's image was an idea, or a genus,
or a seal (matrix) intellectual, incorporeal." On the Creation a] the
World, Ch. 46.
"The soul of man has been fashioned according to the Arche
typal Word." Noah's Planting, II, j.

40 The Apocalypse of Saint John
"God's Firstborn Word is called Man according to God's image."
The Conjusion oj Languages, Ch. 28.
"The mind which is in each of us is a, third image from The
Creator." The Heir oj Divine Things, Ch. 48.
"God bestows on mankind relationship to his Word, after whom,
as its archetypal model, the human mind was formed." On Curses,
Ch.8. "The Image of God is The Word." On Monarchy, Ch. j; On
the Conjusion oj Tongues, Ch. 28; On Fugitives, Ch. ig; Questions
and Solutions, II, 62.
"Moses refers to two Words * * * One being the archetypal
pattern, and the second a copy of the first." The Heir oj Divine
Things, Ch. 48.
"This man (Adam) was created perceptible to the senses, in the
likeness of a Being who is appreciable only to the intellect, incor
poreal, and in the likeness of the Archetypal Model, who is The
Word of God, the Beginning, the Archetypal Idea, the Original
Species." Questions and Solutions, I, 4.
The name "The Son of Man," probably earlier than
150 B. C, became common among Jews as a name of The
Word of God; and was so familiar to them that it was men
tioned or suggested without explanations. The Book
Enoch, which is believed to have been written about 164
B. C, mentions this name fourteen times,* making it inter
changeable with the other titles of The Messiah which are
common in the Hebrew Apocalyptical System.
Even the most unlearned Jews were accustomed to this
name as a title of "The Messiah" in Daniel VII, 13,
which says, "One like a Son of a Man came to The
Ancient of Days."
But we can go back of Daniel and Enoch, and find in
The Old Testament "The Son of Man," as evidently a
term in a system of ideas cherished, honored, and held as
among the most precious of the Scriptures.
* See Enoch XLVI, 2, 3, 4; XLVIII, 2; LXII, 7, g, 14; LXIII,
11; LXIX, 26, 27, 2Q, LXX, I, LXXI, 17.

Introductory View 41
The Eighth Psalm says, "What is Man, that thou art
mindful of him? And the Son of Man, that thou regardest
him? For thou hast made him but little lower than God
(so, in the Hebrew and English Revised Version), and
cro'wnedst him with glory and honor. Thou madest him
to have dominion over the works of thy hand. "
It is true that the Greek and Syriac versions of Psalm
VIII, and Hebrews II which quotes it, say "Angels,"
instead of "God"; but it is evident that Hebrew II exalts
The Son of Man above the Angels, precisely as Hebrew I
exalts The Word of God above the Angels, and that He
brews I and // are designed to recognize and honor the
Hebrew Apocalyptical System, and then to declare that it
is fulfilled in Jesus. Hebrews II makes Psalm VIII
apocalyptical, precisely as Hebrews I confirms Psalms II,
XLV, and CZ as apocalyptical.
As we proceed in our study of the Hebrew and Christian
Apocalypses, we shall repeatedly be turned back to the book
of Isaiah, and find there the ideas and the phrases of the
Hebrew Apocalyptical System. They make Isaiah intelli
gible, and Isaiah shows an early familiar connection with
the Apocalyptical Literature. We shall have occasion to
observe (see in pages hereafter) that Isaiah X to XIV is a
complete section, or treatise, which St. John draws on very
largely in the Apocalypse. We now observe here, that
Isaiah IX is an Introduction to that section, and uses
phrases which primarily are apocalyptical, but secondarily
are applicable to Jesus. In verse 6, it says, " Unto us a child
is born. Unto us a Son is given. And the government shall
be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonder
ful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of
Peace." The reference to The Son of Man in this verse
will become more evident to a reader, when, in reading sub-

42 ' The Apocalypse of Saint John
sequent pages of this book, he becomes familiar with the
name Paraklete (One called near), and with what the Book
of Enoch says about the " Calling of the name of The Son
of Man." There is much reason for believing that the last chapter
of Isaiah, which is full of the ideas of the Hebrew Apocalyp
tical System, has in view the name " Son of Man " and its
identity with "The Word of God" before creation, when
it says, "Hear The Word of The Lord * * * A Voice of
The Lord * * * Before she (who ?) travailed, she brought
forth. Before her pain came, she was delivered of a Man
Child." We may be sure that, before the birth of Jesus, the name
"The Son of Mankind" was, to a great many Jews, inter
changeable with the names "The Word of God" and "The
Son of God " ; and that it stood, to them, for a philosophical
declaration that The Creator of men was The Father of
men; and The Creator and men are inseparably bound
together; and that the life and destinies of men are
inherent in the life and nature of God, as much as they are
dependent on his will, or his plans, or his goodness.
We can now proceed to observe other names and phrases
that are chief features in St. John's Apocalypse. Logically
the next is the name "The Light," if we follow the order of
creation in Genesis I. It is also logically next, because it is
so naturally connected with the idea of " The Word of God"
as The Revealer of truth. It is a name that illumines The
Apocalypse. The conception and name of " The Light," as a name for
"The Word of God," became a great element in The
Hebrew Apocalyptical System, but so naturally as scarcely
to seem a distinct element. Philo shows us how philosoph
ically the Jews regarded light and its Author. Philo says;

Introductory View 43
"The language of The Psalms is, The Lord is my Light."
(Psalm XXVI, i .) And he is not only " TheLight," but the archetypal
pattern of all lights: or rather He is more ancient and more sublime
than even the archetypal model: for the model was God's own most
perfect Word, The Light." On Dreams I, 13.
"Moses calls the invisible ideal Divine Word The Image of God.
And the image of this is that ideal Light, which is the likeness of the
Divine Word, * * * and this is a star above the heavens, * * * and
if one were to call it Universal Light (panaHgeia), he would not err."
On the Creation oj the World, Ch. 8.
"The flaming sword was the symbol of The Word." On the
Cheruhim, Ch. g.
"What can be raore brilliant, or visible at a greater distance
than the Divine Word, by participation in which, all other things
can repel mists and darkness?" Allegories oj the Sacred Laws,
III jg.
"God illumines the universe by Himself, the Most Brilliant
Light." On Fugitives, Ch. 24.
This conception comes from no merely superficial or
rhetorical thought of the Hebrews. It was their answer to
one of the most momentous questions that can be asked;
the question. Does the Creator reveal truth to men ? Every
thing of belief and hope hangs on that question; and yet,
the question, How does the Creator reveal and assure truth
to men? remains almost an untouched question, except
as the Hebrew and Christian philosophy has answered it
with a declaration that there is a revealing spiritual light as
there is cosmical light. But even this declaration remains
practically unanalyzed, undefended, and even not discussed.
When the Hebrews formulated their system of ideas
based on the first chapter of Genesis, they joined closely
together The Word of God, Light, and Spirit, as being
inseparable, and nearest to God The Creating Father
(see page 58). The most of the Hebrews were satisfied
to express their idea of this union only by rhetorical phrases
and similes; but some, like Philo, framed intelligent theories

44 The Apocalypse of Saint John
of Spirit and Revelation; and these clearer conceptions
found their way, to some extent, into common ideas, and
even into the Hebrew Scriptures. These conceptions grew
out of, or were involved with, other scholarly ideas of
"The Word of God," the ideas of "The Lamb of God,"
and of "The Advocate," and of "The Convicter," and of
"Urim and Thummim," and many others, all of which
are so important that a careful survey of them has to be made
in later pages, and therefore the explanation must be omitted
here. When St. John, however, in Rev, I. 14, says, "The
eyes of The Son of Man were as a flame of fire," and when
he says in Rev. 1, 16, "He had in his hand seven stars
* * * and His countenance was as the sun shineth"; and
when he says in Rev. XXI, 2 J, "The lamp thereof is The
Lamb," he is repeating older cherished ideas out of the
Hebrew Apocalyptical System. The same is true when
St. John in his Gospel (7, 4, g) says, "In Him was life: and
the life was the light of men * * * There was the true
light, which lighteth every man coming into the world'';
and when he says, in Rev. II, 2J, "I am He who searcheth
the reins and the hearts."
The conceptions, like Philo's, which grew out of Gen.
I, 3, took, in Hebrew minds, two forms, which however
seemed to these Hebrews to be closely related. One of
their chief fundamental conceptions declared The Word of
God to be The Divider (see hereafter, page 51). "He
divided the light from the darkness," both in Nature and in
human minds. Out of this conception grew many rhetori
cal phrases, and a real psychological theory of rational light
in men from God.
Philo says, "The Word of God cuts through everything. Being
sharpened to the finest possible edge, it never ceases dividing the

Introductory View 45
objects of the senses; and when it has gone through them all, it
begins to divide the intellectual ideas of logos (reasonable truth) into
unspeakable and indescribable portions." Ore the Heir oj Divine
Things, Ch. 26.
"The natures of reason (logismds) in us, and of the Divine Word
above us, are similarly indivisible; but they divide other things."
Same, Ch. 48.
"Reasoning (logismds) is in us what the sun is in the kosmos,
since each of them gives light.'' Same, Ch. J3.
A second chief fundamental conception, growing out of
Gen. I, declared that the Word of God gave to Man (Gen. II,
6) a breath (nishmdh), which was spiritual life; and that
this was Intellect (didnoia) by which men can know God,
and Reason (logismds) by which men can discern truth, and
Conscience (to synoidds) by which men know the character
of their own souls in their relation to God. Philo very
fully elaborates this theory, and combines it with the doc
trine that the "Word of God" is "The Divider."
The Book of Enoch also says:
"In The Chosen One dwells the spirit of wisdom * * * And He
will judge the secrets, * * * And the Light of the Days will dwell
over the chosen ones." Ch. 4g.
Making Noah a symbol of The Son of Man, Enoch says, "When
he was born, his eyes illuminated the whole house; and it became
exceedingly light.'' Ch. 106.
All of this enters largely into the Old and New Testa
ments, and as something much higher than mere rhetoric.
Proverbs XX, 2J, says, "The spirit (nishmdh) of man is
The Flame of Jehovah, searching all the innermost parts
of the body."
This idea abounds in the Psalms, and in The Prophets; of
which perhaps the most cherished example is Isaiah LX, i
20, "Arise! Shine! For thy light is come, and the glory of
Jehovah is risen upon thee; * * * Jehovah shall be
thine everlasting light."

46 The Apocalypse of Saint John
We now observe, as another element of St. John's
Apocalypse, the name "The Anointed," which in Greek is
Christds, and in Hebrew Mashiah, and in English, Christ,
and Messiah', and Anointed.
The name or title, "The Anointed," occurs very few
times in books or Scriptures that are recognized as apoca
lyptical. But it designates The King of "The kingdom of
The God of Heaven"; and that is an immense part of the
Hebrew Apocalyptical System.
It occurs ten times* in the Psalms, where it is commonly
supposed to name David; but the questions whether or not
it symbolizes the Saviour? and whether these Psalms pre
ceded and -helped to cause the formation of the Hebrew
Apocalpytical System, or followed and voiced and widened
it? are questions of serious importance. It first occurs
in Psalm II, which surely is not only Messianic (see page
36) and commonly called prophetic of The Messiah, but
as already said in another connection, is full of the peculiar
elements of the Hebrew Apocalyptical System. There are
many elements of that system in all the Psalms in which
the name "The Anointed" occurs; and it may be that, in
some future time, the Christian host may see the Apocalyp
tical System in very many of the Psalms, and delight in the
recognition. The time has already come when Christian
teachers should define just what they mean when they
designate vaguely certain Psalms as "Messianic"; for this
Messianism is Apocalypticism. Is that what Christian
teachers mean in respect to these Psalms ?
It designates The Word of God as a King. The ear
liest Christians declared their conception of the time and
nature of The Kingdom of God (or of The Heavens), by
* Psalm II, 2; XVIII, jo; XX, 6; XXVIII, 8; LXXXIV, g;
LXXXIX, 38, ji; CV, Ij; CXXXII, 10, 17.

Introductory View 47
making the name Christds the chief name of Jesus. As a
part of the beliefs about "The Kingdom of God," the name
"The Anointed One" is connected with a larger number
of the items of the Hebrew Apocalyptical System than any
other title of "The Word of God," although it is little used.
It is used in Dan. IX, 25, 26, as another title of Him
who is also called "The Prince" (Ndgid). It is used
twice in the Book of Enoch, viz. :
"Before the Son of Man, the sinners will fall * * * because they
have denied The Lord of the Spirits and his Anointed." Ch.
XLVII, 10.
"All these things are for the power of his Anointed: that he may
command and be powerful on the Earth." Ch. LII, 4.
The name "Anointed One" is used twice in // Esdras
(VII, 29; XII, 32).
This name Messiah stood, to the Jews of the era of
Jesus, as the symbol of their hopes. The hopes were vague
and uncertain. The kingdom might be far off; perhaps
ages away, in a time of general judgment; but, in any
case, the King was living. He was preparing. He was
coming. The Kingdom would prevail, and be glorious.
In fact, the kingdom was in the King, and He had been
always Anointed, and was always ruling. More and more
the hopes glowed; and their glow brought the prophecies
and assurances ever nearer; until at last the very air of
Syria, and even of the Roman world, was both aglow with
a gleam, and tremulous with voices that, to the chosen
Nation, were like the aurora of a new sun, and the trium
phant music of a coming host. When John The Baptist
declared the Kingdom near, multitudes were ready to greet
The King.
The beliefs as to The Anointed varied, as the prepara
tions in the minds of the people varied. To some He was

48 The Apocalypse of Saint John
The Word of God before creation. To some He was
Jehovah. To some He was a coming earthly monarch.
To some He was The Judge for the Last Day. To some
He was the Ruling Idea discovered in philosophy and logic.
To some He was the Idea that answered to the people's
faith in God's justice and fatherhood. To some He was
the embodiment of the promises of the Prophets.
The frequency of the name Christ in the New Testa
ment has diverted attention from its significance, and made
it seem a name rather than a title. Perhaps religion and
Christianity would profit, if we should restore the old
conception, and acquire the habit of saying "Jesus The
Anointed." Whence came this title? The word is rare in the Old
Testament, but the facts and features of "The Kingdom"
fill its pages. And the title itself occurs just enough to
indicate that it was old and familiar, even at the writing of
the first Psalms and Isaiah. The Second Psalm, which, as
before observed (see page 36), is full of phrases of the
Hebrew Apocalyptical System, says, "Kings set themselves
* * * against Jehovah, and against his Anointed * * *
yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion."
Isaiah XLIV, 28; XLV, i, say, "I am Jehovah * * *
that saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd. * * * Thus
saith Jehovah to his Anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand
I have holden to subdue nations before him * * * that
thou mightest know that I, Jehovah, which call thee by thy
name, am the God of Israel; * * * i have called thee
by thy name: I have surnamed thee."
Concerning this passage of Isaiah, it may be said that
XLIV, 21 to XLV; 25, as has been said in other connec
tions (see other pages), is full of the Hebrew Apocalypti
cal terms; e. g., "The Creator, as Lord; Redeemer; Holy

Introductory View 49
One of Israel; Saviour; Just God; Creator of Light";
Who confirms "The Word of his Servant," and "The
Chosen Ones." At a first view, the name Cyrus seems
inexplicable; but the Apocalyptical Literature offers keys:
e. g., Cryus is here also called "My Shepherd," and this is
one of the apocalyptical names in Philo's books, and in
Enoch, and in parts of the Old Testament (see hereafter).
When we come to a study of Daniel, we shall find Nebu-
khadnezzar made a symbol of wickedness, and Cyrus (with
out regard to his character) made a symbol of the Deliverer
(see hereafter,); Isaiah in that section (XI to XIV)
which is so apocalyptical, and is a basis of sections of St.
John's Apocalypse, makes Babylon a symbol of wicked
ness. There is reason for believing that Cyrus may have
been, to quite a considerable extent, held as a symbol of
"The Anointed One," in his character of the breaker of
the power of a kingdom of great wickedness.
The phrase, " Called by name," in this passage of Isaiah
is common in, and peculiar to, the Hebrew Apocalyptical
writings. (Seepage elsewhere for quotations from Enoch.)
It is a part of that great line of ideas which became definite
in the great title The Paraklete (Advocate) .
We may now proceed to observe the name "The Lamb,"
which is so great and important an element in the material
of St. John's Apocalypse.
It must not be thought that this name originated with
John The Baptist, as a name for Jesus (John I, 2g, jj) ;
nor with Saint Peter's words in / Peter I, ig; nor with
Isaiah's simile, in Isaiah LIII, J; nor that the name is a
random rhetorical figure. Neither does it stand alone; nor
can it be studied alone. It is a part of a system of ideas,
the most intellectual, the most carefully philosoph'cal, the
most exactly critical of principles, the most comprehensive,

50 The Apocalypse of Saint John
of all systems ever known to men. The study of it cannot
be simple nor short; for the name Lamb is bound, both in
its origin and its use, with such other names as "Advocate,
High Priest, Light, Mediator," and with many other terms
of Biblical and Christian theology that are not commonly
much talked about. But no one can afford to forego this
study; for in it is the whole philosophy of salvation, and
the basis of all blessed hopes.
It has been said on a preceding page (page 38), that, to
many Jews, the name "The Son of Mankind" stood for a
declaration of an inseparable union of the Creator and his
children. In that conception an immense amount of
immeasurable principles was contained. It involved the
principle that the Creator's own life was affected by the
foreseen human sin, and that, in some, real sense, he took on
its burden. It meant that, in "The Word of God," justice,
love, and mercy must join with the authority of The Judge;
and that, in some sense, "The Word of God," who was also
" The Son of Mankind," was a Sin Bearer and a Sinner's
Saviour. These principles were very much clarified and extended
by another and larger view of the meanings of the name
"The Word of God" in Greek. A reverent spirit invested
the noun Logos with a certain sanctity in all its meaning.
It was the name for The Creator, and in all its meanings
it was a good and worthy name; and it carried great and
exalted conceptions. It had already become a term for the
expression of the great ideas of reason and for the exercises
of logic and reasoning (logismds).
The fundamental idea of the verb-root lego is like our
word lay, and in full it means to lay things in their rela
tions. Hence it meant to divide, gather, place, distribute,
count, collect, elect, select, choose, arrange, bind, etc. And

Introductory View 51
secondarily it meant to speak, say, declare, propose, argue,
reason, etc.
The noun logos meant order, arrangement, division,
divider, bond, relation, ratio, law, etc. And secondarily it
meant word, speech, reasonable truth, judgment, name,
sentence, proposition, testimony, definition, decree, plea,
petition, etc. The noun logos and the participle lectus are
the roots of the most of our English words in which the
syllables log and lect occur.
Every one of these meanings of logos became, in The
Hebrew Apocalyptical System, an attribute or function of
"The Word of God." They invested the name "The
Word of God" with the doctrine that Through Him comes
all order in all things: He is the Divider and The Bond in
all things: He both separates and joins the powers of God:
He separates and joins The Creator and men: Beginnings
and ends are in Him: He is Lawgiver and Judge: He
separates truth and error: He is the searcher of souls, con
vincing and convicting: He joins the life of God and men;
and in Him are joined law and penalties, justice and love,
sin and salvation.
These refinements of the definition of logos are neither
frivolities nor drivelings. They are vehicles to carry, or
garments to clothe, the highest conceptions of God 's nature
and ways that men have ever framed. They name ideas
that are vital, profound, far-reaching, to-day as ever. They
became the substance of a "Hebrew Apocalyptical System,"
which declared God's ends to be contained in his begin
nings; and those ends were to be judgment and eternal life,
after a course of history in which the kingdom of God, under
the Kingship of The Son of God, who is also Son of Man
kind, should contend against wickedness.
How the conception of "The Word" as The Divider and

52 The Apocalypse of Saint John
Bond stood in some Jewish minds may be seen in the fol
lowing quotations from Philo.
"It is The Divine Word which divided and distributed every
thing in Nature " Heir oj Divine Things, Ch. 48.
"Whatever has been consolidated has been bound by the Divine
Word: for this is a glue and bond, filling all things with Being."
Same, Ch. j8.
"The Creating Father has given to his Archangelic and most
ancient Word, to stand on the confines of both worlds, and to separate
creation from The Creator." Same, Ch. 42.
These ideas, inherent in lego and Ugos, were paralleled
in Jewish minds by another Greek word nimo, and its noun
ndmos. Nemo means to distribute, and ndmos means law.
Philo says, viz. :
"The constitution of Nature is The Right Logos, which, in more
proper language, is named Law (ndmos)." Creation oj The World,
Ch. jo.
" The eternal law (aidios nomas) of the eternal (aidnibs) God is
the support of the universe, * * * This law moves on in the un
wearied irresistible course of Nature, uniting and binding together
all the part.s of the universe.'' On The World, Ch. 2.
Philo saw, in such ideas, a distinct philosophy of media
tion of "The Word of God." He saw The Word as at
once The Beginning and The End, and also as The Mediator
between God and men. He says, e. g. :
"The Word of God taught us to arrange all things so as to
produce an exact opposition; for a thing is made of two opposites,
* * * Is not this what Heraclitus, that great philosopher of the
Greeks, put forth as the leading principle of his whole philosophy?
It is in reality an ancient discovery of Moses, that everything has its
opposite." Heir oj Divine Things, Ch. 4J.
"The Word is perpetually a Suppliant to God on behalf of mor
tals, * * * And the Word rejoices in the gift, and, exulting in it,
announces it and boasts of it, saying, I stood in the midst between
The Lord and you * * * like a hostage to both parties." Same,
Ch. 42.

Introductory View 53
To such ideas as these there was joined the Mosaic sys
tem of ideas about mediation by Priests, and atonement by
sacrifice. The whole ritual of the sanctuaries, the whole
of the solemn and impressive ministrations of the Priests,
the whole spectacular pageants of the slaughter of victims,
the whole breath and spirit of the Levitical Law and wor
ship, joined to give a character to the Jewish conceptions
of The Word as the Mediator between God and man.
There resulted naturally, logically, and inevitably, and, as
the Jews believed, scripturally, a doctrine that "The Word
of God," before creation began, assumed every position
and character of a Mediator. In his person He was "The
Son of Mankind," and "The High Priest of The Confes
sion," and " The Advocate, " and " The Lamb of God."
Philo says, e. g. :
"In the world, the High Priest is the Divine Word, God's First
born Son, * * * The Great High Priest of the Confession has been
sufficiently described by us." On Dreams, Ch. 57, j8.
"I admire him who says God will provide himself a lamb for a
burnt offering, * * * And a ram was found caught by the horns;
that is to say, The Word was found silent, * * * Therefore, God
will pro-vide." On Fugitives, Ch. 24.
These ideas became distinctly the basis of the Hebrew
Apocalyptical System; but, since human nature is what it
is, the thoughts and hopes of men turned more towards the
idea of "The Kingdom of God" than towards the spiritual
salvation. Everywhere the Kingdom was waited for, and
the coming King proclaimed; but The Lamb was almost
forgotten, except by the saintly souls to whom sin was a
horror, or by the wise minds who saw sin as the ultimate
cause of all earthly evil. When Jesus came, the crowd
asked, "Is this the King?" When they pressed on John
The Baptist, they asked only, "Art Thou The Anointed?"

54 The Apocalypse of Saint John
And only John was great enough to answer "Behold The
Lamb of God." It remained for Jesus himself to restore
the name Lamb, and the principle of Vicariousness, and the
fact of the Atonement before creation. Apparendy, without
Jesus it would have died out as a theory, and been a for
gotten idea, withered in the hot blast of human passions,
dessi cated in the sordidness of human toil, and overwhelmed
in the sweeping waves of the changeful and superficial
philosophies of men. Men asked for a kingdom, and a
King, and for power and glory, and for triumph over their
enemies, more then they asked for spiritual light or peace,
or for eternal life.
Jesus and the Apostles proclaimed the Atonement;
and their Gospel was not merely a presentation of Jesus in
his earthly work; nor was it Petrine, Johannine, or Pauline.
It was the Apocalyptical doctrine perpetuated, explained,
and perfected, in the life, and work, and words of the living
Lamb. St. John, in The Apocalypse, presents in equal promi
nence the three characters, "The Word of God," "The
Son of Man, " and "The Lamb," and these three names are
interchangeable names of Him who, in eternity, was "The
Anointed.'' But when St. John names Christ "The Lamb," the
basis of his idea is that conception which he presents in
Rev. XIII. 8, "The Lamb that hath been slain from the
foundation of the world." In all the sections of The Apoca
lypse when St. John mentions The Lamb, or his blood, he
has set his own point of view back in the past eternity, and
sees things as they were foreordained.
Christ, and the other Apostles besides John, base all
human hopes on what was done or prepared before creation.
jesus said, "Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from

Introductory View 55
the foundation of the world," Matt. XXV, 34; and "Thou
lovedst me before the foundation of the world," John
XVII, 24; St. Paul said, "He (God) chose us in him (Christ)
before the foundation of the world," Eph. I, 4. St Peter
said, "Ye were redeemed * * * with precious blood, as
of a Lamb, Christ, who was foreknown before the foundation
of the world," I Peter I, 18, ig, 20. The Epistle To The
Hebrews, which is full of the Hebrew Apocalyptical System,
and is explained by that, says, "The works were finished
from the foundation of the world," Heb. IV, 3; and then
in all the rest of the Epistle, it presents " Jesus The Anointed"
as the High Priest and the sacrifice, whose atonement began
in eternity with God, bringing "The blood of the eternal
covenant." Heb. XIII, 20.
Next we may notice, that the Jews cherished, as part of
the Apocalyptical System, the idea that The Word of God
is The Chief Shepherd of God's flock. Philo says this, and
finds it in Psalm XXIII (see page hereafter). Chapter 89
of the Book of Enoch figures the Israelites as the sheep of
God, having many successive shepherds under " The Lord of
the sheep." Isaiah LXIII, 11, 12; presents the same idea
(see page hereafter) : and Jesus repeats it in John X, I to i'/.
It is this idea that deepens the significance of the name
"The Great Shepherd of the sheep," in Heb. XIII, 20, and
the name " Shepherd and Bishop" in / Peter, II, 2^.
The foregoing line of doctrines and exhibitions, starting
in the belief of a mediation for men by "The Word of God,"
and culminating in St. John's Apocalypse of "The Lamb,"
is paralleled by, and interwoven with, many other lines of
ideas and figures, which add a wealth of significance to
the principles and conceptions, and are fundamental ele
ments, alike of the "Hebrew Apocalyptical System," and
of St. John's Apocalypse, and of Christianity itself.

56 The Apocalypse of Saint John
First, the idea of mediation, being wholly Hebrew, was
expressed in Hebrew words. One of these words was the
verb iakach, which primarily means to be right and io make
right, and, in its modified forms, means to do the acts of a
righteous judge, viz. : to mediate, to convince, to convict, and
to intercede. Its participle mokiach means mediator, advo
cate, convincer, and convicter
For example: Gen. XXXI, 37, says "That they may
establish (iokicliii) the right between us." Job IX, 33, savs
"There is no mediator (mokiach) between us," or, as The
Greek Septuagint version well renders it, "O that there were
a mediator (mesites) of us, and one convicting (elenchon)
between both." The Septuagint also uses the Greek verb
elincho in translating idkichu in Gen. XXXI, 3^. EUncho
means to convict.
The Greek word for mediator is pardkletos, meaning
literally one called near; which is exactly the Latin advo-
catiis. Primarily this word seems to have meant* a person
called by a Superior Person, or by a Court, to establish
equity between parties. His duty was to convince, or con
vict, one party, and to placate the other.
When Greek-speaking Hebrews declared that " The
Word of God," before creation, became the Mediator and
Sacrifice for men, they called him " The Pardkletos;" and
they adopted the word also as a Hebrew word, transferring
it bodily, without translation, into the Syrian language,
with mixed Greek and Hebrew meanings. This apocalyp
tical idea of The Paraklete is referred to by Jesus in John
* Pardkletos has been translated Comjorter in the English Bible;
but it cannot have that meaning. The verb parakalf.o did acquire
the meaning to comjort; but in that sense pardkletos means the person
comjorted. A comforter would be parakletor, as in Job XIV, 2; or
parakalon, as in Psalm LXIX, 22.

Introductory View 57
XIV, 16, 26: XV, 26: XVI, 7, where he promises "An
other Paraklete," whose office will be to convict. This idea
of The Paraklete pervades Heb. IV to X, and especially
IX, and is the essence of its proclamations about the High
Priest, and the "Mediator of the new covenant" (IX, 15).
It is also the substance of most important passages of St.
John's Apocalypse.
The doctrine about The Paraklete made emphatic and
important many sets of ideas in The Hebrew Apocalyptical
System, with their peculiar phrases and figures, all of which
are of great value in the explanation of many parts of the
New Testament. Briefly these may be observed as follows:
First, a great deal was done to declare that The Paraklete
was called by God, and called before the creation of the
world. The Book of Enoch says, "Before the stars of heaven
were made, his name was called before the Lord of the Spirits.
* * * He was chosen and hidden before Him, before the
world was created" (Chap. 48). Not only are these ideas
made important and prominent in uncanonical writings,
but the Prophets indicate that they were recognized and
prevalent; e. g., Isaiah XLII, i, says, "Behold my servant
whom I have chosen, in whom my soul delighteth." And
Isaiah XLV, 3, 4, says, "I am the Lord * * * I called
thee by thy name." It was apparently this idea which
Jesus reproduced in the Parable of the Hidden Treasure
(Matt. XIII, 44). Daniel VII, I J, while not using the word
paraklete, plainly shows that the writer intended to suggest
it. It says, "One like a Son of a Man came even tothe
Ancient of Days: and they brought him wear before him."
In the Hebrew Apocalyptical Literature there is much
use of the verb to call, and the phrase to call by name, or
to call the ndme. This is a way of suggesting God's speaking,
and "The Word of God" as a name. In connection with

58 The Apocalypse of Saint John
this usage there is in the Apocalyptical Literature, and in
The Prophets, and in the New Testament, a great deal
said about a great, mysterious, unspeakable name of God.
Secondly, the doctrine that " The Word of God" as Paraklete
was, or is, the Revealer of Divine Truth, and a Convicter
of the souls of men to themselves, became an immense ele
ment in Hebrew beliefs, founded the great Hebrew sects,
and introduced its figures and phrases into the Hebrew
Apocalyptical System, and then into Christian language
and The New Testament.
This idea was, in a general way, that broad and com
prehensive one which was part of the recognition that "The
Word of God" is "The Light of the World," already dis
cussed on pages 42 to 44. It entered into Hebrew concep
tions so early that it preceded all the rest of the Apocalyptical
Syftem; and in literature it stands connected with the
declarations that "The Word of God" created light, and
"Divided between darkness and light." If it was not
originally incorporated in the institutions of Moses, the
Hebrews of the Christian Era, and somewhat earlier, re
garded it as incorporated in the significance of the regalia
of the High Priest.
This regalia included what was called Hdshen Ham-
tiishpdt, which means Beauty of The Rightness; but it is
called in our English Bibles "The Breastplate of Judgment."
There was attached to this a pocket in which were placed
two emblematic articles called Uriin and Thummim. Urim
means lights. Philo says it means showing (delosis) . Thum
mim means truth. The Hebrew Apocalyptical System
treated these names, and the emblems themselves, as sym
bols of " The Word of God " who is Light and Truth. Philo
says a great deal about them in this signification. They
went much further than this, and called this emblematic

Introductory View 59
regalia The Word's Symbol, in Greek Ldgion or Logeton.
They extolled it as a symbol of "The Word" in all the char
acters in which he is a Mediator or a Revealer of truth: i. e.,
as High Priest, Paraklete, Son of God, Convicter, Advocate,
Bond, Son of Man, and Lamb of God.
A few quotations from Philo will somewhat illustrate
this symbolism:
"They attached to (the breastplate) it that which is with great
propriety called the Ldgion: * * * the twelve stones, the Logion^,
being an emblem of The Word which binds together and regulates
the universe. For it was necessary that the man (Priest) who was
consecrated to the Father of the world, should have as a Paraklete,
God's Son, the Being most perfect in all virtue, to procure forgive
ness of sins." On the Lije oj Moses, III, 12, 14.
"It is worth while to pray that the High Priest, Conscience, may
live in the soul, as at once a Judge and a Convicter." On Fugitives,
Ch. 22.
Referring to Lev. VI, I to 6, where a statute is stated for a man
who is self-convicted of unexposed sin, Philo says, "Let him go into
the sanctuary (with the Priest) * * * taking with him an irreproach
able pardkletos, that conviction of his soul which has delivered him
from his calamity." On Animals Fit For Sacrifice, Ch. Ii.
Then the Hebrew Apocalyptical System went a step
further, and gave the name Paraklete, even in the Syriac
language, to the lamb of the daily sacrifice.* At an early
time in the period of the construction of the "Hebrew
Apocalyptical System," the name Parakletos included all
the meanings. Word of God, Son of Man, Advocate, High
Priest, Chosen One, Beginning, Name of God, Ldgion,
Anointed, and was ascribed to "The Daily Sacrifice," as
a type and symbol of the atonement before creation.
Let no one think that these were merely theories and
academic words. Never was anything more vitally practi-
* See Edersheim's Lije and Times oj the Messiah. I, J4J, jil.

6o The Apocalypse of Saint John
cal in human life. The names Paraklete and Lamb had
gone into the living words and fiery thoughts of the Jews.
They had made, in the hearts of pious souls, the same
kindled enthusiasm that the name "The Anointed" had
aroused in the souls of the patriotic, the oppressed, and the
unhappy. Hear the name Paraklete on the lips of Jesus. When he
said, "I will give you another," there was in his words the
consiousness of the fatal consecration. It raised before
him the shadow of the cross. It looked back, ages on ages,
to the assumption of the covenant in eternity. Let him who
rejoices in the Paraklete's promise remember, sadly, rev
erently, and gratefully, the cost and the infinite divine love
that answered when The Father called for The Advocate
to assume the burden of the foreseen sin. Never may it be
forgotten, that the name Advocate, so precious to us, was
also, to Jesus, the terrible name, "The Lamb."
Moreover, these theories and words became an organiz
ing power to the Jews, and brought them into a religious
organization, and eventually a political organization, such
as they never had before, and never have had since; for
they were the constructive words and ideas that organized
the sects of the Pharisees and the Essenes; but, alas, only
with a recognition and exaltation of a small part of the
Hebrew Apocalyptical System.
The conception of "The Word of God" as a Divider
and Bond of truth, which the Greek-speaking Jews recog
nized in the name Ldgion, the Aramaic language and spirit
took up with a Hebrew and Syriac word. In Syriac, divide
is ph 'ras, and division is pharis, and pharisa. The Syriac
language named the Breastplate and the Urim and Thum
mim, the pharisa; and this is its name in the Syriac Bible,
as a name for the Hdsheu Hammishpat. The chief sect

Introductory View 6i
of the Jews took the name Pharisea, in Greek Pharisaios,
and they proclaimed the first and last parts of the Hebrew
Apocalyptical System, viz.: The eternal purposes of the
Creator, the kingdom of the Word of God, the Judgment
Day, the immortality of men, and the predestination of the
Chosen Ones.
The word Hoshen, Josephus says,* was written in
Greek essenes. It became the name of the second sect of
the Jews, the Essenes, whose doctrines were the same as
those of the Pharisees; but they were a humbler and less
united sect, living in the smaller towns and villages.
Thus a conception of the Word of God as having many
inter-related characters and offices, and named by a great
many interchangeable names, had entered into the faith
and the hopes of the Jews, and on and around this had
grown a complete system of theological doctrine before the
Christian Era, ready for the advent of the Messiah to exalt
it as the doctrinal framework of Christianity, and of Chris
tian literature. We call it "The Hebrew Apocalyptical
System," but it must not be regarded as one hard and fast
system having a distinct genesis and progress, nor as the
system of a clearly defined class of persons, nor as a system
held in its entirety by any known teachers.
It was a system that appealed variously to diffierent
minds and spirits ; and, as it appealed, so it was held. To
the Pharisees it was a theology and a political creed. To
the Essenes it was a philosophy and a hope. To scholars
like Philo it was an academic theory of a few principles
joined to an appeal for wise and pure living. To some it
was an assurance of earthly benefits; to others it promised
eternal and heavenly good; and to others it assured the
moral regeneration of the world.
* Antiquities oj tlie Jews, Book III, Ch. /, § j.

62 The Apocalypse of Saint John
It was an array of principles; and on those principles
men built according to their own wisdom and spiritual life.
And these principles, with a great many of the figures and
phrases which had become associated with long cherished
thoughts of saintly people, entered into honored perpetual
places in the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles, and into
all the books of the New Testament. They are the sub
stance of Daniel and The Apocalypse, and of The Epistle
To The Hebrews, and of a great many chapters of both the
Old and the New Testaments.
It was the basis, and before the Christian Era it was the
only clear and positive declaration, of the doctrine of univer
sal human immortality. It is interwoven in the New
Testament with almost every declaration of, or a reference
to, human immortality.
It is the essence of the doctrines, and is the substance of
the words, phrases, figures, and symbols of an immense part
of Ezekiel, Zechariah, Daniel, and Isaiah; so that it is im
possible, by any higher or lower criticism, to expound either
of those books without observing its relation to "The
Hebrew Apocalyptical System.'-' There is, to the Bible
student, no question more interesting or more important
than the question how far those large parts of those four
prophetical books are sources of the "Hebrew Apocalyp
tical System," and how far they are evidences of its early
completion in form, and declare that form.
NUMBERS AND OTHER SYMBOLS IN THE APOCALYPSES.
After the Hebrews had defined to themselves their ideas
of The Creator, and of his self-revelation, and of his pur
poses and modes of action, they proceeded to compose a
set of symbols to figuratively represent those ideas. Be
lieving that their ideas were derived from The Old Testa-

Introductory View 63
ment, they conceived that that book was largely allegorical;
and they constructed new allegories to embody and exhibit
the approved doctrines. By the use of these, the Hebrew
Apocalyptical System became an artistically rhetorical
form of literature. This was done so early that many of
the ideas, figures, symbols, and phrases were incorporated
in some of the Psalms and in the books of Isaiah, Zechariah,
Ezekiel, Jonah, and Daniel. Doubtless many parts of these
books which are commonly regarded as prophetical were
designed to be, and were at first understood to be, purely
symbolical figures of ideas.
Such was the system adopted, and so well was it under
stood, and so largely was it used, that Hebrew writers, both
canonical and uncanonical, never hesitated to represent
the ideas of the system as words spoken by God, or The
Word of God, or Angels. Their books were usually pre
tences of visions seen and voices heard; but these pretences
were understood to be artistic rhetoric, and wholly imaginary.
The figures, symbols, names, and rhetorical forms so
adopted, became, along with the principles and doctrines
of the Hebrew Apocalyptical System, the materials and
rhetorical form of the Christian Apocalypses, and of the
teachings and phrases of Jesus and the Apostles, and of
the perpetuated verbal form of Christianity.
The symbolical figures used in the apocalyptical books
were mostly employed to picture the kingdom of God on
earth. They figure God as an Old Man on a throne of
glory, and The Word of God as a horseman from whose
mouth a sword issues. The first inciter of sin is a ser
pent, a dragon, a horseman. Wicked men and sins are
wild beasts. Sometimes it is not clear whether the symbols
figure sins or sinners. In Philo's books the beasts are
figvues of the human passions that sin. e. g. :

64 The Apocalypse of Saint John
"Moses compares the passions to beasts and birds, because
they injure the mind, being untamed and wild." Allegories oj the
Sacred Laws. II, 4.
"And the serpent is accursed more than all the beasts of the
field; and I mean, by this, all the passions of the soul; for it is only
through these that the mind is wounded and destroyed." Allegories
ol the Sacred Laws, II, J7.
In using beasts as figures of sins and sinners, the apo
calyptical writers do not care to make their beasts possibil
ities or even imaginable. They join several beasts in one,
and they break them up into many parts. So they conjure
up beasts with certain numbers of heads or horns, or birds
with certain numbers of feathers. In these symbolical
creatures, the numbered parts symbolize the kinds of human
sin, or the faculties that sin, or the passions and functions of
human nature that cause sin.
The beginning of this habit of viewing human wicked
ness as numbers starts from Deuteronomy VI, 5, which com
mands love of God with heart, soul, and power; for the
faculties that can be good are those that can sin. In the
mouth of Jesus these three are heart, soul, and intellect, to
which He sometimes added, as a fourth one, power. Such
classifications became common. 'Plato describes men as
having three parts, the rational, the spirited, and the appe
titive. Philo repeated and applauded Plato, and also made
another description of human nature as mind (nous), soul
(psyche), intellect (didnoia), and reason (logismds). In his
essay On the Ten Commandments, he adds pride as a
source out of which come violations of all the ten command
ments. Philo also says a great deal about the sources of sin
as being two, five, seven, and eight. The five are the five
senses. Speech and sexuality increase the five to seven;
and the eighth is the human mind. (See page 139.)
So there became fixed in the Hebrew Apocalyptical System

Introductory View 65
the numbers three, four, five, seven, eight and ten, as sym
bols of sin, and of the sinning faculties and passions of men.
Sometimes these were made the numbers of the parts of
beasts; sometimes they were divisions of time; sometimes
they were horns, ribs, feathers, heads; or they were kings or
kingdoms; or they were mountains. In all these cases, the
number was the symbol ; and the noun was only used to get
in the number as a symbol of sins.
Other figures were made for symbols of the abodes of
good and bad souls in eternity. For the good souls the
home was figured as mansions, gardens, parks; for the bad
souls the place was a volcano crater, a lake of fire and brim
stone, or the Valley of Hinnom, or Hades.
Among the symbols adopted was the number seven as a
symbol of God. In that age such k symbolism meant much
more than it would now. Plato and others had thought
that the relations of numbers were potent forces in the regu
lation of the universe. They were invested with mystery;
and the proportions, or ratios, of numbers were thought to be
parts of the inner law of all being. The number seven came
to the Jews invested with the reverence that attached to the
story of the creation and the Sabbath. So they held it to be,
or made it, a symbol of God.
Primarily it was not a symbol of any time; but of God's
person. It represented his essence, and the mystery of his
Divine Self-existence. Before it, of course, went a doctrine
of God's unity. He was The One (to lien), and a Monad
(monas), and complete and indivisible. But He had created
a universe, and stood related to it. He had created time, as
an infinity related to himself. Hence the Jews saw in the
number seven a symbol which in one aspect was the same
as the unit or God; and in another aspect it represented all
the infinite time in which God is related to his created world.

66 The Apocalypse of Saint John
A few quotations from Philo will sufficiently show the
Hebrew apocalyptical use of the number seven:
" The unit, being one and single, and pure, begot th« number
seven, which has no mother, but is born of itself alone.". Heir oj
Divine Things, Ch. 4g.
' ' The only thing that neither moves nor is moved is the most
ancient Ruler and Lord of the universe, of whom the number seven
may properly be called a likeness." On the Creation oj the World,
Chs. JO: 5J, J4, 40.
' ' The unit is identified with the number seven in the harmony of
the universe and in the reasonings of the ¦virtuously inclined soul.".
On God's Unchangeableness, Ch. j.
Out of this symbolism of the number seven was maae
another symbol which has been immeasurably important in
its influence on human thought, The Bible, and Christianity.
This is the number half-seven. We have seen that the
Apocalyptical System set out to declare how the God, who
is an indescribable unit, could be revealed in actions and
relations. We have seen that the Jews made the name
"Word of God" a symbol of God as acting and revealed.
We have seen that the Word of God was considered a
Divider and a Bond of all things. Hence He is in the
midst of all things, and of all revelations of God. How
could this be symbolized? To say that The Word was a
fraction of the indivisible Unit, or in the midst of the
Monad, was philosophically forbidden. But He could be
said to be in the midst of the seven which is the symbol of
God as revealed; and He could be said to be in relation to
the fractions of God's time, of which also, seven is a sym
bol. Hence the Jews made certain numbers as symbols of
The Word of God. These numbers were half-seven, and
seventy. Half-seven was made a symbol, not of any time, but
primarily of the person, or of the presence, of The Word of

Introductory View 67
God. Seventy, which is the multiple of the perfecting num
ber seven and of the greatest of the imperfect digits ten, was
a symbol of the relation of The Word of God to the final
things in God's kingdom, or, say, the end of the world when
He is The Judge. This also is sufficiently shown by Philo:
"One is before ten in virtue; for it is the element of all things, * * *
Seven is before seventy, and seventy is inferior to seven, and con
tains the principle of generatedness." Questions and Solutions, I, 77.
"The imperishable Word exists in the number seventy.'' Abra
ham's Migration, Chap. 36.
" The three days which preceded the creation of the sun are equal
to the succeeding three days, the number six being bisected to display
the character of eternity and time * * * they being the primary
powers of the Li'ving God * * * they being divided by The Word."
Heir oj Divine Things, Ch. 34.
" The division (of Abraham's sacrificed animals) into two parts
made six parts, since there were three animals divided: so that The
Word which (as a lamp or flame) divided them, made up the num
ber seven, di-viding the two triads, and establishing himself in the
midst, * * * A thing similar to this appears to be clearly shown
in the matter of the sacred candlestick; for that was made having
six branches, three on each side; and the main lampstand itself in
the middle made the seventh, di-viding and separating the two triads."
Heir oj Divine Things, Ch. 44.
" The Creator, wishing that there should be on the Earth a model
of the seven-lighted sphere as it exists in heaven, ordained this can
dlestick. And its likeness to the soul is also often pointed out: for
a soul is divisible into three parts, and each of the parts is divided
nto two: and, there being thus six divisions, the Sacred and Divine
Word, the Divider of all, makes up the number seven." Same, Ch. 4j.
We have seen that the Hebrew Apocalyptical System,
which aimed to declare the relations of infinite God to a
finite world of human spirits, became a doctrine that there
was ordained an earthly kingdom of God, of which The
Word of God was the King, Advocate, High Priest, and
Judge, standing in relations to it in the infinite past, and in

68 The Apocalypse of Saint John
all time, and in the eternal future. We now see that seven
was made a symbol of the relation of God to all things and
all time; and half-seven was made a symbol of the relation
of The Word of God to all things and all time.
Primarily, half-seven may have been a purely metaphy
sical conception of The Word of God as an existing Person;
but when the doctrine, that The Word of God was in per
petual relations to all things, was established, the half-seven
was a symbol of his presence (parousia).
Thirdly, the half-seven became a symbol of a presence
of The Word of God in some middle point of time. Possibly
it helped to formulate prophecies of an earthly advent of The
Messiah; but such an advent, or presence, was already a
fundamental part of the Hebrew Apocalyptical System, and
was considered to be logically inherent in it. The logical
doctrine, and the conception of the S3Tubolism of half-seven,
combined to establish a prophetical forecast of an advent of
The Word of God to establish his kingdom among men.
The half-seven thus became three different S3Tiibols to
three different classes of men. To philosophers like Philo
it was a symbol of the person of The Word of God, and of
his relation to the world as a Divider .and Bond. To the
Pharisees and Essenes it was a symbol of the presence of
The Word of God at the Judgment Day. To a multitude
of Jews it was a symbol that Messiah would come to the
earth, and establish his kingdom; and to these it was a beam
of prophetic light, a promise, a hope. To many, probably,
who were like the author of The Book of Enoch and many
of the Prophets, the advent, or presence, was perpetual, so
that it is often hard to say which of the three presences an
author has in his view.
This symbolical half-seven is largely used in the Book
of Daniel and in St. John's Apocalypse; so that it is impos-

Introductory View 6<)
sible to interpret those books without knowing the signifi
cance of this symbol.
As the number seven was made a new symbol by division,
so also it was made other symbols by multiplication. We
have seen that, to Philo, by multiplication by ten, it became
a symbol of the presence of The Word of God at the end of
earthly time. The same idea seems to have come to Jewish
minds by another road. They called eternity olam in
Hebrew, and aidn in Greek. They defined aidn as "The
duration outside of which there is nothing"; and yet they
said "Eternity of eternities," and "Forever and yet," and
"Unto eternity and to the eternity of eternities." In put
ting these ideas into symbolical numbers, seventy was a
symbol of that infinity which follows "Forever." It is the
elusive, inconceivable, time of the end.
In full then, the Hebrew symbolical system of numbers
was as follows: Seven (or a week) was a symbol of God's
time as related to the created world. Half-seven was a
symbol of The Word's relation to the world and time.
Seventy was a symbol of the presence of The Word of God
at the end of time, and a symbol of inconceivable duration.
" Seventy sevens" (or weeks) was a figure of the human con
ception of God's existence from the eternity past to the
end of time. "Seven sevens" (or weeks) would symbolize
God's knowledge of his own plans of creation: or we may
say, it was a symbol of that part of past eternity in which
God had in his mind, unperformed, the future life and his
tory of the world. This is the symbolism which is used in
Daniel IX, and it makes that chapter very clear.
The half -seven is used in the. apocalyptical literature in
a great varietyof forms, and is introduced by many ingenious
rhetorical devices. It was "A Time, times and half a time,"
and "Forty-two months," and " Three days and a half,"

70 The Apocalypse of Saint John
and "Three years and a half," and "1,260 days," and
"1,290 days," and "The midst of the week," and "The
middle of the sacred candlestick." Sometimes it was fig
ured as the fourth one in a set or series of things or events;
and this usage seems to furnish the keys to many of the
enigmatical figures in the book of Daniel.

The Hebrew Apocalyptical System itemized.
Referring to the statement of the outline of the ideas
which are the general substance, or material, of St. John's
Apocalypse (see page 30), we may now compare with it the
outline of the substance of the Hebrew Apocalyptical System,
which is as follows:
First. " The Creator and Father of all things " is known
in his powers. In Himself He is "The Unit" and inde
scribable. He is called "The Head (or extremity) of
Days"; and "The Saviour and Benefactor." He is repre
sented as enthroned in fire, which is a symbol of his physi
cal and spiritual power. He acts by speaking. He lives
in aidn, which is an eternal -present; and his ends were com
pleted, or decreed, in their beginning. He is symbolized by
the number seven.
Second. The Creator acts and reveals himself in "The
Word, " who is an " Image of God, " and " The First begotten
Son of God," and "The Divider and The Bond of all
things," and "The First and The Last," and "The Wit
ness," and "The Interpreter," and "The Light," and
"The Truth. " He is "The Logion," and "The Anointed
King," and "The Archetypal Man," and "The Son of
Mankind," and "The Paraklete (Advocate)," and "The
High Priest," and "The Lamb slain before creation," and
"The Beginning."

Introductory View 71
The Word of God is symbolised by half-seven.
God's personality is Spirit, which is indescribable. From
God's Spirit men have spirit, childship, and moral intel
ligence, and character. (See pages 73, 162 to 164,348
to 351. 394-)
Third. God ordained in eternity a kingdom of God,
or of Heaven, on Earth. Its subjects are human spirits,
born (in some sense) from God's Spirit by the act of
God's Word. The Word, by his own acts and nature as
Creator, is inseparable from the lives and destiny of men.
For them he became The Paraklete (Advocate) Lamb
before the creation of the world. He is The Truth and
Witness and Light. To the kingdom he is The Anointed
(Messiah, Christ) King. The kingdom is of obedience,
repentance, faith and hope. The Word of God is the
Bond of the kingdom, its Moral Ruler, and therefore
its Judge. In the kingdom The Logos (Word) is also
The Nomos (Law).
Fourth. Before the creation of the world Angels sinned.
They are figured as stars fallen. Their Chief is The Dragon
and Serpent, King of The Abyss. He is represented fig
uratively as a Beast.
He incites human beings to sin and rebellion against
God. Fifth. Wicked men war against God and his people.
They are figured as beasts or parts of beasts, symbolizing
three, four, five, seven, and ten ways of sinning. They are
also symbolized as Cain, who is also a symbol of Living-
Death, and of beastliness, and of perverted humanity, and
of self-justifying avarice.
Sixth. False religions and philosophies are figured as
leaders in sin. They are images of The Beast. They are

72 The Apocalypse of Saint John
named The False Prophet, and are symbolized by Ba
laam. Seventh. The Word of God, as The Witness, The
Messiah (The Anointed King), The Advocate, The Lamb
of God, The Ruler, The Chosen One, The Light, The
Son of God, The Son of Man, will be present at the Half -
seven of time. He is psychologically conjoined with
"The Spirit of God" and together they reveal divine truth
to spirits of men, and influence souls to obedience, pen
itence, holy life andhope. He was hidden in pasteternity.
The Apocalypses are his uncovering.
Eighth. Human souls never die. After earthly death
the wicked are in confinement; the righteous are near
God, in glory and happiness, and praying for the
triumph of God's kingdom.
Ninth. The Kingdom of God on Earth is extended,
and made victorious, by the faithfulness and testimony of
the righteous people, foUowing The Word of God. The
Lamb is its Witness and The Light. The Spirit of God's
Word is figured as Angel Messengers and Leaders, Michael
and Gabriel being chiefs.
Tenth. The kingdom includes souls of all races of men.
Eleventh. Sin and its trouble will continue on earth till
the end of time.
Twelfth. "The Word of God" will come again for a
day of general judgment. He will be "The Judge." He
will come "In the clouds of heaven, " and "Sit on the throne
of his glory. "
Thirteenth. The wicked will be punished forever. The
place of their existence is figured as a Crater of a Volcano,
and a place of flames.
Fourteenth. The righteous will be happy forever.

Introductory View 73
The Writings of Philo.
Philo of Alexandria, whose writings give so much infor
mation about the Hebrew Apocalyptical System, lived from
about 30 B. C. to about 40 A. D. He is mentioned by
Josephus as in high repute as a philosopher and a leader of
Jews. His brother was Alabarch of the Jews of Ale.xandria;
and King Agrippa gave his own eldest daughter Berenike,
in her first marriage, to the Alabarch 's son.
Philo's books are commentaries on the Old Testament,
and treatises on scripture-topics. They are exalted and
pure in tone and sentiments. Philo was a Platonist; but
only in respect to a few ideas, and only so far as he thought
Plato agreed with the Old Testament. His discussions
are almost confined to the first parts of the Old Testament,
the books of Moses. He believed that the writings of
of Moses were allegories. He accepted the first part of the
Hebrew Apocalyptical System, and declared its principles;
but he said nothing for its middle and end, and made no
comments on the Prophets. He had no expectation of a
Messiah, and taught nothing of a Kingdom of God, or a
Judgment Day.
Philo's distinctive work consisted in defining a philosophy
of the nature of God and men, and of rational and spiritual
life. On lines that were wholly Jewish, he laid a founda
tion for faith in eternal truth, and for a reasonable doctrine
of spiritual revelations. On the doctrines of God's Father
hood, and of human likeness to God, and on God's per
petual activity in the world, he built a doctrine that men do
know God's truth and His character, and by this knowledge
may attain a blessed eternal life. He proclaimed a philo
sophy of Consciousness and Conscience, and of communion ,
with God. He proclaimed an infinitely holy and good God;

74 The Apocalypse of Saint John
and denounced every form of sin; and urged men to a pure
and righteous life.*

The Apocalyptical Book of Enoch.
A Jewish book, which exhibits a large part of the Hebrew
Apocalyptical System, is of unknown authorship; but is
called "The Book of Enoch," because it makes the ficti
tious representation of having been written by Enoch the
father of Methuselah and great-grandfather of Noah. The
date of its composition is unknown; but inasmuch as it
uses Syrian history up to about 164 B. C. as symbolical of
the war between sin and righteousness, it could not have
been finished before that date. It disappeared from Jewish
and European libraries, and was not restored until 1773,
when four copies in the Ethiopia language were brought to
England. Since then, other copies have been found in
Abyssinia. The Book of Enoch exhibits the Hebrew Apocalyptical
System in words of fictitious characters. Divine, Angelic, and
human, and in descriptions of wonderful spectacles of
scenes and actions in Heaven and on Earth. It makes no
pretentions to prophesy; but is purely and simply imagina
tive, figurative, and symbolical.
Like The Apocalypse, it is composed in seven sections;
but these are not indicated by titles, and have not been
properly recognised by most readers. Each of these seven
sections has one and the same scheme of ideas; but each
one illustrates some special ideas more than others. After
a short introduction, the rest is written as visions, words
*" Man AND His Divine Father," by John C. C. Clarke,
exhibits the philosophy, phra.ses'and character of Philo. Published
by G. P. Clarke, Upper Alton, Ills.

Introductory View 75
of God, and of spirits, and of deceased prophets. This
assumed form of history and of visions is, however, only a
rhetorical and sentimental device for making use of the
ancient Scriptures in giving form to new doctrines.
It seems to pretend to give words of Adam, Enoch,
Methuselah and Noah, and to insinuate an explanation of
the fall of the angels and the sins of men, as mentioned in
Genesis VI, 1 to 4, and to make fables about the flood and
its era. In reality it only uses these as a frame on which to
exhibit revered principles and doctrines. It has in fact no
part that is not useful in its plan, or which the book could
afford to lose. The repetitions, like those in The Apoca
lypse, have great value.
Taken as a whole, Enoch is a figurative, or allegorical,
declaration of the whole apocalyptic series of ideas and of
their symbols. Each section exhibits the series of ideas, or
principles, in their logical or natural order, beginning with
sbme exhibition of God, the Creator, and ending with an
exhibition of the saints and the wicked after judgment; and
between these, and connected with them, are the presence
of the Son of God, and the war of sin and righteousness.*

Analysis of the Book of Enoch.
Chapters / to F are an introduction, addressed especially
to wicked men. It declares generally the apocalyptical
principles, and prophesies a coming of the God of the world
to pass judgment. Chapter I, 9, contains the prophetic
sentences which are quoted in Jude I4, 15.
"¦Quotations in these pages are from the English translation
of the Ethiopia by Prof. George H. Schodde, Ph. D., published
by Warren F. Draper Co., Andover Mass, p. 278.

76 The Apocalypse of Saint John
The first section. Chapters VI to XI, depicts a philo
sophy of the origin of sin, and of the contests of sin with
righteousness, and of a judgment of the wicked, and of
bliss of the "Just Ones." It draws its symbols from Gen.
VI. Angels first sinned, and then led men astray. Many
wicked angels are named. These confederated by an oath.
Good angels, of whom Michael was chief, resisted the
wicked ones, and were commissioned to overwhelm and
bind them. God promises a reign of righteousness, and a
judgment. The wicked will be punished in an abyss of
fire, and the earth will be cleansed of sin.
The second section (XII to XXXVI) reiterates the
same principles, but uses, for the basis of its symbols, the
first part of Gen. V, 24. When Enoch disappeared he was
with God, viewing the wonders of the works of the Creator.
He was then, as a type of the Son of Man, sent to preach
to the fallen angels in their prison. He prophesies their
eternal punishment. In chapter XTV, Enoch sees the
palaces of God, and the great white throne, with its circles
of fire. On the throne is The Lord, The Majestic and
Honored. He summons Enoch to himself and to his
"Holy Word." God prophesies the punishment of the
wicked angels and men, after a day of judgment. In
Chapters 17 to 23, Enoch describes the places of punishment.
In Chapter 18, it is an abyss of fire. In Chapter 21, it is "A
void place, awful and terrible," containing a great fire, over
which roll stars, that are fallen angels. In Chapter 24 to
36, he sees the glorious parts of Nature, and the abodes of
blessed souls. In Chapter 24, he sees the tree of life. In
Chapter 27, he sees the place where the Lord of Glory, the
Eternal King, will hold the judgment of the world.
The third section. Chapters 37 to 71, reiterates the
same principles. This is by far the most important sect on.

Introductory View 77
and the most complete. Enoch divides it into "Three
Parables" (similitudes). The first parable, 'Chapters 3810
44, repeats quite closely, but with new phrases, the ideas of
the second section. In Chapter 38, the coming of "The
Just One" is foretold. He will appear in the presence of
"The Just Ones," "The Chosen Ones," whose "Deeds
hang on the Lord of the Spirits." The sinners will be
condemned. In Chapter 39, Enoch and others praise God,
crying Holy! Holy! Holy! Chapter XXXIX, 11, declares
the apocalyptical principle, that God knew all the future
before creation. In Chapters 40 to 44, Enoch sees and
describes secrets of God and the angels, of the four chef
angels, and of the dwellings of the "Chosen Ones," and of
four cherubimi, that keep off the Satans.
The second parable (Chapters 45 to 57) is a prophecy of
"The Son of Man." Chapter 45, 3, says, "On that day
the 'Chosen One' (see Matt. XII, 18) will sit upon the
throne of his glory (see Matt. XIX, 28; XXV, 31), and
will dwell among the sa.nts" (see John XIV, 18; Rev. Ill,
21; VII, g). In Chapter 46, Enoch describes God as
-having a "Head of days" like wool, and being called "The
Head of days" (see Dan. VII, g,i3,). And with him was
a second, whose countenance was like the appearance of a
man, and his countenance was full of agreeableness, like
one of the holy angels. Enoch was told " This is the Son
of Man, who has justice; and justice dwells with him, and
all the treasures of secrecy he reveals, because the Lord of
the spirits has chosen him : and his portion overcomes all
things before the Lord of the spirits in rectitude to eternity.
And this Son of Man, will arouse k'ngs and mighty from
their couches, and the strong from their thrones, and will
break the teeth of the sinners."
Chapter 47 is so full of the apocalyptical principles that

78 The Apocalypse of Saint John
we must insert it all here. "And in those days the prayer
of the Just One, and the blood of the Just One ascended
from the earth before the Lord of the spirits. In these days,
the holy ones who dwelj in high heaven, will unite in one
voice, and will petition and pray and praise and thank and
bless the name of the Lord of the spirits, on account of the
blood of the Just One which has been spilled, and the
prayer of the Just One, that it may not be in vain before the
Lord of the spirits, that judgment may be held over them,
and they not suffer to eternity. And in those days, I saw
the Head of Days, as he sat upon the throne of his glory,
and the books of the living were opened before him; and
his whole host which is in high heaven stood before him.
And the hearts of the holy ones were filled with joy, because
the number of justice was fulfilled, and the prayers of the
Just had been heard, and the blood of the Just One had
been demanded before the Lord ot the spirits." (This must
be understood to refer to the Just One as slain before crea
tion as in Rev. XII, ii, and to a crying of his b'ood like
that of Abel. It is the idea that reappears in Heb XII, 4,
and is in several sections of The Apocalypse, as a prayer of
the righteous dead praying for juslice. See Rev. VI, g, 10;
XI, 18; XIV, 4; XX, 4.
In Chapter 48 Enoch sees "That Son of Man called near
the Lord of the spirits, and his name before the Head of
Days. And before the sun and the signs (of the Zodiac)
were created, before the stars of heaven were 'made, his
name was called before the Lord of the spirits. He will
be a staff to the just ones and the Iwly ones, * * * and
he will be the light of the ¦nations, and he will be the hope of
those who are s!ck !n their hearts. All who I'.ve upon the
earth wi^l fall down before him, and bend the knee to him,
and w'll bless and praise him. For this purpose, he was

Introductory View 79
chosen and hidden before him, before the world was created.
And the wisdom of the Lord of the spirits has revealed him
to the holy ones and the just ones * * * for in his name
they will be saved. And on the day of their trouble * * *
there will be no one to lift them (the sinners) up, because
they have denied the Lord of the spirits and his Anointed
One."
Chapter 49 praises Wisdom. "Injustice (unrighteous
ness) will end, because the Chosen One has arisen before
the Lord of the spirits, and his glory is to all eternity, and
his power to all generations. In him dwells the spirit of
wisdom, * * * and the spirit of those asleep in righteous
ness. And he will judge the secrets * * * because he is
the Chosen One before the Lord of the spirits, according
to his will.
Chapter 50 declares the salvation of the holy and chosen
ones, in the name of the Chosen One. The wicked must
repent. Chapter 51 declares that the earth and sheol must
give up the dead, and Hell will return what it owes;, and
the Chosen One will sit upon his throne.
In Chapter 52 Enoch sees the secrets of heaven, and an
angel tells him, "All these things are for the power of his
Anointed One, that he may command, and be powerful
on the earth." In Chapter 53 he sees preparations for
imprisoning and punishing Satan. The kings and mighty
ones of the earth will be destroyed but the house of the con
gregation (synagog) of the Just and Chosen One will appear.
In Chapter 55, The Head of Days swears (as to Noah)
that he will place a sign of fidelity in the heavens, and that
the wicked will see "My Chosen One, as he sits on the
throne of my glory." (See Rev. Ill, 21; VII, 15, 17.)
The th rd parable (LX to LXXI) exhibits the final
judgment, and eternal things. In Chapter 60, Enoch

8o The Apocalypse of Saint John
again sees the Head of Days sitting upon ihe throne of his
glory. The day of the covenant with the Chosen Ones, and
of the punishment of the wicked is proclaimed. Two
monster beasts are seen, but they are declared a mystery.
Punishment will come over them, and after that there will
be a judgment in the mercy and patience of the Lord of
the spirits. In LX, 27, Enoch is told that the two monsters
will be fed (feasted) when God's punishments kill the
wxked. In Chapter LX, Enoch is told that the judgment is
coming. All the dead in the earth or the sea will return,
for none can be destroyed. "And the Lord of the spirits
placed his Chosen One on the throne of his gfory (see
Rev. Ill, 21), and he will judge all the deeds of the holy
ones." "And when He shall lift up his countenance to
judge their paths by the Word of the name of the Lord of
the spirits * * * they will all speak * * * and glorify
the name of the Lord of the spirits." And all powers in
heaven and earth will join in this praise. (See John XII,
32.) Chapter LXII is the greatest exhibition of The Son of
Man. "And the Lord of the spirits sat on the throne of his
glory, and the spirit of justice (or righteous spirit) was
poured out over (or around) him, and the word of his mouth
slew all the sinners, and all the impious." (See Rev. II, 16;
XIX, 21) * * * "Pain will seize the w'cked when '.hey
see this Son of the Woman sitting on the throne of his
glory * * * Formerly the Son of Man was hidden, and
the Most High preserved him before his power, and has
revealed him to the Chosen Ones * * * They who rule
the earth will fall before him on their faces, and will worship,
and will hope in this Son of Man, and will petition and ask
him for mercy. * * * And the just and chosen ones will

Introductory View 8i
be saved on that day, and will henceforth not see the face of
the sinners and of the unjust. And the Lord of the spirits
will dwell over them, and ihey will dwell wiih this Son of
Man, and will eat and lie down and rise again with him to
all eternity. (See Rev. II, 7; III, 20; VII, 16, 17; XIX,
g, i^.) And the just and chosen ones will have risen from
the earth, and will be clothed with the garments of life. (See
Rev. III. 5; XIV, 12.)
In Chapter LXIII, Powerful kings confess sin, and
petition for rest. (See Reu. VI, 15, 16, if.) "And their
countenances will be filled with darkness and shame before
that Son of Man, and they will be expelled from his pres
ence, and a sword will dwell in their midst before his coun
tenance." (See iJef. XIX, ij, 21.)
In Chapter LXV, Noah and the deluge are foretold as a
type of the last judgment In LXVIII and LXIX, the
good and bad angels are described and named In Chapter
LXIX, etc., a secret name and oath are spoken of (see Rev.
II, IJ; IX, 12) * * * "By it the earth was founded on
the water * * * and the sea was created * * * and
the depths stand * * * and the sun and moon complete
their cour.se (see Colos. I, 16, 17, 18) * * * to eternity,
* * * And in it are preserved the repositories of the voice
of thunder, and of the light of the lightning." This is a
figurative description of God's Word and decrees.
The parable ends as follows: LXIX. 'And he sat
upon the throne of his glory, and the sum of the judgment
(see John V, 22, 27) was given to him, the Son of Man, and
he causes to disappear and to be destroyed the sinners from
the face of the earth and also those who have led astray
the earth. They shall be bound with chains, and shall be
imprisoned in the assembling place of destruction, and all
their work shall disappear from the face of the earth. And

82 The Apocalypse of Saint John
from that time on, there will be nothing that will be destroyed,
for he, the Son of Man, has appeared, and sits on the
throne of his glory, and all wickedness will disappear before
his face and depart: but the Word of that Son of Man will
be strong before the Lord of the spirits."
The last part of this section is a vision of the divine
glories and the last things. In LXX, the angels measure
ihe place for the holy and the just. (See Rev. XI; Ezek.
XL. to XLIV; Zech. II, i, 2.) In LXX, Michael the chief
angel, with Gabriel, Rufael, and Fanuel, show Enoch the
secrets of heaven. He sees the house of God, the Seraphim,
Cherubim, and Ophanim, and innumerable angels, guarding
the throne of ihe Lord's glory. He sees again "the Head
of Days," his head white and clean as wool. ' ' The section ends
with the words, "And so, long life will be with the Son
OF Man, and peace will be to the Just, and his right
path to the Just, in the name of the Lord of the spirits to all
eternity." The fourth section (LXXII to LXXXIV) is a con
templation of the great facts of Nature, such as in antiquity
counted for Science. It has the purpose to glorify the
Creator, and the symbols of time and light. In LXXII, i,
"A new creation," or regeneration (palingenesia) is fore
told (compare Matt. XIX, 28), "which will continue to
eternity." The fifth section (LXXXV to XCI) depicts human
history as a life of animals. Men are sheep and kine. Stars
fell from heaven (LXXXVI) and became bulls and horses,
and caused strange progeny among the herds, which fought
with and devoured one another. The star that first fell
was seized by an angel (LXXXVIII, i), bound and put
into a narrow, deep, and dark abyss. Later (LXXXVIII, J)
the other fallen stars were put into the abyss. Then came

Introductory View 83
the deluge (LXXXIX, 3) and all animals were drowned,
and sank into the abyss. Then the history of the Israelites
is depicted as a life of animals. Chapter LXXXIV intro
duces a remarkable prayer, much like Daniel's. In
Chapter XCI, Enoch admonishes Methuselah of the apoc
alyptical principles. He is exhorted to be righteous.
Injustice and wickedness are foretold; but the Holy Lord
will come forth in anger and with punishment, to pass
judgment on the earth. "And the Just Ones will arise
from sleep (Dan. XII, 2), and Wisdom will arise (Dan.
XII, 3, 4) and will be given to them. And then the
roots of injustice will be cut off (Matt. III. 10), and the
sinners will be destroyed with the sword" (Rev. XIX, 75, 21).
In Chapter XCI, there is used the symbolical number
seven. The judgment occurs at the seventh week (XCI, 12).
"After that there will be another week, the eighth, of right
eousness." "And after that, in the ninth week, the
judgment of justice will be displayed to all the earth.
And after this, in the tenth week, in its seventh part, there
will be the judgment to eternity. And the first heaven
will pass away and cease, and a new heaven will appear"
{Rev. XXI, I).
From the latter part of the fifth section to the end of the
book the attentive reader will note a remarkable fact. The
last chapter of Daniel is very short, but contains a very large
number of ideas (see pages 153, etc.) and is the clearest of
the Old Testament's declarations of human immortality.
Condensed and short as it is, it is the basis of three sections
of The Apocalypse, and yet it is abrupt, incoherent, and
mysterious. It has the air of being a condensed, fragmen
tary, epitome of some other book. Now, these closing
eighteen chapters of Enoch have a long array of the same
ideas, but connected systematically, coherently, and philoso-

84 The Apocalypse of Saint John
phically; so as to form a fitting conclusion to the previous
series of ideas and principles.
The sixth section (XCII to CV) is an exhortation
from Enoch. "He commenced to relate out of the books";
i. e., he reiterated and explained the ideas of his preceding
chapters. He says, "Let not your spirits be sorrowful
on account of the times: for the Great Holy One has
given days for everything." (Dan. VII, 15; XII, i, 4, 7,
8.) "The Just will arise from sleep * * * andall
his ways will be in everlasting goodness and grace,
(Dan. XII, 2, 4, g, 13) ; and he will walk in the everlasting
LIGHT (Dan. XII, 3) : but sin will be destroyed in darkness
to eternity." Chapter XCIII briefly summarizes history, the general
thought being that men cannot fathom life, with its mysteries
and measures (Dan. XII, 3 io g). The number seven is
introduced as a symbol of a cycle of time (Dan. XII, 7).
The time from Adam to Enoch is a seven, he being the
seventh from Adam. After him will be six more sevens:
i. e., all time will be a seven of sevens, or a week of weeks.
In the end of the third week and through the fourth, Moses
is exhibited as a type of the Son of Man, and the Hebrew
religion as the typical religion (Dan. XII, 7). "In the
end of the seventh week, the chosen just ones will be
rewarded" (XCIII, ii; Dan. XII, 7).
He speaks of this view of human life as a cycle of
KNOWLEDGE. "SevEN PORTIONS OF LEARNING are given
to them concerning all God's creatures" (XCIII, 10).
"The Wise among you will see the truth" (C, 6). "Blessed
are they who recieve the words of wisdom and know
them" (XCIX, 10). Books will be given to the just, and
to the wise, for joy, and for rectitude, and for much wisdom.
Also the sinners will lie, and write books" (CIV, 10, 12.
Compare Dan. XII, 3, 4, 10).

Introductory View 85
He sees the middle of the seven weeks as a time of
revelation, and knowledge of divine (Mosaic and
prophetic) truth. In the fourth week visions of the holy
and just will be seen, and a law for all generations (XCIII,
6; compare Dan. XII. 3, 4, 7).
He sees the just ones shining, "Ye will shine like the
luminaries of. heaven" (CIV, 2; Dan. XII, 3). He
speaks of life as paths and movements. "Blessed are
they who do the paths of the just ones" (XCIX, 10;
Dan. XII, 4). Some students will believe this to be an
enlargement of Prov. IV, 18, ig. "The path of the just
is as the daylight, which shineth more and more unto the
perfect day," etc. But he speaks again of the paths of
rectitude (CVIII), 13.
He predicts the judgment, the eternal bliss of the right
eous, and the punishment of the wicked. (CIII, 4, 7, 8;
Dan. XII, 2, 3.) "The souls of the wicked shall be caused
to descend into Sheol (Thus far Ps. IX, 17) * * * and
in darkness (Prov. IV, ig), and in toils, and in a burning
FLAME, their spirits will burn at the great judgment."
The seventh section (CVI to CVIII) has been re
garded by critics as unauthentic, and unimportant; but it
contains the great principles of the apocalyptic literature,
completes the number of seven allegories, is remarkable in
its likeness to Dan. XII, and contains at least one passage
which is reproduced in The Apocalypse.
First it exhibits Noah as an infant, as a type of the Son
of Man. "His face glorious, (CVI, 5). The hair of his
HEAD IS WHITER THAN WOOL, and HIS EYES ARE LIKE THE
RAYS OF THE SUN * * * and they lighted the whole
house." (CVI. 10), (Rev. I, 14; II, 18; XIX, 12).
It speaks of names in the books of the holy ones (Dan.
XII, i) and of the wicked who revile, and change every
thing, (Dan. ^11, 10). It speaks of things secret

86 The Apocalypse of Saint John
(Dan. XII, 4, g). It says, "Wait in those days, till those
who did evil are completed." (Dan. XII, 4, g, 10, 13.)
Enoch hears it said, "I will lead out in a shining light
those who love my holy name (Rev. Ill, g; XI, 18), and
WILL SET each ONE ON THE THRONE OF HONOR (CVIII, 12),
(Rev. V, 10; III, 21). And they will glitter; and the
sinners will go where days and times are written for
them (CVIII, 15; Dan. XII, 3, 7, 11, 12, 13).
It speaks of record books (as Dan, XII, 4, g). As
Daniel speaks of lots (XII, 13), Enoch speaks of wages
which "God has destined for the good" (CVIII, 10).
As Daniel speaks of purification (XII, 10), Enoch speaks
of "Those who have chastened their bodies * * * and
whose spirits were found in cleanness" (CVIII, 7, 8, g).
Philo and Enoch publish the same principles, but
approached them from opposite directions, and with con
trasted methods. Philo discusses life and the Scriptures
by exhibiting the principles and germinal facts that underlie
life. Enoch discusses nothing, and argues for no reasons:
he assumes the principles as settled, and the facts as agreed
on; and exhibits, in symbols and imaginary spectacles,
the characters, and the ways of the Divine, Angelic, and
Human actors.
Enoch is a book that honors God and the Hebrew
Scriptures. It is pure in tone, lofty in doctrine, noble in
diction, grand in conceptions and imagery, and profound,
but not discursive, in philosophy and theology. Some of
the words and terms that are used hundreds of times in
The New Testament seem to have originated in Enoch (see
Appendix A). The New Testament is teeming with sugges
tions, and almost quotations, of the book of Enoch, which
is mentioned and quoted by St. Jude, and is apparently
referred to, if not quoted b}- Jesus.

Introductory View 87

Compare Jude 6, with Enoch vi, vii, xii, etc.
12. " " lxxxix, 56, .74; xc, 25.
" 13, " " xviii, 13, is; xxi, 4, 6, 10.
" 14, " " i,9-
Matt, xiii, 41, suggests Enoch c, 4.

" xix, 28,

"

tt

li, 3; lxix, 26, 27; lxi, 8.

" xviii, 10,

"

tt

c, 50 (see Luke xii, 8; xv, 10).

" xxiv, 31,

It

tt

1, li, etc.

" xxiv, 22,

tl

tt

lxxx, 2.

" xxiv, 35,

"

ti

xci, 16.

" xxviii, 18,

it

li, i; lxi, 5; lxix, 27 (see John v,
22, 27).

Luke X, 20,

It

tt

civ, 1.

" xiv, 14,

"

tt

lxii, 15.

Mark iii, 29,

"

"

xxviii, 10; cviii, 6.

John v, 22, 27,

((

tt

lxix, 27.

xiv, 8,

tt

tt

xlv, 5, 6.

Enoch is also suggested, if not referred to, by John the
Baptist,* St. Peter,t St. Paul, J St. John,|i and others. If
all the repetitions in the New Testament of the peculiar
words and phrases of Enoch are counted, the number will be
found very large, e.g.: The names "Chosen One," "The
Most High," "The Just (or righteous) One," "The Chosen
Ones," "The Righteous Ones," are words of Enoch, but
not common elsewhere in sacred literature. More than
forty of the most peculiar ideas and phrases of St. John's
Apocalypse are features of the book of Enoch.
* Matt, iii, 10, suggests Enoch xci, 8, 11.
Matt, iii, 12, suggests Enoch x, 6, 14; viii, 15.
t Acts iii, 14, suggests Enoch xcviii, 6, etc.
J Acts XX, 29, 30, suggests Enoch lxxxix, 65; xc, 13, 17, 22.
Acts xvii, 31, suggests Enoch xlvi, 3, etc.
]| John i, 5, and viii, 12, suggests Enoch xli, 8; 1, i; lviii, 6, etc.

88 The Apocalypse of Saint John
The Influence and Effect of the Jewish Apocalyp
tical System.
Let not the reader think that the apocalyptic literature
and its system of ideas were either a dry husk of theoretical
speculation, or a fanciful and dreamy maze of pictorial
imaginations, nor that they were a combination of these.
Thej were a body carrying a soul. They were a frame as
of bone, on which hung sinewy, muscular, full of nerves,
blood, and vital force, and of intense passions, a rounded,
throbbing, human life. And it was a life that drew in
the breath of heaven and of earth; and it looked to the
far-off God and eternity, while it walked with feet on the
sod. The apocalyptical literature was the Jewish answer and
offset to the mythology and atheism of all the rest of the
world. It inscribed itself as on banners glorifying the Crea
tor, and his works, and the redemption of men. It was a
challenge to the world to come and balance its emptiness
against the eternal principles; its coarse materialism against
righteousness and a pure faith; its blindness and despair
against a vision of immortality in glory; and its humanized
mythology against a sublime imagery and a matchless
rhetoric. In the Jews it induced a life practical and earnest; a life
for labor or sacrifice; a life for obedience, but also for loves,
enthusiasms, and hopes. Herein is a part of the explanation
of the spirit that aroused the anger of the rest of the world
against all Messiahites, and under all the Emperors, from
Tiberius to Domitian, caused terrible persecutions, robberies,
and massacres, alike of conservative Hebrews and of Jesu-
ites; a spirit that at length made hundreds of thousands of
Hebrews grasp swords, fighting in desperation in the Holy

Introductory View 89
City; a spirit that finally inspired many of the leading men
to assemble their families, and, after kissing and embracing
their wives and children, to loose the life blood of their
dearest ones, and then to fall self-slaughtered on the crim
soned heap.
The Hebrew Apocalyptical System was the preparation
of a people for the advent of Jesus. Every doctrine in it is
Christian. Even its peculiar terms and phrases were largely
retained by Jesus and the Apostles. What part of it has
Christianity outgrown, or even attained to with full rever
ence, and obedience, and faith ?
Every name that Jesus took, or that was given to him
by the Apostles, was part of the Hebrew Apocalyptical
System. The New Testament is full of that system.
Some readers of these statements will doubt them; and
will say, Why does not The New Testament then plainly
indicate these facts ? The simple answer is that to any per
son who knows the system, the indication is almost as plain
in the New Testament as it could be made; and St. John's
Apocalypse is the strongest possible glorification of the
Hebrew Apocalyptical System.
Some readers of these statements will ask. Why have
the facts been forgotten or ignored ? The answer is simple.
In the first and second centuries, the Jews, and the Chris
tians as proselytes, were hunted, driven about, robbed, and
treated as outlaws or public enemies. Their homes were
invaded and desolated. Their property and libraries were
the prey of officials and mobs. Many persons were killed,
and more were impoverished and made homeless. Schools
and synagogs were devastated, and instruction was hindered.
The schism between Jews and Christians became wide,
and tended towards a rejection, by each side, of all that the
other side revered. A great part of the Messiahites became

go The Apocalypses
Christians, and then founded their faith on the words of
Jesus and the Apostles, rather than on older Scriptures;
and the Jews cast aside the ideas and the literature that had
promoted Christianity. Both Jews and Christians adopted
theories of inspiration which discredited the literature, and
the doctrines, that intervened between the Old Testament
and the New. There arose a blind reverence for inspired
scripture and authority; and even where and when rational
theology was attempted, it was in narrow lines, and was
alert with no real life. Then the philosophical character
and origin of the Apocalyptical System were forgotten, and
it was thought of, and known, only as a prophecy of an ad
vent of Messiah. And these errors have continued till the
present day, so that, to most persons, now the word apoca
lyptic means prophetic; and this is perhaps the most
serious intellectual error of men, or at least of Christians.

The Book of Daniel.
Before attempting to explain, or to understand, the book
called Daniel, it is well to review what has been said and
thought about it heretofore, and to notice what it super
ficially seems or purports to be
It is made up of six chapters of apparent history, and
six chapters of alleged predictions in the professed form
of visions. Respecting the alleged histories, it may be said, that
they relate most marvelous events, which have interested and
even delighted many readers, and have been incredible and
even absurd to other readers. They have described three
men of great excellence, and a fourth who excelled the others.
They have described wonderful dreams of a heathen king,
which Daniel interpreted, and which became the means of

Daniel's 91
making the heathen king seem to be a receiver of revelations
from God, and of causing that heathen king to say praises
of God such as might be expected only from one of the best
of Jews. They relate wonderful miraculous interpositions
of God for the deliverance of men who were faithful to him.
Respecting these alleged historical facts, scholars have
said that they are not supported by other known histories,
and are largely diverse from other histories. The repre
sentations of Nebuchadnezzar are not sustained by other
records or evidences. His name has been corrupted from
Nebuchadrezzar. There are introduced Belshazzar and
Darius The Mede; and these are persons not known in his
tory, but very different from the known persons of history.
The dates and spaces of time described are sometimes
inconsistent and irreconcilable, and sometimes are such as
scholars deny. The alleged facts about a Daniel are not
corroborated, except by a few mentions of his name in other
places in the Bible; but these passages in fact assert nothing,
and evidence nothing.
Respecting the predictions, it may be said, that practi
cally only one method of treating them has been universal;
with of course many diversities in details. It has been
assumed that the alleged visions and voices were the real
means by which the subject matter was received. It has
been assumed that the last six chapters were forecasts of
special events that were to occur in worldly history. It has
been assumed that the book set fixed points for a com
mencement of certain calculations, and that the many sets
of numbers that are introduced give data, by which may be
reckoned the times at which certain predicted events will
occur. Readers, according to their own caprice or pre
judices, have assumed that these numbers mean so many
days, months, or years. It has been assumed that the ob-

92 The Apocalypses
jective point of all the numbers was the date set for the first
or the second advent of the Messiah, or for a restoration of
the Jewish city and kingdom.
Respecting the treatment in general of the book by
critics, it may be said, that it has been like a football. Its
unity of authorship is disputed, denied, reaffirmed. All sorts
of dissertations about the date of its composition have been
written. Learned theses about internal evidences, gram
matical and linguistic features', and comparisons with other
scriptures of the Prophets, have interested their writers,
and convinced no one. Of course, in all these criticisms,
there has been a tremendous influence of the fact that the
book of Daniel is generally regarded as the source of the
Jewish expectation of a Messiah, and of the titles The
Anointed (Christos) and the Son of Man, and of many
valued parts of the New Testament. Few critics have
shown any interest in the book except as predictive of special
events in history, or of the second advent of Christ, or of the
"End of the world."
A few passages have been universally selected as Mes
sianic, or as prophecies of a Messiah and of his kingdom.
These chapters are notably the seventh, and parts of the
eighth, ninth, and twelfth. Chapter eleventh has been re
garded as a prediction of the conquests and oppressions by
the foreigners in Syria, ending with the death of- Antiochus
Epiphanes, about 164 B. C. By other critics this' chapter
has been regarded as a history of Syria, written for no special
purpose, unless perhaps for deception, but proving that the
book was written after the death of Epiphanes.
And now what are the results of all these studies? In
scholastic results, nothing to indicate that the book will
ever be elucidated by such lines of study. The following
results, however, have been attained. The author of the

Daniel's 93
book is unknown. The date of its writing is doubtful.
The unity of authorship is uncertain; but, whether it had
one author or more, it was put together by some one who was
actuated by a similar disposition towards all the chapters.
Chapters VII and XII are universally accepted as Messianic
prophecies. These two chapters, and the last part of Chap
ter IX, are, to some extent, professedly symbolical and fig
urative; and they are, in fact, identical in general character,
and in many figures, words, and phrases, with features,
books, and chapters of the Hebrew Apocalyptical Literature.
The facts stated above furnish data for a hopeful start
towards the elucidation of the mysteries of the chapters
named, and we might now proceed to make an analysis of
these chapters, and to make a tentative constructive series
of arguments about them.
But such a course would be long and wearisome, and per
haps confusing. And, after it was finished, the proof of
its correctness would rest upon the facts furnished by the
history and the literature of a period before Christ. In
other words, we may say that ultimately the literature of
the Hebrew Apocalyptical System must be taken into view;
and if that system explains Daniel as nothing else does
illuminate it, we must give the explanation the respect that
is its due. It does explain it. It makes clear the sub
stance of the doctrinal declarations, displays the spiritual
disposition of the maker of the book, and makes evident the
nature and meaning of the figures, symbols, numbers, and
alleged histories and prophecies in all the book. It shows
the whole book of Daniel to be symbolical and doctrinal,
and not a set of histories nor a prediction of specific events.
A sufficient preparation for a comparison of Chapters
VII and XII with the Hebrew Apocalyptical System has been
made in preceding pages; and we might at once proceed to

94 The Apocalypses
apply it; but why should there be such a discrimination
between the chapters? In fact, some of the most dis
tinctly Messianic elements of the book are in other chapters;
and the Hebrew Apocalyptical System presents an explan
ation of those other chapters which removes the adverse
criticisms and hard questions which have been prevalent
about them. It is an explanation that sets the book in the
highest plane of sacred literature, and exalts and ennobles it:
for the Apocalyptical System is not an elementary, or crude,
or exhausted and abandoned imaginative dreaminess; but
is the argument for, and the expression of, the whole of
Christianity except what was in Jesus. It is a glorification
of the Creator and of the Messiah, and the formulation of
the law of God's kingdom, and of the assurance of immor
tal life. It is a doctrine of righteousness, divine glory, and
human hopes. It will be shown in subsequent pages that
the Hebrew Apocalyptical System comes to us with the seal
of Isaiah, Zechariah, and Ezekiel set on it in their most
valued and exalted passages, and that it is in the essence
and spirit of some of the most admired and cherished of the
Psalms. When we say that the book of Daniel is all apoca
lyptical, we do not say that it is equal to the last and crowning
book of the New Testament, but we go far towards setting it
in the same class.
Any one who knows the Hebrew Apocalyptical System
and respects it, and also recognizes that chaptersVIIandXII
are of its class of writings, and examines the rest of the book,
asking if that also is apocalyptic, finds the following facts.
Underlying, and inwrought in, the structure of every
chapter, there are, a glorification of the true God and
Creator, a declaration of his kingdom, a representation of
the warfare of sin and righteousness, a representation of
God's chosen people, a triumph of such holy people, a.nd

Daniel's 95
an assurance of God 's triumph in the end. Such, however,
is the substance of Christianity and of all the Bible.
But we can say further, that the features which have
given to most of the chapters of Daniel their peculiar char
acters, their supposed historical characters, are explicable
as apocalyptical symbols, and are not explicable otherwise.
For example, each of the sections, of which there are nine
or ten, introduces a suggestion or a symbol of the Messiah
in some of his characters (either the Son of Man, or the
Testifier, or the Revealer, or the Son of God, or the Lamb,
or the Paraklete), and several of them use for this a symbol
of half-seven. In respect to the date of the composition of the book of
Daniel, it may be said that both its substance and its style
and phrases indicate that it belongs to a late period in the
era in which the Hebrew Apocalyptical System was cher
ished and published. Its omission of explanations, its lack
of argument and of didactic tone, its disregard of historical
accuracy, all indicate that the author only aimed to make a
new statement of familiar ideas, and supposed that they
would reach eyes and ears to which identical doctrines, and
similar figures and phrases, were common. Pioneers in a
creed-propaganda argue, and explain, and make long
statements; and it is only in the late age of a doctrine that
it can be clothed in poetry, and allegories, and parables, "
and outline pictures and phrases.
The author of Daniel wrote for his own age; or, if he
looked beyond that, he did not know that the most of the
literature of his day would be destroyed, that the Doctors,
Scribes, Rabbis, and Pharisees would be almost extermi
nated, that the Holy City would be desolated, that the chosen
people would be partly dispersed and partly killed, and that
the new church, which would arise to cherish his doctrines,

96 The Apocalypses
would be Hellenized and Romanized, and spurn his Jewish
wisdom and his lofty literature.
When two books are very similar in their ideas and their
phrases, but one of them, without being itself plainly full
of what we may call "Padding" or of painful explanations,
is yet much fuller than the other, and also incidentally shows
easily the clear meaning of its phrases, while the other is
condensed, obscure, enigmatical, and incoherent, it is sure
that the larger book is the older, unless both are versions of
some older book. On this principle Daniel is newer than
Enoch, although both may have been produced in the same
year. .
For the reader's convenience, the whole book is here
printed. CHAPTER I.
I In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it.
2 And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, vfith
part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the
land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels
into the treasure house of his god.
3 1[ And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eu.
nuch^, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of
the king's seed, and of the princes;
4 Children in -whom was no blemish, but -well favoured, and
skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding
science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace,
and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the
Chaldeans. S And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king's
meat, and of the wine which he drank: so nourishing them three
years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king.
6 Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel,
Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah :
7 Unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names : for he gav?

Daniel's 97
unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, of Sha
drach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abednego.
8 1[ But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile
himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which
he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that
he might not defile himself.
9 Now God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love with
the prince of the eunuchs.
10 And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my
lord the king, who hath appointed your meat and your drink: for
why should he see your faces worse liking than the children which
are of your sort ? then shall ye make me endanger my head to the king.
II Then said Daniel to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs
had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,
12 Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them
give us pulse to eat, and water to drink.
13 Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and
the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king's
meat: and as thou seest, deal with thy servants.
14 So he consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten
days. 15 And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer
and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion
of the king's meat.
16 Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat, and the
vnne that they should drink ; and gave them pulse.
17 If As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and
skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding
in all visions and dreams.
18 Now at the end of the days that the king had said he should
bring them in, then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before
Nebuchadnezzar. 19 And the king communed with them; and among them all
was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: there
fore stood they before the king.
20 And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the
king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the
magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm.
21 And Daniel continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus.

98 The Apocalypses
CHAPTER II.
I And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebu
chadnezzar dreamed dreams, where-svith his spirit was troubled, and
his sleep brake from him.
2 Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the
astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to shew the
king his dreams. So they come and stood before the king.
3 And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and
my spirit was troubled to know the dream.
4 Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriac, O king, live
for ever : tell thy servants the dream, and we will shew the interpreta
tion. 5 The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing
is gone from me: if ye will not make known unto me the dream,
'with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your
houses shall be made a dunghill.
6 But if ye shew the dream, and the interpretation thereof, ye
shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great honour: therefore
shew me the dream, and the interpretation thereof.
7 They answered again and said, Let the king tell his servants
the dream, and we ¦will shew the interpretation of it.
8 The king answered and said, I know of certainty that ye would
gain the time, because ye see the thing is gone from me.
9 But if ye will not make known unto me the dream, there is but
one decree for you : for ye have prepared lying* and corrupt words to
speak before me, till the time be changed : therefore tell me the dream,
and I shall know that ye can shew me the interpretation thereof.
10 Tf The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said. There
is not a man upon the earth that can shew the king's matter : there
fore tliere is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such things at any
magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean.
1 1 And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none
other that can shew it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling
is not with flesh.
12 For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and com
manded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.
13 And the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain;
and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain.
14 If Then Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom to Arioch

Daniel's

99

the captain of the king's guard, which was gone forth to slay the wise
men of Babylon : ,
IS He answered and said to Arioch the king's captain. Why is
the decree so hasty from the king? Then Arioch made the thing
known to Daniel.
i6 Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would
give him time, and that he would shew the king the interpretation.
17 Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing know to
Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions :
18 That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven con
cerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish
with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
19 If Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision.
Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.
20 Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God
for ever and ever : for wisdom and might are his :
21 And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth
kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and
knowledge to them that know understanding :
22 He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is
in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.
23 I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who
hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me
now what we desired of thee : for thou hast now made known unto us
the king's matter.
24 Tf Therefore Daniel went in unto Arioch, whom the king had
ordained to destroy the vdse men of Babylon : he went and said thus
unto him; Destroy not the wise men of Babylon: bring me in before
the king, and I will shew unto the king the interpretation.
25 Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste, and
said thus unto him, I have found a man of the captives of Judah, that
'will make know unto the king the interpretation.
26 The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was
Belteshazzar, Art thou able to make known unto me the dream which
I have seen, and the interpretation thereof ?
27 Daniel answered in the presnece of the king, and said. The
secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the
astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, shew unto the king;
28 But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh

loo The Apocalypses
known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days.
Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these;
29 As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy
bed, what should come to pass hereafter; and he that revealeth
secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass.
30 But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom
that I have more than any li'ving, but for their sakes that shall make
known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know
the thoughts of thy heart.
31 Tf Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This
great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and
the form thereof was terrible.
32 This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms
of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,
33 His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.
34 Thou sawest till that a stone was Cut out without hands, which
smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake
them to pieces.
35 Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the
gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the
summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no
place was found for them : and the stone that smote the image became
a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
36 Tf This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof
before the king.
37 Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath
given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.
38 And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of
the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine
hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head
of gold. 39 And after thee shal! arise another kingdom inferior to thee,
and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all
the earth.
40 And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch
as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that
breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and briuse.
41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters'
clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be di'vided; but there shall

Daniel's loi
be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron
mixed with miry clay.
42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay,
so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken.
43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall
mingle themselves -with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one
to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
44 And in the days df these kings shall the God of heaven set up
a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed : and the kingdom shall
not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume
all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.
45 Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the
, mountain -without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the
brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made
known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream
is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.
46 Tf Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and wor
shipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation
and sweet odours unto him.
47 The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is,
that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer
of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret.
48 Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many
great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon,
and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon.
49 Then Daniel requested of the king, and he set Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abed-nego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon :
But Daniel sat in the gate of the king.
CHAPTER III.
I Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height
was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up
in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.
2 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the
princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers,
the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to
come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king
had set up.
3 Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the

I02 The Apocalypses
treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the
provinces, were gathered together unto the dedication of the
image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood
before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
4 Then a herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people,
nations, and languages,
5 That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp,
sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and
worship the golden image that Nebachadnezzar the king hath set up :
6 And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same
hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
7 Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the
cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the
people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshipped the
golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
8 Tf Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near, and ac
cused the Jews.
9 They spake and said to the king Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live
for ever.
IO Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall
hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulci
mer, and all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the golden
image: II And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth, that he should
be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
12 There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of
the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego; these
men, O king, have not regarded thee; they serve not thy gods, nor
worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
13 Tf Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to
bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. Then they brought these
men before the king.
14 Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Sha
drach, Meshach, and Abed-nego? do not ye serve my gods, nor
worship the golden image which I have set up?
15 Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the
cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of
music, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well:
but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst

Daniel's 103

of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver
you out of my hands ?
16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, answered and said to the
king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this
matter. 17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the
burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O
king. 18 But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve
thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
19 Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his
visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego:
therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the fur
nace one seven times move than it was wont to be heated.
20 And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army
to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, and to cast them into the
burning fiery furnace.
21 Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and
their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of
the burning fiery furnace.
22 Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and
the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that
took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego.
23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, fell
down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
24 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in
haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three
men bound into the midst of the fire ? They answered and said unto
the king, True, O king.
25 He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, w king in the
midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth
is like the Son of God.
26 Tf Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burn
ing fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed
nego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither.
Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, came forth of the midst
of the fire.
27 And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's coun
sellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies

I04 The Apocalypses
the fire had no power, nor was a hair of their head singed, neither
were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.
28 Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who hath sent his angel, and
delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's
word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship
any god, except their own God.
29 Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and
language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abed-nego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses
shall be made a dunghill; because there is no other God that can de
liver after this sort.
30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego,
in-the province of Babylon. CHAPTER IV.
I Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people, nations, and lan
guages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto
you. 2 I thought it good to shew the signs- and wonders that the high
God hath wrought toward me.
3 How great are his signs! and how mighty are his wonders! his
kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from genera
tion to generation.
4 Tf I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in mine house, and flourishing
in my palace:
S I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts upon my
bed and the -visions of my head troubled me.
6 Therefore made I a decree to bring in all the wise men of Babylon
before me, that they might make known unto me the interpretation
of the dream.
7 Then came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans,
and the soothsayers: and I told the dream before them; but they did
not make known unto me the interpretation thereof.
8 Tf But at the last Daniel came in before me, whose name was
Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god, and in whom is the
spirit of the holy gods: and before him I told the dream, saying,
9 O Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, because I know that
the spirit of the holy gods is in thee, and no secret troubleth thee, tell

Daniel's 105
me the visions of my dream that I have seen, and the interpretation
thereof. 10 Thus were the visions of mine head in ray bed; I saw, and be
hold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was
great. 1 1 The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached
unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth:
12 The leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in
it was meat for all: the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and
the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was
fed of it.
13 I saw in the -visions of my head upon my bed, and, behold, a
watcher and a holy one came down from heaven;
14 He cried aloud, and said thus, Hew down the tree, and cut off
his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit: let the beasts
get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches:
15 Nevertheless, leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even
-with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let
it be wet vrith the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts
in the grass of the earth:
16 Let his heart be changed from man's, and let a beast's heart
be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him.
17 This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand
by the word of the holy ones : to the intent that the living may know
that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to
whomsoever he -will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.
18 This dream I king Nebuchadnezzar have seen. Now thou, O
Belteshazzar, declare the interpretation thereof, forasmuch as all the
wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known unto me the
interpretation: but thou art able; for the spirit of the holy gods is in
thee. 19 Tf Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was astonied for
one hour, and his thoughts troubled him. The king spake, and said,
Belteshazzar, let not the dream, or the interpretation thereof, trouble
thee. Belteshazzar answered and said, My lord, the dream be to
them that hate thee, and the interpretation thereof to thine enemies.
20 The tree that thou sawest, which grew, and was strong, whose
height reached unto the heaven, and the sight thereof to all the earth;
21 Whose leaves were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it

io6 The Apocalypses
was meat for all; under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and upon
whose branches the fowls of the heaven had their inhabitation :
22 It is thou, O king, that art grown and become strong: for thy
greatness is grown, and reacheth unto heaven, and thy domimon to
the end of the earth.
23 And whereas the king saw a watcher and a holy one coming
down from heaven, and saying, Hew the tree down, and destroy it;
yet leave the stump of the roots thereof in the earth, even with a band
of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet
with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the
field, till seven times pass over him;
24 This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the
Most High, which is come upon my lord the king:
25 That they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be
with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as
oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times
shall pass over thee, till thou know that the Most High ruleth in the
kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.
26 And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree
roots; thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt
have known that the heavens do rule.
27 Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee,
and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shew
ing mercy to the poor; if it raay be a lengthening of thy tranquillity.
28 Tf All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar.
29 At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the
kingdom of Babylon.
30 The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have
built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for
the honor of my majesty?
31 While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from
heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The
kingdom is departed from thee.
32 And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be
with the beasts of the field : they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen,
and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the Most
High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he
will. 33 The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar;

Daniel's T07
and he was driven from men, and did cat grass as oxen, and his body
was -wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles'
jeathers, and his nails like birds' claws.
34 And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar hfted up mine
eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I
blessed the Most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth
for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom
is from generation to generation :
35 And all the inhabitants of the earth ore reputed as nothing; and
he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the
inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him,
What doest thou ?
36 At the same time my reason returned unto me; and for the
glory of my kingdom, mine honour and brightness returned unto me;
and my counsellors and my lords sought unto me; and I was estab
lished in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me.
37 Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of
heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those
that walk in pride he is able to abase.
CHAPTER'V.
I Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his
lords, and drank wine before the thousand.
¦^ Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the
' golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken
out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king and his
princes, his wives and his concubines, might drink therein.
3 Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of
the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the
king and his princes, his wives and his concubines, drank in them.
4 They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver,
of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.
5 Tf In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and
wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the
king's palace : and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.
6 Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts
troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his
knees smote one against another.
The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans,

io8 The Apocalypses
and the soothsayers. And the king spake, and said to the wise men
of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew me the inter
pretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, and 'have a chain of
gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.
8 Then came in all the king's wise men: but they could not read
the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation thereof.
9 Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his countenance
was changed in him, and his lords were astonied.
TO Tl Now the queen, by reason of the words of the king and his
lords, came into the banquet house: and the queen spake and said,
O king, live for ever; let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy
countenance be changed :
LI There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the
holy gods; and in the days of thy father light and understanding
and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him; whom
the King Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king, I say, thy father made
master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers;
12 Forasmuch as an excellen, spirit, and knowledge, and under
standing, interpreting of dreams, and shewing of hard sentences, and
dissolving of doubts, were found in the same Daniel, whom the king
named Belteshazzar; now let Daniel be called, and he will shew
the interpretation. 13 Then was Daniel brought in before the king. And the king
spake and said unto Daniel, Art thou that Daniel, which art of the
children of the captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought •
out of Jewry ?
14 I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in
thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found
in thee. 15 And now the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in
before me, that they should read this writing, and make known unto
me the interpretation thereof; but they could not shew the interpreta
tion of the thing;
16 And I have heard of thee, that thou canst make interpre
tations, and dissolve doubts : now if thou canst read the writing, and
make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed
with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be
the third ruler in the kingdom.
17 Tt Then Daniel answered and said before the king. Let thy

Daniel's 109
gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet I will read
the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation.
18 O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy
father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour;
19 And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and
langugages, trembled and feared before him; whom he would he
slew; and whom he would he kept ahve; and whom he would he
set up; and whom he would he put down.
20 But when his heart was hfted up, and his mind hardened in
pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory
from him:
2 1 And he was driven from the sons of men ; and his heart was
made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they
fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of
heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom
of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will.
22 And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart,
though thou knewest all this;
23 But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and
they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou
and thy lords, thy wives and thy concubines, have drunk wine in
them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass,
iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the
God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast
thou not glorified ;
24 Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing
was written.
25 Tf And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE,
TEKEL, UPHARSIN.
26 This is the interpretation of the thing; MENE ; God hath
numbered thy kindgom, and finished it.
27 TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found
wanting. 28 PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and
Persians. 29 Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with
scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclama
tion concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.
30. Tf In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain .

IIO The Apocalypses
31 And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about three
score and two years old. CHAPTER VI.
I It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom a hundred and
twenty princes, which should be over the whole kingdom;
2 And over these three presidents; of whom Daniel was first:
that the princes might give accounts unto them, and the king should
have no damage.
3 Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes,
because an excellent spirit was jn him; and the king thought to set
him over the whole realm.
4 Tf Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion
against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find none
occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there
any error or fault found in him.
5 Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against
this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his
God. 6 Then these presidents and princes assembled together to the
king, and said thus unto him. King Darius, live for ever.
7 All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, and the
princes, the counsellors, and the captains, have consulted together
to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever
shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee,
O king, he shall be cast into the den of hons.
8 Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that
it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians,
which altereth not.
9 Wherefore king Darius signed the writing and the decree.
10 Tf Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he
went into his house; and, his windows being open in his chamber
toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day,
and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.
II Then these men assembled, and found Daniel praying and
making supplication before his God.
12 Then they came near, and spake before the king concerning
the king's decree; Hast thou not signed a decree, that every man
that shall ask a petition of any God or man within thirty days, save

Daniel's iii
of thee, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions ? The king answered
and said. The thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and
Persians, which altereth not.
13 Then answered they and said before the king, That Daniel,
which is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee,
O king, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition
three times a day.
14 Then the king, when he heard these words, was sore displeased
with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him: and he
laboured till the going down of the sun to deliver him.
15 Then these men assembled unto the king, and said unto the
king, Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is. That
no decree nor statute which the king establisheth may be changed.
16 Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and
cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto
Daniel, Thy God whom thou serVest continually, he will deliver thee.
17 And a stone was brought and laid upon the mouth of the den;
and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his
lords; that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel.
18 Tf Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fast
ing : neither were instruments of music brought before him : and his
sleep went from him.
19 Then the king arose very early in the morning, and went in
haste unto the den of lions.
20 And when he came to the den he cried with a lamentable voice
unto Daniel; and the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant
of the li-ring God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to
deliver thee from the lions ?
2 1 Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live for ever.
22 My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths,
that they have not hurt me : forasmuch as before him innocency was
found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt.
23 Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and commanded
that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken
up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, be
cause he believed in his God.
24 Tf And the king commanded, and they brought those men
which had accused Daniel, and they cast tliem into the den of lions,
them, their children, and their wives; and the hons had the mas-

112 The Apocalypses
tery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces, or ever they came
at the bottom of tbe den.
25 Tf Then king Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and
languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you.
26 I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom
men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the living
God, and steadfast for ever, and his kingdom that which shall not
be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end.
27 He delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders
in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power
of the lions.
28 So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the
reign of Cyrus the Persian. CHAPTER VII.
I In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a
dream and visions of his head upon his bed; then he wrote the
dream, and told the sum of the matters.
2 Daniel spake and said, I saw in my -rision by night, and,
behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.
3 And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from
another. 4 The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till
the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth,
and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given
to it. 5 And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it
raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it
between the teeth of it; and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour
much flesh.
6 After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had
upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads;
and dominion was given to it.
7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast
dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron
teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue
with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were
before it; and it had ten horns.
8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them

Daniel's 113
another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns
plucked up by the roots; and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the
eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.
9 Tl I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of
days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head
like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels
as burning fire.
10 A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thou
sand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten
thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books
were opened.
Ill beheld then, because of the voice of the great words which
the horns spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body
destroyed, and given to the burning flame.
12 As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their domin
ion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and
time. 13 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of
man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of
days, and. they brought him near before him.
14 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom,
that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him ; his domimon
is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his king
dom that which shall not be destroyed.
15 Tf I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body,
and the 'visions of my head troubled me.
16 I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him
the truth of all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpre
tation of the things.
17 These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall
arise out of the earth.
18 But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and
possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.
19 Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was
diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were oj
iron, and his nails oj brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and
stamped the residue wiin his feet.
20 And of the ten horns that were in his head, and oj the other
which came up, and before whom three fell; even oj that horn that

114 The Apocalypses

had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was
more stout than his fellows.
21 I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and
prevailed against them;
22 Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to
the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed
the kingdom. 23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom
upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall
devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall
arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from
the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
25 And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and
shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times
and laws; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and
(imes and the dividing of time.
26 But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his
dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.
27 And the kingdom and dominion, and the great6ess of the
kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the
saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and all dominions shall serve and obey him.
28 Hitherto is the end of the matter. As for me Daniel, my
cogitations much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me;
but I kept the matter in my heart.
CHAPTER VIII.
I In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision ap
peared unto me, even unto me Daniel, after that which appeared unto
me at the first.
2 And I saw in a vision; and it came to pass, when I saw, that I
was at Shushan in the palace, which is in the province of Elam; and
I saw in a vision, and I was by the river of Ulai.
3 Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood
before the river a rara which had two horns : and the two horns were
high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last.
4 I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and south-
Ward; so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was there

Daniel's 115
any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will,
and became great.
5 And as I was considering, behold, a he goat came from the west on
the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground; and the goat
had a notable horn between his eyes.
6 And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen
standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power.
7 And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with
choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns ; and
there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him
down to the ground, and stamped upon him: and there was none
that could deliver the ram out of his hand.
8 Therefore the he goat waxed ver}' great; and when he was
strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable
ones toward the four winds of heaven.
9 And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed
exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward
the pleasant land.
10 And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down
some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon
them. 1 1 Yea, he magnified himselj even to the prince of the host, and by
him the daily sacrijice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary
was cast down.
12 And a host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason
of, transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it
practised, and prospered.
13 Tf Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto
that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concern
ing the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both
the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?
14 And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred
days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.
15 TI And it came to pass, when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vislion,
and sought for the meaning, then, behold, there stood before me as
the appearance of a man.
16 And I heard a man's voice between llie banks oj Ulai, which
called, and said, Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.
17 So he came near where I stood: and when he came, I was afraid,

1 1 6 The Apocalypses
and fell upon my face : but he said unto me, Understand, O son of
man ; for at the time of the end shall be the -rision.
1 8 Now as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep on my
face toward the ground; but he touched me, and set me upright.
19 And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the
last end of the indignation; for at the time appointed the end shall be.
20 The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of
Media and Persia.
21 And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn
that is between his eyes is the first king.
22 Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, fcur king
doms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors
are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding
dark sentences, shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power : and
he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall
destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his
hand; and he shall magnify himselj in his heart, and by peace shall
destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;
but he shall be broken without hand.
26 And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told
is true; wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many
days. 27 And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days; afterward I
rose up, and did the king's business; and I was astonished at the
vision, but none understood it.

CHAPTER IX
In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the
Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans;
2 In the first year of his reign, I Daniel understood by books the
number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jere
miah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the
desolations of Jerusalem.
3 Tf And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and
supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes ;
4 And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession.

Daniel's 117
and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant
and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his command
ments; 5 We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done
wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts
and from thy judgments:
6 Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which
spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all
the people of the land.
7 O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion
of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, and .unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off,
through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of
their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.
8 O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our
princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.
9 To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though
we have rebelled against him;
10 Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to
walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.
II Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing,
that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon
us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God,
because we have sinned against him.
12 And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us,
and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great
evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been
done upon Jerusalem
13 As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon
us; yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we
might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.
14 Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil, and brought
it upon us: for the Lord our God is righteous in aU his works which
he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice.
15 And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people
forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten
thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly.
16 TI O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee
let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem,

1 1 8 The Apocalypses

thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our
lathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that
are about us.
17 Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant,
and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary
that is desolate, for the Lord's sake.
18 O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and
behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name : for
we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteous
nesses, but for thy great mercies.
19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do;
defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people
are called by thy name.
20 Tf And while I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my
sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication
before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God;
21 Yea, while I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel,
whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly
swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.
22 And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel,
I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.
23 At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came
forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved : there
fore understand the matter, and consider the vision.
24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy
holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and
to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righ
teousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the
Most Holy.
25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of
the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, unto the
Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two
weeks : the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous
times. 26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off,
but not for himself; and the people of the prince that shall come shall
destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a
flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week;

Daniel's

119

and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the
oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall
make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined
shall be poured upon the desolate.
CHAPTER X.
In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a thing was revealed unto
Daniel; whose name was called Belteshazzar; and the thing was true,
but the time appointed was long; and he understood the thing, and
had understanding of the vision.
2 In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks.
3 I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my
mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were
fulfilled. 4 And in the four and twentieth day of the first month, as I was by
the side of the great river, which is Hiddekel;
S Then I lifted up mine eyes, and 'looked, and behold a certain
man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of
Uphaz; 6 His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance
of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet
like in colour to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the
voice of a multitude.
7 And I Daniel alone saw the vision ; for the men that were with
me saw not the vision; but a great quaking fell upon them, so that
they fled to hide themselves.
8 Therefore I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there
remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me
into corruption, and I retained no strength.
9 Yet heard I the voice of his words : and when I heard the voice
of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on ray face, and my face
toward the ground.
10 TI And, behold, a hand touched me, which set me upon my
knees and upon the palms of my hands.
II And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, under
stand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright; for unto
thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me,
I stood trembling.
12 Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel; for from the first day

I20 The Apocalypses
that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyseli
before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.
13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and
twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help
me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.
14 Now I am come to make thee understand what shaU befall thy
people in the latter days: for yet the vision is for many days.
15 And when he had spoken such words unto me, I set my face
toward the ground, and I became dumb.
16 And, behold, one like the similitude of the sons of men touched
my lips ; then I opened my mouth, and spake, and said unto him that
stood before me, O my lord, by the vision my sorrows are turned upon
me, and I have retained no strength.
17 For how can the servant of this my lord talk with this my lord?
for as for me, straightway there remained no strength in me, neither
is there breath left in me.
18 Then there came again and touched me one like the appearance
of a man, and he strengthened me,
19 And said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee;
be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was
strengthened, and said. Let my lord speak; for thou hast strengthened
me. 20 Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee ? and
now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia; and when I am
gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come.
21 But I will shew thee that which is noted in the Scripture of
truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but
Michael your prince.
CHAPTER XI.
I Also I in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I, stood to confirm
and to strengthen him.
2 And now will I shew thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand
up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than
they all: and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all
against the realm of Grecia.
3 And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great do
minion, and do according to his will.
4 And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and

Daniel's 121
shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his
posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled; for his
kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others besides those.
5 Tf And the king of the south shall be strong, and one of his princes;
and he shall be strong above him, and have dominion; his dominion
shall be a great dominion.
6 And in the end of years they shall join themselves together; for
the king's daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north
to make an agreement; but she shall not retain the power of the
arm; neither shall she stand, nor his arm; but she shall be given up,
and they that brought her, and he that begat her, and he that
strengthened her in these times.
7 But out of a branch of her roots shall one stand up in his estate,
which shall come with an army, and shall enter into the fortress of
the king of the north, and shall deal against them, and shall prevail:
8 And shall also carry captives into Egypt their gods, with their
princes, and with their precious vessels of sliver and of gold; and he
shall continue more years than the king of the north.
9 So the king of the south shall come into his kingdom, and shall
return into his own land.
10 But his sons shall be stirred up, and shall assemble a multitude
of great forces : and one shall certainly come, and overflow, and pass
through : then shall he return, and be stirred up, even to his for
tress. II And the king of the south shall be moved with choler, and
shall come forth and fight -with him, even with the king of the north;
and he shall set forth a great multitude; but the multitude shall be
given into his hand.
12 And when he hath taken away the multitude, his heart shall be
lifted up; and he shall cast down many ten thousands; but he shall
not be strengthened by it.
13 For the king of the north shall return, and shall set forth a
multitude greater than the former, and shall certainly come after
certain years with a great army and with much riches.
14 And in those times there shall many stand up against the king
of the south: also the robbers of thy people shall exalt themselves to
establish the vision; but they shall fall.
15 So the king of the north shafl come, and cast up a mount, and
take the most fenced cities; and the arms of the south shall not

122 The Apocalypses

vrithstand, neither his chosen people, neither shall there be any strength
to withstand.
1 6 But he that cometh against him shall do according to his own
will, and none shall stand before him: and he shall stand in the
glorious land, which by his hand shall be consumed.
17 He shall also set his face to enter with the strength of his whole
kingdom, and upright ones with him; thus shall he do; and he shall
give him the daughter of women, corrupting her: but she shall not
stand on his side, neither be for him.
18 After this shall he turn his face unto the isles, and shall take
many; but a prince for his own behalf shall cause the reproach of
fered by him to cease; without his own reproach he shall cause it to
turn upon him.
19 Then he shall turn his face toward the fort of his own land:
but he shall stumble and fall, and not be found.
20 Then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes in the glory
of the kingdom: but within few days he shall be destroyed, neither
in anger nor in battle.
21 And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall
not give the honour of the kingdom : but he shall come in peaceably,
and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.
22 And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before
him, and shall be broken; yea, also the prince of the covenant.
23 And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully:
for he shall come uo, and shall become strong with a small people.
24 He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the
province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor
his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil,
and riches:, yea, and he shall forecast liis devices against the strong
holds, even for a time.
25 And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king
of the south with a great army; and the king of the south shall be
stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army; but he shall
not stand ; fpr they shall forecast devices against him.
26 Yea, they that feed of the portion of his meat shall destroy him,
and his army shall overflow: and many shall fall down slain.
27 And both these kings' hearts shall be to do mischief, and they
shall speak lies at one table; but it shall not prosper: for yet the end
shall be at the time appointed.

Daniel's

123

28 Then shall he return into his land with great riches; and his
heart shall be against the holy covenant; and he shall do exploits,
and return to his own land.
29 At the time appointed he shall return, and come toward the
south; but it shaU not be as the former, or as the latter.
30 Tf For the ships of Chittim shall come against him : therefore he
shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy
covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence
with them that forsake the holy covenant.
31 And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the
sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and
they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.
32 And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt
by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong,
and do exploits.
33 And they that understand among the people shall instruct many;
yet they shall faU by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by
spoil, many days.
34 Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help;
but many shall cleave to them with flatteries.
35 And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them,
and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end:
because it is yet for a time appointed.
36 And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt
himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak
marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the
indignation be accomplished : for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of
women, nor regard any god; for he shall magnify himself above all.
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god
whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and
with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god,
whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall
cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain.
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at
him and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind,
with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shaU,
enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.

124 The Apocalypses
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries
shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even
Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries; and
the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver
and over all the precious things of Egypt; and the Libyans and the
Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
44 But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble
him; therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly
to make away many.
4S And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the
seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and
none shall help him. CHAPTER XII.
1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which
standeth for the children of thy people ; and there shall be a time of
trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same
time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that
shall be found written in the book.
2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake.
some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt,
3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firma
ment; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever
and ever.
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even
to the time of the end : many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall
be increased.
5 Tf Then I Daniel looked, and, behold, there stood other two, the
one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side
of the bank of the river.
6 And 07ie said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the
waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders ?
7 And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters
of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto
heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever, that it shall be for a
time, times, and a half; and when he shall have accomplished to
scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.

Daniel's 125
8 And I heard, but I understood not; then said I, O my Lord, what
shall be the end of these things?
9 And he said. Go thy way, Daniel; for the words are closed up and
sealed till the time of the end.
10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the
wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand;
but the wise shall understand.
II And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away
and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a
thousand two hundred and ninety days.
12 Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three
hundred and five and thirty days.
13 But go thou thy way tiU the end 6e.- for thou shall rest, and stand
in thy lot at the end of the days.

DANIEL'S CHAPTER I.
This and the following chapter constitute one section;
but the first chapter is introductory, and serves to set up
some allegorical framework for later pictures, and to intro
duce Daniel as a symbolical personage.
It sets for a date the conquest of Jerusalem by Nebuch
adnezzar. At this time Daniel was an ungrown and un
educated child, or else afterwards he obtained an extreme
age. Verses 11 to 16 imply extreme youth. Verses 17 to
20 imply an already finished education. Nebuchadnezzar
is called King of Babylon. In reality, he was then his
father's lieutenant; and did not become king till the next
year (604 b. c). The chief characteristic of the chapter
is, that it exhibits a young Jew, Daniel, in the character
which he is to bear in the later chapters, where he is to be a
typical explainer of Divine Mysteries, Receiver of Divine
Truth, and Witness for God.
Daniel is made to stand in the character of chief of four.
Inasmuch as the book of Enoch (Ch. XCIII, see page 84)

126 The Apocalypses
sets an example of a habit of calling a fourth man a type of
The Son of Man, and of The Word of God, and of Half-
seven, a suggestion arises that this book designs to use
Daniel, an imaginary personage, as an emblem of The Son
of Man, as a Witness for God, and Explainer of Truth,
and especially as an explainer or declarer of the Apoca
lyptical System. This suggestion is made a certainty by
later chapters. That The Word of God is a revealer, is
one of the leading ideas in Philo's philosophy; and that
The Chosen One, The Son of Man, is such a revealer, is a
prominent declaration of Enoch. (See page 77.)
The author of Daniel has not cared to defend the asser
tion that a captive and a youth could become a favorite of a
foreign king; nor cared to explain whether Daniel's prefer
ment was for his Hebrew or his Chaldaic wisdom. , He is
content to show Daniel as one of God's people, and full of
God's wisdom, and testifying among heathen.
Verse 21 says that Daniel continued unto the first year
of King Cyrus. The interval (to 538 b. c.) was sixty-six years.
What is meant by "continued" is not clear; and what then
happened is not known. The author seems to want to
mention Cyrus. Why? A possible answer is contained
in the facts that he thus puts Daniel and Cyrus into one
period, and that in later chapters (VI 28, see page 136)
he makes Cyrus a type of The Anointed One; which per
haps explains why Isaiah XLIV, 28, XLV, I, also calls
Cyrus "The Anointed" (Messiah).
DANIEL'S CHAPTER II.
Verse i sets its date in the second year of Nebuchad
nezzar; therefore two 3'ears after the captivity began. If
this were history, it would reopen the question of Daniel's

Daniel's 127
age and education; but in an allegory, or parable, this
point is insignificant.
The king has a dream ; and Daniel is the revealer of its
alleged secret, which is in fact the Apocalyptical System.
He makes an occasion to declare (verse 28) the existence of
God in heaven, and the certainty of the Divine Decrees.
What the king was said to have seen, was an image, of
which four (or six) parts are specified (verses 32 to 35);
and in Daniel's interpretation of the dream these four parts
are called four successive kings or kingdoms.
Our interpretation of this alleged dream, or rather of
Daniel's interpretation of it, must depend on the question,
Is the narration symbolical or prophetic? It has always
been regarded as prophesy. Nevertheless, a great many
considerations forbid that view; and a great many consid
erations require us to view the narrative as a symbolical
declaration of features of the Hebrew Apocalyptical System.
The four parts of the image are evidently four forms of
wickedness which God hates and will destroy by the king
dom of The Anointed One. It is the same idea that in
other books is figured as four beasts which the kingdom
destroys. The fact that these parts are called kings and kingdoms
and successive, is of no significance for the interpretation.
Such is the manner* of allegorical or apocalyptical writings.
The same method is used in Chapter VII, in explanation of
the beasts in that chapter. Enoch and St. John do the same
thing as this chapter, calling certain kinds of sin kings and
kingdoms. There is a special reason for doing it in this
chapter, because the author is declaring in verse 44 the real
ity, the nature, the power, and the future, of the kingdom
of Messiah. In that verse 44, the author publishes his
*See pages 64 and 137 for fuUer statements of such symbolism,

128 The Ap jcalypses
notice that the chapter is apocalyptical, and that all its
parts must be interpreted as symbols of the Apocalyptical
System. In the literature of that system, as has been
shown on page 64, it was common to make S3Tnbols of
the kinds of human sin as two, three, four, five, six, seven,
eight, and ten.
The addresses of Daniel to God (verses, 20 to 23) and to
the king (verses, 27 to 45) are simply declarations of the
doctrines of the Hebrew Apocalyptical System. They name
The God of Heaven; his fixed purposes which will be ful
filled; the ignorance of men without divine help; the Word
of God as a Revealer; the kingdom of God on Earth, and
its assured triumph, universality and perpetuity.
That the king should credit and reward Daniel, and be
pleased, would be strange history; but the whole story is
plainly only a way of declaring Hebrew doctrine.
The four parts of the image, and the catastrophe in the
midst of the fourth, are the author's way of using the sym
bol half-seven. It brings in the kingdom of the Messiah
in conjunction with the fourth thing in a set or series; and
this is a favorite method with the author of Daniel, as has
been said on page 70.
The figure of a hill or mountain from which a part is
cut without hands is also used in II Esdras XIII, 36: but
its origin is obscure. Perhaps the phrase "Cut without
hands" may be intended to suggest both that God was the
cutter, and that it was ' ' Before the foundation of the world. "
DANIEL'S CHAPTER III.
This chapter by itself constitutes a whole section of thft
book, exhibiting in new symbols a large part of the Hebrew
Apocalyptical System. The true God is proclaimed in

Daniel's 129
strong declarations and vivid figures. The wickedness of
men is figured as the disposition and acts of a heathen king
and his counselors, and as an ostentatiously displayed
idolatrous statue demanding worship. The contest of
God's kingdom, and the testimony of righteous men are
figured as three saints. The punishment of the wicked by
fire, while the righteous are saved and are with the Son of
God, is exactly the same representation that is common in
Enoch and in St. John's Apocalypse.
Verse 25 brings in the symbols of the presence of The
Son of God. He is the fourth, the Half-seven. He is repre
sented as seen only by the king. The author may not have
cared to do anything more than to make the suggestion of
the Half-seven and the presence of The Son of God; but it is
a custom of the Apocalyptical Literature to give prominence
to the recognition of The Son, under some one of his many
names, by wicked men, who both fear and glorify him.
(See pages 80 and 81 for what Enoch says.) This is what
John does in Rev. VI, 16. When the chapter closes, at verse
30, it has exhibited a Son of God between two mentions of
three men, and completed the symbol seven.
DANIEL'S CHAPTER IV.
This chapter constitutes a complete section. It begins
in the usual way of the Apocalyptical Literature, with pro
clamation of the true God, and of his purposes and his eter
nal dominion. Again the fiction of a dream is used for the
rhetorical dress of the ideas which are to be proclaimed.
The reason for the figuring of the king as a tree may perhaps
be found in his name; for the last part of its corrupted
Hebrew form, nezer, means a sprout, or branch (as in Dan.
XI, 7), and the verb nazar means to be in full foliage. This

130 The Apocalypses
is a common idea in the Apocalyptical Literature. Enoch
(Chap. 91) says, "Oppression will be cut off from its roots
* * * the unrighteous roots will be cut ofif * * * and the
roots of the revilers will be cut ofif. " We shall see later that
the words of John The Baptist, in Luke III, g, may have this
apocalyptical origin. He says there, "The axe is laid unto
the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which bringeth
not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into fire. "
As a history, this chapter is unsupported, and would be
incredible. The proclamation by the heathen king is such
as only an orthodox Hebrew, familiar with the Apocalyptical
literature, would or could write. The king recognises a
"Holy One" (verse 13), and "The Most High" and his
"Kingdom." (verse 17). These recognitions are, however,
put in the mouth of one who is called a "Holy One and a
Watcher" (verses 13 and 23), and these names "Watcher
and Holy One" are Enoch's especial words; e. g., "All
his deeds were with the holy ones, and with the watchers.
* * * Behold the watchers called to me. * * * announce
to the watchers of heaven * * * " (Chapter XII). "This
is the admonition of the watchers who are from eternity,
as the Holy and Great One commanded." (Chapter XIV).
"These are the names of the holy angels who watch * * *"
(Chapter XX).
The marvelous story of what came upon King Nebuchad
nezzar is unsustained by history, and is incredible. A
crazy king in Babylon would not have been allowed to
fare and act so ill. But as a statement of the Apocalyp
tical System these representatives are complete and ad
mirable. The author, without apology, changes his simile of a
tree into that of a beast, in verse 25. The use of beasts as
a symbol of human wickedness is universal in the Apocalypti-

Daniel's 131
cal literature; and perhaps the shortest, simplest, and most
convincing way of making this chapter and its symbols
clear, will be to sketch here a certain line of ideas and figures
from Philo and others.
Philo makes Cain a symbol of wickedness; and what
Philo says of Cain explains many things in St. John's
Apocalypse. He makes Cain a symbol of pride of possession
because his name signifies possession (or acquisition); and
of false doctrine, because he justified himself; and of beast
liness, because he was ferocious; and of living death in
sin, because God let him exist under a ban. Philo, among
many other things, says:
"Why is a sign put on him who had slain his brother?
Because the change of the nature of living is a kind of death.
Life in the flesh is not life. God lays down a principle * * *
not slaying the homicide, but * * * secluding him from
the class of rational creatures, as one who hg,s been banished,
and turned into the nature of beasts." (Questions and Solu
tions, I, 8.) (See more quotations on pages 261, 288.)
"Moses has never mentioned Cain's death; showing enigmati
cally that, like the fabulous monster Scylla, folly is an evil which
never entirely perishes and yet * i= ='' is never free from death * * *
As the poet says of Scylla, he is not a mortal, but an endless woe."
(On tlie Worst Plotting Against the Better. Ch. 48.)
Philo's uses of Cain as a symbol will be more fully shown
on later pages. They explain St. John's mysterious say
ings in Rev. XIII, 3, 14, about the beast that "Received a
deadly wound, and yet lived," and whose number, in the
sum of the numerical value of its separate letters, is 666.
It will be shown later that 666 is Cain in the Greek form,
(Xo-'i^v) and also achidna (a^idva) viper. (See pages 264,
266.) It is certain that these ideas, about Cain as a symbol,
were ancient, and widely spread among Jews. And now

132 The Apocalypses
come forward curious facts. Let him, who can, declare their
significance. The name, as Nebukkadanezar, and several
other permissible ways of spelling the king's name, make
the number 666. The middle consonants of his name,
(kdn) are the consonants of the Aramaic form of the name
viper. Is there not here much* reason for believing that what
is said in this chapter, about Nebuchadnezzar, is simply a
new version of a set of ideas and sayings then common,
about Cain as a symbol of greediness, wickedness, and
living death ?
The other peculiarities of the remainder of the chapter
after verse 31 justify such a belief. The phrase "Seven
times shall pass over thee" (verse 32) has no definite mean
ing. Is it straining too much to say, that "Seven times
shall pass over thee until thou know that the Most High
ruleth," may be the common doctrine that, at the end of
time (symbolized by seven), God will triumph in power and
in- grace ?
The restoration of the King may be only a suggestion
of the divine grace, which is the great purpose of the existence
of all things, and which will at last be evident in the bliss
of the penitent and redeemed souls. Of course, Nebuchad
nezzar never did, and never would praise the true God,
and especially would not if he regarded him as the author
'''The sum of the letters of the king's name as numbers is dis
putable. Its value is 666 in Greek letters only. The Shemitic lan
guages used only consonants as numerals. The real name of the
king was Nabukuduriuzur. It was written, in the Shemitic language,
Nbukdratsr (the a, in this, being a weak aspirate consonant). It
was variously pronounced in Shemitic languages by the insertion
of e and a in the syllables, probably a in the last three, because Ara
maic a usually became 0 in Greek, and the Greek form of the name-
which was deiived from the Aramaic, was N aboukodonosor .

Daniel's 133
of his calamity. Daniel's interpretation of the dream would
be of doubtful acceptability, but it serves admirably as a
synjbol of The Revealer making God known in his triumphs.

DANIEL'S CHAPTER V.
This cliapter has the appearance of a history. In fact,
however, scholars have not been able to make it agree with
authenticated history, although ingenuity and scholarship
have made great efforts. The king of Babylonia, when the
city was captured, was Nabunahit, and he was not present
in the city. That he had a son named Belshazzar is as
serted, but he was not a descendant of Nebuchadnezzar as
said in verses 2 and 18. That the city was captured in the
manner asserted by Herodotus, and implied in Daniel, is now
doubted and disputed. There was no Darius the Mede
known in history, and no Persian king Darius until many
years later. The city was captured by Cyrus the Persian king.
All these points are important in viewing this chapter as a his
tory; but they are insignificant if the author is using a loose
resemblance to history, as a framework on which to place sym
bols of the doctrines of the Hebrew Apocalyptical System.
This chapter, as apocalyptical, exhibits or declares all
the principles of the Hebrew Apocalyptical System, and
many of its symbols. The true God is suggested by mention
ing the vessels of his temple, and the conflicting wickedness
by a revel of the heathen (verse 3). The eternal purposes
of God are exhibited as a writing on a wall by a mysterious
hand. The Word of God is again represented by Daniel
the revealer of secrets. The interpretation of the inscrip
tions and Daniel's discourse (verses 17 to 29) suggest the
most of the rest of the Apocalyptical System.
The inscription itself is remarkable. It can mean several

134 The Apocalypses
things in various Aramaic dialects. As "Meneh, tekel,
upharsin," it can mean ' ' He has divided. He has portioned.
And (Lo!) The Persians!" This might accord with the
historical traditions, but not with a conquest by Medes.
Daniel's own interpretation takes up the roots of the words,
and bases the explanation on them only. "Meneh, Tekel
u P'res (or Ph'ras) might mean "He has divided the Tigris
and the Euphrates." This also might be like the historical
tradition that Cyrus diverted, into a great number of
ditches, the waters of the Gyndes, an affluent of the Tigris,
and those of the Euphrates, which flowed under the walls
of Babylon. As "Meneh, Meneh, Tekel, Ph'ras" (or Peres
or Pharis) it means, "A Measure (or weight), A Measure,
A Portion, A Half." This is a plain symbol of Half-seven.
Dean Farrar, without seeing what his observation might
suggest, observes that these words may mean, "A Mna (or
Mina), a Mna, a Shekel and a Half." The word meneh
means to divide, and weight, in various Shemitic languages.
The Assyrians had already adopted it, and inscribed it on
some standard weights now in the museums. The Greeks
adopted it, and used it as the name of the coin mtm or mina.
Daniel could scarcely have found a word about which, in
itself, there was less mystery.
Whatever other meanings the inscription may have, it
was just such a symbol of Half-seven as the one so often
used, "Time, times and half a time." Besides this, in
the Apocalyptical System it suggested much more as ex
plained by Daniel. "God hath numbered" suggests the
"Number of the beast" (Rev. XIII, i8), the number
666 which is the number of Cain and of Nebukkadanezar.
All the words of the inscription suggest division; and the
idea that the Word of God (the Messiah) is a Divider is
one of the most important ones in the Apocalyptical System.

Daniel's 135
The last verses of the chapter, like the last in Chapter iv,
would be amazing, as history. IPhat a terror stricken king,
in the hour of his wreck, should exalt the interpreter of the
words of the hated and mocked God who had brought him
to judgment is incredible. That he should make this inter
preter, who was a captive of war, a Prince, merely for a
few words, is incredible. But these verses, as a vehicle
for the idea that, in the ruin of the wicked, the true God
and his people are exalted, are admirable, and have
always been so recognized.
Verse 31 says, "Darius the Median took the kingdom,
being about sixty-two years old." In fact it was Cyrus the
Persian who took Babylon, he having many years before
become king of Persia and Media. The statement that he
was sixty-two years old at the time is, at the best, curious.
No Darius a Median is known. No Darius a Persian reigned
till many years later. Why is there such care to tell his
age? History does not answer the questions. But if the
name Darius and the number sixty-two are symbols we have
clues. We know, from Isaiah XLIV, 28: XLV, i, that,
in the Hebrew Apocalyptical System, there was some kind
of use of Cyrus as a symbol of "The Anointed One." If
Daniel could mean to introduce that symbolism, there
would be a necessity for naming three predecessors; be
cause, in the Apocalyptical Symbols, the Word of God
(Messiah etc.) is a fourth, or the middle one of seven.
In Chapter IX, 25, 26, Daniel introduces the number
sixty-two. It is an important symbol in his system, as one
of the subdivisions of the number seventy weeks; and is a
symbol of the measureless eternity in which God existed
before he began to plan creation. Now, if the author of
Daniel only wanted to introduce the common symbols, and
knew that his readers at that time would understand his

136 The Apocalypses
purpose, and if the name Darius, and the pretence of history,
were of no significance or importance in the matter, the
number sixty-two comes in reasonably as a symbol. In that
case, however, if the symbolisms are like those of Chapter
IX, and if Cyrus is a symbol of The Anointed, there is
needed a symbol of another intervening "Seven weeks,"
and this must be either the subsequent reign of the imaginary
Darius, or the subsequent life of Daniel, as in VI, 28.

DANIEL'S CHAPTER VI.
This chapter continues the fiction of a king Darius; but
does not pretend to say anything about the locality of the
occurrences. Under Cyrus, after the fall of Babylon, the
kingdoms of Assyria, Persia, Media, and Babylonia were
united, and had several great cities.
Again all the features of the Hebrew Apocalyptical System
are repeated. The true God is declared by Daniel. The
eternal decrees of the true God are brought in conflict with
the decrees of a heathen king and the passions of his ad
herents. There is the usual struggle. The heathen in the
case are not represented as beasts; but their power and
ways are symbolized as lions which they use. The Son of
Man is again symbolized in Daniel. This heathen king,
like others in the apocalyptical books, is made to acknowledge
and honor the true God, and his decrees, and his everlasting
kingdom. There is a triumph of God and his people over
both sin and false doctrine. Verse 27 suggests all the last
half of the Apocalyptical System and also the symbolical
signs and wonders in heaven and earth, which are so large
a part in all the Apocalyptical literature.
Verse 28 is inexplicable as history, but, as apocalyptical
and symbolical, it connects Daniel and Cyrus as symbols of

Daniel's 137
the Messiah. If this is like Chapter IX, 25, 25, Darius is
sixty-two (weeks), Cyrus and Daniel are seven-sevens(weeks)
and one week (or seven) : but th'p seven and half-seven sym
bolisms are here obscure.
The reader must be somewhat familiar with theApoca-
lyptical System before he can appreciate the skill and delicacy
with which the apocalyptical figures are brought in. The
man who is a type of Messiah, as revealer, prays (testifies)
three times (verse xo); then comesthe supreme contest. Then
he encounters the beasts. He has reached the fourth or
middle time of seven. His God delivers him, and he enters
on a period of honor. The wicked are thrown into the pit.
Daniel describes his deliverance as by a ministry of an Angel,
and by God's judgment and his righteousness. All these are
features of the Hebrew Apocalyptical System, are closely
like St. John's symbols, and indicate that the whole system
was complete and familiar when Daniel was written. Even
the setting the king's seal on the lion's den (verse 17) suggests
the "Mark of the Beast" (Rev. XIII, 17), and Philo's
figure of Balaam's "False coinage" and "Stamp of Sophis
try" (see pages 263, 306).
DANIEL'S CHAPTER VII.
The first verse seems to fix a date; but we do not know
at what time Prince Belshazzar become associated with his
father, Nabunahit, in royal power. The date seems to have
no connection with the rest of the chapter. If it were cor
rect, this chapter should have been Chapter V. The king
has no relation to the chapter. Daniel and an Angel now
become joined as the "Revealers of Mysteries." Like
Enoch and St. John, Daniel is represented as the recorder,
and as a seer of visions. In the subsequent chapters, the

138 The Apocalypses
symbol of The Son of Man, as revealer and witness, is the
same double personality of a man and an angel.
This chapter has always been understood to be symboli
cal and Messianic; and a large part of it has been well under
stood, because Christianity explains it; but its character,
as one book of a set of similar books, has not been recognized;
and hence it has been regarded as a set of predictions of
specific events, which are veiled in symbols. Now, however,
by reference to other books of the Hebrew Apocalyptical
literature, it is shown that it not only is a statement of the
Apocalyptical System, more than any previous chapter, but
also its figures and phrases are derived from the Apocalyptical
literature, and are wholly symbolical, and are not predictive,
except of results in a large and general way.
The chapter (verse 3) introduces human wickedness as
four beasts. The first three are a lion, a bear and a leopard.
¦WTiat particular kinds of wickedness these s)Tnbolize is not
indicated. By adding that one has eagle's wings, and a
man 's feet and heart, and another holds three ribs of a vic
tim in its mouth, and another has four wings and four heads,
subdivisions of classes of sins are indicated, and the number
greatly increased. The fourth beast had at first ten horns;
but another sprang up and absorbed three, leaving the num
ber eight. The new horn, which at first was little, had a
man's eyes and mouth, and spoke great things.
In an alleged explanation by an angel (verse 17), these
four beasts are said to be four kings (or kingdoms in verse 23)
preceding the kingdom of the Saints and the Son of Man.
They arise out of the earth, although the beasts came out
of the sea. St. John, in Rev. XIII, repeats a large part of
this matter, and is explicable in the same way, as making a
symbolical representation of the kinds of human sin and
their terrible nature.

Daniel's 139
It has been shown on page 65 that the habit of number
ing the sinning faculties of men as three and four is biblical,
and that Philo wrote about them in much the same way as
Plato had done, (See also page 64.) Philo does a great deal
of explicit numbering of the kinds of sin and the sinning
faculties. In his essay "On the Worse Plotting Against The
Better," Chap. 2^, he divides the sins into those from blood,
which are irrational, and those from reasorj, which are arro
gant and cause false beliefs and rejection of the true God.
In Chapter 46, and in many other essays, he names as the
sinning faculties, the five senses, with speech and sexuality,
making seven. To these he adds as an eighth "The domi
nant Mind," and this mind he names Cain, and he writes
of the whole matter almost as St. John does in Rev. XIII, 3.
As stated on page 64 he makes Reasoning and Pride inclu
sive of, and causative of, some of the others. It has been
shown on page 63 that he declares sin beastly, and uses
beasts as symbols of it. He will be quoted further in expla
nation of parts of St. John's Apocalypse.
Summing up what Philo extends through a large num
ber of his essays, we may say, that he observes the ten sins
forbidden in the Ten Commandments, but he loves to repre
sent them as reducible in number to the seven mentioned
above and the "Dominant Mind" which rules them all.
A reader who knows the Apocalyptical books and Philo
can hardly doubt that this chapter of Daniel means that
the beasts symbolize a reign of four classes of sins, which by
another classification are ten, which can again be classified
as eight. And these are not successive; but come up out of
the sea, out of which all things were created; and were fore
known in the creation; and have dominated human life on
earth. We may also notice that the author has brought these

140 The Apocalypses
kinds of sin into view before he introduces the view of The
Son of Man (verse 13); and we may reasonably understand
that he intends to declare that the "Calling near" of the
Paraklete Son of Man, which was in the past eternity, was
because these kinds of sin, and their nature, were foreseen.
The point of view of the-prophet is not in "The first year of
Belshazzar," if there was such a year, but in eternity before
creation. And the things foreseen are not events of worldly
history, however great those might be, but the greater ones
of the largest features of human life and the eternal purposes
of the Creator, and the "Lamb slain before the foundation
of the world."
Verses 9 to 14 are a statement of the ideas of the Hebrew
Apocalyptical System, and are in the words, phrases, and
figures of its literature. It would seem to be very hard for
anyone to read them in comparison with the passages from
Enoch which are quoted on pages 77 to 87, without convic
tion that the two exhibitions are identical, and have come to
the two authors from the same source or sources.
Verses 15 to 27 are a restatement of verses 9 to 14 in a
form still figurative and symbolical, but less so than the first
statement. First, God is presented to view as very old. The descrip
tion of God is like Enoch's. The name "Head of Days"
seems to mean an old head. The word Ancient in the so-
called Chaldee of Daniel (which is in fact Aramaic), is aitiq,
which means (as it does in modern Syriac) end. It may
mean a head, when a person is described. Enoch first uses
it as a description, and then seven times as a title. Both
Enoch and Daniel use it as if it were a common, or well
known, name of God.
The representation of God's throne as having circles of
fire is common in Enoch. The representation that there

Daniel's 141
were hosts in heaven, is common in Enoch. The assertion
that "The Judgment was set, and the books were opened,"
is a common apocalyptical form of declaration of the fixity
of God's purposes from before creation.
Plainly these six verses (Dan. VII. g io 14) are an uncov
ering (exposition) of the same ideas as those of Enoch,
exhibiting The Creator's glory and power, the foreknowl
edge of wickedness, the eternal purposes of God, and the
Calling of The Son of Man, as a Paraklete, before the crea
tion of the world. The name Paraklete is involved in the
last words of verse 13, "They brought him near before him."
The words of the Chaldee text are q'damohi haq'rbuhi, a
phrase which Aramaic scholars find obscure. It is made of
two verbs, each of which means io be near, or io make near.
The Greek version translates these into be beforehand with
(or anticipate), and to bring to (or near). The second
Greek verb sometimes means to approach the altar, and
sometimes means io sacrifice or be sacrificed (as in Acts VII.
42: Heb. XI. 4). Both in Hebrew and Syriac, the verb
qrb sometimes means to offer in sacrifice.
The pretence of a vision cannot mean anything more than
seeing in imagination. The author could not mean to say
that he saw the whole course of history, the installation of
God's kingdom, and the scenes of the Judgment Day. He
is depicting in symbols what occurred before the creation.
He has set his point of view back in eternity with God, and
sees the destruction of the beasts only in the eternal pur
poses of God, and in its relation to The Lamb as "Slain
before the foundation of the world."
Verses 17 to 25 express in symbols the last eleven of the
Hebrew Apocalyptical doctrines, not in their performance,
but as foreseen. Verse 24, like verse 8, cannot be regarded
as depicting consecutive events or persons. It furnishes a

142 The Apocalypses
way of saying that the wicked powers in men are eleven,
which can be regarded as eight, because the one that is intel
lectual is dominant and includes three of the others. It
represents the sixth apocalyptical principle.

DANIEL'S CHAPTER VIII.
The first two verses, if they were history, would be enig
matical. As history they do not seem to have any relation to
the rest of the chapter, and their significance as apocalypti
cal is not clear, except that, like the introduction of St. John's
Apocalypse and Enoch's visions, they make a good rhetori
cal introduction to the section. If these verses really fixed
a date, this chapter should precede the fifth and sixth. The
only apparent reason for its position is that the preceding
chapters are written in so-called Chaldee, and this and the
following ones are in Hebrew. The Chaldee is an Aramaic
dialect. Daniel professes to have seen a vision. That which he
saw, he professes to explain, by words told him by Gabriel.
The explanation says that the beasts which he saw were
symbols of the kings or kingdoms of Media, Persia and
Greece. In the vision, the last king (Greek) prospers (verse
12). In the explanation, more predictions about him are
added, and it is said "He shall be broken without hand"
(verse 25).
Readers, who have understood this chapter to be pro
phetic, have always cherished it as an assurance of a secure
basis for faith in Scripture prophecies, because it seems to
agree well with Syrian history. Others regard it as proof
that the chapter was written after the death of Antiochus
Epiphanes. If the chapter had ended with verse 14, its explanation

Daniel's 143
according to the Apocalyptical System would have been
simple, and easily made. The beasts would have been sym
bols of human wickedness, contentious and destructive.
The four horns, like the ten in Chapter VII, would have been
four kinds of sinning faculties; and the little horn would
have been the one that intellectually (verse 10) defies God,
perverts truth, and makes even stars (angels, as Enoch says,
or perverted men, as Jude 13 says) fall. Verse 11 might
have been a symbolical statement that this kind of sin, in
the angels, contended originally against " The Lamb slain
before the foundation of the earth" ; for as stated on page 59,
the name Paraklete has been given to the lamb of the daily
sacrifice as an emblem of the Son of God atoning or mediat
ing. Or it might mean that this kind of sin, in men, always
makes war on the Messiah and his truth and kingdom.
Verse 13 would have been the usual mention of the final
Judgment Day, with the usual intimation that the war of
sin and righteousness will continue till thaf day.
Such would be the meaning of verses 3 to 13 even with
the aUeged explanation of Gabriel. That interpretation
simply adds the fact, that the 'writer, either made his sym
bolical vision conform to some historical facts, or saw in
history a parallel to his figures. Verse 23 is an admirable
statement of the nature and ways of untruth, misleading
and ruinous, but sure to endure till the end of time. The
phrase "Broken without hand" (verse 25), as in II. 34,
seems to indicate some common phrase of the Apocalyptical
Literature. Verses 14 and 26, that have been the cause of infinite
calculations and contentions, and of no end of sectarianism,
narrowness and incidental heart-breaking disappointments,
are a simple apocalyptical figure of half-seven, as a symbol
of Messiah's presence at the end of time. The Hebrew

144 The Apocalypses
text of verse 14 says "Unto evening-morning two thousand
and three hundred." This is just as enigmatical in Hebrew
as in English, and has been the cause of many and endless
contentions as to whether it means 2300 of both mornings
and evenings, or half that number of each, and as to the
length of time that a morning or evening means, and as to
the time of the beginning and as to what lies at the end.
There is no thoroughfare through that field of inquiry.
Let another course be tried. Let it be remembered that
a fundamental and formative principle of the Apocalyptical
System afl&rms that the beginning and the end are joined
in God's mind, and are held together by The Word of God
in the middle. Let 2300 days be twice written, as if the eye
looked forward over one, and backward over the other.
Let it be remembered that the Hebrews used their alpha
betical letters for numerals, and that neither the Hebrewrs nor
the Greeks used the zero cypher, or wrote numbers in tens.
The raodern notation by sets of tens, using only nine figures
and zero, was made after the Christian era, out of the first ten
letters of a Syrian alphabet. Neither the Syrians nor the
Greeks had enough letters in their alphabets to furnish a
letter for 1000, without resorting to additional expedients.
Naturally they wrote large numbers by repeating smaller
ones. They could write 2300 in letters meaning 500 -|- 500 -|-
500-1-500-1-300. But if it should happen that, for any
reason, a Jew wanted to write with seven letters, he would
write 500 -|- 500 4- 500 -|- 500 -I- 100 -f- 100 -f 100, or 500-1-500
-f 100-1-1004-100-1-500-1-500. This would make seven
letters, or a symbol of seven. Then if he wanted to make
a symbol of half-seven, or rather of two half-sevens, he could
divide his middle 100 into two 50' s; but his letters would then
be eight. The only way in which he could write 2300 in
seven letters divided into tvici three and a half letters, would

Daniel's

H5

be by writing the seven letters twice, in lines crossing in the
middle, so that the middle letter would be common to the
four halves of the two lines.
If we write 2300 in this way, and suppose the middle
letter divided into halves,
500 500
500 500
100 I 100
100
100 I 100
500 500
500 500
we have in each line two half-sevens, and in each line a
seven, and also in each line we have 2300. And we have
thus a thoroughly Hebraic symbol of The Word of God.
And if the symbol is here in any way a symbol of time,
that time is the time of human history divided into its halves
by the Word of God. In this view of them, the fourteenth
and twenty-fifth verses are not predictions; but are a
symbol of the Hebrew Apocalyptical Doctrine, that the
Word of God, the Messiah, stands in relation to the begin
ning, the middle, and the end of all earthly time and
history. The cleansing of the sanctuary (verse 14) is the
judgment day. DANIEL'S CHAPTER IX.
The first verse cannot be reconciled with history. It
calls Darius a son of Xerxes; but the first king Darius, who
however was not the conqueror of Babylon, and did not
reign tUl eighty-three years after Nebukkanezar, was the
father of Xerxes, and a Persian.

146 The Apocalypses
The chapter begins with a prayer which has been and
is, to earnest Christian souls, a model expression of humility,
contrition, and sublime faith. No words of admiration can
be too eulogistic for this prayer. No words of tender appre
ciation can exceed the merit of this spiritual address. It
needs no explanation to make it dear to a Christian heart for
the expression of his own piety. Yet he who reads it with
out knowing or observing its place and character in the
Apocalyptical literature loses much of its significance.
It begins (verse 2) by suggesting the prophet Jeremiah in
connection with a mysterious prophecy of seventy years.
Then it introduces a prayer which in its ideas is remarkably
like a prayer in the fifth section of Enoch (Chapter 84) the
words of which are as follows:
"And I raised my hand in justice, and blessed the Holy and the
Great One. And I spoke with the breath of my mouth, and with the
tongue of flesh, which God has made for the children of men, that
they should speak with it, and gave them breath and tongue and the
mouth, that they might speak therewith. Blessed art thou, O Lord,
King! both great and powerful in thy greatness, the Lord of all the
creation of heaven, King of kings! and God of all the world! Thy
Godship and thy kingdom and thy greatness will remain in eternity,
and to all eternity, and to all the generations thy power; and all
the heavens are thy throne in eternity, and all the earth thy foot
stool in eternity, and to all eternity; for thou hast made and dost
govern all things, and nothing is too difficult for thee, and no wisdom
escapes thee. She does not turn away from her throne, thy throne,
and not from thy face. And thou dost know and see and hear
all things: and there is nothing that is hidden before thee; for
thou dost see all things. And now the angels of thy heavens do
sin; and thy wrath is over the flesh of men to the day of the great
judgment. "And now. Lord and God! and Great King! I petition and ask
that thou wouldst estabhsh my prayer for me, that there remain to
me a posterity on earth, and that thou wouldst not annihilate all the
flesh of men, and not make empty the whole earth, and there be

Daniel's 147
an everlasting destruction. And now, my Lord! destroy from the
earth the flesh which has angered thee; but the flesh of justice and
of rectitude establish as a plant of the seed to eternity; and do not
hide thy face from the prayer of thy servant, O Lord!"
This prayer of Enoch is a noble prayer, pure, spiritual
and lofty, as a prayer; and yet in every line it is artificial,
rhetorical, and adjusted for the expression or the recognition
of the apocalyptical principles. The prayer of Daniel is of
a vastly higher grade, a profounder and purer spirituality,
a wisdom more responsive to the spirit of God. Never
theless, it is framed on the lines of the apocalyptical princi
ples. It begins (verse 2) with a reminder of the mystical
number seventy. It goes on (verse 4) to suggest the eternal
purpose as a salvation of God's people. It continues with
a description of the gross wickedness of some men and the
intellectual and spiritual wickedness of others (verses 5 to 14) .
In verse 11 it mentions the oath of God as an assurance of
the first overthrow of sinners. The oath of God is a great
feature in Chapter 69 of Enoch where it is synonymous with
The Logos as connected with all the acts of God from the -
creation to the judgment, and is equivalent to "The Secret
Name." In verse 14 Daniel suggests the Logos by men
tioning God's voice.
With this introduction, verse 20 turns to a more definitely
apocalyptical declaration of the purposes of God from the
beginning. Verses 24 to 27 are explicable easily by the
apocalyptical principles, and in no other way.
Verses 20 and 21 suggest the symbols of the seventh
principle, i. e. the cooperation of God and men in the middle
period, very much as is done in Chapter VIII. 15, 18 Gabriel
and Daniel combined, as in VIII. 15, make a symbol of The
Son of God and of Man. Gabriel comes from God, but
is caUed a man, and comes at the time of the daily sacrifice.

148 The Apocalypses
which is the symbol of "The Lamb of God" (see page 59).
Verse 23, figuratively utters the second apocalyptical
principle, the decrees of God in the beginning of creation (see
page 70). The remaining verses of the chapter, in their
numbers, figure the common Jewish apocalyptical symbols
of time and its division.
In the Hebrew symbolism of numbers (see page 62),
seven is an emblem of all time as related to the Creator and
his purposes and acts. Seventy is less than seven in its
symbolism, because it is regarded as a multiple of the less
perfect number ten. It is also a symbol of the presence of
The Word of God, at the Judgment Day. (See page 67)
Multiples of seven are attempts to express greater concep
tions of God's duration. So seventy sevens are an emblem
of the infinite eternity of God, from the inconceivable past
of aion to its inconceivable future. Seven sevens would be
a symbol of an inconceivable duration in aidn, but less
than seventy sevens. A pious Jew would have been
shocked by the use of seventy sevens as a symbol of
anything else than God's infinite eternity. Enoch (see
page 83) uses seven, and sevens of sevens, as symbols of
periods of duration.
In such symbolisms verse 24 simply says. From eternity
the end was sure. It will be an overthrow of sinners, a
reconciliation of many with God, a kingdom of righteous
ness forever, and a final eternal presence of the Anointed
One, the Most Holy.
Verse 25 simply says that the purpose to establish the
kingdom of righteousness, symbolized as Jerusalem, was
set in the eternity of God so far remotely that it is symbo
lized as' seven sevens. These seven sevens, and the one
seven of time mentioned in verse 27, leave sixty- two sevens
as a symbol of that part of the infinite life of God which the

Daniel's 149
human mind conceives, or rather cannot conceive, as God's
eternal existence before creation was even planned.
Verse 26 symbolizes the "Lamb slain from the founda
tion of the world." It starts at the beginning of the last
seven, the one that symbolizes time. It declares the apoca
lyptical principle of the war of sin and righteousness, and
the determined and predetermined desolations by sin. The
Syriac version says, " Meschicho shaU be kiUed;" instead of
"Cut ofif."
Verses 25 and 26 introduce the name "The Anointed
One," used nowhere else, and only used twice by Enoch,
but which, as Meschicho and Christds, became familiar
words to the expectant Jews.
Verse 27 represents the period of human time as one
seven, and a covenant period. "In the midst of the week,"
is At the middle point symbolized as half -seven. "The
sacrifice and oblation" are the symbols of the paraklete
lamb. (See page 59.) The chapter ends by directing our
view to the final consummation, the sunteleia, and the
punishment of the wicked.
DANIEL'S CHAPTER X.
If the first verse of this chapter stated a real date, this
chapter should be the last in the book. There is however
no chapter that is more entirely conformed to the Hebrew
Apocalyptical System of symbolical exhibitions.
The symbol of The Word of God in this chapter as
Revealer and Testifier is a double one, made up of Daniel
himself, called (verse 11) "A man greatly beloved," who
receives the word, and another, who is "A certain man"
(verse 5), and "A voice" (verse 9) and "Like the Sons of
men" (verse 16) and "Like the appearance of a man"

1.50 The Apocalypses
(verse 18). The description of this second man is closely '
like St. John's description of The Word of God in Rev. I,
13 to 75, " I saw one like the Son of Man, clothed with a
garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a
golden girdle * * * His eyes were as a flame of fire,
and his feet like fine brass, as if they glowed in a furnace,
and his voice was as the sound of many waters, * * *
and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength."
The first three of the Apocalyptical Doctrines are sug
gested by a single stroke in verse 12, which says that his
words were heard on the first day of his assumption of his
part as Mediator (symbolical for the Messiah) the answer
was ordered, and the Revealer tells what will be in the last
days (verse 14) which are far remote.
At a superficial view these seem to be all the suggestions
there are here of a type of the Messiah. But what is meant
when it says " I became dumb" ? (Verse 15.) Is it a simil
itude of the Silent Word, the Silent Lamb ? (See page 53.)
And what do those various numbers mean; and why is
Daniel so particular to mention them ? In verse i he says
" The third year," and in verse 2 he says " Three full weeks."
Three is the number which is followed by the middle one of
seven. In verse 4 he says, "The twenty-fourth day;" and
this is the day that must be followed by the middle day
of seven weeks. In verse 13 he says "Twenty-one days,"
and this also is " Three full weeks " that usher in a half-seven.
These are much like Philo's threes (days and lamps) that
symbolically stand on one side of "The Word of God."
(See page 67.)
And what does Daniel mean in verse 3, when he says,
"Neither did I anoint myself till three whole weeks were
passed"? If he does not suggest "The Anointed One,"
what does he mean? What does he mean in verses 8, 15

Daniel's l ^ 1
to 17, where his description of himself is so much like
Isaiah's description of "The Silent Lamb," in Is. LIII,
where there is so much that is apocalyptical ?
And what does Daniel mean in verse 21 if he is not sug
gesting The Book of Life, that is a feature in all the apoc
alyptical books ?
The last sentence of the chapter does not seem suscep
tible of any explanation except that it is an idea out of the
Apocalyptical Literature. The word your (in both Chaldee
and Greek of this verse) is plural: therefore the remark is
not to Daniel personally. Of course it cannot refer to any
national King. The title Prince is Sar in Chaldee, and
Archon in Greek, both of which are titles denoting honor
and power rather than hereditary rank. Michael is the
angel most mentioned in Enoch, and is the leader of the
forces of heaven. The sentence seems to be a way of say
ing that, in the kingdom of God the potential forces of
Heaven are cooperating with the revealers of truth, but
on earth; as Isaiah LXIII, 3, says, "I have trodden the
winepress alone, and of the people there was none with
me." DANIEL'S CHAPTER XI.
This chapter has often been explained by scholars as a
figurative story of the actual history of Syria in the era of
Greek supremacy after Alexander The Great. To some
scholars it has seemed a remarkable prophecy wonderfully
fulfilled. To others it has been an evidence that the chap
ter was written after the death of Antiochus Epiphanes (165
B. C). It is a use of Syrian history for a symbol of the
war of sin against God and righteousness; It introduces
symbols of the middle part of the Hebrew Apocalyptical

152 The Apocalypses
System, and especially of the Sixth Doctrine, the war of
intellectual sin against God.
A reader familiar with Philo's books, will observe so
many resemblances to what Philo says about Cain as a
symbol of wickedness, that he will confirm his conviction
that what Philo says (see pages 260 to 266, 287), and what
St. John says (see pages 232, 260) are parts of a set of ideas
and phrases that arose in the Apocalyptical Literature long
before Daniel, or Philo's books, or The Apocalypse, were
written. It is only natural that a Jew in the second century
before Christ should make a parallel between Antiochus
and Cain: but a very remarkable thing about the parallel
is that the character ascribed to Antiochus, by Daniel, is
not such as we would expect, unless we notice only its fero
ciousness. In fact, however, it chiefly exhibits him as
(verse 36) arrogant in false doctrine and in personal pre
sumption against God, and as honoring "The God of
Forces " (verse 38) ; and this is exactly Philo 's very remarka
ble description of Cain, as. a symbol of sin. He says, e.g.,
" You philosophers say you have been instructed admirably
by your guide and teacher Cain, who recommended you to
honor the forces that are nearest, rather than that Cause
which is far ofif." (OnCain's Posterity, Ch. 11.) Inexplain-
ing Rev. XIII we have occasion to make other quotations
of this nature from Philo. (See pages 139, 261, 306.)
If there is intended here some parallel with Cain and
Abel, verses 31 and 32 become in teUigible, as a picture of a
man using physical force for violent wickedness, abolishing
proper sacrifices, and persuading others to sin by his self-
justification. The eternal decrees of God are what is referred to in
verse 36. The final doctrines of The Apocalyptical System,
the decreed end in a Judgment Day, are what is referred to

Daniel's 153
in verses 35, 36, and 45. The character, life, and end of
the wicked king are symbols of the greater facts of the nature,
ways and doom of the world's seductive self-justifying
wickedness. Jesus himself, in Matt, xxiv, 15, teaches us to
understand that "The abomination that maketh desolate"
will work and rage till the Judgment Day, and he associates
it with the violence that kills (verse 9), and with False
Christs (verse 24) and deceptive wonders, and False Prophets
(verse 11) deceiving many, and with great tribulation (verse
21), and with shortening, or ending, the days (verse 22),
and with preaching the gospel (verse 14) (compare with
Dan. XI. jj), and with hating one another (verse 10).
Surely in much of that Matt. XXIV Jesus was recalling and
restating this chapter of Daniel.
DANIEL'S CHAPTER XII.
This chapter is a continuation of chapter XI, and ought
not to have been separated from it. It refers back to
various parts of chapter xi, and repeats in new phrases, and
more emphasis, many of the same facts. The words " At
that time" etc, in verse i, set the scenes in position at the
Judgment Day, which is the theme of the last part of
chapter XI.
This chapter bears a remarkable resemblance to the
latter part of the book of Enoch. The eleventh chapter of
Daniel has great resemblance to the fifth and sixth sections
of Enoch: and this twelfth chapter of Daniel is almost
(except verses 11 and 12) an epitome of the end of Enoch.
This has been somewhat shown on pages 86, 87. The
phrases and figures that here are condensed, obscure and
enigmatical, are there large, connected, clear and self-
explanatory.

154 The Apocalypses
Verse i mentions Michael. In Enoch he is the chief of
the armies of God. It also mentions The Book, which
also is a prominent feature in Enoch. Verse 2 is very
definite in its doctrine of a resurrection of the dead, and
phrases it as the final consummation, or Judgment Day.
It is not however so definite as it seems to be in English;
for the Hebrew does not say "Sleep in dust." It says
"Sleepers of earth-dust," and may mean Mortal sleepers.
Enoch also in this connection (see page 84) says " The just
win arise from sleep ;" but Enoch like St. John 's Apocalypse
has no doctrine of soul-sleeping; for it is one of his great
doctrines as it is of St. John, that the dead are living always,
the evil in confinement and punishment, and the just in joy
and glory, praying and praising God.
Verse 3 portrays the ideal glory of redeemed souls.
It is like // Esdras VII, 55, and Enoch CIV and
CVIII, where Enoch says "Ye will shine like the lu
minaries of heaven." * * * They will glitter in times
without number; and the sinners wiU see them as they
:hine." Verse 4 mentions again The Book. The words " Many
shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased,"
are very like the last words of Enoch : " Books will be given
to the just and the wise, for joy and for rectitude, and for
much wisdom." (Chapter CIV, 12) Verses 4 and 10, in
mentioning "Increase of knowledge, and understanding,
are like Enoch, Chapters XCIII, 10; XCIX, 10; C, 6
(see page 84). They seem to be a suggestion of the Word
of God as the source of all truth and wisdom which increase
till the end of the world.
Verses 6 to 13 tell the symbols of the end of time, and
display the tenth to the fourteenth Apocalyptical Doctrines.
Verse 9 is very much like the finishing verses in Enoch.

Daniel's 155
The plain declaration is made that the mystery of the time
will not be revealed before the end shall come.
The mysterious numbers in verses 7, ir and 12, that
have caused so much speculation, and have held the atten
tion of the Christian world, are not predictive, nor indica
tive of any time, or extent of duration. They are simply
various forms of seven and the Half-Seven; and so are sym
bols of the presence (parousia) of The Messiah at the end
of the world. In verse 7, the phrase is "A time, times and
a half," which is one of the commonest and simplest ways
of saying " Half-seyen." In verse 1 1 the phrase 1290 days is
a figure of a half-seven in years : for the Hebrews reckoned
by months of thirty days each, and added another month
to every fifth year, or to a fraction larger than half of a five.
Verse 12 mentions a mysterious number, "One Thou
sand three hunderd and thirty-five days," as the symbol
of the "Time of the end." If the previously mentioned
1290 days are deducted from 1335, the remainder, 45 days,
is no number that is significant in Hebrew symbolism.
But the 1335 days seem to be intended to be added to
the 1290. The two numbers, when added, make 2625,
which are seven times a year of 365 days, plus seven
times ten. This is plainly a symbol of 7 plus 70. As
shown on pages 65 and 67, seven is the Hebrew Symbol
of God as related to created things, or of God's time
(i e. eternity) in his relation to created things; and (see
page 69) seventy (not seventy weeks or sevens) is the
symbol of that metaphysical and indescribable idea of stiU
longer time, which the Jews tried to express by saying
olamim, and ad, and aion of the aions, after they had said
"eternity," as we now say "And ever," after we have said
"Forever." In the Hebrew symbolism, seventy is a less
inclusive symbol than seven; because seven is purely and

156 The Apocalypses
simply perfect, and seventy has the imperfect number ten
as a factor. It is also a symbol of The Word of God.
(See Philo, quoted on page 69), and in this sense 2625 may
symbolize The Father and the Son. Enoch, chapter 91
(see page 83), has something similar. His symbol of aU
time is seven sevens. After time, there is a seven of justice,
then another of revelation, and then a tenth, which in its
seventh part brings in "The judgment to eternity."
Is not this 2625 like Rev. Ill, 21? "To him that
conquers, will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as
I also conquered, and am set down with my Father in his
throne." OTHER APOCALYPTICAL BOOKS
There is a considerable number of other books which
are partly or wholly apocalyptical. Such are The Psalms
of Solomon. Assumption of Moses, Book of Jubilees, II
Esdras,* Sibylline Oracles. It is not within the design of
this book to analyze or exhibit all of these ; because they add
no more important facts ; while a discussion of them would
involve more or less of unprofitable argumentation about
their dates, origin, scope, and connections. Other students
have constructed arguments and theories as to their dates,
and as to their sequence and influence; all of which is
unimportant in this book, where it sufiSces that The System
is shown to have been complete before the Christian Era.
Two other books however, of the Hebrew canon, which
have always been enigmas, receive such light from the
Hebrew Apocalyptical system that they must be men
tioned here. These are the hooks J^onah dsi^ Job.
*For an analysis and discussion of II Esdras, see Appendix.

The Apocalypses 157
JONAH AND JOB
These two books have been unsolved puzzles for
modern readers. They have been accepted and valued
as vehicles of divine doctrine and lofty morality. But
as histories they are incredible. Their solution is, how
ever, simple and clear. They are parables, and versions
of the Hebrew Apocalyptical System. They are in the
form of narratives, because all parables and apocalypses
are in the form of narratives.
And they are excellent versions of the Apocalypse,
presenting all the doctrines of "The System," using the
usual class of figures and symbols, and putting all the
items of "The System" in the logical and usual order.
They evidently were written after "The System" was
complete in its doctrines, and in its symbols; and, not
withstanding the common hypothesis of their extreme
antiquity, they are in the same class with Daniel.
By recognition of these facts, these two books are
lifted out of possible classification as bizarre tales, and
placed in rank with the books that have portrayed the
most precious doctrines of the Christian System.
Not only are they excellent examples of The Apoca
lypse, but, as such additional versions, they confirm our
conception of "The System." They help to make the
number of the versions so large that, out of their mere
agreement, a reader can marshal the items of "The
System." Because it has appeared well to present a more com
plete analysis of these two books than was originally
designed, an exposition of them has been made in an
appendix; but the reader should examine that exposition
before proceeding further here.

158 The Apocalypses
APOCALYPTICISM IS MESSIANISM
Our survey of the apocalypticism of The Old Testa
ment has been all too brief and cursory; but it is
sufficient to prepare us for a comprehensive view of the
Apocalypses of The New Testament and of Messianism.
With this preparation, we are cognizant of the enlighten
ment and the faith which the Word and Spirit of God
had produced in wise and spiritual Jews ; and we see the
rational and logical character of "The System."
We see The Old Testament redolent of the doctrines
of the Christian system in regard to God, Man, Wisdom,
Ethics, Divine Purposes and Immortality. We see what
were the ideas and hopes taught to the then expectant
Jews. We see Messianism in the Apocalypses and the
other Scriptures of The Old Testament, all ready to be
vivified by the life and words of Jesus. We see the Word
of God in the old Scriptures brought to its finish and
crown. It is the kindling glory of the supreme dawn.
It is a vibrant music in the air, as of a conquering host
arriving. It is a mighty moral and social force opening
a way for the triumphant catholic Kingdom of God.
And we are taught that Apocalypticism and Messian
ism are one and the same thing. The Messianism which
the Christian worid cherishes, and glories in, is the Apoca
lypticism which it forgot. Christianity is Messianism
and Apocalypticism, and, in them all, "The Word of
God" is the Light, the Bond, the Truth, the Anointed
King, the Lamb, the Son of God, and the Son of Man.
Apocalypticism had enlightened the pious souls, cheered
them, trained them. Now, was the Kingdom at hand?
Was the Word to live on earth? ' Was the Son of Man
to come to his own?

New Testament 159

APOCALYPSES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
In the history of civilization as a movement of the beliefs,
motives, and emotions of men, the intellectual and moral
life of Jews and Christians in the first half of the first
Christian century holds the central and pivotal place.
And the motive and directive force was that system of apoca
lyptical doctrines which the preceding pages have exhibited.
Syrian life was alert with both of the most potent kinds
of moral force, viz., one thaf is a faith rationally accepted,
and the other one that responds to authority or education,
and that is founded on supposed messages from God.
The former was immensely more dominant than is com
monly supposed. We know the fatal habit of mankind to
follow leads, which makes millions innumerable, for
successive ages, found their faith and hopes on books
brought out of the tombs. So has always been the human
habit, in Egypt, Persia, Greece, Syria, Europe, America.
Such is human nature.
And yet, always and everywhere, the start has been in
a philosophy, a rational principle ; and the prime mover has
been a philosopher, an academician. No matter what the
creed or religion, no matter how automatically the millions
repeat the ancient formulas, no matter how they appeal to
and proclaim the wisdom or authority of the prime^mover,
nevertheless, always there has been another ultimate appeal
to the rational principle which the prime mover asserted.
Always the one man has counted for more than the infinite
millions that followed him; and always the principle of that
leader, the rational doctrine for which he stood, has been
the one germinal, forceful, creative fact, in comparison
with which the man is nothing.

i6o The Apocalypses
We may count on the fingers of two hands, and perhaps
of one, the men who have stood forth as the erecters and
installers of the few vital, germinal and dominant reasonable
principles. And time erases from the list the most of the
names that for a while are invested with a halo. So must
it always be: because, in fact, the great formative and
dominant doctrines among men are only of two classes; and
in each class only one doctrine can be true. These two
classes pertain to the two questions, "Whence, or what,
are we?" and "How does the Divine Life become effective
in us, in knowledge, force and excellence?" To these
questions every other question or problem in science,
reason, religion, physics or philosophy runs back. Whether
men are fanatics or agnostics, philosophers or skeptics,
students or practical minds, their creeds and their intel
lectual, spiritual, and social life, are fashioned and dominated
by their attitude towards these two questions.
The Hebrews answered the first question with the
doctrine that a personal perfect Creator made all matter and
all life. Out of that basis doctrine grew the Hebrew
Apocalyptical System. This system at the Christian Era
had impressed itself on all classes of Jews, but in various
ways, and with diverse intellectual, doctrinal, and spiritual
effects. It came also to the Jews through several diverse
lines of teaching. Many accepted it as a revelation from
Prophets and The Scriptures. Others consciously adopted
it as rational philosophy. ReaUy, the appeal was always
to Reason: for the words of the Prophets were poetic, vague,
enigmatical, and almost unintelligible, until they were
explained by the terms, formulas, and doctrines of the
Apocalyptical System:
In one form or others the Apocalyptical System had
become as the breath of the Jews. Then, as since, it was

New Testament i6i
largely know as a Messianic system of ideas; but this does
not mean that the prophecy of an advent of a Messiah was
its chief characteristic. Its Messiah was first The Logos of
God, as "Son of God, Son of Man, Advocate, Anointed King,
and Lamb slain before the creation of the world" He
was to come at last for a Judgment Day. The expectation
of an advent of The Messiah in time was always undefined
and disputable, and chiefly prevailed among that large
class of Jews who formulated their creeds on words of the
canonical Old Testament. But, as is shown elsewhere,
those Messianic Prophecies are found only in chapters that
are themselves based on, declarative of, and phrased like,
the Hebrew Apocalyptical System. In the books of Philo,
there is no Messiah, no Advent, no Judgment Day. In
the Book of Enoch the forecast of an advent is merged in a
general doctrine that The Anointed One began his reign in
primal eternity, always reigns, will be personally or typicaUy
present at epochal periods, and will make his kingdoni
triumphant at the Judgment Day.
In the first half of the first Christian century, and,
probably much earlier, there were among Jews the same
diversities of phUosophy that have existed among Christians.
There were crude ideas, and other ideas erudite and refined.
But the time had come when that second great problem of
men pressed to the front, and demanded its solution.
Holding still to their answer to the great primal question,
men asked the great ever-recurring questions about human
life, human knowledge, human morals. They pondered
on such questions as. How do we know that our first prin
ciple and our thinking are valid? i. e.. How do we know
anything about God ? And, if our doctrine about a medi
ating Saviour is weU founded. Where is He? And why is
He not here ? and when is He coming ? And if righteous

1 62 The Apocalypses
God is going to set up his kingdom among men, how is He
going to make men fitted to it ? for fitness requires under
standing of God, likeness to God, sympathy with God.
The Hebrews made answers to these questions. Whether
or not the answers were true and valid, need not here be
discussed. Having answered the great primal question by
reference to the first verse in Genesis, the Jews answered
the second class of questions by reference to the second
verse in Genesis. They propounded a philosophy, or
doctrine, of Spirit. They said, "God is Spirit; Man, being
God's child, is Spirit. Knowledge of God and of one's
self, and of moral things, is spiritual knowledge. Right
ness of soul is spiritual character. Divine government in
men is spiritual; and Divine influence is an operation of
God's Spirit on men's spirits, making men wise and God
like." These doctrines came into existence as elements of the
Hebrew Apocalyptical System, giving to the middle part
of that series of doctrines a glorified character.
Philo, before or during the life of Jesus, promulgated
the foUowing doctrines. The Word of God made The
Divine Spirit. Spirit is the nature in and by which God,
or rather God's Word, who is God's Son, acts on men and
reveals Himself to men. Men are in the likeness of God's
Word. They are spirit. They are born from above
(dnoihen). Being, however, in part earthly, they need, in
their natures, a supremacy of their spirit, and this is a kind
of special birth from above, by which a true likeness to God
is achieved, and a truer immortality is attained. But the
theories of Philo were still crude and materialistic. They
would have died; did in fact die.
But with Jesus came a new era. With him came the
assertion that the Kingdom of God was initiated; and The

New Testament 163
Anointed King was come. This immediately transformed
the aspect of the Apocalyptical System. It brought to the
front the question, "How does The Word of God make men
subjects of his kingdom, knowing truth, loving God, right
eous, and immortal in blessedness?"
From that time, the Apocalyptical System was the Chris
tian System. John The Baptist, Jesus, and the Apostles
declared its doctrines, and used its terms and phrases. The
Kingdom of God then was understood to mean Christianity.
Jesus took all the apocalyptical names of the King. He
was "The Anointed (Christos), The Son of God, The Word
of God, The Son of Man, The Paraklete (Advocate), The
High Priest, The Firstborn Son of God, The Light, The
Lamb slain before the creation of the world, and The Lord
of glory." In pages following it will be shown that much
of the doctrine and phrases of John' The Baptist, Jesus,
St. John, St, Peter, St. Jude, and St. Paul, was just as truly
out of fhe Apocalyptical Literature as the Book of Daniel was.
Jesus and the Apostles gave to the old system of ideas
a new aspect; but the transformation was made from
within the system, and not impressed on it from without.
The doctrine was spiritualized; but the psychological and
the religious doctrines of spirituality were largely like those
of the great expounder of the Jews, Philo.
When John The Baptist said, "Bring forth fruits meet
for repentance," he echoed Philo.. When he made baptism
with water a symbol of a new birth, he followed ideas of
Philo. When Jesus said, "Except a man be born from
above he cannot see the kingdom of God, * * * Except a
man has been born from spirit, he cannot enter into God's
kingdom, * * * What is born from spirit is spirit," he was
echoing Philo. When Jesus* said "The Advocate, the Holy
""See pages 56 and 57.

164 The Apocalypses
Spirit, wiU teach you aU things * * * He wiU convict the
world, * * * He, the Spirit of Truth (or True Spirit), wiU
guide you into all truth," He was pretty close to words of
Philo. When St. Paul, in Romans VIII, defined the psy
chology of righteous and immortal life, he was very close to
Philo, while at the same time he was fiUing that chapter
with the ideas and phrases of the Hebrew Apocalyptical
System.

THE APOCALYPSE OF JOHN THE BAPTIST.
To the Jews who were neither Rabbis, Scribes, Doctors,
Pharisees, nor Philosophers, came John The Baptist. The
people welcomed him as a forerunner of the Messiah, because
lie proclaimed the nearness of The Kingdom of God. His
doctrine was the Hebrew Apocalyptical System with its in-
definiteness swept away. By one decisive stroke, the Baptist
made the immediate personal advent of The Messiah the
first basic idea, and spiritual fitness for that kingdom the
second basic idea of Christianity. He still declared that the
end would be an advent or presence at the Judgment, but
the promised kingdom of the Anointed One was near; and
it received its subjects through the remission of their sins,
upon their repentance. All his doctrine was in the apocal
yptic writings, or in Philo, except the declaration that Jesus
of Nazareth was Son of God and The Messiah, and the
assertion that the kingdom was at hand, and the demand
that the subjects enroll themselves by baptism. But even
this last demand was emphatically apocalyptic; for it sym
bolized recognition of the Creator and creation. This is
evidenced by Philo, who says:
"Moses appointed to pour water on the ashes, and then

John The Baptist 165
to sprinkle it over those who were to be purified. And the
cause of this action may very probably be said to be this : —
The lawgiver's intention is, that those who approach the
service of the living God should first of all know themselves
and their own essence. For how can the man who does not
know himself ever comprehend the supreme and all -excelling
power of God ? Therefore, our bodily essence is earth and
water, of which he reminds us by this purification. There
fore * '•¦ * earth and water may almost be said to utter
distinct words, and to say plainly. We are the essence of
your bodies." (On Those Who Offer Sacrifices, Chap. II.)
The demand for repentance is made by Enoch, who says,
"He (The Son of Man) wiU be * * * the light of the nations,
and he will be the hope of those who are sick in their hearts.
* * * And the wisdom of the Lord of the spirits has revealed
him to the holy and the just, because they have hated and
despised this world of injustice, and have hated all its deeds
and ways. (Chapter XLVIII.) He (the Chosen One) wiU
show it to the others, that they may repent, and cease the work
of their hands, * * * In his name they will be saved, and
the Lord of the spirits will have mercy on them, for his
riercy is great. * * * Whosoever will not repent shaU be
destroyed." (Chapter L.)
We here compare the Apocalyptical System with the
Baptist's words.

Apocalyptical Principles. Words oj the Baptist.
The first. God is Creator "No man has seen God."
and personal Father. John i, i8. Baptism is for honor
to The Creator.
The second. God's purposes "The Only Son, who is (as
existed before creation. His Word always) in The Father's bosom,
reveals Him and them, and is interpreted Him." John i, i8.
God's Son. "He was before me," John
i, Ij.

i66

The Apocalypses

Apocalyptical Principles.
The third. The purpose of
God was to make a kingdom of
God, a kingdom of righteousness
and of penitence. In ths, in eter
nity, The 'Word of God atoned or
mediated as The Paraklete Lamb.

The fourth, fifth, and sixth.
Beasts are symbols of wickedness.
The seventh. The Anointed
One, The Paraklete Lamb of
God, will come on earth at some
middle time.

The eighth. Man is immor
tal. The ninth. The kingdom is
extended by fidelity and testimony.
The tenth. The kingdom
includes souls of all races of men.

The eleventh. Sin -will con
tinue on earth until the Judgment.
Righteousness is a war.
The tweljth. The Annointed
One will come for a day of judg
ment.

The thirteenth. The 'wicked
will be punished forever. A fire
is the symbol of their punishment.
The jourteenth. The right
eous will be happy forever.

Words oj the Baptist.
"Repent! Prepare The Lord's
way." Matt, iii, 2, 3, John did
preach the baptism of repentance.' '
Mark i, 4.
" Bring forth fruits meet for
repentance." Matt, iii, 8.
"The Lamb of God takes
away the sin of the world."
"Offspring of vipers." Luke
iii, 7. "The kingdom of heaven is
at hand." Matt, iii, 28.
"Behold The Lamb of God."
John i, 36.
" I am not The Anointed One
***He it is whose shoes I am
not worthy to unloose." John
i, 20. "All flesh shall see the salva
tion of God." Luke iii, 6.
John said much about wit
nessing. "God is able of these stone
to raise up children unto Abra
ham." Matt, iii, g.
John implies this, but does
not emphasize it.

" The axe is laid unto the root
of the trees. Every tree which
bringeth not forth good fruit is
hewn down, and cast into the
fire." Luke iii, g.
"He will purge his floor.''
Luke iii, 17.
"He -will burn the chaff -with
fire unquenchable." Luke iii,
17- "He will gather the wheat
into his garner." Luke iii, 17.

Jesus Christ 167

THE APOCALYPSES OF JESUS CHRIST
The system of the doctrines of Jesus Christ and his
disciples may be inteUigently received and cherished in entire
neglect of the Jewish doctrine that preceded it, and even
with seriously erroneous ideas of that Jewish doctrine.
Nevertheless, every Christian is in fact greatly influenced
by his ideas of that preceding theology; and Christianity,
except those elements that inhere in the personality of Jesus,
is that Jewish doctrine.
That Jewish doctrine is in two parts. One is the rea
sonable coherent system of doctrine about the personal
Creator, his ways, his purposes, his laws, and his final reign
over angels and good and bad men. The other is what is
commonly called Prophecy, and is that body of Scripture
which is scattered throughout the Old Testament, and which,
in phrases usually poetical or figurative, forecasts advents
andreignsofan " Anointed One " and a "Kingdom of God."
More than ever before, both of these parts of the ancient
doctrine are now discussed and valued, and are recognized
as seriously interwoven with all Christian doctrines, and
with the conception which Jesus displays of his own per
sonality and his mission or work.
With the abundant evidences which we possess, we are
able to say, and are compelled to say, that the two parts of
the Jewish doctrine are so involved together that they are
in fact one system; and this system is that one which, on
the preceding pages, has been imperfectly exhibited as "the
Hebrew Apocalyptical System." The doctrinal system of
Christianity, except those elements that cluster around or
in the personality of Jesus, is that older Hebrew system;
and a large part of the prophetic forecasts in The Old Tes-

1 68 The Apocalypses
tament are themselves parts of the systematic formulas and
literature of that Hebrew Apocalyptical System.
If we study Psalms II, VIII, XLV, CX, or Isaiah IX
to XIV, or LII to LXVI, or certain parts of Ezekiel and
Zechariah, or all of Daniel, we find them the formulas and
phrases of the Hebrew Apocalyptical System; and also if
we study certain many and large parts of the words of
Jesus and the Evangelists and the Apostles, we find them
couched in the same phrases and formulas, and illumined
and made intelligible by that same Hebrew Apocalyptical
System. It is impossible to say what were Jesus' own
ideas or teachings about his own person, his purposes, his
mission, his second advent, or his kingdom and final reign,
unless we recognize and understand that Hebrew Apocalyp
tical System.
If we make now a brief and partial study of Jesus' own
words, we may say that he proclaimed unchanged the first
and last parts of the Hebrew Apocalyptical System: but he
greatly enlarged and illumined that middle part which
referred to the Kingdom of God, its laws, and its spiritual
nature. All of this, however, he set out in its relations to
the whole system.
We can allow ourselves here to cite only two discourses
of Jesus. These are Matt. XIII and Matt. XXIV, XXV,
which the Evangelists have set in such connections as seem
to indicate that these narrators understood them to be
enunciations of the systematized Hebrew doctrines in their
proper order, and with their usual phrases and figures and
symbols.

Matthew XIII 169

AN APOCALYPSE IN MATTHEW XIII
This chapter is a seven of parables (i. e. similes), each
teaching a part of the Hebrew Apocalyptical System, but
all chiefly occupied with the central part of the schedule of
doctrines. Each parable is explanatory of "The Kingdom
of Heaven," or as some of the Evangelists call it," The
Kingdom of God": the kingdom of which Daniel (11,44;
IV, 32, 37; vn, 14, 27) had made promises.
CHAPTER XIII
I The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea
side. 2 And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that
he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the
shore. 3 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying,
Behold, a sower went forth to sow;
4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the
fowls came and devoured them up:
S Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth:
and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:
6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because
they had no root, they withered away.
7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and
choked them:
8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some
a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.
9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
10 And the disciples came, and said unto him. Why speakest
thou unto them in parables ?
II He answered and said unto them. Because it is given unto
you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it
is not given.
12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have
more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken
away even that he hath.

170 The Apocalypses
13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing
see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith.
By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye
shall see, and shall not perceive:
15 For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull
of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they
should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should under
stand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal
them. 16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for
they hear.
1 7 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous
men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen
them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard
them. 18 If Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and under-
standeth it not, then cometh the -wicked one, and catcheth away that
which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the
way side.
20 But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is
he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
21 Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for
when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and
by he is offended.
22 He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth
the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches,
choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that
heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit,
and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
24 11 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying. The king
dom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his
field: 25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among
the wheat, and went his way.
26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit,
then appeared the tares also.

Matthew XIII 171
27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him.
Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then
hath it tares ?
28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants
said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather thera up ?
29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root
up also the wheat with them.
30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time
of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares,
and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into
my barn.
31 If Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The
kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard see(i, which a man
took, and sowed in his field:
32 Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown,
it is the greatest among, herbs and becometh a tree, so that the birds
of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.
33 If Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of
heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three
measures of meal, till the .whole was leavened.
34 All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables;
and without a parable spake he not unto them:
35 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet,
saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I willutter things which
have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.
36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house:
and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the. parable
of the tares of the field.
37 He answered and said unto them. He that soweth the good
seed is the Son of man;
38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the
kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the
end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire;
so shall it be in the end of this world.
41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall
gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which
do iniquity;

172 The Apocalypses
42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wail
ing and gnashing of teeth.
43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the s.un in the kingdom
of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
44 If Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in
a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy
thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.
45 1 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchantman,
seeking goodly pearls:
46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and
sold all that he had, and bought it.
47 If Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was
cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind:
48 Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down,
and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.
49 So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come
forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,
50 And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be
wailing and gnashing of teeth.
51 Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things?
They say unto him, Yea, Lord.
£2 Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is
instructed unto the kingdom of heaven, is like unto a man that is a
householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and
old. The first parable (verses i to 23) teUs the method of
the spread of the kingdom among men. This is distinctly
the eighth item of the Hebrew Apocalyptical System, and it
is proclaimed and emphasized by Daniel, Enoch, Isaiah,
Ezekiel, Zechariah, PhUo, and by St. John's Apocalypse.
The second parable (verses 24 to 30; 37 to 43) is an
exhibition of the whole Apocalyptical System. It relates
to the real Kingdom of God on earth. The representation
of sin and sinners, as bad plants, is like Enoch's and John
The Baptist's figures. Many phrases are closely like
Enoch's.

Matthew XIII 173
The third parable (verses 31, 32) is also a representa
tion of the growth of the kingdom of God among men, in its
outward aspect.
The fourth parable (verse 33) is a figure of the sixth
apocalyptical doctrine, viz. : The extension pf the kingdom
by the influence of minds on minds. It is also a figure
of the propagation of the kingdom as spiritual, which is a
doctrine of which Philo says a great deal, and of which
St. Paul makes so much in Romans viii, a chapter which
is shown on pages hereafter to be an exposition of the same
principles of psychology that Philo proclaims in a cruder
form. The fifth parable (verse 44) figures the third apocalyp
tical doctrine, viz.: The mystery of the calling of the Son
of Man, and his mysterious hiding with God before the
creation of the world. For its likeness to the words of
Enoch, see pages 78, 80. It is a doctrine that is also
exhibited in // Esdras XIII, 26.
The sixth parable (verses 45, 46) figures the apocalypti
cal doctrine of the earthly kingdom of God, and the
coming of The Son of Man into possession of it.
The seventh parable (verses 47 to 50) figures the last
doctrines of the Hebrew Apocalyptical System, the Judg
ment, the woe of the wicked and the bliss of the saved souls.
" The End of the world " is Daniel's phrase. The gathering
by angels is like Enoch's figures. (See pages 76, 77.)
In his closing words (verses 51, 52) Jesus plainly said
that the truth about The Kingdom of Heaven is that which
began in the eternal past and extends to the endless future.
This suggests the whole Apocalyptical System, and is like
St. John's phrases about "The First and the Last" and
"The Beginning and the End."
The evangelist (verses 34, 35) shows his own under-

1 74 The Apocalypses
standing that Jesus has been telling the apocalyptical
truths.

AN APOCALYPSE IN MATTHEW XXIV, XXV.
CHAPTER XXIV.
3 If And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came
unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be ? and
what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world ?
4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no
man deceive you.
S For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and
shall deceive many.
6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye
be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end
is not yet.
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against king
dom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes,
in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afiBicted, and shall kill
you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
lo And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another,
and shall hate one another.
II And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall
wax cold.
13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the
world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation,
spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso
readeth, let him understand,)
16 Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains:
1 7 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any
thing out of his house :
18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his
clothes.

Matthew XXIV 175
19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that
give suck in those days!
20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on
the sabbath day:
21 For then shall be great tribulation, Fuch as was not since the
beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no
flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shaU be shortened.
23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or
there; believe it not.
24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and
shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible,
they shall deceive the very elect.
25 Behold, I have told you before.
26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the
desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe
it not. 27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even
unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
28 For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered
together. 29 ^ Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the
sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars
shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken :
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven:
and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the
Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great
glory. 31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet,
and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from
one end of heaven to the other.
32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet
tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
33 So, likewise, ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that
it is near, even at the doors.
34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all
these things be fulfilled.
35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not
pass away.

176 The Apocalypses
36 If But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the
angels of heaven, but my Father only.
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the
Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating
and drinking, marrying and gi'ving in marriage, until the day that
Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away;
so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the
other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be
taken, and the other left.
42 If Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord
doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known
in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and
would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think
not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath
made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season ?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall
find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over
all his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord
delay eth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and
drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh
not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with
the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
MATTHEW XXV.
I Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins,
which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.

Matthew XXV 177
3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with
them: 4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
S While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bride
groom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our
lamps are gone out.
9 But the wise answered, saying. Not so; lest there be not
enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy
for yourselves. 10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they
that were ready went in with him to the marriage : and the door was
shut. II Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord,
open to us.
12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you
not. 13 Watch therefore; for ye know neither the day nor the hour
wherein the Son of man cometh.
14 1 For the kingdom oj heaven is as a man travehng into a
far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them
his goods. 15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to
another one; to every man according to his several ability; and
straightway took his journey.
16 Then he that had received the five talents went and traded
with the same, and made them other five talents.
17 And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other
two. 18 But he that had received one went ahd digged in the earth,
and hid his lord's money.
19 After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and
reckoneth with them.
20 And so he that had received five talents came and brought
other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents:
behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.
21 His lord said unto him. Well done, thou good and faithful

178 The Apocalypses
servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee
ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
22 He also that had received two talents came and said. Lord
thou dehveredst unto me two talents; behold I have gained two
other talents beside them.
23 His lord said unto him. Well done, good and faithful servant;
thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over
many things : enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
24 Then he which had received the one talent carae and said,
Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou
hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strewed :
25 And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth:
lo, there thou has that is thine.
26 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and
slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and
gathered where I have not strewed:
27 Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the ex
changers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own
with usury.
28 Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him
which hath ten talents.
29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall
have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away
even that which he hath.
30 And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness:
there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
31 If When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the
holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall
separate them one from another, as a shepherd di-videth his sheep
from the goats:
33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on
the left.34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come,
ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from
the foundation of the world :
35 For I was a hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty
and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was in prison, and ye came
unto me.

Matthew xxv 179
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw
we thee a hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink ? ,
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked,
and clothed thee?
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them. Verily I say
unto you, Inasmuch as- ye have done it unto one of the least of these
my brethern, ye have done it unto me.
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand. Depart
from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and
his angels: 42 For I was a hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty,
and ye gave me no drink:
43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye
clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we
thee a hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in
prison, and did not minister unto thee ?
45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you
Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not
to me. 46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but
the righteous into life eternal.
This second discourse of Jesus is apocalyptical from its
beginning to its end, and professedly so. It has an overture
in Matthew xxii, xxiii, but begins in chapter xxiv. The
disciples ask of the signs of his coming and of the end of
the world. The question shows what Jesus had taught
them, and that they had understood that he was "The Son
of Man" and "The Anointed One" of the apocalyptical
writers, and that he was to come again at the "Consum
mation of time." The first part of the answer of Jesus
(verses 4 to 51) reminds the disciples of the seventh, eighth,
and tenth principles, i.e., that the conflicts of sinners and
the righteous, and the tribulations of the righteous, wiU
QOntitiue for every soul until its judgment,

1 8o The Apocalypses
When the disciples ask for a definite statement of the
time of the end, he gives two answers. In verse 34 he says.
This generation shaU not pass tiU aU these things be fulfiUed.
The word genea, here translated generation, does not mean
a lifetime. It means a kind of people; and Christ's phrase
means, This kind of people, who oppose God's people,
wUl exist till the end of time.
In xxiv, 36, he says, " Of that day and hour knoweth no
man (how to speak); no, not the angels of heaven; but my
Father only." If the end comes to different souls at
different successive times, it is not susceptible of description
in terms of human speech, and has no common term.
Chapters xxiv and xxv contain a great many words
and phrases which are taken from either Daniel or Enoch.
Chapter xxiv, 4 to 12, is the warfare of the two classes of
wicked men, but especially those of false doctrine (the sixth
principle) against God's people.
Verse 13 mentions The end, which is from Dan. XII.
Verse 14 mentions the gospel proclamation, which is
the eighth principle, and from Daniel.
Verse 15 mentions the desolation prophesied by Daniel
and refers to Daniel by name.
Verses 22, 24 mention "The Elect" or "Chosen Ones,"
which is a phrase common in Enoch. (See page 80.)
Verse 27 perhaps suggests something like Daniel's
"Evening morning." (See page 144.)
Verse 30 mentions the coming of the "Son of Man in
the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. " This
refers to Dan. VII, 13, and to the first chapter of Enoch.
"The throne of his glory" is a common phrase in Enoch.
Matt. XXV by parable declares the last three of the
apocalyptical principles. The figures seem mostly to be
original to Jesus; but the simile of a bridegroom may be

John III i8i
from Isaiah, and the figure of eating' with the Son of Man is
from Enoch LXII, 14.
In verse 31 the sign of coming of the "Son of man in
his glory, and aU the holy angels with him, " may be from
Enoch's fourth section. The sitting in judgment in glory
is like Enoch L, 4 and XLIX, 4.
Verse 34 is a plain mention of the second and third
apocalyptical principles, i. e., the appointment of the Son's
kingdom before the creation of the world.
In verses 32, 33 the comparison of God's people to
sheep is like Enoch's fifth section.

IN JOHN III, I TO 21.
This is an account of a discourse to Nicodemus, a
Pharisee and President of a congregation of Jews. Jesus
(in verse 10) intimates that his own doctrine is what a
teacher of Pharisees ought to know already.
This discourse is declarative of the Hebrew Apocalyp
tical System, in regard to the kingdom of God (verses 3, 5);
the Son of Man before the creation of the world (verses 13,
16); the condemnation of sin (verse 18), the redemption
by The Son of God and of Man (verses 13 to 21); the
Judgment (verses 17, 18); the condemnation of the wicked
(verse 18); the eternal bliss of saints (verses 15, 16, 17).
To these apocalyptical doctrines, Jesus adds declarations
of the psychological truths on which the doctrine of human
salvation rests. His doctrine is essentially the same as that
presented by St. Paul in Romans VIII; but it is also closely
akin, in essence and in words and phrases, to the doctrine
which had been elaborated voluminously in the essays of
Philo. The ideas and phrases in verses 5, 6, 7 are common
in Philo, who argues that the intellect of man is immortal

1 82 The Apocalypses
because it is born from above (dnoihen) and from The
Divine Spirit, but it may suffer moral death through sin.
This is so much more fuUy elaborated by St. Paul in
Rom. VIII that a fuller comparison with Philo is presented
on page 345, etc.
The use of the terms "Light" and "Spirit" is precisely
according to the common custom of the apocalyptists.
For convenience, the text of St. John is here given,
. JOHN III.
I There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler
of the Jews:
2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi,
we know that thou art a teacher come from God : for no man can do
these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto
thee. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4 Nicodemus saith unto him. How can a man be born when he
is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be
born? 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man
be born of water and oj the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom
of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born
of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born from above.
8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound
thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth:
so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things
be? 10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel,
and knowest not these things ?
II Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know,
and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.
12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe npt, how
shall ye believe, if I tell you oj heavenly things ?

St. John's 183

13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came,
down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaveri.
14 If And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even
so must the Son of man be lifted up:
15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
eternal life.
16 Tf For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the
world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 % He that believeth on him is not condemned: bufhe that
believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the
world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their
deeds were evil.
20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh
to the Ught, lest his deeds should be reproved.
21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds
ipay be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

ST. JOHN'S APOCALYPSE OF JESUS CHRIST.
In the following pages it will be assumed that the reader
does not desire to follow a tentative or an argumentative
method, but can best attain an understanding of the meaning
and structure of The Apocalypse by the use of the discovered
keys and guides, viz., those in the seven letters, and in Enoch,
Daniel, and the words of John the Baptist and Jesus. But-,
of course, the reader will require a demonstration that these
keys and guides are applicable, and are the true and neces
sary ones. This demonstration, however, can best be
made by simple comparisons of The Apocalypse with its
predecessors, and with the general character of the Christian
system.

184 The Apocalypses
The reader is asked for a sympathetic disposition towards
the exposition, and to judge it on its merits only after it is
complete. If it does not honor God and Christ, if it does
not exalt Christianity, if it does not cheer human faith and
inspire hopes, let it perish as worthless, even if it is correct.
The idea that The Apocalypse is not a record of visions
in dreams, nor of words actually spoken by Angels, nor
chiefly a set of prophetic forecasts of events, but was a
carefully studied and a deliberately written composition,
may wound the spiritual sensitiveness of many persons.
Some persons will feel that Christian faith loses something
of its evidences, and some may ask if the idea of the divine
inspiration of the book has not been impaired. To these
the answer may be made, that the loss is imaginary, but
the gain is immense. After all, the main purpose of a
book from God must be the declaration of the eternal
facts and principles rather than of any historical events to
come, however important they may be. Nothing cah
prove a book to be inspired better than the scope, the
coherence, the cogency, and the value of its principles as
great truths of eternity.
As for the bearing of this exposition on the doctrine of
divine inspiration, it may be said that, if it modifies our
conception of the methods of inspiration, it honors the
belief that wise and saintly souls of men have been led to
the conception and love of truth by a long continued and
multiplied beneficent influence and teaching of the Spirit
of God in his reverent children.
If St. John wrote The Apocalypse artistically, rationally,
a.nd deliberately, it does not follow that anyone else could
have done it so, or at all. It does not follow that St. John
could have done it only intellectually. There are in it
heights and depths and splendors of spiritual perception.

St. John's 185
that imply in the writer the highest order of spiritual at
tainment such as has not been given in such wealth to many
other human beings, if to any. It is The Beloved Disciple
repeating the words of The Master.
St. John set himself to a tremendous and magnificent
task. To describe even the superficial phases of human
life taxes the best powers of great writers; but here is one
who dares both to depict all human joys and woes, and to
declare the sentiments and eternal plans of the Creator.
He declares the mysteries of the eternal past and the eternal
future. No material thing is too vast or too weighty for his
facile and graphic pen, which portrays, in vivid pictures,
the sun and stars in heaven, the continents and seas on the
earth, and the movements of these, in the volcano's crater,
and in whirlwinds and earthquakes. His hand carries the
sun in blackness and the moon in blood, while the Earth
shakes, the crags fall, and the sky is filled with superhuman
beings and forces.
But this is the least of his performances; for he marshalls
the principles of the profoundest truth and the subtlest
philosophy, the science of spirit life, and the personality
and decrees of The Creator Almighty, and aU this, not in
fragmentary incoherent phrases, but in the sequence and
order of a logical system, and in a clearness, fulness, and
wisdom never equaled.
The foUowing exposition of the structure and meaning
of The Apocalypse will show that the Apocalypse designs to
honor, explain, and complete the older Hebrew prophecies,
to show their profoundest meanings, and to exhibit their
harmonies. It aims to bring into spectacular array the
supreme elements of the books of Genesis, Isaiah, Zechariah
Ezekiel, Daniel, and Enoch, and the words of John The
Baptist and Jesus. In doing this it designs to exhibit, in

1 86 The Apocalypses
their relations to each other, those chief principles or facts
of the relations of God and men whichiiave been scheduled
as fourteen on pages 71, 72.
A great many of the words and conceptions of St. John
correspond to, and seem to be derived from, words of Isaiah,
Zechariah, and Ezekiel. These are not accidental coinci
dences nor casual references, but are consequences of like
thoughts of minds working in lines that are common to
them all. Many elements will be shown to be common
in the book of Enoch. (See Appendix A.)

ANALYTICAL EXPOSITION OF ST. JOHN'S
APOCALYPSE. CHAPTER I.
I The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to
shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass;
and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John :
2 Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of
Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.
3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of
this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for
the time is at hand.
4 John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto
you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to
come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;
5 And frora Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the
first-begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth.
Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
6 And hath raade us kings and priests unto God and his Father;
to hira be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him,
and they also which pierced him : and all kindreds of the earth shall
wail because of him. Even so, Amen.

St. John's 187
8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith
the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Al
mighty. 9 I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribu
lation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the
isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony
of Jesus Christ.
10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me
a great voice, as of a trumpet,
II Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and
Wliat thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches
which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Per-
gamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia,
and unto Laodicea.
12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And
being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;
13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the
Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about
the paps with a golden girdle.
14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as
snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;
15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a fur
nace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his
mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was
as the sun shineth in his strength.
17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid
his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first
and the last:
18 I am tie that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive
for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
19 Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which
are, and the things which shall be hereafter;
20 The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my
•right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars
are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks
which thou sawest are the seven churches.
The first three verses are the Title Page; but they also

1 8 8 The Apocalypses
give the keynote of a perfect tune, and introduce the melody
of the whole book, and the heavenly chorus. They tell the
character of the book and its authors.
It is " An Apocalypse. " An Apocalypse is an Uncovering,
or a display; but the name does not necessarily imply that
it is a new discovery, or a fresh revelation: and it means
an Exhibition or Exposition, rather than an Explanation.
It is Jesus Christ 's Exposition. It is the truth as Jesus
knew and published it. It is that truth of which John
said later (Rev. XIX, lo) "Jesus' testimony is the spirit of
prophecy. "
It is the exposition which God gave to Jesus to show.
At the outset, John says, by this, "Jesus is The Word of
God"; and, from this start, John goes on, displaying Jesus
as "The Word" and " The Witness, " from whom all known
precious truth has come to men from God. Other books
had portrayed an apocalypse of God and his kingdom;
but those were from far ancient Scriptures, or from men's
reasoning. This one is to be what Jesus knew and pro
claimed; and He knew it as no other man knew it; for
God revealed it to Him, and He spoke as God's Word.
These three verses tell St. John's commission and
authority. He was the disciple who had best understood
Jesus. He already, in his Gospel, "Bare record of The
Word of God, and of Jesus Christ's testimony, so much as
(hdsa) he saw (or preceived)." The reader must observe
the likeness of this phrase to the words of John the Baptist
which John records in John iii, 32, "What He hath seen
and heard, of that He testifies." St. John, in this, says
that The Apocalypse is of what Jesus saw, not of what St.
John saw.
St. John also says, in the first verse, that Jesus by an
Angel signified something to him. The most natural con-

St. John's 189
struction of this phrase is, that what was signified was that
some of the prophesied events were near at hand. The
Greek word used here, had often the meaning to seal, and
this is also the primal meaning of signify.
The remainder of the chapter, after verse 3, is an intro
duction serving to put a distinctive character on the whole
book. '
The reader must recall the then existing circumstances.
An old wonderful revelation existed in the Hebrew books.
A great intellectual and spiritual training had produced a
logical arrangement and system of great principles and
doctrines. Jesus Christ had come, as the best, purest, and
wisest of men, and had taught that apocalyptical system,
and proclaimed himself its central figure, "The Anointed,"
and "The Son of Man." But the system was neglected by
many Jews and denied by others, especiaUy after it favored
Christianity. It was ridiculed and hated by the heathen,
and discredited by the calamities of the persecuted Jews,
and the destruction of Jerusalem. It had always been
unsettled on certain points regarding the Messiah's kingdom.
Some scholars said The kingdom will exist only in heaven
after the Judgment Day. Others said that it would begin
at some central period in earthly history. Some said that
The Word of God, the Archetypal Son of Mankind, would
become incarnate in a human life. Others rejected that
belief. At this point St. John came forward to speak on the
disputed and crucial questions. He believed the Apocalyp
tical System; for Jesus had explained and confirmed it to
him; and he had taught it in his Gospel and Epistles. He
knew also that it was immensely valuable for a foundation
of the new church, and starting point of the new theology.
Christianity was infinitely more strengthened and advanced

190 The Apocalypses
by exalting the old truth, and the old attainments, than it
would have been by professing to be a wholly new revelation.
St. John, came forward to declare definitely that the
Kingdom of God had come in Jesus Christ; and that the
time had come, not only for faith, but for obedience, and
service, and warfare, and proclamation.
St. John came forward also to finish and "Round out"
the sacred Scriptures; to put a new seal on the new theology;
to confirm the harmony of the sacred books; and to declare
that Jesus signified (or sealed), by His own testimony, the
system of faith which The Word of God had caused wise
and spiritual men to formulate.
St. John came forward to exhibit Christianity as a system,
having a clearly defined phUosophy and theology, reasonable,
symmetrical, and coherent. If the heathen said, "Your
doctrine is only your devotion to a man," St. John said "It
is the perfect philosophy of Common Sense, and the wisest
ever put into words." If the Jews said, "Your doctrine is
almost all ours, and out of our Scrptures," St. John said,
"That is its glory; but it is perfected, illuminated, and made
vital, in the living presence of The God-Man."
St. John begins his introduction, in verses 4 and 5, by"
declaring that the book which he is about to publish, as
signified by an Angel, is his own work directed from The
Eternal Being and Jesus Christ, and aided by "The Seven
Spirits which are before His throne." Just what this may
mean is not clear; but the reader must remember that in
Chapter V, 6, the Seven Spirits are Seven Eyes of The Lamb,
and in chapter I, 20, they are Stars. It must also be re
membered that St. John wrote in an age in which it was
common for persons believing that they had truth which
had come from God, to ascribe it to inspiration, and to the
assistance of Divine Messengers who, in a certain sense.

St. John's 191
were Words of God. PhUo makes a full exposition of this
custom, and probably states a common doctrine of that
matter. Philo afl&rms that all truth is a spiritual impartation
from God; and this affirmation almost all thoughtful minds
confirm; but with various explanations, and arguments,
and modificatbns. Having the doctrine that the primal
truth is The Word of God, and a Divine Being, Philo goes
further, and says there are lesser Words, which are souls,
and are "Attendants of God," and "Which we are accus
tomed to caU Angels." (Abraham's Migration, Ch. 31.)
"The word of prophecy is accustomed to call these souls angels.''
(On the Conjusion oj Language, Ch. 34.) "These beings, whom
other philosophers call daimones, Moses usually calls Angels; and
they are souls.'' (On The Giants, Ch. 2.) Philo believed that he
and other wise men were often inspired by Words from God. (On
Abraham's Migration, Ch. 7.)
That St. John's doctrine of angelic revelation is the
same as Philo's, would be too much to say; but there is
here something that afl&rms St. John's belief of his own
inspiration, and yet relieves it of the semblance of physical
speaking by embodied Angels.
St. John continues this form of his introduction in verses
9 and 10. He says, "I was in the spirit on the Lord-Day."
It must be noticed that, in the Greek idiom, this phrase
means, "I was, in my. spirit, in the Lordly (kuridke) Day";
and the assertion is that St. John, as to his spiritual con
dition, was occupied with the contertiplation and sense of
the things of the Judgment Day.
The rest of the chapter is made up of conceptions and
figures derived directly from the old Hebrew Apocalyptical
literature, sometimes in the old words, and sometimes with
other synonjmous and explanatory words. But,, by his

192 The Apocalypses
presentation of Jesus Christ, as "The Word of God" and
"The Son of Man," St. John converts the whole book into
Christian Exposition. He does not reject, disparage, or
dirninish, the older system of doctrine, nor even its phrases,
figures, and symbols. He rather exalts them all, and glorifies
the system by a new and more complete exhibition, with a
greater wealth of figures, and a more perfect arrangement.
By his presentation of Jesus Christ of Nazareth as The
Lord whom the Prophets and Enoch had called "The
Christ" (The Anointed One), and whom Philo had many
times called "The Saviour" (Soter, in Greek; Jeshua, in
Hebrew), St. John transforms and vivifies the system. It
was not necessary that he should dp more. It was as if
a Court Physician, or Court Historian, entering a palace, or
a field, where the great Persons of an empire are gathered
with the pomp and powers and splendor of mighty dominion
and world-wide connections, should say, "This Lord, who
wears the crown and robes, and before whom Nobles bow,
is the Heir beside whose cradle I stood, and whose whole
life I have followed."
By the first three chapters, St. John concentrates our
view on the figure of Jesus in the positions and characters
occupied by the word of God in the older Apocalyptical
System. He converts the system from an academic specu
lation into living truth; and from a theory into an exposition
of vital facts. He gathers what he regards as the concen
trated and glorified substance of God's best words and dis
plays to men, and brings it with reverence, and adoration,
and love, and enthusiasm, to Him at whose feet he had sat,
to whose words of wisdom he had listened, and whose
fortitude and sufferings he had witnessed.
In verse 9, the words, "I was in the isle that is called
Patmos, for the Word of God, and for the testimony of

St. John's 193
Jesus," seem to mean that St. John was there for the purpose
of preparing this book. There is much that is pathetic,
and much that is inspiring in these words. Far from Syria,
which has been desolated, and from the places where
prophets had communed with God, and saintly men had
meditated on the Divine Word, and far from the loved
Sanctuary which stood for the presence of The Lord, and
from which the regalia of the Priests and the Ark and the
Logion and the Candlestick had been plundered, St. John
sits to write that the Revelation of God has been real, and
the Word believed has been true, and the kingdom has been
a glory and a power.
Selecting the seven nearest cities, which of course were
Greek, he writes to the exiled Jews gathered there his
exhortations to faith and faithfulness. Gathering up the
formulas and figures that they loved and revered, he pro
claims that the day is come, that The Lord is present,
that the Kingdom is inaugurated and in progress, and
that another presence of the Lord will at last crown
the revelation of Divine Truth.
In the white light of critical scrutiny which the mag
nificent faith and enthusiastic hopes of God's chosen people
had kindled around the Apocalyptcial System, St. John sees
Jesus central and glorious. In the red light of national
catastrophe, and of the obloquy that hung over the tragic
history of Jesus, St. John proclaims a coming victory, a
world wide dominion, and an eternal glory.
The semblance of seeing visions and hearing words,
which is begun in this chapter and kept up throughout the
book, cannot be regarded as anything else than a rhetorical
form, or a way of putting things. It was the common way
of writing apocalyptical books, and was so understood by
all readers at that time.

194 The Apocalypses
The description of The Son of Man, which St. John
begins in verse 1 1 , is entirely made up of phrases common
and famUiar in the Apocalyptcial Literature. Multitudes
of St. John's readers knew exactly where to put their fingers
on them in their libraries; and, to these readers, these words
and phrases had a large part of their value from the fact
that they taught that the old faith and truth and the new
were one, except that the old had not the petson Jesus
Christ. In verses lo and 12, St. John introduces a Voice, and
immediately, by other figures, intimates that he means this
as a figure to say "The Word of God is come."
In verses 12 and 13, St. John figures The Word of God
as in the midst of the seven-branched lampstand of the
sanctuary. This, as ha^s been shown on page 67, is a figure
used by Philo, and declared by him to be ancient and much
used. It is used also in Rev. XI, 4, which takes it from
Zechariah IV, 2, 14.
In verses 14 and 15 the description of The Son of Man
is almost all made up of figures and phrases of Daniel X,
13, i§, where they describe an Angel who is a Man and a
Revealer. (See page 150.) It also very much resembles
descriptions in the books of Enoch and Philo as the following
parallels wUl show.
V. j. "The First begotten "The Word of God is his
of the dead." First begotten Son." Philo On
(St. John seems here to have Dreams, I, 37. On Agriculture,
had a double meaning. His Ch. 12.
primary reference is to the " The blood of the Righteous
"Lamb slain from the founda- One ascends from the earth."
tion of the earth," as in Chapter Enoch, Ch- 47-
XII, II. His complete decla- "The Son of Man was
ration is that Jesus Christ had chosen before the world was
perfected the prophecies and created. =" '" =1' In his name they

St. John's

195

types by the sacrifice of himself.)
(This is like Heb. II. g, supple
menting Heb. I, 3.)
V. j. "The Trusty Witness."

V. j. "The Prince of
Kings of the Earth."

the

V. j. "He washed us from
our sins in his own blood."

V. 7.
clouds."

"He cometh with

will be saved, and he will be the
revenger of their hves." Enoch,
Ch. 48.
"The Divine Word is full of
the streams of wisdom. Philo
On Dreams II, 37, 38.
" It is a fountain of wisdom."
Philo On Fugitives, Chs. 18 and
ig. "In the Son of Man, The
Anointed, dwells the spirit of
him who imparts understand
ing." Enoch, Ch. 4g.
The prominence of the idea
of the reign of The Son of Man,
caused the whole system of doc
trine to be called Messianic.
"I was praising The King
of the world." Enoch, 12.
"The Son of Man will- expel
the kings from their thrones.''
Enoch, 46.
"The Lord of the Kings."
Enoch, 63, 84.
"The hearts of the Saints
were filled with joy, because
justice was fulfilled, and the
blood of The Righteous One had
been demanded." Enoch, 47.
"In his name they will be
saved." Enoch, 48, jO.
"The blood of the Just One
will ascend." Enoch, 47.
"The Chosen One vAW sit
upon the throne of glory * * *
On that day I will cause my
Chosen One to dwell among
them, and -will transform heaven
and make it a hght eternally."
Enoch, 4j.

196

The Apocalypses

V. 7. "All kindreds of the
earth shall wail because of him."

V. 8. "i am Alpha and
Omega; the Beginning and the
End; the First and the Last."
"The Lord which is, and
was, and is to come."

V. 12. "1 saw seven golden
lampstands; and in the midst
of the seven lampstands one
like unto The Son of Man."

V. 14. "The head and hairs
(of The Son of Man) were white
like wool."

"There will be none to lift
them up because they have
denied The Lord of the Spirits
and his Anointed." Enoch, 48.
"Some persons have said
God is the Beginning and End
of everything." Philo. On
Noah's Planting, Ch. 18.
"The Word of God is the
most ancient thing." Philo.
On The Allegories oj The Sacred
Laws. Ill, 61.
"God's Firstborn Word, the
Eldest of his Angels, is called
The Beginning." Philo. On The
Conjusion Oj Languages. j8.
"The angel who went with
me showed me the First and the
Last.', £»oc/^, 60. 11.
"The Word, which di'vided
(the parts of Abram's sacrifices)
made up the number seven. * * *
And a thing very similar to this
appears to be very clearly shown
in the matter of the sacred lamp-
stand. * * * In many accounts
it has been believed to be fash
ioned in such a manner because
six is divided into two triads by
The Word which is a seventh."
* * * Philo On The Heir oj
Divine Things, Ch. 44.
"I saw one who had a head
of days; and his head was white
like wool, and with him was a
second. * * * This is The Son
of Man." Enoch, Ch. 46.
Describing Noah, when born,
as a type of the Son of Man,

St. John's

197

V, 14. " His eyes were as a flame
of fire." "His countenance
was as the sun shineth in its
strength." The same person is figured
Rev. X, I.
V. 16. "Out of his mouth
went a sharp two-edged sword,"

V. 18. "I am he that liveth,
and was dead."

V. 18. "I have the keys of
Hades and of Death."

Enoch says (Chap. 106) "The
hair of his head was white as
wool, * * * The hair of his head
is whiter than wool."
In the Apocalyptical writers,
this figure is a way of saying that
The Word was old as God The
Father. "His eyes are like the rays of
the sun, * * * They illuminated
the whole house." Enoch, Ch.
106. The description is like that in
Dan. X, 6.
"The word of his mouth slew
all the sinners." Enoch, Ch. 62.
"A sword will dwell in their
midst before his countenance."
Enoch, Ch. 6j.
See, in this book, page 45.
The figure, whatever it may
mean, of the Lamb slain before
the foundation of the world, is
too common and vast a feature
of Christianity, and of the Scrip
tures, and of the Hebrew Apoca
lyptical System, to need further
comment here.
"He is The Chosen One,
* * * In his name they will be
saved, * * * Sheol will return
what is entrusted to it, and Hell
will return what it owes, * * *
These things are for the power
of His Anointed that He may
command." Enoch, Chs. 4g to
52.

198 The Apocalypses
In verse 19, the injunction to write "The things which
thou hast seen and the things which are, and the things
which shall be hereafter," is a plain intimation that St. John
was engaged in portraying the principles and facts of the
eternal past, the present, and the eternal future. It is like
the words of Jesus in Matt. XIII, j2. (See in this book,
page 168.)
In verse 20, is nearly a complete key to all the mystery
of this book; for it introduces the letters to the churches,
and plainly intimates that the pretense of seeing the seven-
branched lampstand, which yet is a symbol of angels, is a
rhetorical device and fiction. He says that the lampstands
are a figure for seven churches, or congregations, which are
to stand for recipients of the seven sections; and the stars,
or fires, which are in his hand in the lamps, are angels which
represent the seven utterances of The Word of God, for
which purpose they are repeatedly brought forward in the
several sections of the book, as Spirits, Eyes of the Lamb, etc.
It is not to these Angels, but for them that the letters
are written. The rhetorical form used is the Greek Dative
Case, and its natural meaning is "For The Angel," etc.
The intention seems to be to present the Word of God, as
speaking, throughout the book; but the speaking is figured
as the voices of seven spirits. In entering on an interpre
tation of The Apocalypse, scarcely anything is more impor
tant than a definite knowledge of what St. John means by
the name Spirit, and by the representation that he received
communications from seven spirits.
It must be observed that St. John represents the seven
Spirits in many ways. The spirits that here are stars seem
also to be the lights of the candlesticks, as they are also in
IV, 5. They are "Eyes of The Lamb " in V, 6. In other
places they are seven angels, which "Stand before God"

St. John's 190
{yill, 2), or are sent out on various missions. It has been
common to assume that all words and phrases that we do
not understand are figures; and all words about which men
have definite ideas are literal; and that, therefore, stars,
lights, and eyes are figures, but spirits and angels are literal.
And yet, in fact, we have no knowledge of spirits or angels,
and this Apocalypse has done more to cause our notions of
them than aU the rest of The Bible.
If the stars, lights, and eyes are figures, they spread their
figurative character over the whole of the representations,
and make the angels and spiirits also figures. It is sure that
the words which St. John puts into the mouths of these spirits
are words that he quotes from the Old Testament, or that he
borrows from the Hebrew Apocalyptical System, or that
he has conceived to suit the doctrines which he desires to
proclaim. It must also be noticed that St. John represents
these angel spirits as God's Spirits. They are not merely
messengers, or servants sent out; but they are God's own
spirit, represented as seven, the divine number. As "Eyes
of The Lamb" they are a part of the life or action of "The
Word of God." So, in some later chapters, they are voices;
and the words that they speak are utterances of The Word,
or The Lamb, or Jesus.
This is very similar to the manner of The Book of Enoch,
which represents many messages as being delivered by
angels; but does not intend nor expect that the reader will
take the representations literally. The whole matter of
Angels among the Jews was very indefinite. In Enoch
many are named, but not described; and they are a part
of the allegories. A belief in angels grew up among the
Jews; but it was not a real doctrine in the Hebrew Apoca
lyptical System. Philo says there are angels, but they are
God's Own Words. Philo's doctrine however is vague;

200 The Apocalypses
and while he says The Word is " The Archangel " and "The
Oldest Angel," he seems to conceive that there are inferior
Words which are inferior spiritual beings. But what An
gels are, or what the Jews conceived them to be, has nothing
to do with St. John's Apocalypse; for his Angels are simply
figures of "The Word of God."
In Chapter V, 6, the spirits are a figure derived from
Isaiah XII, 2 (see page 41). The figure is of a kind that
was common, but indefinite, among the Jews. Rhilo writes
of the spirit of the eyes, etc., and as like water in its opera
tions. The Book of Enoch mentions spirits of lightning,
thunder, the sea, frost, snow, fog, light, etc. (Chap. LX). In
describing the praises given to God, it mentions the praisers
as the Spirits of fidelity, wisdom, patience (suffering), mercy,
judgment, peace, and goodness. Of course this is not literal
language, implying personal spirits.
All that St. John says of Angels and Spirits must be
understood to be imaginative, and part of his figurative
mode of writing.
In this first chapter, St. John has figured Jesus Christ
in twenty of the characters which "The Word of God"
bore in the Hebrew Apocalyptical System, viz. : The Word
of God, the Anointed (Christ), The Son of Man, The
Divider and Bond, The Lord of Spirits, The Witness, The
Faithful, The Lamb Slain (Firstbegotten of the dead), The
Prince, The Redeemer, The Son of God, The Coming
Judge, The First and Last, The Allruler (Pantokrdior),
The Judge, The Half-Seven, The Firstborn, The Revealer,
The Fieryeyed, and The Swordmouthed.

St. John's 20I

CHAPTERS II and III.
The Letters to Churches.
CHAPTER II.
I Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things
saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh
in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;
2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how
thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them
which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake
hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast
left thy first love.
5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent,
and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and
will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolai-
tans, which I also hate.
7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree
of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
8 And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These
things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive;
9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou
art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are
Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
lo Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold,
the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye raay be tried; and
ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and
I will give thee a crown of life.
¦ 1 1 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.
12 And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These
things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges;
13 I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where
Satan's seat is: and thou boldest fast my name, and hast not denied
my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful viit-
ness, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.

102 The Apocalypses
14 But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast
there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to
cast a stumbhng-block before the children of Israel, to eat things
sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.
15 So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nico-
laitanS, which thing I hate.
16 Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight
against them with the sword of my mouth.
17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden
manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name
written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.
18 And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These
things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of
fire, and his feet are like fine brass;
19 I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith and
thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.
20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because
thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess,
to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat
things sacrificed unto idols.
21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she
repented not.
22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit
adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their
deeds. 23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches
shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and
I will give unto every one of you according to your works.
24 But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many
as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of
Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden.
25 But that which ye have already, hold fast till I come.
26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end,
to him will I give power over the nations:
27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a
potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my
Father. 28 And I will give him the morning star.

St. John's 203
29 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the churches. CHAPTER III.
And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things
saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I
know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.
2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are
ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.
3 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and
hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come
on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come
upon thee.
4 Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled
their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are
worthy. 5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white rai
ment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but
I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
6 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the churches.7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These
things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of
David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and
no man openeth;
8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open
door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and
hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.
9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which
say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will raake them
to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved
thee. 10 Because thou hast kept the word of ray patience, I also v?ill
keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all
the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
II Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that
no man take thy crown.
12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of
my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the

204 The Apocalypses
name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new
Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I
will write upon him my new name.
13 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the churches.14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans -write;
These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the
beginning of the creation of God;
15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would
thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot,
I will spew thee out of my mouth.
17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods,
and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched,
and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou
mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and
that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine
eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous there
fore, and repent.
20 Behold I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my
voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with
him, and he with me.
21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my
throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father
in his throne.
22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the churches. These letters fulfill the words of Jesus after his great
discourse in Matt. XIII; "Therefore every scribe instructed
unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man, a house
holder, which bringeth, out of his treasure, things new
and old." They blend, into a single vital thing, the old
apocalyptical principle and phrases, and the personality and
present words of the Lord as he is displayed in Chapter I.
It has been shown (pages 17 to 28) that, in ideas and

St. John's 205
phrases, they correspond with seven sections in which the
later chapters are composed, but are reversed in the order
of their sequence. Each letter is partly made up of the
phrases of the first chapter, and so is made a personal
address from the Messiah. Each of those phrases is both
a principle of the apocalyptical system, and a declaration
of the Messiahship af Jesus. Each letter embodies ideas
that are exhibited most plainly in the section that is mated
to the letter. Each letter ends with a promise of some
blessing that is mentioned in its correspondent section.
Each letter is a personal address to a personal soul. If
readers have a feeling that the sections deal with nations
and races, and with things immense, and distant, the letters
do everything possible to remove that feeling. If readers
at first feel that the letters, being addressed to churches,
are not for the world, or are not for him, they do everything
possible to remove that feeling.
The letters have much appearance of not even being
addressed to organized, or Christian, churches, but rather
to every soul, and especially to God's ancient people. The
word church (ekklesia or qahal) was a common word to
designate God's chosen race. PhUo so used it. In its
Hebrew form it may be found in the names of Jewish
congregations over all the world. The towns to which
the letters are addressed were the seven nearest ones, and
only one of them was of much importance.
They are one for each section, as if their writer said.
Not merely shall the general illumination from the intro
duction be thrown over the whole book, but each section
shall have its own lamp, its own fire, and its own emphasis.
Although the letters seem to recognize special character
istics of the various churches, they are in fact made on such
a plan that, in the whole series, the whole variety of common

2o6 The Apocalypses
characters is addressed, so that every reader finds in each
letter a personal appeal, and a personal promise with its
suitable conditions. There is nothing in any letter which
is known to befit any actual church. The only apparent
exception to this statement, in //, 13, has another and better
explanation. (See page 25.)
The likeness of the letters must be noted, as much as
their differences. Each letter refers to the acts of the
persons addressed. Each one demands obedience, service,
and faithfulness, in the confession and exaltation of Jesus,
and in the war with sin. Each one presents its demands
as the voice of the spirit for whom St. John has written, and
who, in the ultimate fact, is the Spirit of God in union with
The Word of God who is Son of God. Each one makes its
promises "To him that conquers"; and finally, each letter
promises what is last and best, past all the dangers and
pains, in the soul's place and nearest to the home of The
Creator and of The Redeemer. Five of the letters make a
call for repentance, and imply that it has a great part in the
preparation of a soul for eternity.
These features, repentance and conquest, have a high
place among the crowning elements of the system which,
rooted in and growing out of the Hebrew Scriptures, had
become the Christian system. Both were elements inherent
in the Hebrew faith and system, and both were logicaUy
and spiritually inwoven in all the texture of the Hebrew
books, and both grow naturally from the recognition of
a personal perfect Creator of aU things; but, in the older
faith, the law was foremost, and righteousness was stern,
and punishments were glorified.
A system of morality, unique, and to the rest of the world
repugnant, but replete with the very essence and spirit of
moral power, had grown upon the doctrine of the moral

St. John's 207
rights of The Creator in his creatures, his children. Here
in the letters we have it in its beautiful simplicity, and its
divine authority. It had four preceptive elements, con
science, conviction, repentance, and obedience, each of
which is a sense of the soul's relation to its Creator. In
the Hebrew system this sense is a sense of relation to "The
Word Son of God;" and in the Christian system it is a sense
of a relation to Christ.
Who formulated a philosophical doctrine of conscience
and conviction, we do not know; but in Philo's books it is
clear, strong and prominent.* And with Philo it goes along
intertwined with the doctrine of relation to the "Word Son
of God" In Philo's essays also, the call for repentance is
clear and strong. Neither in Daniel nor in Enoch is the
call for repentance clear or strong; but in Enoch the power
of conscience, as a fear of The Son of Man, is portrayed in
symbolical figures.
The book of Enoch demands so sternly and severely
the righteousness of men that it has little room for mercy;
and yet repentance, conquering, and mercy are there, for
Enoch says,.
" On the day of trouble evil will gather over the sinners; but the
just will conquer through the name of the Lord of the spirits; and he
will show it to the others, that they may repent, and cease the work
of their hands. And they will have no honor before the Lord of the
Spirits; but in his name they will be saved, and the Lord of the
Spirits will have raercy on them, for his raercy is great." Chapter L.
With the apocalyptical preaching of John The Baptist
and Jesus, conscience, repentance, and obedience became
conspicuous in the front line of requisites for entrance into
* Philo's ideas and words on this matter are most interesting
elements in the history of the world's philosophy. They are quite fully
exhibited in " Man and His Divine Father, " by John C. C. Clarke.

^o8 The Apocalypses
"The kingdom of God (or heaven)." Now they are here
in the letters to the churches, imperative, exacting, erecting
a strong moral principle that on one side joins with the
declarations that judgment shall be according to men's
work, and yet, on the other side, weaves into the assurances
of grace in The Lamb of God.
So these letters lift The Apocalypse into the highest
moral plane, and make it grand with the moral life of God
and men. In each letter the living Lord says, in effect,
These visions of eternal things are for you and me. These
battles and tribulations are the realities of my life and of
yours. Into the wars and woes we go together, for a victory
and its eternal rewards. The sections recite principles:
the letters say, What are these to you? The sections tell
laws: the letters say. Do you obey? The sections tell the
needs, wars, and dangers of souls: the letters say. What are
you going to do about it ? The sections tell of a perpetual
war: the letters say. Are you a conquering soldier? The
sections say. Our Lord will come in judgment and power:
the letters say. Are you watching? The sections tell of
blessed life and joys beyond the grave: the letters say. Are
these for you ?
THE FIRST SECTION. IT IS CHAPTERS IV TO VIII.
CHAPTER IV.
I After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven:
and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking
with me; which said. Come up hither, and I will shew thee things
which must be hereafter.
2 And immediately I was in the Spirit: and, behold, a throne
was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.
3 And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine
stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like
unto an emerald.

St. John's 209
4 And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and
upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white
raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.
5 And out of the throne proceeded hghtnings and thunderings
and voices: and there were seven lamps of iire burning before the
throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
6 And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal:
and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four
beasts full of eyes before and behind.
7 And the first beast was Uke a lion, and the second beast like a
calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast
was like a flying eagle.
8 And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him;
and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night,
saying, Holy, holy, holy. Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and
is to come.
9 And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to
him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever,
10 The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat
on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and
cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
II Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and
power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are
and were created.
This chapter comes to us with great sweetness. It would
be delightful to know that St. John looked into heaven, and
saw such glory and happiness as are here described: but
he does not wish us to understand, either that he really saw
any vision, or that heaven is actually as he describes. He
sa3's, in verse 2, that he was in his spirit, which can only
mean that he contemplated things of a spiritual nature.
He does not wish us to understand that he saw The Creator,
nor that he saw "Seven Spirits of God," nor that he saw
such symbolical things.
St. John has chosen to continue the semblance of visions
and voices; but from this point, the body of the book is a

2 ID The Apocalypses
series of repetitions of the fourteen doctrines of the Hebrew
Apocalyptical System, with elements drawn from The Old
Testament, and made Christian.
This first section is a very full statement, by figures aud
symbols, of all the fourteen doctrines, stated with very much
of the imaginative and rhetorical form that had been used
by others previously.
St. John sets his point of view back in eternity; and the
visions that he calls up are the purposes, or decrees, of God.
He begins by saying, "After this, I looked." Most natur
ally this might niean, that the view does not include the
absolutely first things, but begins after the "CaUing" of
" The Son of Man," as portrayed in Chapter I. The phrase
"After this I looked," may however only mean that St.
John proposes to represent his conceptions as separate
visions; and the point of view may be the very beginning.
The vision and voices in this section, while described
with a certain simplicity, and while assimUated to other and
older imaginative descriptions, are yet far more majestic
and purely sublime, than any other apocalyptical literature.
The fourth chapter exhibits only the first one of the
Hebrew Apocalyptical doctrines, viz. : The creation and rule
of all things is by a personal, perfect, omnipotent, omniscient,
and all glorious Deity.
To illustrate the similarity between St. John's imagery
and that of other writers, a few selections are here placed.
Verse i. Compare with, Verse 2. Compare with,
"And they lifted me up into "I fell down on my face and
heaven * * * And the Lord saw a vision, * * * and I
called me with his own voice, looked and saw therein a high
Come hither Enoch, and to my throne, and He who is great in
Holy Word." Enoch XIV, g majesty sat thereon."£>ioc/tX/V,
and 24. 14, 18, 20.

St. John's

211

Verse j. Compare with,
"His garment shone more bril
liantly than the sun, and was
whiter than any hail. None of
the Angels were able to enter,
nor any flesh to look upon the
form of the Majestic and Hon
oured One. Fire of flame was
around him, and a great fire
stood before him.' ' Enoch XI V,
20, 21. "The throne's appearance
was like hoar-frost, and its cir
cuit like a shining sun." Enoch
XIV, i8.
"His throne was like fiery
flame, and its wheels (circles) as
burning fire." Daniel VII, g.
" O Lord,'* * =•' whose throne
is inestraiable, * =i= -1= whose ser
vice is conversant with wind and
fire." // Esdras VIII, 20.
"And I looked and behold
* * * and a fire injolding it-
selj, and a brightness about it.
* *' * Behold! one wheel upon
the earth, * * i' As the ap
pearance of the bow that is in
the clouds in the day of rain, so
was the appearance of the bright
ness about it. This was the
appearance of the likeness of the
glory of the Lord." Ezekiel I,
4, ij, 28.
Verse 4. Compare with,
"The holy ones who were near
him did not leave, day or night.
Enoch XIV, 2 J.
Verse j. Compare with,

"A tongue of fire surrounded it
(a wall) * * * A flaming fire
surrounded the walls * * * And
Cherubim of fire (or fiery Cheru
bim) were between the stars.
Enoch XIV, g, II.
"As for the likeness of the
living creatures, it was like burn
ing coals of fire, like the appear
ance of lamps, * * * and the fire
was bright, and out of the fire
went forth lightning. And the
living creatures ran and returned
as the appearance of a flash of
lightning," etc. Ezekiel I, IJ,
In verse 6. Compare with
"And they lifted me up into
heaven, and I went till I ap
proached a wall which was built
of crystals * ¦* * and a large
house built of crystals, and the
walls of this house were like a
floor inlaid with crystals." Enoch
XIV, 9, 10.
"On the four sides of The
Lord of the Spirits I saw four
faces * * * and I learned their
names * * =•= And I heard the
voices of those four faces as they
blessed before The Lord of glory.
The first voice blessed the Lord
of the Spirits to all eternity," etc.
Enoch XL, 2, 4.
"Also out of the midst came
the likeness of four living crea
tures. And this was their ap
pearance: they had the likeness
of a man. And every one had

212

The Apocalypses

four faces, and every one had
four wings," etc. Ezekiel I, j to
ti. "Behold! One wheel (circle)
upon the earth by the living
creatures with four faces, * * *
and their rings (circles) were full
of eyes about the four.''' * * The
spirit of the li'ving creature was
in the wheels (circles)." Eze
kiel I, Ij, i8.
Verse 7. Compare with,
" They four had the face of a man
and the face of a lion, on the
right side; and they four had the
face of an ox on the left side.
They four had also the face of an
eagle." Ezekiel I, 10.
Verses 8 to 11. Compare
with, "They four had their
'wings." Ezekiel I, 8, II.
"The first voice blessed the
Lord of the Spirit to all eternity.
And I heard the second voice
praising the Chosen One * * *
And the angel of peace said to
me, ''¦'•=''' These are the four

Angels of God, The Most High."
Enoch XL.
"Before Him there is no ceas
ing. He knows, before the world
is created, what the world is and
vfiXl be from generation to gen
eration. The sleepless ones
praise Thee. They stand before
thy glory, and bless and glorify
and exalt Thee, saying Holy!
Holy! Holy! And here my eyes
saw all those who do not sleep,
standing before Him: and they
say Blessed art Thou, and blessed
is the name of The Lord to all
eternity." Enoch XXXIX
"Then will cry out all the
host of the heavens, and all the
holy ones above, and the host of
God, Cherubim and Seraphim
and Ophanim, and all the angels
of power * * * All who do not
sleep in heaven will bless him
'*='•=''' and say 'Holy' to thy
sacred name * * * and bless
thy name to all eternity." Enoch
LXI.

JOHN'S CHAPTER V.
I And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a
book written within and on the back side, sealed with seven seals.
2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who
is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?
3 And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth
was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.
4 And I wept rauch, because no man was found worthy to open
and to read the book, neither to look thereon.
5 And one of the elders saith unto me; Weep not: behold, the

St. John's 213
Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open
the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.
6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the
four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had
been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven
Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
7 And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him
that sat upon the throne.
8 And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and
twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them
harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.
9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take
the book, and to open the seals thereof; for thou wast slain, and hast
redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue,
and people, and nation;
10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests; and we
shall reign on the earth.
II And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round
about the throne, and the beasts, and the elders; and the number of
them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thou
sands; 12 Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour,
and glory, and blessing.
13 And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and
under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them,
heard I saying. Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto
him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and
ever. 14. And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty
elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.
This Chapter V, exhibits the second and third of
the doctrines of The Hebrew Apocalyptical System. The
theme is the Book of God's Purposes in human life and
history, in its relation to Him who was The Word of God,
The Son of Man, The Anointed, The Advocate, and The
Lamb of God, before the creation of the world.

214 The Apocalypses
In the Hebrew Apocalyptical System, The Messiah is
The Revealer of Truth, and The Guardian of Secrets.
This character is inherent in his name. The Word of God,
and is involved also in all his other characters. Every
thing good centers in him, and everything good depends
on him. He holds and opens the book of God's purposes.
Before analyzing this chapter we may well observe the
prominence of the "Book of The Living" and its Guardian,
in other literature.
"Moses caUs The Word of God a book" (Gen. II, 4).
Philo On Allegories of The Sacred Laws, I. 8.
Ezekiel II, Q, says, "Behold a hand sent unto me: and Lo! a
roll of a book therein. And it was written within and without; and
therein were written lamentations, and mourning and woe."
Daniel VII, g, says, "I beheld till the thrones were set, and The
Ancients of Days did sit, * * * and the books were opened."
The Book of Enoch says, " I saw The Head of Days as he sat upon
the throne of his glory, and the books of the living were opened before
Him." Chap. XLVII.
"I saw written upon the tablets of heaven, that generation upon
generation will tran.sgress." Chap CVI, ig; CVII, i.
"I asked concerning this Son of Man * * * and why he goes
with the Head of Davs. And he answered. This is the Son of Man,
who has justice; and justice dwells with him; and all the treasures of
secrecy he reveals * * * And this Son of Man will arouse the kings
and the mighty from their couches, and the strong frora theii thrones,
and will loosen the bands of the strong, and will break the teeth of
sinners * * * These are they who raise their hands against the Most
High." Chapter XLV.
The figure of a symbolical book is used in II Esdras,
XII, 37; XIV, 26 to 47.
This chapter does not, on its face, seem to have its
point of view back in the past eternity before creation.
And vet it has been universally regarded as prophetic;
and therefore there is really no reason why the initial point

St. John's 215
should not be before creation. It is the custom of the
apocalyptical writers to set the initial point back in eternity,
and there to represent events of time and history as if seen
in symbols. The representation is that the scenes are like
pictures, in which the actors move and speak; but the
book was finished and closed before creation. What St.
John sees and hears, as acts and words of men in time,
are his conceptions of what God foreknew that they would
do and say.
In verse 5, the names "Lion of the tribe of Judah," and
the " Root of David" are an indication that the whole verse
is highly rhetorical. In fact they set us far on the road to
an understanding of the sources of much of the phraseology
of The Apocalypse, and the methods of its author. The
Hon was the ensign of Judah, because the twelve constella
tions (or signs) of The Zodiac were appropriated by Jacob's
children, as shown in Gen. XLIX, and "The Lion" became
Judah's ensign. In the verses that tell this (Gen. XLIX, g,
10) it is also said, "The scepter (shebet, rod) shaU not depart
from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet."
The name "Root of David" is from Isaiah XI, 10.
By and by, when we come to the study of the last
three sections of The Apocalypse, it wiU be shown that
Isaiah X to XIV contains a group of symbolical phrases,
among which are "The Root of Jesse," and a "Shoot and
branch," and "The Rod," and an "Ensign," and "The
Morning Star," and many others, and that St. John makes
that section of Isaiah the basis of large and important parts
of The Apocalypse. St. John begins that use of Isaiah X to
XIV here; and indicates that the basis of the usage in I. miah
is Genesis XLIX, g, 10. (See pages 274 to 279, 288, 290,
291, 300.) The figure of a Rod, Root, or Branch of David,
as an emblem of The Word or Son of God, must have been-

2i6 The Apocalypses
ancient and common: for it appears in Psalm II (see page
37) and in Ezekiel III, 8; VI, 12. The name lion as a sym
bol of The Messiah represents something so old and com
mon that this name is used in // Esdras XI, 3, 6, 37.
Verse 6 introduces the name Lamb, which is henceforth
to be the chief name or figure used by St. John for The
Word, or Son of God. It must be understood to mean "The
Lamb slain before the foundation of the world;" and the
conception is the same as in the Hebrew Apocalyptical Sys
tem. What is said above, about the names Lion and Root,
applies to the name Lamb. By and by, it will be shown
(see pages 274, etc.) that Isaiah X to XIV is the basis of
St. John's figures ini?ei;. XV, 3 (see page 275) where "The
Song of Moses" and "The Song of The Lamb" are spoken
of, and that, in the Hebrew Apocalyptical Literature, there
was a common habit of connecting the above mentioned
group of names, and "The Lamb of God," and Psalm
XXIII.
It will be shown in explaining Rev. XV, 3, that Philo
shows that there was a common habit of associating together
"The Song of Moses" (Exod. XV) and the Twenty-third
Psalm, and that this fact explains Isaiah XI and XII, and
that St. John makes Is. XI and XII the basis of Rev. XV,
3. Hence, apparently, is the significance of "They sang a
new song " (in verse 9). St. John has brought into view both
the Hebrew Apocalyptical doctrine of The Lamb, and the
prophetic doctrine of The Messiah in Isaiah : for The name
"Root of David," or "Root of Jesse," fixes the names on
Jesus. In verses 9 and 12, all that is said of "Being slain"
and " Redeeming by blood " seems to refer to both the Para
klete Lamb before creation and to Jesus, and St. John is
joining the Hebrew Apocalyptical doctrine with the prophe
cies of Isaiah and the life of Jesus.

St. John's 217
In verse 6 the Lamb is unimaginable. He has seven
horns, which in Jewish symbols seem to be figures of God's
supreme powers. He has seven eyes, which are God's
Spirits. In this description St. John declares a doctrine of
The Word and The Spirit, which is far higher than that of
Philo, who says that "Divine Spirit" was created by The
Word, and is an ether, although it is the best element in men,
and does God's work.
Verse 7 seems to depict The Paraklete Lamb receiving
his own covenant frorri The Father.
In this chapter St. John repeats much of the substance
of Dan. VII, g to 14 and Enoch 45 to 37, exhibiting him who
was Son of God, Son of Man, Anointed King, Word of
God, Lamb, Paraklete, etc., as receiving and initiating, in
prophecy and in fact, the Kingdom of God and of The Son.
He plainly aims to tell the readers that he also is repeating,
and ascribing to Jesus, the prophesies of Isaiah XI, which
had inspired enthusiasm in the Jews, and had become the
delight of Christians. Besides all the other ideas of Isaiah
XI which he uses, he seems to mean that the "Seven eyes
which are the seven spirits of God," shall direct us to Isaiah
XI, 2, which says "The spirit of The Lord shall rest upon
him, the spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, might,
knowledge and of the fear of The Lord." (See page 198.)
But this figure of the Seven Lamps and Seven Eyes of
The Lamb, as Spirits of God, is also derived from Zechariah
IV, 2 to 14, which is quoted hereafter (see page 246); and
shown to be the source of other elements of The Apocalypse;
and which depicts the seven-branchfed candlestick, and
says, "The Seven are the eyes of The Lord, which run to
and fro through the whole earth." The Seven Spirits have
been reviewed on page 190.
Here, at the beginning of our analysis of The Apocalypse,

2x8 The Apocalypses
we encounter one of the greatest difficulties of the interpreter,
viz. : We are finding in The Apocalypse the scattered por
tions of a great system of a multitude of ideas, which had
been elaborated in a great literature; and we have no one
book containing the full exhibition of that system with its
ideas, words, and phrases. We have to compare scattered
fragments of The Apocalypse with scattered fragments of
The Bible and of Philo and of Enoch. Consequently the
prepared reader finds ideas that are naturally connected
(and once were joined in literature, and perhaps in a single
book now lost) far away from each other in The Bible;
while the unprepared reader loses much of their significance.
Hence' we find, as above said, an origin in Zechciriah
of words which we had just before said had an origin in
Isaiah. In Rev. XI, St. John repeats figures used by Zech
ariah IV, and makes them plianly symbolical of The Mes
siah and The Spirit of God. Then, in the letter to the church
in Phfladelphia, which mates with that Rev. XI, he repre
sents The Messiah as "Having the key of David; and He
openeth and no man shutteth; and He shutteth and no man
openeth." This St. John connects with figures about The
Temple, which he takes from Isaiah XXII, 22. (See page
250.) He thus makes it evident that there was some well
known apocalyptical writing, or system, from which Isaiah,
Zechariah, and St. John all draw; and that this system de
picted The Messiah in many characters and offices; and pro
phesied of him as a Jew; and used the names Jesse, David,
and Judah. In this system of representation,^The Messiah
is largely depicted as guardian of the secrets of God's pur
poses, and so as One who opens and shuts. St. John, in
using so many words from Isaiah and Zechariah, is endow
ing the Hebrew Apocalyptical System with evidences of its
approval and adoption by the most cherished prophets.

St. John's 219
JOHN'S CHAPTER VI.
I And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard,
as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come
and see.
2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had
a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth con
quering, and to conquer.
3 And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second
beast say, Come an<i see.
4 And there went out another horse that was red : and power was
given to him that sat thereon to take peace frora the earth, and that
they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great
sword. 5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast
say. Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that
sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure
of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and
see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the
fovtrth beast say. Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse : and his name that sat on
him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given
unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and
with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar
the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the
testimony which they held:
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord,
holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them
that dwell on the earth?
II And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was
said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their
fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they
were, should be fulfilled.
12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there
was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sack-cloth of
hair, and the moon became as blood:
13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree
casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.

220 The Apocalypses
14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together;
and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men,
and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bond man, and
every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the
mountains; 16 And said to the raountains and rocks. Fall on us, and hide us
from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath
of the Lamb:
17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able
to stand? Chapter VI is a symbolical representation of the Hebrew
Apocalyptical doctrines from the fourth to the tenth. It
is a marvelous rhetorical description of the greater features
of the ways and dispositions of men in relation to God's
government. The events of the opening of the seals are
not successive; but are as descriptions of what were in the
book as pictures drawn before the creation of the world.
They are not prophecies, nor does each seal represent a
separate period in time: but there is an evident purpose to
use'the number seven as an emblem of God's whole earthly
time; and therefore the sixth seal bears an aspect of coming
just before the Judgment Day, and the seventh seal, like
the seventh day of creation, is a rest, when The Word of
God is silent.
In verses 2 to 8, the four horses and riders make a figure
of human wickedness which, in a general way, is much like
that in Daniel VII (see page 112). What the crown, bow,
Gword, and seals may symbolize is not shown. According
to the manner of Daniel and Philo in numbering the kinds
of sin, they may be, like the seven heads and ten horns,
mere symbols of kinds of sin as four. It might be conjec
tured that they have still more significance, and symbolize
royal, patriarchal, military and judicial governments as

St. John's 221
destructive of human happiness. Or they may symbolize
perversion of government, arms, trade, and justice. Some
thing like injustice in trade seems to be signified in verse 6,
which mentions a low price for wheat and barley, and for
bids injustice as to oil and wine.
In verse 8, the fourth horse and rider, like the fourth
beast in Daniel VII is diverse from the others. Taken alone,
the symbolism is obscure; but as there are seven sections
of The Apocalypse repeating the same ideas, we may find
in them an explanation of the symbolism in the fourth horse
and rider. Since they, in corresponding positions in the
sequence of ideas, use beasts to symbolize wickedness of
which Cain is a symbol, we may understand that such wick
edness is symbolized in the fourth horse and rider. Hence
the significance of the saying, "Death and Hell followed
with him," Cain being the introducer of death among men.
Verses 9 and 10 continue the same symbolism, and in
troduce a part of the eighth apocalyptical doctrine, viz., the
prayers of the dead for divine justice on the wicked. This
doctrine, or at least the modes of representing it, grew out
oiGen. IV, io,"The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto
me from the ground." This figure is repeated in several
sections of The Apocalypse, and is common in Enoch, and
is referred to in Hebrew XII, 24: "The blood that speaketh
better things than Abel's. " The phrase," Under the altar,"
means in a position of honor near the altar; probably before
and below it.
We may quote from Enoch XXII:
"These beautiful places are intended for the assembling of the
souls of the dead, * * * for their dwellings till the day of their
judgment: and this period is long, till the great judgment over them.
And I saw the spirits of the children of men who had died; and their
voices reached up to heaven lamenting. At that time I asked the

222 The Apocalypses
angel Rufael, Whose soul is that one whose voice thus reaches to
heaven and laments? And he said to me. This is the spirit that
proceeded from Abel, whom his brother Cain slew: and it laments
on his account, till his seed be destroyed from the face of the earth,
and disappear from among the seed of men."
Enoch XLVII says, "In those days the prayer of the Just One,
and the blood of the Just One, ascend from.the Earth, before the
Lord of the Spirits. In those days, the holy ones, who dwell in high
heaven, will unite to petition and pray and praise and thank and bless
the name of The Lord of the Spirits, on account of the blood of The
Just which has been spilled, and the prayer of the Just, that it may
not be in vain before the Lord of the Spirits.''
In verse 9, the mention of an altar in Heaven, may be
meant for a suggestion of "The Lamb slain before creation,"
who may also be suggested by "The Word of God" in the
same verse. The figure is then completed in XII, 13 to 13,
as if the faithful souls, who imitate the Saviour in testimony
and sacrifice, receive the blood from his altar of his self-
sacrifice and it becomes their salvation.
Verse 1 1 exhibits further the ninth apocalyptical doctrine,
viz., the living of deceased saints in honor and happiness in
heaven, while waiting for the end of time and the judgment.
The white dress of the saints in heaven is explained in XIX,
8, as being, symbolically, the dikaiomata of the saints. A
dikaioma is a justification, or acquittal, as in Rom. V, 16.
St. John's representation of the state of the deceased
saints takes on a melancholy appearance here, because it
is so connected with the portrayal of the vs^ickedness of the
world and the conflicts of the righteous and the wicked.
Nevertheless, it is essentially the same doctrine that, in cor
responding positions in the other sections, declares the
blessedness of the saints after death, while they wait for the
end of time to bring the Judgment Day. It is essentially
the same doctrine that in Chapter XX, is the "First Resur-

St. John's 223
cection" and "The MiUenium." It is again suggested in
Chapter VII, 14 to 17 (see page 228).
Verses 12 to 17 exhibit the eleventh doctrine of the
Hebrew Apocalyptical System, viz., the conflicc of the sin
ners and the righteous will continue till the Judgment Day.
The conflict as it approaches the. end, when the power of
of God closes in on the, wicked, is symbolized as convul
sions of Nature, and a breaking up of the universe.
St. John's language here seems designed to conform
to, and suggest, Isaiah XXXIV and LXIII. There he
proclaims "God's indignation on all nations," and says,
"AU the host (stars) of heaven shall be dissolved: and the
heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll; and all their
host shall fall." There too he mentions "The Book of The
Lord," and "The Sword of The Lord," and what "My
mouth commanded." There too he mentions the volcanic
symbols of Hell, and "The Lot." All these things are fea
tures common in The Hebrew Apocalyptical System, and
the most of them are in this sixth chapter of The Apocalypse.
There also he speaks of a "Sacrifice in Bozrah, and a
great slaughter in Idumea." This prepares for his saying
(Isaiah LXIII), "Who is this that cometh from Edom,
with died garments from Bozrah?" etc. Isaiah LXIII is
logicaUy, and in substance and phrases, closely connected
with Isaiah XXXIV; and, besides the features above
quoted, it declares the contention of God with the wicked:
and it prepares for the next chapter, which says, " Oh that
Thou wouldst rend the heavens; that Thou wouldst come
down: that the mountains might flow down at thy presence.
Besides these features, Isaiah LXIII has others which
are apocalyptical and are necessarily mentioned on pages
278 and 293. Certainly St. John derives many of his ideas
in Rev. VI irom these chapters of Isaiah; or Isaiah itself.

224 The Apocalypses
in these chapters, is declaring The Hebrew Apocalyptical
System, from which both Isaiah and St. John draw their
phrases. The figure of an earthquake in verse 12 is used
very similarly in // Esdras IX, 3.
Verses 16 and 17 are a figurative exhibition of the
eleventh apocalyptical doctrine passing into the twelfth,
viz.: Wickedness continuing until the Judgment Day.
Here, stiU, St. John uses the ideas of The Hebrew Apoca
lyptical System. Verse 16 again suggests Cain (see page
221). It is a great, if brief, conception of the power and
effect of conscience and conviction. In this it suggests The
Paraklete Convicter. (See pages 44, 45, 56, etc.) These
ideas are expressed in The Book of Enoch. (See pages
77> 79-)
That the wicked men should call their punisher, or
judge, "The Lamb," has probably seemed somewhat
strange to every reader. St. John, however, has elected
the name, "The Lamb," for the Saviour in this section, and
therefore uses it throughout. It is an illustration of the fact
that the names of "The Word of God" are interchange
able,* and that the apocalyptical writers freely ascribe to
him, in one character, the acts that belong to him in some
other character; because, with all his diversity. He is one
person. In this connection also there is the fact, that the above
mentioned Isaiah LXIII contains a mention of Moses as
"The Shepherd" of Israel, and this we know is part of a
set of ideas and phrases in the Hebrew Apocalyptical System,
of which St. John makes are markable use in Rev. XV (see
pages 274 to 276); and which draws "The Song of The
Lamb" (Psalm XXIII) into the Apocalyptical Literature,
as also does Rev. VII, 17, in this section (see page 228).
*0n this interchangeableness, see pages 39 and 70,

St. John's 225
JOHN'S CHAPTER VII.
I And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four
corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the
wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor any tree.
2 And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the
seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four
angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till
we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed : and there
were sealed a hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of
the children of Israel.
5 Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the
tribe of Rueben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad
T^ere -sealed twelve thousand.
6 Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe
Nephthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Man-
asses were sealed twelve thousand.
7 Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the
tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar
were sealed twelve thousand.
8 Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the
tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benja
min were sealed twelve thousand.
9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great raultitude, which no man
could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues,
stood before the throne, and befoie the Lamb, clothed with white
robes, and palms in their hands;
10 And cried with a loud voice, saying. Salvation to our God
which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
II And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about
the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces,
and worshipped God.
12 Saying, Amen; Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanks
giving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever
and ever. Amen.
13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me. What are
these which are arrayed in white robes ? and whence came they ?
9 And I said unto him. Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me.

226 The Apocalypses
These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed
their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him
day and night in his temple : and he that sitteth on the throne shall
dwell among them.
16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither
shaU the sun light on them, nor any heat.
17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed
them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
The first verse must be understood as a wholly symboli
cal and imaginary figure of Divine control of the powers of
Nature for good or ill to mankind. It is according to the
style of The Hebrew Apocalyptical System. In those days,
when Science had done little more than to enumerate a few
facts observed, the winds were a constant subject of interest,
and a cause of some superstition; whUe, to believers in a
personal Creator of Nature,they were evidences of the benefi
cent providence of God, and of the presence of spiritual
forces in Nature.
The angels here must also be understood to be imaginary
and symbolical. They must not even be conceived to
express St. John's ideas about real angels, nor his desire to
fix a dogma about angels. He is simply using common
Hebrew figures. As intimated on page 190, the Hebrew
belief regarding angels was very indefinite, even when
language about them seemed precise. Enoch makes lists,
and describes acts, of angels, but must be understood
as figurative and imaginatve. Philo says much about
angels as Words and Spirits; but is indefinite, and gives
no names. Enoch LXXVII and LXXVIII devotes a chapter and
a half to the phases of Nature and the winds; saying that
there are four chief winds from the four quarters. In the

St. John's 227
region of the south wind "The Most High descends,"
A part of the north wind has to do with "The Garden of
Justice." In Enoch VI, many names of fallen angels are
given. In Enoch XX, six chief holy angels are named,
Uriel, Rufael, Raguel, Michael, Seragael, and Gabriel.
Philo caUs "The Word of God" "The Great Archangel
of many names (On The Confusion of Tongues, Chap.
XXVIII), which seems an intimation that all names of
great angels are names of "The Word of God." In Enoch
LXIX, many names of fallen angels are given. In Enoch
LXXI the four chief holy angels are Michael, Gabriel,
Rufael and Fanuel; but there are said to be " Others without
number." Verses 4 to 8 present, in symbols, an assurance that many
Israelites are saved. The number in each tribe is small,
but the fact of salvation, rather than the number, seems to
be the lesson taught.
Verse g exhibits the tenth apocalyptical doctrine, viz.:-
The kingdom includes souls of all races of men. It is like
Daniel VII, 14, 27.
In verses 14 and 13 the eighth apocalyptical doctrine is
exhibited, viz.: The presence of the righteous dead near
Christ, praising and praying. It is 'the same idea that is
exhibited in VI, 9, as "Souls near the altar," except that
there the emphasis is on the prayers like Abel's blood,
and here it is on the approaching glory of the saints at the
judgment. In verses g and 14, as in VI, 11, the saints are in white
robes. In XIX, 8, it is said that the fine white linen "Is
the justifications of the saints." Here in VII, 14, it is
said, "They have washed their robes, and made them white
in the blood of The Lamb." These two passages together
make a clear declaration that salvation is justification by

228 The Apocalypses
what The Paraklete Lamb had done, beginning before the
creation of the world.
Verses 13 to 17 exhibit all the last six apocalyptical
doctrines, except the punishment of the wicked. The end
is in view. Earthly sunshine is no more needed, nor earthly
food or water.
Verse 17 exhibits figures which have ever been the delight
of Christians, while perhaps they have only in a vague way
adapted them to Psalm XXIII. But there is a great deal
more in them. The Messiah is here suggested in three
of his characters, viz., Lamb, Anointed, and Shepherd.
St. John is here suggesting something that is a great feature
in the Hebrew Apocalyptical System, and which is explained
in connection with Chapter XV, 3, on pages 276, 279, etc.
By the apocal3rptical writers. Psalm XXIII was cherished
as a "Song of The Lamb of God," who was also "The
Chief Shepherd."
Philo often mentions Psalm XXIII, and always in
connection with "The Song of Moses" (Exod. XF), and the
"Waters of Marah," which are also a feature in Exod. XV;
and he details the doctrine that The Word of God is The
Chief Shepherd, of whom Moses was a type. The con
ception in verse 17 is, that The Lamb will be, or is. The
Shepherd, and that as Moses led the Hebrews from the
Red Sea to Marah, where the waters were purified, so he
will lead all his people to living waters, where they will
cease to weep as the Hebrews did after three days of thirst.
(Exod. XV, 22 to 23.)
St. John in The Apocalypse draws many ideas and
phrases from the Prophets. His references to Psalm XXIII
in Chapter XF he draws from Isaiah XI and XII, as is
shown on page 276, etc. The ideas of those chapters of
Isaiah are based on Exod. XV and Psalm XXIII, and

St. John's 229
they are ideas cherished by Isaiah. They are expressed
also in Isaiah XLIX.

ISAIAH XLIX.
9 That thou mayest say to the prisoners. Go forth; to them that
are in darkness. Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and
their pastures shall be in all high places.
10 They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor
sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even
by the springs of water shall he guide them.
II And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways
shall be exalted.
12 Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the
north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.
13 1[ Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth
into singing, O mountains : for the Lord hath comforted his people,
and will have mercy upon his afflicted.
The first section has now reached its end; but St. John
seems to have in his mind some figure which he has not
yet completed. A reader may suggest that St. John is
conforming somewhat to the seven days of creation, and that
therefore the next day or figure will be a rest. Probably
that is the case, but there is much more in the verse with
which the section ends, VIII, i.
And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in
heaven about the space of half an hour.
St. John clearly has in mind the sUence of " The Word
of God" on the seventh day. This verse spreads its char
acter over all the rest of the section. It seems to say that
in fact The Word of God caUed into being all the good
elements in the life of the world, and that the six pictures
which have just been portrayed are, in their moral aspect,
revelations, not from angels, but from The Word Himself.
But there is more in it than even this. There must have

230 The Apocalypses
been from some ancient book, or from some common cus
tom, a habit of speaking of The SUent Lamb. Only on
that supposition can Philo's phrase, "The Lamb is found
sUent" (see page 53) be explained. But the best evidence
is that verse of Isaiah, which is among those most cherished
of the Messianic Scriptures. "He is brought as a lamb to
the slaughter: and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb,
so he opened not his mouth."
The figure of a significant sUence is one that is used in
II Esdras VII, ji.
The first section has reached its end: but St. John has
yet to make it fully, distinctly, and effectively Christian, and
that he does by the seventh of the Letters To The Churches,
as follows: JOHN'S CHAPTER III.
14 And for the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write;
These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the be
ginning of the creation of God;
15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would
thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then because thou art lukewarnj, and neither cold nor hot,
I will spew thee out of my mouth.
17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods,
and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched,
and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou
mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and
that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes
with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten; be zealous therefore,
and repent.
20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock : if any man hear my
voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him,
and he with me.
21 To him that overcometh .will I grant to sit with me in my

St. John's 231
throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in
his throne.
22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the churches.
The features that are identical in the section and the
letter, and that by their identity indicate the end of the
section, are most conspicuous in VII, 13 to 17, and ///, 18 to
21. A somewhat full comparison of these identical features
is made on pages 20, 21. That comparison and the remarks
on the general character of the seven letters (on pages 204
to 210) make a quite complete exposition of the materials,
structure and meaning of this letter: but the suggestions
in it for comments and homilies are exhaustless.
The reader of this letter wUl need to proceed carefully,
because he has not yet settled his attitude towards it and
fixed his habits and principles of interpretation. He must be
wiUing to lay aside his belief that this letter was specially
adapted to one church that happened to be at Laodicea.
It must be remembered that the seven angels, simulated
authors of the letters, are St. John's figure for God's revealed
and revealing Word, God's Son, and consequently the seven
churches are probably also figurative. The fact that there
were such cities must not divert us from a larger appreciation
of the great and universal adaptation of the letters to large
classes of men.
There is in this letter a character which the casual
reader, having no guide, is sure to overlook. It pervades
verses 15, 16, 17, and 20. It is interwoven with what is
said, or suggested, in the section about Cain. St. John has
written with his soul charged with horror of the fearful
nature of human sin. He writes, sharing the common
Jewish abhorrence of Cain as the first criminal and the
introducer of death. He is going to introduce Cain into

232 The Apocalypses
several sections as a symbol of human wickedness, and is
going to declare that sin is living death, and Cain is a
symbol of living death. In this, he foUows PhUo, who
holds up Cain as a symbol of greed, false reasoning, and
living death. (See pages 131, 132, 260 to 266, 287, 288.)
This is the character which St. John introduces into this
letter. He describes, not a church in Laodicea, but a
class of men who are dead alive, neither hot nor cold,
wicked like Cain, and, like Cain, self-justified. It is essen
tially the same figure that St. John introduces in XIII, 3,
12, where the Beast with a deadly wound, yet alive, is a
symbol of the symbolic Cain.
St. John puts in the same class (verse 17) the men that
are rich but desperately poor. This "is the same symbolism
in Cain. Of this, also, Philo says a great deal, and he caUs
Cain a symbol. He says *his name (ktesis in Greek) means
acquisition; and Philo holds up Cain as a typical self-justi
fying mercenary. This makes plain Rev. Ill, ig and 20,
founde don Genesis IV, 6): for St. John is holding up the
doctrine of grace for all sinners, as a proclamation from Him
who is the " Faithful and true Witness, and The Beginning
of God's creation " (Rev. Ill, 14). The peculiar phrases of
Gen. IV, 7, have probably puzzled every reader. St. John,
if not explaining them, is using them as symbols.
The phrase, "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be ac
cepted?" is God's principle of grace. The phrase, "Sin
lieth (or croucheth) at the door," some Hebrew scholars tell
us may be translated " A sin offering is waiting at the door."
The sentence of St. John, "I stand at the door and knock,"
means in modem Syriac speech, "I wait for an invitation
to come in," or "I cannot come in tiU I am welcomed."
Surely St. John is using the story of Cain and Abel as a
*0n The Cherubim, Ch. 20.

St. John's 233
basis for figures of the desperateness of wickedness, met
by the mercy of Divine Grace in Him who before creation
was The Lamb of God.

THE SECOND SECTION. IT IS CHAPTERS VIII, 2, TO XI.
CHAPTER VIII.
2. And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to
them were given seven trumpets.
3 And another angel came and stood at the alter, ha'ving a golden
censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should
offer it -with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was
before the throne.
4 And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of
the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.
5 And the angel took the censer, and filled it with the fire of the
altar,. and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunder
ings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.
6 And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared
themselves to sound.
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire min
gled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part
ot trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain
burning with fire was cast into the sea : and the third part of the sea
became blood;
9 And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and
had Ufe, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
10 And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from
heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the the third
part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
II And the name of the star is called Wormwood; and the third
part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the
waters, because they were made bitter.
12 And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun
was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the
stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone
not for a third part of it, and the night likewese.
13. And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of

234 The Apocalypses
heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of
the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three an
gels, which are yet to sound!
This chapter reintroduces the first part of the Hebrew
Apocalyptical System, but in wonderful figures, that exhaust
the resources of imagination and rhetoric. The figure of
blown trumpets is one used in // Esdras VI, 20, 23; VIII,
18. The Creator is suggested by mention of "The seven
angels which stood before God " (verse 2), and " The throne"
(verse 3), and "Ascended before God" (verse 4). Holy
Ones and Angels are present, as in all apocalyptical books.
The rest of the chapter, like the first part of other sec
tions, is St. John's conception of phases of God's foreknowl
edge and purposes in relation to this world and human life.
As such it is intelligible and grand, as it never has been
under any other interpretation. It is a group of concep
tions, studded with features peculiar to the Hebrew
Apocalyptical System; but is not predictions of events to
come in a series.
Verse 4 in English gives us the idea that spirits of men
were present ; but the text says Holy Ones, which, in apo
calyptical literature, usually means angels. The verse
reminds us of Enoch XXXIX, 12. "The sleepless ones
praise thee. They stand before thy glory, and bless, and
glorify, and exalt thee, saying, Holy! Holy! Holy! The
Lord of the Spirits fills the world with spirits."
Part of the spectacles of this chapter, probably, are
figures of God's physical power, and part are figures of hjs
moral power and government; and the separation is not
clear. There is not enough of the Hebrew Apocalyptical
Literature preserved to inform us whether the four angels,
and the destructions of a third part of everything are ancient

St. John's 235
ideas, or St. John's own; but there are many features of
likeness in this chapter and Enoch's third section. In that
section Enoch describes the predetermined purposes of God,
but mentions the unborn generations of men as if they
existed, e. g. "Here my eyes saw the dwellings of the just
ones and the resting places of the holy ones: and they asked,
and petitioned, and prayed in behalf of the children of
men. I saw their dweUings under wings ( ?) of the Lord
of the Spirits : and all the just and chosen ones before Him
are ornamented as with the light of fire, and their mouths
are full of blessings, and their lips praise the name of the
Lord of the Spirits" (XXXIX, j to 7).
In chapters following those above quoted, especially Ch.
LXXXIX, Enoch portrays the acts of many angels, especially
of four leaders: and also describes the great processes of
Nature in the sky and the Earth; but does not describe
destructions as St. John does here.
It is not clear whether the spectacles which foUow the
blowing of the four trumpets are caused by the angels, or
only made visible by them, as when the seals were opened.
It is not clear whether the spectacles are figures of the de-
structiveness of sin, or are figures of Divine Judgment. In
either case, they are wonderful pictures of the conditions
which caused the mediation of The Anointed One
In the spectacles of this and the next chapter there is a
certain progression, which, if it is not a recital of the first
half of the Hebrew Apocalyptical System, is very much
like it. First two angels sound (verse 7 to g), and the spec
tacles are great events in the created world. Another
sounds, and a star falls. This is like Enoch's figure (see
page 82) of the chief fallen angel. Then men died from
the bitterness in the waters, caused by the star; and the
ruin was like the blotting out of the third part of Nature.

236 The Apocalypses
This marvelously presents the third and fourth of the He
brew Apocalyptical doctrines (see page 71), and prepares
for the presentation of the next apocalyptical doctrines in
the figures of the next chapters.
JOHN'S CHAPTER IX.
I And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from
heaven unto the earth : and to him was given the key of the bottom
less pit.
2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out
of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air
were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth; and
unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
4 And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the
grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only
those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but
that they should be tormented five months : and their torment was a§
the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it;
and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared
unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and
their faces were as the faces of men.
8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were
as the teeth of lions.
9 And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and
the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses
Fanning to battle.
10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings
in their tails: and their po'vyer was to hurt men five months.
II And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the
bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but
in the Greek tongue hath his name ApoUyon.
12 One woe is past; and, behold there come two woes more here
after. 13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the
four horns of the golden altar which is before God,

St. John's 237
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet. Loose the
four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
IS And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an
an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third
part of men.
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hund
red thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on
them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and
tlie heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their
mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire,
and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their
mouths. 19 For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their
tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do
hurt. 20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues
yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not
worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone,
and of wood; which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor cf their sorceries,
nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.
Chapter IX continues the presentation of the Hebrew
Apocalyptical principles in their natural sequence.
Verse i presents, in symbols, the fourth doctrine; the
incitement to sin by fallen angels. As in Enoch, and in
Jude I J, a star (see page 82) is a symbol of an angel. In
deed, this is stated in verse 11; for the star, the angel, the
King, and Abaddon are one and the same. Abaddon is
an Aramaic word, which means both destruction and abyss.*
It is common in the apocalyptical literature in both sig
nifications. The Greek ApoUyon (destroyer) is the mean
ing which St. Paul has in mind in II Thess. II, 3, where he
* As in Job XXVI, 6; XXII, 22, in the Septuagint Greek Ver
sion.

238 The Apocalypses
calls him "Son of Destruction" (apoleias), aiid where the
Syriac version says Abaddon's Son. St. Paul seems to have
in his mind there the same conception that St. John has in
this Rev. IX, i to 13.
II THESSALONIANS II.
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not
come, except there come a faUing away first, and that man of sin be
revealed, the son of perdition;
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called
God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of
God, shewing himself that he is God.
5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you
these things?
6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be reveal
ed in his time.
7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who
now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shaU
consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the
brightness of his coming:
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all
power and signs and lying wonders,
10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that
perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they
might be saved.
II And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that
they should believe a lie:
12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth,
but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
In both St. Paul's words and St. John's, the arch inciter
of sin is the Devil, the Satan of verse 9 above ; ind the gen
eral conception of both Apostles is one that is common in
apocalyptical literature. The details of St. John's descrip
tion of the beasts who serve Satan, may be his own; but
the general conception that sin is beastly, and well symbol-

St. John's 239
ized by beasts, is part of the Hebrew Apocalyptical System;
e. g., Philo says,
"May my soul never mount into that horselike and restive pas
sion. * * * On this account also it was that Moses praised God in
his hymns (Exod. XV), viz. : 'The horse and his rider has he thrown
into the sea,' meaning that he has thrown the four passions, and the
miserable mind, which is mounted on them, down into ruin, and into
a bottomless pit." (On The Allegories Oj The Sacred Laws II, 2j.)
"And in those days the angels will asserable, and turn their
heads towards the East, towards the people of Parthia and Media,
to excite the kings, that a spirit of disturbance may come over them,
and disturb them from their thrones, that they corae forth from their
resting places like lions, and like hungry wolves. 1= * * But the city
of my Just One will be a hinderance to their horses, * * * And in
those days, the mouth of Sheol will be opened, ahd they will sink into
it: and their abyss, Sheol, will devour the sinners from the presence
of the Chosen One." Book of Enoch LXVI.
In all these co'nceptions, of the four writers quoted, the
followers of the arch inciter of sin are forms of wickedness,
or the persons of the wicked. Usually, in the apocalyptical
writers, the described monsters are wickednesses, and not
persons. In verse 10, we may be sure, from the usual method of
apocalyptical writers, that the phrase " Five Months " is only
a way of symbolizing Five Sins; and it is essentially the
same as PhUo's idea above quoted, and often repeated by
him. (See page 139.)
Verses 5, 6, and 10 are a reiteration of the doctrine that
sin is a living death, which was presented in VI, 16, and is
again presented in XIII, j, 12, 14. (See pages 260 and 262.)
In verse 14, the "Four angels which are bound in the
great river Euphrates," is so like Enoch's "People of
Parthia and Media," above quoted, that they must be
supposed to be the same, or to have a common origin.
In verse 20, St. John plainly intimates that the sym-

240 The Apocalypses
bolical beasts and unbound angels are kinds of wickedness,
and they symbolize the fifth and sixth apocalyptical doctrines
or formulas, viz.: Gross sins are like beasts;' and sins of
the mind, or false-prophecy, are causes of all kinds of
wickedness, and are the worst wickedness.
JOHN'S CHAPTER X.
I And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven,
clothed with a cloud : and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face
was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire;
2 And he had in his hand a little book open : and he set his right
foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth.
3 And cried with a loud voice, as when a hon roareth: and when
he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.
4 And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was
about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me.
Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write
them not.
5 And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the
earth lifted up his hand to heaven,
6 And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created
heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things
that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that
there should be time no longer:
7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he
shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he
hath declared to his servants the prophets.
8 And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again,
and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of
the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.
9 And I went unto the angel, and said unto him. Give me the little
book. And he said unto me. Take it and eat it up; and it shall
make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.
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 as soon as I had
eaten it, my belly was bitter.
1 1 And he said unto me. Thou must prophesy again before many
peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

St. John's 241
Chapter X continues the presentation of the apocalyptical
doctrine that the Creator foreknew aU things, and that He
created aU things with a relation to His Word, His Son.
In verse i, the "Mighty Angel," is so like "The Son
of Man," as described in Rev. I, 13 to 16, and Daniel X,
I J, Ij (see page 150), that we must believe them the same
ideas. This supposition is confirmed by his holding the
open book (verse 2), and his voice (verse j). To call the
Son of Man, or The Word of God, an Angel, is like Philo's
calling him "The Great Archangel," and "The Oldest of
His Angels."
The commonness of the symbolical Book of Life has
been shown on page 214. What is said of it here is much
like Ezekiel III.
In verses 3 to 7, the Thunders which must not be written
in words, are plain symbols of the mysteries of God's eternal
purposes. It is the idea common in the Apocalypses, e. g. :
" Son of man thou desirest to know that which is secret.
Then the other angel who went with me, spoke to me, and
showed me that which was secret, the First and the Last,
what is in the Heavens on high and in the Earth in the
deep, and on the ends of the heavens." Enoch LX, 10, 11.
The command to seal up the sayings, is like Daniel XII, g.
Verses 6 and 7 declare the apocalyptical doctrine fhat
the Kingdom of God, with its war against sin, will continue
till the end of time brings it to judgment. It is the eleventh
doctrine or principle (see page 72).
The oath of the Angel (verse 6) is something derived
from the Hebrew Apocalyptical Literature. Enoch LXIX
says that wicked angels asked " That they might see that
secret name, and might tremble before that name and the
oath. * * * And this is the power of that oath: for it is
powerful and strong : and He placed this oath into the hands

242 The Apocalypses
of the holy Michael. And these are the secrets of this oath;
and they were suspended by his oath, * * * And by it
the earth was founded on the water, * * * And by that
oath the sea was created, * * * And by that oath the
sun and the moon complete their courses, * * * And
there was great joy among them (the sun, stars, etc.)
because the name of The Son of Man had been revealed
to them. * * * And The Son of Man causes the sinners,
and those who led the Earth astray, to disappear and to
be destroyed from the face of the Earth."
" Wait till sin disappears ; for their names will be erased
from the books of the holy ones, * * * and they will cry
and lament in a void, empty place, and burn in a fire where
there is no end." Enoch CVIII.
Daniel XII, 7, introduces the same conceptions, where
"The Man clothed in linen" (a symbol ofthe Son of Man)
swears that all things shall be finished after a time, times
and a half (a symbol of the Son of Man, or his presence).
JOHN'S CHAPTER XI.
I And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel
stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar,
and them that worship therein.
2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and
measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city
shall they tread under foot and two months.
3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall
prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in
sackcloth. 4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks stand
ing before the God of the earth.
S And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their
mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them,
he must in this manner be killed.
6 These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days

St. John's 243
of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood,
and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they wili.
7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast
that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them,
and shall overcome them, and kill them.
8 And' their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the. great city,
which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord
was crucified. 1
9 And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations
shall see their dead bodies three days and a half, and shall not suf
fer their- dead bodies to be put in graves.
10 And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them,
and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these
two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.
II And after three days and a half the Spirit of life from God
entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell
upon them which saw them.
12 And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them.
Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and
their enemies beheld them.
13 And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the
tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men
seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory
to the God of heaven.
14 The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh
quickly. 15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices
in heaven, saying. The kingdoms of this world are become the king
doms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and
ever. 1 6 And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their
seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God.
17 Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which
art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy
great power and hast reigned.
18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath has come, and
the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou
shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the
saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest
destroy them which destroy the earth.

244 The Apocalypses
19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was
seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings,
and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.
Chapter XI brings the figures of the last part of the
Hebrew Apocalyptical System. Before closing the section
St. John lingers to introduce elements from the Hebrew
Prophets, and in doing this he seems to intimate that those
features in the Prophets were recognized elements of the
Hebrew Apocalyptical System.
The first figure of this chapter, a measuring of the
temple and the worshipers, is one that fills Ezekiel XL to
XLIV, and is mentioned in Zechariah II. "Behold a
man with a measuring line in his hand. Then said I,
Whither goest thou? To measure Jerusalem, to see what
is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof."
Something of the same kind is in Enoch LXI: "And
I saw in those days that long cords were given to those
angels. * * * And I asked the angel. Why have these
taken the long cords and gone forth? And the angel said
to me. These bring the measures of the just ones. * * *
And these measures wUl reveal all the secrets of the depths
of the Earth."
The figure of two candlesticks, which are also olive
trees, and Anointed Ones, and witnesses, and have mouths
breathing forth fire, and have power to shut heaven, and
are slain and revive, is derived, so far as we can see, from
Zechariah IV, 2 to 6, and 10 to 14. It is intricate, but
quite explicable.
2 And said unto me, What seest thou ? And I said, I have looked
and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of
it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps,
which are upon the top thereof:
3 And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl,
and the other upon the left side thereof.

St. John's 245
4 So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me,
saying, What are these, my lord ?
5 Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto
me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.
6 Then he answered and spake unto me, saying. This is the
word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying. Not by might, nor by
power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.
10 For who hath despised the day of small things? for they
shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel
with those seven; they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and
fro through the whole earth.
1 1 U Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two
olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left
side thereof?
12 And I answered again, and said unto him, What be these two
olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden
oil out of themselves ?
13 And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these
ie? And I said. No, my lord.
14 Then said he. These are the two anointed ones, that stand
by the Lord of the whole earth.
The foUowing facts must be noted:
First. St. John's use of Zechariah here is elaborate,
many-featured, and long. It begins in Zech. II, 2, as above
noted, (see page 244), with the figure of measuring the
temple. Between these two chapters of Zechariah, inter
venes one that is wholly filled with features of the Hebrew
Apocalyptical System; representing the Messiah as High
Priest and Joshua (Saviour); Satan's contention against
Him; Messiah's abasement, and his exaltation as High
Priest and Judge, and The Branch. It even includes
(verse 7) the figure or symbol of the stone engraved, which
St. John uses in the letter that mates with this section,
(Rev. Ill, 12) (see page 249), and which is suggested in
Rev. XI, ig.
Second. A great feature in the Hebrew Apocalyptical

246 The Apocalypses
System is the sacred candlestick or lampstand, divided
into its two halves. It was regarded as symbolical of
the Word of God in two ways; for sometimes each half
was such a symbol; and sometimes The Word was said to
be figured by the central candlestick, or lampstand, or bowl.
Third. The flames of the seven lamps are seven stars
in Rev. II, 16, 20, which are also spirits; and these spirits
are Eyes of The Lamb in Rev. V, 6, which is a conception
that St. John seems to have taken from this Zechariah
IV, 10. One says that the Eyes are the seven spirits of God
sent forth into all the world. The other says that the seven
lamps are the eyes of The Lord, which run to and fro
through the whole earth. So, both Zechariah and St. John
have explained their figures as being, in one aspect, symbols
of God's Spirit, and in another aspect symbols of The Lord,
The Lamb, The Son of Man, The Anointed, etc. Zachariah
IV, 6, has confirmed this by a phrase, or exclamation, for
it is not a sentence, viz.: "Not by might, nor by power.
but by my Spirit, saith The Lord of Hosts." And St.
John (Rev. XI, 11) in a more figurative way says, "The
Spirit of life (or living Spirit) from God entered into them."
Fourth. ZechariaJi IV, 14, explains that the two trees
"Are the Two Anointed Ones that stand by The Lord of
the whole Earth." In the Hebrew "Two Anointed Ones"
is "Two Sons of OU"; but it is weU translated "Anointed
Ones." In the Hebrew Apocalyptical System, The
Anointed Ohe is the name of The Word of God. It is a
name too great and significant to be ascribed to any other
person. " Two Anointed Ones that stand by The Lord of The
Whole Earth," must therefore be "The Word of God" in
two aspects. We do not know that elsewhere two Anointed
Ones are mentioned; but it is exceedingly probable that

St. John's 247
Zechariah here has in view some other book or books in
which the Word is figured as two. Certainly Philo speaks
of two Words of God, each of which is The Firstborn Son
of God. (see pages 34 and 39.)
Fifth. The two olive trees are God's Witnesses, and
their power is in their mouths, which is a symbolism of
both voice and spirit. God's great Witness is The Word,
and in the letter which mates with this chapter XI (Rev. Ill,
7 to II see page 249) the Messiah, as a Witness, is exalted,
and the gospel is called "The Word of my patience (or
suffering) and testimony is promised a reward.
Sixth. St. John, in connection with these witnesses,
four times brings in the symbolical Half Seven: as "Forty-
two months" (half of seven years), and "Twelve Hundred
and Sixty days," and "Three days and a half." The
half-seven, in the Hebrew Apocalyptical System, is a symbol
of The Word of God in his relation to human time, and
of nothing else, (see pages 66 to 71.) Primarily, it is a
symbol of his Person; and secondarily, it is a symbol of
his "Presence" (parousia). Thirdly, it may be a symbol
of a division of time into two halves, by The Word; but
what these two halves are, is the most unsettled question
there is about The Hebrew Apocalyptical System, and
leads to many disputes and misunderstandings about its
literature. When the above facts are considered together, it is sure
that the Two Witnesses are two aspects, or characters, of
The Word of God, whom St. John, in verse 15, calls "The
Anointed" and "Our Lord," which also is his name in
verse 8.
The two characters exist at the same time, and prophesy
together; and they suffer together, and together they
"Ascend up to -Heaven."

248 The Apocalypses
Probably there will be many interpretations of these
figures. Some readers wiU believe that they symbolize
primarily the slaying of The Lamb before the creation of
the world; the then future events being the cause for that
sacrifice, and giving a character to all of The Messiah's life
and work. Others wiU believe that the symbolical half-
sevens indicate the division of earthly, or human, time into
two halves by the life, crucifixion and ascension of Jesus.
Others will combine these two beliefs, and wiU say that St.
John writes as having his point of view in eternity before
creation, and viewing the foreknowledge of God, but having
his conceptions of the things seen modified by his know
ledge of the history of the world, and by his purpose to
proclaim Jesus the Anointed.
The figurative idea of fire issuing from the mouth of the
Messiah, as used in verse 5, is some old idea more or less
common in the apocalyptical literature; for it occurs in
// Esdras XIII, 10, 27.
With either of these explanations of the symbolism of
The Witnesses, this Chapter XI is a graphic and powerful
presentation of aU the greatest features of the Hebrew
Apocalyptical System, from the beginning in the Word of
God as the Paraklete Lamb, then through the conflict of
sin and righteousness in the Kingdom of God, and through
the gospel and work of Jesus (in prophecy or in fact) ; and
then at last, after three woes, the reign of The Anointed
forever. This Chapter XI, while portraying the Hebrew Apocalyp
tical System, throws over aU the doctrines the figure of The
Temple. It is a figure to make a Christian Jew glow with
sacred enthusiasm. First, in verses i and 2, its greatness,
its worshipful uses, its sanctity, and the privileges of the
worshipers are suggested. Then, in verses 3 to 12, the

St. John's 249
sacred candlestick suggests its hoUest sanctuary. Then
in verse 19, it is again exhibited with its Ark of Testimony:
the testimony, as we know, being two tables of stone in
scribed with the law, and the name Jehovah.
Verse 15 is a declaration of the last part of the Hebrew
Apocalyptical System, the approach of the triumph of the
kingdom of God, and of "The Anointed"; for here the
name "His Christ" is used in the Hebrew rather than the
Christian significance.
The closing verses of this chapter are of the manner
and spirit of a great deal of Hebrew literature and of the
Old Testament. They glow with the faith that sees the
righteousness of God established in power; just and benefi
cent, even if it is terrible to the wicked and rebellious.
Enoch uses a great deal of very similar language. Nehe
miah IX is a remarkable chapter, full of these same ideas.
It contains the praises by the Israelites when their temple
was repaired. It recites (like Rev. XI, 17) God's nature
and acts. It recites (like Rev. XI, 18) the miseries brought
on Israel by heathen nations, and God's judgments on
enemies and oppressors. It mentions (like Rev. XI, ig)
God's covenant, testimonies, and laws. It mentions (like
Rev. XI, 8) Egypt. It speaks (like Rev, XI, 3, 11) of God's
spirit in the Prophets.
The last verse of this chapter XI exhibits in symbols
the final reign of God, as The Temple, and its inner sanc
tuary, with the Ark of the Testimony. It is a natural
finish for the figures of the first part of the chapter, and so
is a part of the correspondence with the letter that mates
with this section, viz. : REV. HI.
7 And for the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These
things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of

250 The Apocalypses
David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no
man openeth;
8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door,
and no man can shut it: for thou hast a httle strength, and hast kept
my word, and hast not denied my name.
9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which
say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them
to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved
thee. 10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will
keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all
the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
II Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that
no man take thy crown.
12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of
my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the
name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new
Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and
I will write upon him my new name.
13 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the churches.
This whole letter corresponds, in its figures and ideas,
with all of Chapter XI, but, perhaps even more than that
chapter, it takes elements from The Old Testament.
Verse 7, first suggests the Temple, in contrast with "The
Synagogue of Satan," in verse 9, and in preparation for verse
12. Chapter XI has portrayed the Messiah as having
power to shut heaven (verse 6) where the temple is (verse 19),
and as the true Witness for God. Here St. John matches
that with a presentation of "Him that is true," who "Has
David's key, and openeth and no man shutteth." In this
figure St. John again goes to the Old Testament for his
words. He uses Isaiah XXII, 22. " The key of the house
of David will I lay upon his shoulder. So he shall open,
and none shall shut ; and he shall shut, and none shaU open."
Verse 8 suggests that Christian weakness depends for

St. John's 251
strength on the testimony and aid of the Word of God. By
the turning of a phrase it brings in the apocalyptical terms
"My Word" and "My Name," and suggests Chapter XI,
where the two witnesses, who are " The Word," are named,
and also suggests The Ark that contained the candlestick,
and the tables of the law, on which the name of Jehovah
was inscribed.
Verse 9, in mentioning "The Synagogue of Satan," foUows
Chapter XI, 2, where it is said that the outer court " Is given
unto the gentUes, who shaU tread the Holy City under
foot." The same class is depicted in XI, 7 to 11, as re
jecting The Witnesses; and this verse 9 is a promise of
triumph to those true souls who have believed and obeyed
The Word.
Verse 10 seems to refer to the patience, i.e., suffering
of The Word, which primarily is in the atonement before
creation, and secondarily is the crucifixion of Jesus men
tioned in XI, 8. From the general style and character of
all the set of letters, we must understand that the phrase
" Because thou hast kept," etc., is a promise to aU souls who
do keep the word, rather than a special, peculiarly applicable
address, to a church in Phfladelphia. " The hour of temp
tation (peirasmds) which shall come upon all the world"
is the great trial or judgment of the last day, which verse 11
says is to come suddenly (iachil).
In verse 11, the mention of "Thy Crown" comes in
abruptly, without apparent correspondence with anything
in the correspondent section. It may be a suggestion from
Isaiah LXII, 3, "Thou shalt also be a crown of beauty
in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand
of thy God;" for that chapter and others next to it contain
a great deal of the Hebrew Apocalyptical System. It
mentions gentiles and kings (like XI, 2. 13); and a New

252 The Apocalypses
Name (like ///. 12); and "The Bride," of whom St. John
is going to say much in other chapters; and the "Watch
men," which is 3, common word in Enoch; and the Oath
(like X, 6) ; and the Holy Courts (like XI, 1,2); and Open
Gates (like ///, 7) ; and the Reward (like ///, 12) ; and
the redeemed of The Lord (like ///, 10, 12).
The promises in verse 12 look, beyond all earthly life,
to the heavenly life, when the redeemed shall " Go no more
out." The figure of a pillar in the temple grows out of
many Hebrew ideas. The pillars (siyloi) of fire and smoke
made a lasting impression on the Hebrews. They seem to
have regarded the sacred candlestick as to some extent a
permanent memorial of them. They also made pillars in
the temple (/ Kings, VII, 13) for some symbolical or me
morial use. From the fact that a pillar, inscribed with
the ten commandments and the name Jehovah, has stood
for a long time in Samaria, we may infer that St. John has
such a column in mind in this verse 12. The new name
has some reference to the name Jehovah on the tables
of the law, either in the open sanctuary (XI. g), or on a
pillar. Both this letter and Chapter XI, may have been some
what shaped by Nehemiah XII. AU of them exhibit the
temple opened, the righteous and unrighteous Israelites,
and the trials of the people. Nehemiah mentions great
names of God, The Great, The Terrible, The Mighty;
and he speaks of pUlars of fire and cloud in or near the
sanctuary; and he speaks of renegade Israelites.

St. John's 253
THE THIRD SECTION. IT IS CHAPTERS XII, XIII, XIV.
CHAPTER XII.
1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven: a woman clothed
with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown
of twelve stars:
2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to
be delivered.
3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven: and behold a
great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns
upon his heads.
4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did
cast them to the earth : and the dragon stood before the woman which
was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was
born. 5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations
¦with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and In
his throne.
6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place
prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two
hundred and threescore days.
7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought
against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in
heaven. 9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the
De'vil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out
into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come Salva
tion, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his
Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused
them before our God day and night.
1 1 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the
word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
1 2 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe
to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the de'vil is come
down unto you, ha'ving great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath
but a short time.
13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he
persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.

254 The Apocalypses
14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that
she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished
for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.
15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the
woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
16 And the earth helped the woman; and the earth opened her
mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his
mouth. 1 7 And the dragon was wi-oth with the woman, and went to make
war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments
of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
This section is a wonderfully complete exhibition of
all the doctrines of the Hebrew Apocalyptical System in
its logical order, and in complete conformity to its methods
and symbols.
Although this chapter, superficially judged, under the
guidance of natural but extreme misconceptions of the
nature of apocalyptical books, has been universally sup
posed to prophesy events in the history of the world, it is
wholly a symbolical exhibition of the Hebrew Apocalyptical
System in respect to events before creation.
The writer's view begins again at the beginning in heaven
before creation. The woman, clothed with the sun, and
the moon and the Zodiac, cannot be anything but the Crea
tor of these bodies. St. John only suggests that these
bodies were existent in the foreknowledge and purpose
of God; but their existence was to begin, and was fore
known to the fallen angels, who were ready to oppose it.
The conception may be founded on Gen. I, 2 ; for there,
in the sentence "Spirit of God moved on the face of the
waters," the word moved (or hovered) is, in the Hebrew text,
a feminine participle. The name Son of Man logically sug
gests a Mother. Perhaps there was some common habit
of figuring the Creator in feminine symbols; for Enoch,

St. John's 255
Chapter LXII, 5, caUs The Son of Man " The Son of The
Woman," and there is much reason for believing that in
Isaiah LXVI, 7, 8, the Creator is figured as a Mother of
The Son of Man, as has been noted on page 42.
¦6 A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of
the Lord that rendereth recompense to his enemies.
7 Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came,
she was delivered of a man child.
8 Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things?
Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day ? or shall a nation
be born at once ? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her
children. // Esdras X, 44: XIII, 27, uses a somewhat similar
figure in which the Woman is Zion, and the child is Israel:
but this seems to mean that Zion and Israel are types of
God and his people.
In verse 3, the "Great Red Dragon" is a symbol of
Satan, the arch inciter of sin, hostfle in advance to God's
purpose of salvation by his Son. His seven heads and
ten horns, like Daniel's figures in Dan. VII, 2 to 8 (see
pages 63 and 138), are the symbols of the sinning faculties
which serve him in mankind. The statement in verse 4
that " his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven,
and cast them to the earth," is a plain reference to the
fourth Apocalyptical Doctrine, viz. : " Angels (whom Enoch
and Jude call stars), sinned before men did." This expla
nation is confirmed by verse 9.
In verse 4, The Man Child is the Son of Man; for "He
is to nfle the Earth with a rod of iron. " St. John in XIX, ij
and //, 27 (see full discussion on page 292, etc.) makes this
clear. The sentence, "Her chUd was caught up unto God,
and unto his throne," is a recital of phrases common in the
Hebrew Apocalyptical Literature about the Son of Man,
as the "One Called Near" (or paraklete), after having

256 The Apocalypses
been " Hidden," Quotations on page 78 from Enoch suffi
ciently show this.
The peculiar phrases of verse 6 seem to be figurative
ways of saying, as do Enoch (page 80) and Jesus (page 173),
that the foreordained Son of Man was hidden. His reve
lation and work, as a Saviour, waited. It seems to be the
same idea that Daniel IX, 2j, calls "Seven Weeks" (see
page 142). The number " Twelve hundred and sixty days,"
being three and a half Jewish years, is a plain symbol of
the Son of Man's presence. In Jewish symbols it could
not be anything else. (See pages 66, etc.) It is not probable
that St. John designs it to be here a symbol of any time.
It is probably simply a symbol of the doctrine, that the Son
of Man, who is The Word of God, was existent in eternity
with God.
Verses 7 and 8 continue the exposition of the Apoca
lyptical doctrine that Satan (accuser) and his angels resisted
the kingdom of God; and, although defeated in heaven,
they made man their prey and the Earth the field of their
hostiUty to God. The book of Enoch exhibits this doctrine
very fully.
" Michael and Gabriel, Rufael and Fanuel, 'will overpower them
(the wicked angels), and will throw them on that day into the oven
of burning fire; that the Lord of the Spirits may avenge himself on
them on account of their unrighteousness, because they became
subject to Satan, and have led astray those who dwell on the earth."
(Chap. LIV, 6, etc.)
I saw a terrible thing; seven stars; like great burning mountains,
and like spirits, that petitioned me. The angel said to me, this is a
prison for the stars of heaven, and for the host of heaven. And the
stars which roll over the fire are they which, before their rising have
transgressed the command of God." (Chap. XVIII, ij.)
Verses 10 to 12 must be understood to proclaim, in
advance, the salvation that was to be effected by the Son

St. John's 257
of Man. In verse 11, the "Blood of the Lamb, and the
testimony," must be undertsood to mean the atoning and
promising by the Word of God before creation. St. John's
point, from which he views, is in the eternal past, and he
describes, as present and actual, that which The Great
Voice (verse 10) proclaimed as existing in the Divine Pur
poses. Men existed then only as the Word of God was
Son of Man before creation, and as he mediated before
creation for sinners unborn. St. John was writing in
spectacular figures, and these could only speak of things
as if they existed.
Verse 13 continues the figurative exhibition of the doc
trine that Satan fights against God and men. In verse 14,
the phrase "A time, times and half a time," is again the
symbol of half-seven, and so a figure of the Word of God's
presence. Opinions may reasonably differ as to the time
of presence here signified. The Word is half-seven because
He is a divider. Hence He divides both eternities from
time, and is present at the beginning and the end. He
also divides Divine Time, or the time of God's eternal
purposes in relation to mankind; and so he is present as
Half seven at a point which, morally viewed, is a central
era of time. (See page 67.)
Verses 14 to 15 are a figurative statement that Satan
contended against God's creation of men, or his purposes
in respect to men: but the mediation of The Son of Man
thwarted him largely.
Verse 17 declares the fourth Hebrew Apocalyptical
Doctrine, viz., the incitement of men to sin by the arch
sinner, Satan. St. John's view extends forward through
the ages, and mentions Satan's opposition to the gospel
of Jesus, as the chief feature of his war with the Kingdoin
of God. This point he emphasizes by naming The Saviour

258 The Apocalypses
"Jesus The Anointed." It must be remembered that,
in the first century, the word Christds was a title, and not a
name. This Chapter XII has exhibited the first four of the doc
trines of the Hebrew Apocalyptical System, clearly as to
their meaning, logically in their relation to each other and
to the system, and skillfully as to the symbols used for
the exhibition.

JOHN'S CHAPTER XIII.
I And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise
up out of the sea, ha'ving seven heads and ten horns, and upon his
horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his
feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion:
and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and
his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the
beast. 4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the
beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying. Who is hke unto the
beast ? who is able to make war with him ?
5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things
and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty
and two months.
6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blas
pheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and
to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and
tongues, and nations.
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose
names are not written in the book, of life of the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world.
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that
kiUeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the
patience and the faith of the saints.

St. John's 259
II And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and
he had two horns like a Iamb, and he spake as a dragon.
12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him,
and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the
first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come
down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men.
14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of
those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast;
saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an
image to the beasts, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast,
that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as
many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
16 And he causeth all, both sraall "and great, rich and poor, free
and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
1 7 And that no raan might buy or sell, save he that had the mark,
or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count
the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his
number is six hundred three score and six.
This chapter has received more of the concentrated
attention of the world, probably, than any other chapter
of the book. This was natural so long as it was supposed
to foretell special events to occur in the world; because,
if the forecasts were realized, prophecy and inspiration
would be confirmed; and because, if the damning descrip
tions and implied denunciations could be affixed to some
detested or rival class of persons, sectarian jealousy and
prejudice would be gratified and fostered. When this
chapter shall be established in its real character, it may
receive less attention from contentious minds; but it will
be more cherished by spiritual souls, that deplore or pity
the wandering and wrecked of the children of earth, and
that rejoice in the power and purpose of the Creator to
enter, by his Son, into the whirling storm of sin, and to

26o The Apocalypses
bring forth a defeat of fierce and beastly sin, and a
redemption of sin's victims.
This chapter is wholly a symbolical exposition of the
fifth and sixth doctrines of the Hebrew Apocalyptical Sys
tem (see page 71), viz.: Wicked men war against God
and his people. They are symbolized as beasts or parts
of beasts; the numbers of beasts, or of their parts, being
symbols of three, four, five, seven and ten ways of sinning.
They are also symbolized as Cain, who is also a symbol
of living death. False opinions are figured as leaders in
wickedness, and as a Pseudo-Prophet, and as beasts, or an
"Image of the beast," and as Balaam.
In verses i, 2 the beast which has seven heads and
ten horns is like Daniel's beast in Dan. VII, 3 to 7, 2j, 24
except that Daniel depicts as three separate beasts, what
St. John portrays as one composite beast. On pages 64,
71 and 138, it has been showoi that it was common cus
tom among Jewish theologians to classify the kinds of sin,
or the sinning faculities, and to put them in groups of
three, four, five, seven, and ten, and to make symbols
of these groups in many ways, among which are beasts,
heads, and horns. Philo, as stated on page 139, makes a
division of a human being into three parts, as Plato had
done, and into another trio as Moses has done, and he
adds Pride as a fourth. And he names the sinning facul
ties as the five senses, and speech, and sexuality. To these
he adds, as an eighth, "The dominant mind," and this
mind he names Cain, whom he calls a philosopher, and a
symbol of greediness (see page 139). We may be sure
that in verses i, 2 the beast is an imagined symbol of the
common gross wickedness of men, incited by Satan, and
warring against God. The name Blasphemy only signifies
that this wickedness sinned also by speech. What is said

St. John^s 261
in verses 3, 4, 7, 8 of the universality of this beastliness
cannot be said of anything but common gross wickedness.
In verse 3 the strange phrases are a figure of the Hebrew
doctrine that sin is a living death. In preceding pages it
has been shown that this is a doctirine of which Phflo said
a great deal, making Cain a symbol of the doctrine (see
page 139), and deriving the conception from Gen. IV, 14,
13. A few more quotations from PhUo will show the
Jewish use of Cain as a symbol and confirm the assur
ance that this is the symbolism which St. John is using in
this chapter. (See also pages 306 to 308.)
"Cain, the symbol of wickedness, wiU not die; for wickedness
must always be alive in the mortal race of mankind." On Fugitives,
Ch. 12.
"The Lord put a mark on Cain, as a sign that no one should
kill him, Why? Because, I iraagine, wickedness is an evil which
can never end, being immortal as to life among us: but with reference
to life towards God it is dead, so that the poet's lines, "She is of
no mortal race, but an immortal foul disgrace, may weU apply to
wickedness." On Fugitives. Ch. 11.
" God put a mark on Cain that he might never be pitied by any
one, so that he might not die at once, but might pass all his time in
dying amid griefs and pains." On Rewards and Punishments. Ch. 12.
"Why is a sign put on Cain that no one should kill him? Be
cause, first, the change of the nature of living is one kind of death;
second * * * life in the flesh is not life * * * the poet's ex
pression about Scylla, 'That is not a mortal, but an endless woe,' is
applicable to a person who lives many years in wickedness: third,
God lays down a principle * * * not staying the homicide, but
secluding him from the class of rational beings, as one who has been
expelled, and turned into the nature of beasts." Questions and
Solutions. I, 76.
This Scylla, according to ancient fables, had been a beautiful
woman, but was changed into a ferocious monster with six heads.
"May we not suppose that this mark was put on Cain to prevent
his being slain; as a token that he would never be destroyed? For
Moses has never mentioned his death: showing enigmatically that,

262 The Apocalypses
hke the fabulous .monster Scylla, folly is an evil which never entirely
perishes, and yet * * * is never free from death *=*'•' As the
poet says of Scylla, his is not a mortal, but an endless woe.'' On
The Worse Plotting Against The Better. Chap. 48.
Verse 5 and 6 exhibit sin, of which a beast is one sym
bol, and Cain is another, as exercising a persuasive power,
using blasphemy and false doctrine. We, perhaps, might
not ascribe such a character to Cain; but the Jews did
exactly that, treating as sophistical blasphemy his words
in Gen. IV, 8 to 13, and Lamech's similar ones in Gen.
IV, 23, 24. "I (too) have slain a young man for a mark
(molops, welt) to me."
Philo says, "Cain is evil doctrine." On the Sacrifices of Abel
and Cain. Chapter 2.
"Every self-lover, by surname Cain, should learn * * * it is
of yourself that you have become the murderer." On The Worse
Plotting Agaiiist The Better. Chapters 20, 21.
"You (philosophers) say you have been admirably instructed
by your guide and teacher Cain, who advised you to honor the
forces that are nearest, rather than that Cause which was far off."
On Cain's Posterity. Chapter 11.
"Cain determined to build up his doctrine like a city, * * *
his houses are his words, devices against truth." On Cain's Pos
terity, Chs. 14, 18.
Verse 5, in the words, "Power was given him to con
tinue forty-two months," symbolizes as three and a half
(of years) the presence of The Word of God ; and so declares
enigmatically the eleventh apocalyptical doctrine, viz.,
Sin will continue on earth till the end of time." (See page
72.) If these words had occured in the Old Testament,
they might have signified that Messiah on earth, in some
middle period of time, would resist sin. If, however, St.
John is here still holding his point of view -as in eternity
before creation, he is, as suggested perhaps in verse 8,

St. John's 263
only declaring the general fact that sin is met by the Word
of God, who wUl at last control it.
Verse 10 is to a superficial reader uninteUigible, and
out of place. It is only inteUigible when compared with
words of PhUo. Cain having been made a symbol of sin,
these words may signify the impossibility of the sinners
ifltimate escape from divine justice. But there is more
than this in these words; for they are applicable also to
Balaam, whom St. John is going to symbolize as another
beast, in this chapter and in others. St. John thus does
exactly what is done by Philo; for Philo makes Cain and
Balaam identical in character. Balaam (see Numbers
XXII, XXIII, XXIV) was abhorred by the Jews as a
Pseudo-Prophet who sought to seduce and destroy the
Hebrews, but himself perished by the sword. (See Numbers
XXXII. 8; Joshua XIII, 22.)
Verse 11 brings in the sixth doctrine of the Hebrew
Apocalyptical System, viz.: False ideas and intellectual
rejection of God lead to beastly sin, and are symbolized
by a beast, and by Cain and Balaam. St. John more
fully presents Balaam as a symbol, in subsequent chapters
(see page 306). These ideas are precisely those which
Philo puts forth in many passages of several books, some of
which are as follows.
He says the soul is in two parts, one rational, and one irrational,
and both sin: and they are inseparable, Cain symboUzing one, and
Balaam the other.
"Balaam is vain people (mataios laos) ." On Cherubim, Chap.
X. In' the essay On The Confusion of Tongues, Chap. XXXI.
Philo calls Balaam's words "Base coinage;" and, referring to
Exod. XXI, 14, says, "If anyone attacks his neighbour, to slay
him with guile, thou shalt take him from my altar, that he
may die."
"The soothsayer Balaam perished amid the heaps of the wounded,

264 The Apocalypses
because he tried to put the mark of the soothsayer' s sophistry on the
divinely inspired prophecies." On The Change oj Scripture Names,
Ch. 37.
"The sophist Balaam was an empty crowd (mataios ochlos) of
contrary doctrines * * * but it is the nature of sophists to have
for enemies their own faculties, * * * Every self-lover, by sur
name Cain, should learn * * * it is of yourself that you have
become the murderer." On The Worse Plotting Against Tiie Better,
Chs. 20, 21.
In verse 18, St. John tells the name of his beast (or
rather living thing). The verse is enigmatical to us, but
was not at all so then to a Greek. He says that it can be
identified by the number of its name. The Jews and
Greeks at that time had no numeral figures, or ciphers,
except their alphabetical letters. A little later the so-called
Indian Ciphers, and the numerals of the Roman Empire,
which are our modern numeral figures, were made out of
the first ten letters of the Syriac alphabet; but at that time
the Greeks used their first nine letters for the digits, and
the second nine for the decades, and the last nine for the
hundreds. They did not use the zero, nor notation by
position, and had not twenty-seven letters in use; but
they used three obsolete letters in the places that they had
in the Phoenician alphabet.
When a Greek saw a letter, it was a number to him, as
much as it was the symbol of a sound. When he saw a
word, he knew the number that it made, as soon as he
could speak its sound; and he could separate, turn, and
combine the letters very rapidly.
The shortest way of writing 666 in Greek, x ^ and an
obsolete letter like f. x was like kh and stood for 600.
f was like ks and stood for 60. Neither of the three letters
was a vowel. No word could be made of them. To make
a word having the value 666, a Greek would next divide

St. John's 265
the 6 into its integers. This would give him ae (i -|- s),
aad (i -|- I -f- 4), etc.; but none of these would yet make
a Greek word, or a name of a person. Then he would
divide his 60 into in (10 -f- 50); and he would instantly
say *Khaien and Ekhina. Khaien is the exact Greek
equivalent of the Hebrew and Syriac name Qa'ien, which
is our Cain. Ekhina is an old form of the Greek name of
the viper, retained in some names, e.g., Ekhinussa. The
Greek would also see and say Akhidna. This is the Asiatic
Greek name of the viper. The classical form is ekhidna;
but t the Greeks of Asia Minor often changed e e into a and
S,. In Hebrew or Syriac the word ekhidna could not be
written without prefixing an initial a which blended with the
e. Ekhidna was also the name of a fabulous creature, which
was partly a beautiful woman, and partly a serpent.
The viper was the beast, or living thing, which John
The Baptist and Jesus (see page 166 and Matt. Ill, 7) used
as a symbol of wickedness, when they were preaching
the Hebrew Apocalyptical System.
St. John has thus told us very definitely that the beast
is a symbol of wickedness, as a viper is also a symbol of
the same wickedness, and as Cain is another symbol of the
same wickedness. He confirms the supposition that in
verses 3 to 10, 12 he is using Cain as a symbol; and the doc
trine that he is proclaiming is the simple, but awful, truth,
that sin is beastly, and false beliefs lead to Cain-like sin.
Verses. 16 and 17 repeat the seventh apocalyptical doc
trine, viz.. False beliefs lead to gross wickedness. The
mark is, of course, a reference to Cain's mark.
=* It must be understood that the Greek words have one, letter x
where we have to use two letters kh. or ch.
¦f" See Sophocles' Greek Grammar, page 4; e. g., Doric piazo for
piezo.

266 The Apocalypses
This chapter is plainly symbolical, and not prophetic.
Its figures cannot be reasonably taken for symbols of any
special man, race, kingdom, church or false prophet, unless
that one seems by evidence to deserve to be caUed a Cain
or a Balaam.
Because the 'word lateinos makes 666, some have said
that 666 is the Roman church. But there was no •word
lateinos. The real Greek word is latinos, and its num
ber is 66 1. Church and language in Greek require the
feminine adjective, latinq, of which the letters make 392.

JOHN'S CHAPTER XIV.
I And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and
with him a hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's
name written in their foreheads.
2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters,
and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers
harping with their harps:
3 And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and
before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn
that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were
redeemed from the earth.
4 These are they which were not defiled with women; for they
are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever
he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the first-
fruits unto God and to the Lamb.
5 And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without
fault before the throne of God.
6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the
everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and
to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.
7 Saying with a loud voice. Fear God, and give glory to him;
for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made
heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

St. John's 267
8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen,
is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the
wine of the wrath of her fornication
9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice,
If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in
his forehead, or in his hand,
10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which
is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and
he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the
holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
II And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and
ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast
and liis image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the
commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write,
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea,
saith the spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their
works do follow them.
14 And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud
one sat like unto the Son of man, ha'ving on his head a golden crown,
and in his hand a sharp sickle.
15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud
voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap;
for the time is come for thee to reap: for the harvest of the earth is
ripe. 16 And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth;
and the earth was reaped.
17 And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven
he also having a sharp sickle.
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power
over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle,
saying, Thrust in thyjsharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine
of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gath
ered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the
wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood
came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space
of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.

268 The Apocalypses
Chapter XIV is a symbolical declaration of all the
doctrines after the sixth in the Hebrew Apocalyptical System.
First the seventh doctrine is presented in verse i, by
showing The Lamb whose Father is God. The eighth doc
trine (immortality) is begun in the first verse, and continued
to the end of the chapter. The redeemed souls of all the
ages are with The Lamb, and near the throne of God.
In verse 3, the singing of a new song by the redeemed
is the beginning of a set of figures which is to be a great
feature of the next section, where the redeemed are said to
sing the (old) song of Moses (Exod. XV) and the Song of
The Lamb (Psalm XXIII). (See page 276). This is a
continuation of the exhibition by St. John of the eighth
apocalyptical doctrine. It declares the state of the redeemed
rather than any particular time when they rejoice. St.
John writes as if seeing, in advance, the saints of all times
near the throne of God.
Verse 6 brings forward the ninth apocalyptical doctrine,
viz. : The kingdom of God is extended by preaching the
gospel; and God's messengers help it. Here it -is called
aionion, which means from eternity to eternity.
Verse 6 also brings forward the tenth apocalyptical
doctrine, viz.. The kingdom includes souls of all races.
Verse 7 introduces the series of four doctrines relating
to last things. It brings forward, first, the eleventh doc
trine, viz.. The judgment will come on sinners sinning to
the end of time. The gospel and the warning are uttered
by the same voice. The end is in view while sin is raging.
It also brings forward the twelfth doctrine, viz.. The end
will be a Judgment by the Word of God. St. John makes
this an occasion to proclaim the essence and the foundation
fact of the apocalyptical system, viz., God rules because
He was the Creator; and his ends were included in his
beginnings.

St, John's 269
Verses 8 to 11 bring forward the thirteenth apocalyptical
doctrine, viz., The wicked wiU be punished; and the pun
ishment will be awful as the crater of a volcano.
St. John here enters upon a course of treatment of this
great doctrine, which he designs to continue and greatly
enlarge in the next section. He turns, for his figures,
symbols, and phrases, to the Old Testament, and chiefly
to Isaiah. First, in verse 8, he makes Babylon a symbol' of wicked
ness. In the next section he will do this more largely ; and
he will show clearly that he means ancient Babylon, and
not any then present or future city or organization. Baby
lon was then a ruin; but its history remained; and its
character was, to the Jews, a synonym for everything
atrocious. It had been, in the book of Daniel, the symbol
of wickedness, and hostflity, and of divine vengeance; and
it was the same in whole chapters of Isaiah, which were
filled with figures of the apocalyptical system. (See page
274.) The figures in verse 10 are echoes of Daniel IX, 27,
and Isaiah XXXIV, 3-g.
S For my sword shall be bathed in heaven : behold, it shall come
down upon Idumea and upon the people of my curse, to judgment.
6 The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made fat with
fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the
kidneys of rams : for the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great
slaughter in the land of Idumea.
7 And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bul
locks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and
their dust made fat with fatness.
8 For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the year of rec
ompenses for the controversy of Zion.
9 And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the
dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning
pitch.

270 The Apocalypses
The general conception in verse 10 is the common one
in Enoch; and like Enoch's figures it must be understood
as whoUy figurative. It must not be understood that the
Jews declared a literal hell of fire and brimstone, nor that
this is a feature in the Hebrew Apocalyptical System. It
is understood as only emblematic of awfid retribution for
persistent sin.
In verse 14 the figures are drawn from the apocalyptical
system. A few quotations wiU perhaps interest the reader.
The Book of Enoch says, " I saw the Head of Days, as He
sat upon the throne of his glory * * * and at that hour
that Son of Man was called near the Lord of the Spirits
* * * and before the sun and Zodiac were created, his
name was called." (Chapters XLVII, j and XLVIII, 2, j.)
"Their countenances wiU be filled with shame before
that Son of Man * * * and a sword wiU dwell in their
midst before his face." (Chapter LXIII, 11.) "Afterwards
there will be nothing destroyed; for The Son of Man
has appeared, and sits on the throne of his glory * * * and
The Word of that Son of Man wiU be strong before the
Lord of the Spirits." (Chapter LXIX, 2g.)
St. John, however, draws here chiefly from Isaiah as
above quoted; and in doing this, he again directs our at
tention to Isaiah as a treasury of the ideas and figures of
the apocalyptical system; for verse 20 directs us to Isaiah
LXIII, I, which is in effect a continuation of the above
quoted XXXIV, 6. Isaiah LXIII.
I Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from
Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, traveUing in the greatness
of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.
2 Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like
him that treadeth in the winefat ?

St. John's 271
3 I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was
none with me : for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them
in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and
I will stain all my raiment.
4 For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my
redeemed is come.
5 And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered
that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought
salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me.
6 And I -will tread down the people in mine anger, and make
them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to the
earth. After the above words, Isaiah abruptly cries exultingly
the praises of the Lord as Redeemer, and, in effect, pro
claims the next and last of the apocalyptical doctrines; and
when he has done that, he next (in verses 11 to 14) says
words which are a direct suggestion of the figures with
which St. John introduces his next chapter, and which we
find useful in explaining that chapter. (See page 274.)
Verse 14 brings in the fourteenth, and last of the doc
trines of the Hebrew apocalyptical system, viz.. The
eternal bliss of the redeemed; and so indicates the near
end of this third section. Sweetly has it comforted the
spirit of innumerable miUions dying in the faith of Jesus,
and supported the aching hearts that have looked on
closing graves. " From henceforth !" Forever! No breaks!
No sleeps! No wars, temptations, probations or tribulations!
Here St. John mentions "The Spirit," in the same
peculiar way that he does at last in XXII, 17. It is as if
he said, "This is the doctrine of our logic, and of our
ancient system of truth, and of our faith, and of our Lord
Jesus; and yet we often faint, and question, and doubt.
But there is another witness; for the Spirit of God and our
Spirits come together; and from him comes light and assur-

272 The Apocalypses
nee. The Spirit witnesses, as the blood and water have
witnessed, and He witnesses within, when the chUd of grace
rests, in the arms of his Lord."
The last part of this verse may be translated, "Yes!
Says the Spirit (His or ours?). While* they shall rest from
their pains; for their deeds (in their results) accompany
them." The third section being finished, we tum to its corre
sponding letter, viz. : REV. III.
I And for the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things
saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I
know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.
2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are
ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.
3 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and
hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come
on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come
upon thee.
4 Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled
their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are
worthy. S He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white rai
ment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but
I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
6 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the churches.
This letter is very general in its terms; and might be
addressed to almost any person who knows the gospel. And
yet it has marked correspondence with the third section.
This is tabulated on page 22. It emphasizes the demand
for righteous deeds, and for repentance, and for faithfulness,
and for testimony for God. Its promises are the usual
'•'The Greek word is hina followed by a verb future indicative;
and in such constructions it is an adverb.

St. John's 273
ones of Christ; but they are the best possible, and the ones
that glorify and illumine life on Earth, and that cheer
hea-yy souls ih trouble; and that turn human eyes forward
with hope when earthly things fail.
THE FOURTH SECTION. IT IS CHAPTER XV TO XIX, 16.
JOHN'S CHAPTER XV.
I And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven
angels ha'ving the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the
wrath of God.
2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them
that had gotten the -victory over the beast, and over his image, and
over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea
of glass, having the harps of God.
3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the
song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord
God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of the ages.
4 Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy narae? for
thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before
thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.
5 And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the taber
nacle of the testimony in heaven was opened:
6 And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven
plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts
girdled with golden girdles.
7 And one of the four beasts gave into the seven angels seven
golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
8 And the temple was fiUed with smoke from the glory of God
and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple,
tiU the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.
This section, with the closely connected foUowing one
and their correspondent letters, must be classed among the
most remarkable and interesting sections of The Bible.
By them a door is opened through which a flood of light
streams upon the Apocalyptical System and literature,
displaying their spirit, their materials, and their methods.

274 The Apocalypses
This is because St. John, while adhering here closely to the
Apocalyptical System, both in respect to the character
and sequence of the principles exhibited, and as to the
figures and phrases for their expression, has derived a large
part of these ideas and their phrases from Psalm II,
XXIII, XLV, and CX, and a small section of the Book of
Isaiah; and by so doing, he has declared the Hebrew
Apocalyptical System to be in Isaiah and the Psalms, and
has demanded a recognition of the relation of the Psalms
and Isaiah to the Apocalyptical System of the Hebrews.
(See pages 41, 216.)
The section of Isaiah from which he draws is Chapters
X to XIV, It is a remarkable section of "The Proph
ecies"; and has always been recognized as full of Christ
ian doctrine and phrases; but has been regarded more
as specific prophecies against Babylon and Assyria, than as
a publication of the great general principles of the Divine
Government. In some other book, it might be best to treat
of that section of Isaiah analytically and consecutively,
and to display its apocalyptical character; but here we
are studying St. John's Apocalypse, and must explain
the features of that in the order of their occurrence.
Part of this use of Isaiah X to XIV is shown on pages
215, 276.
Before, however, we enter upon our analysis of St.
John's fourth section, we should notice that verses that
precede Isaiah X have definitely intimated that Isaiah's
section is a declaration of the great apocalyptical principles,
e.g. "Bind thou up the testimony! Seal the law among my disciples!
And I will wait for the Lord that hideth his face from the house of
Jacob: and I will look for Him. (VIII, 16.) * * * The land of
Naphtali; but in the latter time hath he made it glorious, Galilee of

St. John's 275
the nations. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great
light. They that dwelt in the shadow of death, upon them hath the
light shined. (IX, i, 2.) * * * For unto us a child is born: unto
us a Son is given. And the government shall be upon his shoulder :
and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his govern
ment and of peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David,
and upon his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with judg
ment and with righteousness from henceforth, even forever." (IX,
6.7) This fourth section of The Apocalypse begins, in XF, i,
with an intimation that the spectacles to be exhibited are
those of the final exhibitions of the "Wrath of God" untU
the judgment of the rebeUious sinners. The agents of
God are angels. So far the language is like that of Enoch
(see page 81), and of Jesus (Matt. XIII, 41), and of the
Apostles. It is also much like the verses above quoted
from Isaiah.
Then in XV, 2, St. John figures a sea of glass and fire
(or redness), on the banks of which the victorious hosts of
God celebrate their victory over the beasts, by singing
"The Song of Moses 'and The Song of The Lamb." This
is a beautiful conception, and a stirring and exhflarating
one; but it was not a new one, nor an actual vision. The
conception is an adaptation of Exodus XV, in which is
described the shore of the Red Sea, and the joy of the Israel
ites, as they sang the Psalms of Moses and of the Lamb.
The words of XV, 3, 4, are paraphrases of parts of Exod.
XV and Isaiah XII.
The whole conception is common in the books of Philo;
and he presents it in such ways as intimate strongly that
it was one that was common and famUiar to his Jewish
readers. He many times refers to Exod. XV as symbolizing
the triumphs of God and his Son (The Word), and his

276 The Apocalypses
people, over wickedness,* which like St. John here, he
figures as horses and riders, which he says are The Four
Chief Passions of men.
When Phflo refers to Exod. XF as such a triumph, he
always mentions also either Psalm XXIII, or the " Waters
of Marah" (Ex. XV, 2j), which were visited by the He
brews immediately after they passed across the Red Sea.
He shows very plainly that, in Philo's time, the Hebrews
associated Psalm XXIII with the "Song of Moses," and
probably called it "The Song of the Lamb."
When, with this guidance, we read Psalm XXIII, it
shows close adaptation to such a connection with the Song
of Moses; for it is the song of a soul that trusts God as a
Shepherd, and that does not fear, and that has been led
"Over waters at rest" (not "Beside still waters") and
"Through the valley of the shadow of death," and that has
had " The Rod of God " stretched out for him, and that has
his cup filled. Phflo shows further how these things were
connected in Hebrew minds; for he intimates that they
conceived Moses as a Shepherd, with the rod of a shepherd,
acting for, and representing, The Word of God, God's Son,
who is the Great Shepherd. The chief passage in which
Philo does this is much too extended for full quotation here,
but we may quote some sentences.
"The poets have called kings The Shepherds of the people;
but the Law Giver (Moses) gives this title to the wise people, who
are the only real kings, * * * And it is said, Moses was the shepherd
of the sheep of Jethro. And this one himself prays that the flock
may not be left without a shepherd; meaning, by the flock, the parts
of a soul." On Noah's Agriculture, I, 10.
"This shepherd service is also attributed to God: for the Psalm
ist says, The Lord is my shepherd * * * for God governs Uke a.
*On Noah's Agriculture, I, 12 to 2j; On the Allegories oj The
Sacred Laws, II, 2j; On Dreams, I, 41, 42; On the World, VII,

St. John's 277
shepherd * * * appointing, as their immediate superintendent, his
own Word, his Firstborn Son.*
"Since the matter before us now is the rational and irrational
powers of the soul * * * therefore the mind, the ruler of the flock
of the soul, when it takes the law of nature as its guide, governs
consistently and vigorously."t
" The horses are appetites and passions * * * and the rider is the
mind * * * We must neglect anger and desire, and all the passions
and the whole company of reasonings which are mounted upon the
passions as upon horses * * * The divine army is the virtues, the
champions of souls that love God, whom it becomes, when they see
the adversary defeated, to sing a beautiful and befitting hymn to
God who giveth the victory and the glorious triumph, * * * And
it is as follows. Let us sing unto the Lord; for he hath been glori
fied gloriously! The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the
sea."t The words "Rod and Staff," in Psalm XXIII, are also
a most significant part of the evidences that, in Hebrew
Apocalyptical Literature, and Isaiah X to XIV, and again
in the fourth section of the Apocalypse, The Twenty-third
Psalm is connected with The Song of Moses. But, as
that fact respecting the rod is quite fully exhibited in
another connection, on page 292, it must be passed by
here. The place and importance of the conception of
The Word of God as a shepherd has been shown on page 55.
While, however, St. John's words in Rev. XV, i to 4
are ultimately derived from Exod. XV, and are like PhUo's
conceptions and phrases, they are introduced by St. John
as a part of his use of Isaiah XI to XIV; for although
Isaiah does not exactly quote Exod. XV, the twelfth
chapter of Isaiah is a condensed iteration of the spirit,
tenor, and phrases of "The Song of Moses," and it is
preceded (in XI, ij) by the words " The Lord shafl utterly
*0n Noah's Agriculture, I, 12. ^Same I, 14.
XOn Noah's Agriculture, I, ij, 16.

278 The Apocalypses
destroy the tongue (where the Hebrews crossed) of the
Eg3rptian Sea * * * and make men go over dryshod.
And there shall be a highway * * * as it was to Israel
in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt."
Isaiah XI to XIV, does not mention Psalm XXIII; but
that the author of Isaiah did regard Moses as a Shepherd,
under The Lord, the Chief Shepherd, is shown by Is. LXIII,
II, 12.
1 1 Then he remembered the days of old, Moses, and his people,
saying. Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the
shepherd of his flock? where is he that put his Holy spirit within
him? 12 That led them by the right hand of Moses with his glorious
arra, dividing the water before them, to make himself an everlasting
name? These words certainly seem to show that some of the
conceptions of the author of Isaiah XI to XIV were much
like those of PhUo; and also seem to show that St. John,
in naming "The Song of the Lamb," meant Psalm XXIII,
and held conceptions similar to those of Isaiah and Philo,
and meant to publish them. The same purpose is shown
by St. John, in what he says of " The Rod," in this section
of the Apocalypse (Rev. XIX, ij), and its correspondent
letter (Rev. II, 27) ; and which he derives from Isaiah XI, 4;
but which is inherent in Ex. XIV, 26, 27; XV, 6, 12; for
the Rod is a shepherd's rod, and Messiah's ruling with the
rod, in Rev. XIX, is a shepherd's ruling (see page 292),
although to enemies it is an instrument of destruction.
This figure with which St. John begins the fourth
section of The Apocalypse is not introduced at random,
nor merely for the purpose of referring to Isaiah and The
Psalms, and exalting the ancient Scriptures. In accordance
with his whole plan of composition, and with the orderly

St. John's 279
sequence of the apocalyptical doctrines, he had here the
proper place for the exhibition of the eighth apocalyptical
doctrine (see page 72), and just that this figurative con
ception is. It is the saints in heaven who rejoice, and praise
The Saviour; and the figure of "The Song of Moses and
The Song of The Lamb " after a salvation and a triumph,
has here the same significance and importance that are
figured in VI, g, as " Souls under the altar," and in IV, 4;
V, g, by Elders praising, and in XX, by the saints in " The
Millennium." This fourth section of the Apocalypse is chiefly a dis
play of the last half of the Hebrew Apocalyptical System.
As to the preceding doctrines of that system, St. John sug
gests them by mere mention of " The Lord God Almighty,"
his works, ways, power, glory, wrath, and his everlasting
life, and by mention of "The Lamb," the testimony, the
temple, the seven angels, and the beast.

JOHN'S CHAPTER XVL
I And I heard a great voice out of the teraple saying to thq seven
angels, Go your ways, and pour out of the vials of the wrath of God
"upon the earth.
2 And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth:
and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had
the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.
3 And the second angel poured out his -vial upon the sea; and
it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in
the sea. 4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and
fountains of waters; and they became blood.
5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous,
O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged
thus. 6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou
hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.

28o The Apocalypses
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, EvSn so. Lord God
Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and
power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the
name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they re
pented not to give him glory.
10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the
beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their
tongues for pain,
II And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains
and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.
12 A-.d the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river
Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the
kings of the east might be prepared.
13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the
mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out
of the mouth of the false prophet.
14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go
forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather
them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth,
and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the
Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
17 And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and
there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne,
saying, It is done.
18 And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and
there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon
the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.
19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the
cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance
before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of
his wrath. 20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not
found. 21 And there fell upon raen a great hail out of heaven, every
stone about the weight of a talent : and men blasphemed God because
of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.

St. John's 281
Chapter XVI is a figurative display of the middle
doctrines of the Hebrew Apocalyptical System. The
announcement, made in XVI, that the wrath of God was
coming in seven last plagues, is here expanded into great
descriptions of divine power.
St. John's conceptions and figures in this chapter seem
to be suggested by the selected section of Isaiah. Isaiah
X, 22, says, " A consummation is determined, pouring out
righteousness; for a consummation, and that determined,
shaU the Lord Jehovah of Hosts make in the midst of all
the Earth." Daniel IX, 27, is closely similar,* saying,
"Even unto the consummation and that determined shall
wrath be poured on the desolator." The selected section
of Isaiah (X to XIV) makes Babylon and Egypt symbols
of God's judgments. St. John uses it as a suggestion of
symbols of God's decrees and acts against sin; and in
doing this he remembers the plagues in Egypt; and, on
that basis he constructs a figure of seven last plagues visited
on universal wickedness.
Verse 15 seems not to belong here. Its first sentence
is taken from Rev. Ill, 3; and the rest of it would be natural
and congruous as a continuation of that sentence and before
verses 4 and 5. (See pages 22 and 272.) It has the appear
ance of a marginal interpolation, written originally by a
'writer who has in his mind what Jesus said in Matt. XXIV,
I to 27 about his second coming, and about " The desolation
spoken of by Daniel," and about not returning (XXIV, 18)
from the field for clothes; and who also -wrote, or knew,
of the letter to Sardis in Rev. III.
And yet it is in line with the most of the other verses,
"'The Hebrew, however, does not say "Wrath shall be poured
out," but "Desolations decreed are put"; and the Septuagint Greek
version says, "A consummation (sunteleia) shall be given."

282 The Apocalypses
in a way; for verse lo brings in the sixth apocalyptical
doctrine; and verses ii to 14 bring in the seventh doctrine;
and verse 14 brings in the twelfth doctrine (see page 72);
and now this fifteenth verse brings in at once the eighth, the
eleventh, and the fourteenth. However, St. John did not
plan for this to be the place for these doctrines, which he
delays for Chapter XIX.
Verses 14 to 21 exhibit the eleventh apocalyptical doc
trine, viz. : The rage and war of wicked men against God
will continue tfll the final overthrow at the Judgment Day.
St. John for a figure of the defeat of the wicked, and their
consequent lamentation, uses the history of Mageddon, a
ravine and hill on the southern edge of the plain of Esdrae
lon. Here Joshua once killed a heathen king (Josh. XII,
21); here Sisera, the Canaanite, was defeated and killed
(Judges IV, 16; V, ig); and here Josiah, King of Judah,
was killed, ahd of this event it was said, " AU Judah and
Israel mourned for Josiah * * * and all the singing men
and women spoke of Josiah in their lamentations unto this
day" (// Chron. XXXV, 24): and Zechariah wrote (XII,
11), "In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jeru
salem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of
Megiddon. This figure also is connected with the selected
section of Isaiah; for although the Hebrew and English
texts say in Isaiah X, 2g, "Migron," the Syriac and the
Greek te!xts say "He shall come to Mageddon."
This whole chapter in general significance and very
many of its features is quite a close copy of Chapter VI.
Verse 19 mentions Babylon as one of the symbols of
gross wickedness. There can be no real doubt that St.
John uses the name Babylon literally, as in XIV, 8 (see
page 269). It comes to him from the selected section of
Isaiah, where it fills Chapters XIII, XIV; and it so impres-

St. John's 283
ses St. John that he is going to expand the symbolism of
Babylon through two and a half more chapters and the
corresponding letter.
The last part of this chapter portrays the last part of
the war with sin, preceding the coming of the Judgment
Day. JOHN'S CHAPTER XVII
I And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven
vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew
thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters;
2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication,
and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine
of her fornication.
3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and
I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of
blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour,
and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a
golden cup in her hand full of the abominations and filthiness of her
fornication :
5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY,
BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS
AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints,
and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I
wondered with great admiration.
7 And the angel said unto me. Wherefore didst thou marvel?
I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that car
rieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend
out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell
on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book
of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast
that -was, and is not, and yet is.
9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads
are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the

The Apocalypses

other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short
space. II And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth,
and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which
have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one
hour with the beast.
13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength
unto the beast.
14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall
overcome them; for he is Lord of Lords, and King of Kings: and
they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
15 And he saith unto me. The waters which thou sawest, where
the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and
tongues. 16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these
shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and
shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
17 For God hath put it in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to
agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of
God shall be fulfilled.
18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which
reigneth over the kings of the earth.
JOHN'S CHAPTER XVIII.
I And after these things I saw another angel come down from
heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his
glory. 2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon
the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils,
and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and
hateful bird.
3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her
fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication
with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the
abundance of her delicacies.
4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying. Come out of
her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye
receive not of her plagues.

St. John's 285
S For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath re
membered her iniquities.
6 Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her
double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled, fill
to her double.
7 How much she hath glorified herself, and Uved deliciously,
so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I
sit a queen, and am no widow, and sh.all see no sorrow.
8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and
mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for
strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. •
9 And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication
and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her,
when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas,
alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy
judgment come.
II And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over
her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:
12 The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones,
and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and
all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner
vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble.
13 And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankin
cense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and
sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.
14 And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from
thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from
thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all.
15 The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her,
shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,
16 And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in
fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and pre
cious stones, and pearls!
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every
shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many
as trade by sea, stood afar off,
18 And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying.
What city is like unto this great city!
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and crieci, weeping and

286 The Apocalypses
waiUng, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all
that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour
is she made desolate.
20 Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prop
hets; for God hath avenged you on her.
21 And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone,
and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great
city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.
22 And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and
trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no crafts
man, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and
the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee;
23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee;
and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no
more at all in thee : for thy merchants were the great men of the earth;
for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.
24 And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints,
and of all that were slain upon the earth.
JOHN'S CHAPTER XIX.
I And after these things I heard a great voice of much people
in heaven, saying. Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and
power, unto the Lord our God:
2 For true and righteous are his judgments; for he hath judged
the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication,
and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.
3 And again they said, AUeluia. And her smoke rose up for ever
and ever.
4 And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down
and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.
S And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God,
all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great.
Chapters XVII, XVIII, and XIX continue the exhibition
of the Hebrew Apocalyptical System, and particularly the
fifth, sixth, and eleventh doctrines of it. The chief symbol
used, like those of the preceding two chapters, is drawn
from Isaiah X to XIV, being Babylon. St. John by

St. John's 287
figuring Babylon as a wanton woman, and repeating the
figure of sin as the beast of Chapter XIII, makes strong
figures of the nature of sin, its universality, its ruinous effects,
and its punishment. Babylon as a wanton woman, a
symbol of sin, is a figure used in // Esdras XV, 46, 47.
In XVII, 8 to 14, the seven heads and ten horns of the
beast must be recognized as the same symbols, of the many
kinds of wickedness, that occur in Dan. VIIa.n6.Rev. XII, 3.
(See pages 65, 139, 255.) The words mountains, kings,
coming, are fallen, is not yet come, receiving power, are
simply the allegorical devices for introducing the numbers
five, six, seven, eight and ten, and so classifying sins as
five in one group, eight in another, and ten in another, as
Philo did.*
The words in XVII, 8, "The beast was and is not," etc.,
and the words in XVII, 11, "He is the eighth and is of the
seven," are simply aUegorical ways of saying that Cain is
a symbol of the kinds of sin, and that sin is a living death.
This is evident when we compare these phases with those
of XIII, 3, 12, 14, as explained on page 261, and with
certain paragraphs of Philo, who in his essays on Cain's
Posterity, and On The Worse Plotting Against the Better,
says much about Cain as a symbol, and of five, seven, eight
and ten as symbols of wickedness. Some paragraphs have
been quoted on pages 139 and 261. ]
Commenting on Gen. IV, ij, Philo says, "As our soul consists
of eight portions, being commonly divided into its rational and irra
tional ind'viduality, and this last into seven subordinate parts, viz.,
the five senses and speech and sexuality, these seven parts are among
'I'To the quotations from Philo to illustrate this use of symbols,
we may add, " Five is the number appropriated to the senses." On
Noah's Plantation, Chapter J2.
He says more of the same kind in Questions and Solutions, I, j8
to 77.

288 The Apocalypses
the causes of wickedness: on which account they fall under judg
ment. But the death of the. principal and dominant part of man,
the mind, is the wickedness that is in it. Whoever, therefore, slays
his mind, minging in it folly and insensibility, 'will paralyze (or
dissolve) also the seven irrational parts." (Questions and Solutions,
I. 75-) " The irrational part of the soul is dvided into seven parts, the
senses, the faculty of speech, and sexuality. If, therefore, anyone
were to slay the eighth, that is to say Cain, the Ruler of them all,
he would paralyze (or dissolve) all the seven. (The Worse Plotting
Against The Better, 46.)
The use of the name Babylon as a symbol of sin and
enmity to God was suited to appeal strongly to all Hebrew
minds. It brought up the memory of the captivity and of
the desolation of the temple. It was inwrought in the
apocalyptical figures of the Book of Daniel, and was a
large feature in Isaiah. But, as used by St. John in this
section of The Apocalypse, it appeals to, and may arouse,
every soul, when the whole conception is appreciated.
Beginning in XV, 2, with a view of a rejoicing over the
notable escape from one mighty embodiment of the ruinous
power of the beast sin, this section goes on to display, in
symbols, the perpetual danger of man, who has in himself
so many weaknesses, passions, and sinning faculties, and
who is tempted and captured by luxury and vice, and leads
a life that is a moral death, while he violates all the com
mandments of God.
In XVII, 14, the peculiar phrases and figures are ele
ments of the common Apocalyptical System; but here they
are part of what St. John derives from Isaiah X to XIV,
and Exod. XV. Common to all of these is the representa
tion of The Word of God as leader of his victorious armies,
against whom wicked men wage war. The name Lord of
Lords and King of Kings in verse 14 seems to have a ref-

St. John's 289
erence to Exod. XV, 18, to which Philo often refers, trans
lating the verse, "The Lord is King of the ages."
Chapter XIX, 6 to 15 is an exhibition of the last few
apocalyptical doctrines, viz., the triumph of the personal
Word of God. The text is as follows:
6 And I heard as it were the voice of a. great multitude, and
as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings,
saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the
marri age of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine
Unen, clean and white : for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
9 And he saith unto me. Write, Blessed are they which are called
unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me.
These are the true sayings of God.
10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me,
See thou do it not: I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that
have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of
Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
II And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he
that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteous
ness he doth judge and make war.
12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many
crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he him
self. 13 And he was clothed wth a vesture dipped in blood: and his
name is called The Word of God.
14 And the armies which were in heaven foUowed him upon
white horses,- clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he
should smite the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron:
and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty
God. Many of the figures and phrases are suggestions from
the selected section of Isaiah (X to XIV), and from other
chapters of Isaiah, and from the four Psalms (II, XXIII,
XLV and CX) which have been mentioned on page 37 as

290 The Apocalypses
being fuU of ideas and figures of the Hebrew Apocalyptical
System. In verses 7, 8 and 9, the bliss of the saints with Christ
is figured as a marriage of The Lamb. We know that this
conception was common in the apocalyptical books, for it is
a subject in Psalm XLV, which also mentions the Throne,
the Rider, the Sword, the King's Enemies, and the Ever-"
lasting Name. It is common in other chapters of Isaiah,*
to which St. John's words in verse 8 seem to refer.
Veress 10 to 15 are an exhibition of the Saviour as The
Word of God, with the added declaration that he is Jesus.
St. John multiplies phrases and figures to declare the great
ness, the power, the offices, the glory and the assured triumph
of him who is The Lamb of God (in Chap. XVII, 14) and
Lord of Lords and King of Kings, and also (in Chap. XIX,
I J to 16) is The Word of God and Lord of Lords and King
of Kings. The descriptive figures are derived from the He
brew Apocalyptical Literature. He is caUed Faithful and
True." " His -eyes were as a flame." This is from Rev. I,
14, and has been explained on pages 43 to 46, 150, and 194
to 197. "Out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword." This
also is from Rev. I, 16, and has been explained on pages 45
and 197. He utters "The true sayings of God." His
"Testimony is the Spirit of prophecy."
But whfle St. John has drawn these ideas and phrases
from the Hebrew Apocalyptical Literature, he has found
them, and teaches us to find them, in Isaiah XI to XIV.
The phrase " Spirit of Prophecy" (in verse 10) is the essence
of Is. XI, 2, "The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him:
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding: the Spirit of
counsel and might: the Spirit of knowledge and of the
fear of the Lord." The phrases that describe The Word
*LIV, j; LXI, 10; LXII, j.

St. John's 291
of God (in verses 13 to 15) have almost a counterpart in
Is. XI, 4. "He shaU smite the earth with the rod of his
mouth: and with the breath of his lips shaU he slay the
wicked." Here the Septuagint Greek version says, "With
the word of his mouth." " Rod of his mouth," and " Sword
of his mouth" are symbolical figures for "The Word of
God." The great and mysterious Name of God is brought
forward in verse 12. "He had a name that no man knew
but he himself." This great name is a feature of the
Hebrew Apocalyptical Literature. Enoch LXIX, 14, etc.,
says that the wicked angels asked Michael to " Show them
the secret name." Philo ha^ much to say about God's
mysterious Name. He says that one name of God "Has not
yet reached God's creatures." (On Who Is Heir of Divine
Things! (Ch.jj.)
The great name of God is again introduced in verse 16;
but that verse is the beginning of the fifth section, to which
the third letter matches, and a discussion of it is therefore
made in that connection on page 302.
There is surely a reference to something common in
the apocalyptical literature in St. John's connecting the
figure of the Lamb's marriage (verse 7) with the great
names of The Word of God; for in Isaiah LIV, j, these
ideas are connected, viz.: "Thy Maker is thine husband.
Jehovah of Hosts is his name, and The Redeemer, The
Holy One of Israel. The God of the whole earth shaU he
be named."
This great name of God also is a suggestion from the
selected section of Isaiah, which says (XII, 2, 4), "Praise
Jehovah! CaU upon his name! Make mention that his
name is (or may be) exalted." This also is a reference
to Exod. XV, 3, which says, " Jehovah is his name." The

292 The Apocalypses
great name is also one of the many apocalyptical features
in Psalm XLV. It is a great feature* in the writings of
Phflo, where it is a part of the halo with which the person
of The Word of God is invested, and is mentioned in con
nection with The Oath of God.
In verse 11, the representation of the Word of God as
a Judge is one of the chief elements of the Hebrew Apoca
lyptical System; but here it is taken from Isaiah XI, 2, 4.
"With righteousness shall he judge the poor, and convict
with equity."
In verse 13, the words, "He was clothed with a vesture
dipped in blood, seem to refer to the conception in verse
15, He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath
of Almighty God, and both of these verses express ideas
derived from Isaiah XIII and XIV.
In verses 13 and 14, the representation of the Word
of God as the leader of God's armies is another of the
features derived from Isaiah XI and Exod. XV. It is a
chief feature of the Hebrew Apocalyptical System, and is
common in Enoch.
In verse 15, the phrase, "He shall rule them with a
rod of iron," which is repeated in the corresponding letter
(page 299), is derived from Exod. XV., Psalms II and
XXIII, and Isaiah X, XI. The word translated "Shall
rule" is poimanei and means "Shall shepherdize." When
the Hebrews passed the Red Sea, " Moses stretched out his
hand over the sea" (Ex. XIV, 21, 26, 27), holding "The
Rod of God," as at the battle with the Amalekites (Ex.
XVII, g, 12). It was a shepherd's rod, and hence the
apocalyptical writers often speak of Moses as a Shepherd
'"E. g., Philo says, "We must be content with knowing his name,
which is The Word, The Interpreter: for to us, imperfect beings, that
must be God." On The Allegories oj The Sacred Laws, III, 7j.

St. John's 293
under God. It was au idea which inspired an exalted
enthusiasm in Hebrew minds. It is a large element in
that section of Isaiah from which St. John is here taking
figures. Isaiah X, 26 refers to Ex. XVII, 9 to 12, just
above mentioned, and says,
" Jehovah of hosts shaU stir up against him a scourge, as in the
daughter of Midian at the rock of Horeb. And his rod shall be over
sea; and he shall lift it after the manner of Egypt." Isaiah also
says, "He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth." (XI,
4.) and "This is the hand that is stretched out upon all nations
* * 1= And his hand is stretched out" {.XIV, 26, 27.)
The conceptions, and the figures which St. John and
Isaiah X to XIV connect together, have the appearance of
being elements of some common apocalyptical literature
in which the Judgment Day of God is typified in the over
throw of the Egyptians and the destruction of Babylon.
Isaiah XIII, 9, 13 says, "The dayof Jehovah Cometh: cruel,
vrith wrath andfierce anger." Isaiah XIV, 21, 22. says, "Prepare
ye slaughter for his children * * * I will rise up against them,
saith Jehovah of Hosts, and will cut off from Babylon name and
remnant, and son and grandson. I will sweep it with the besom of
destruction." Isaiah LXIII brings together precisely these figures
that are used by St. John in Rjev. XIX; e. g., "Who is this that
cometh from Edom -with dyed garments * * * I have trodden the
winepress alone * * * their lifeblood is sprinkled on my garments
* * * I trod down the people in mine anger * * * He remem
bered the days of old, Moses and his people. Where is he that
brought them up out of the sea. Shepherd of his flock ? Where is
he that caused his glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses?
that divided the water before them to make himself an everlasting
name?" This middle section of The Apocalypse closes with
XIX, Ij.
The foregoing exposition of it has displayed it as
something very different from the idea of it that has been

294 The Apocalypses
prevalent; yet it brings us to a recognition that it is among
the grandest sections of the Bible, and unapproached in
all other literature of the world. It now stands before
us not as a prediction of some special form of wickedness,
nor as a prediction of Divine vengeance on a single sinner,
or a few sinners or organizations of sinners, but as a display
of the eternally ordained principles and methods of the
dealing of the Creator with sin.
It marshalls the symbols of the knowledge, the will,
and the power of God. It depicts the arrays of wicked
men in the hands of God, under forms that induce our
enthusiasm in the triumph of The Word, but equaUy
appeal to our sympathy and pity for the wrecking that is
failure, misery, and despair for hosts of souls, and ends in
horrors, blood, and agonies for the present and the future
of the wicked.
It depicts, with matchless grandeur and power, the
salvation by The Word of God, The Lord. It shows the
gospel of salvation portrayed in the Scripture that so many
centuries ago was the light and joy of the souls led and
lightened by the Divine Spirit. It unifies widely sepa
rated portions of the Book of God, and shows wisdom,
and finish, and order, in Isaiah, that chief book of the
Prophets, which has always been the treasure and delight
of souls that hope in God, but has seemed, and been
declared by critics, the most mystical, disjointed, frag
mentary and indefensible of the Biblical Books.
The fourth section having ended at XIX, ij, we must
now compare and study the letter that is mated with it,
the fourth of the seven letters. It is as follows:

St. John's 295

REV. II.
18 And for the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These
things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of
fire, and his feet are like fine brass;
19 I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and
thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.
20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because
thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess,
to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to
eat things sacrificed unto idols.
21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she
repented not.
22 Behold, I will cast her into a be4, and them that commit
adultery with ier into great tribulation, except they repent of their
deeds. 23 And I wiU kiU her children with death; and all the churches
shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and liearts: and
I will give unto everyone of you according to your works.
24 But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many
as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of
Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden.
25 But that which ye have already, hold fast till I come.
26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the
end, to him wiU I give power over the nations:
27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a
potter shall they be broken to shivers even as I received of my Father.
28 And I will give him the morning star.
This letter exhibits strongly aU the chief general char
acteristics of the seven letters. In itself, it is wholly a
reiteration of ideas and symbols of the Hebrew Apoca
lyptical System. It corresponds closely with features of
the section to which it is mated, and it also corresponds
with the portion of Isaiah from which that section of the
apocalypse derives so much. Indeed it is only by help
from Isaiah that we can understand the last verse of the
letter. WhUe it is thus Hebraic and antique, it is Chris
tianized by its first verse, which, in describing the speaker

296^ The Apocalypses
as The Son of God, adds other features of his description
which are the same as of Jesus and The Son of Man, in
Rev. I, 14, Ij, and the same as of The Word of God in Rev.
XIX, 12. By the triple mention of "His eyes as a flame,"
the three scattered parts of Scripture are bound together.
Part of the description of The Word of God in verse 18 is
taken from Daniel X, 6.
This letter really seems to have little or no special
adaptation to the church in Thyatira or any other church.
It seems to be mainly a section-marker; and it is chiefly
a reiteration of the symbolism of wickedness which is like
a seductive woman, and which the Good Shepherd will
eventually prevent from destroying his flock.
Verse 19 mentions those virtues which, in contrast with
the vices of sin, will be rewarded. The peculiar phrase
about "Last and First" suggests the apocalyptical doctrine
that both sin and righteousness will continue and increase
until the "End of the world," or the "Consummation of
Time" (sunteleia kairo'A), which the words of Isaiah X, 22
(see page 281) had predicted.
Verse 20, in saying "Thou sufferest that woman Jezebel,"
implies no special act or fault of the church. The described
sin existed, and St. John denounced it, as the prophets had
already done. The word (apheis), translated Sufferest, is
a very mild term that indeed implies no act. The false
doctrine was in the community symbolized as " The Church
of Thyatira," but was not among the Christians.
Verse 23, in saying I wiU kill her children, reiterates
the strong phrases of Isaiah XIII, 16, and XIV, 21, 22.
"Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes.
Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers.
For I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of Hosts; and cut off
from Babylon the name and remnant, and son and nephew." The

St. John's 297
same figure of destruction of Babylon's children is used in // Esdras
XV, j7; XVI, 2.
In verse 23, the sentence, "I am he who searches the
reins and the hearts," brings forward the speaker as both
God and The Word of God; for the phrase comes out of
very old Scripture, where God is spoken of as the Searcher,
viz. : —
Psalm VII, g. The Righteous God trieth the heart and the
reins. I Chron. XXVIII, g. The Lord searcheth all hearts, and
understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts.
Jer. XI, 20. O Lord of Hosts that triest the reins and the heart.
Jer. XVII, 10. I, the Lord, search the heart. I try the reins.
Jer. XX, 12. O Lord of Hosts that triest the righteous, and
seest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them.
Prov. XVII. J. The Lord trieth the hearts.
But St. John, in this letter, presents the Searcher as
God's Son and Word; and, in doing this, gives a striking
illustration of the general manner of composing this apoca
lypse, and a striking confirmation of the correctness of
our analysis and exposition of it. Using, as he does in all
this section, Isaiah XI to XIV, as the basis of his phrases
about The Word of God as a conqueror and destroyer, he
finds in Isaiah XI, 2 to 5 these words:
'The Spirit of the Lord shaU rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom
and understanding, the spirit of counsel, and might, the spirit of
knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord * * * and he shaU judge
the poor with righteousness, and reprove with equity "= * '* and
righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the
girdle of his reins"
This conception that " The Word of God," acting as the
Spirit of God, searches souls of men, and judges and convicts
them, is a great feature in the Hebrew Apocalyptical Sys
tem, and is a large element in its literature. This has been

298 The Apocalypses
partly shown on pages 51 and 56. To what has there been
said, we may add that it is a doctrine that vitalizes Hebrew
theology and Christianity. It is a part of the doctrine about
the Paraklete Convicter, as has been shown on pages 56
to 59. It is one of the elements of the divine psychology
which compelled Jews to formulate the Hebrew Apocalypti
cal System. It underlies / Sam. XVI, 7, " The Lord seeth
not as a man * * * but the Lord looketh on the heart,"
and / Kings VIII, jg, " Thou only knowest the hearts of
aU the children of men." And it stands out as a great
feature in Christianity in what Jesus says of The Paraklete
(John XIV, 16, 26; XV, 26; XVI, 7) ; and in St. Paul's great
apocalyptical chapter, Romans VIII, (verse 27); and in
Hebrews IV, 12, "The Word of God is living and active,
and sharper than any two edged sword, and piercing even
to the dividing of soul and spirit, and living to discern the
thoughts and intents of the heart. * * * * All things are
naked and laid open before him." Also, in II Esdras XV,
62 the figure of a searching spirit occurs.
Verse 24 is an address to those persons who are contrasted
to the adherents of Babylon. In this verse also, St. John
is influenced by the selected passage from Isaiah, in which
Chapter XIII describes the wickedness and destiny of Baby
lon. The phrase, " I will put on you no other burden," is
apparently a part of the figures in Isaiah, or of those which
that section of Isaiah draws from Exod. XV: for Exod. XV,
26 says, " I wiU put none of these plagues on thee which I
have brought on the Egyptians." St. John is here again
referring to the symbolism which, in Chapter XVI, figures
seven plagues comparable to those of Egypt. A very sim
ilar mention of the plagues, in a similar line of symbolical
figures, is made in // Esdras, XV, 5 to n, 27, j7, jg;
XVI, j, 8, 14, 37.

St. John's 299
Verse 25 seems to mean "Hold what, of righteousness,
truth, faith and victory you have," or of works, as in the
next verse.
Verse 27 promises " Rule with a rod of Iron." It is used
here as a section marker, being derived from XIX, ij (see
page 292). This also comes to St. John from Isaiah XI
4, Ij. " He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth,
* * * He shall shake his hand (holding the rod) over the
river, and make men go over dryshod." It comes to him
also out of Psalms II and CX, which contain so many of the
elements of this section. (See page 37.)
The last promise in this letter is the gift of "The Morn
ing Star." This also comes from Isaiah. St. John uses
the name again in Rev. XXII, 16, where he associates it with
" The Root of David " which is a phrase from Is. XIV, where
there is first a promise of an Ensign for God's people, and
then a promise that Babylon, which " Exalted her throne
above the stars of God" (75. XIV, 14) and called herself
"The Morning Star" should be cast from her place. The
promise is that the deceptive and ruinous reign of Babylon
shall give place to the heavenly ensign of The Messiah, who
shall be a Jew. Perhaps St. John had this same idea in
his mind when in Rev. V, 5 (see page 215), he called The
Lamb, "The Root of David," and "The Lion of the tribe
of Judah"; for the lion was the device of the ensign of
Judah, and it was derived from the ancient association of
the Zodiacal consteUation Leo (The Lion), with the tribe
of Judah, as is shown in Gen. XLIX, 9, 10. Perhaps the
star Regulus in that constellation was sometimes called
The Moming Star.
Here again, however, appears a connection with that
Psalm CX which contains so much that is apocalyptical. In
Psalm CX, 3, where the English version says, "Thou hast

300 The Apocalypses
the dew of thy youth," the Septuagint Greek says, "I begat
thee before the morning star." The morning star as a
symbol evidently had a place in the groups of apocalyptical
figures that are set forth in four Psalms, Isaiah X to XIV,
Hebrews I, and Rev. XV to XIX.
The direction in verse 24 to persons in Thyatira can
only be understood after the name Nikolaitans is under
stood. This is explained on pages 306, etc. Here "That
Woman Jezebel" is plainly False Doctrine, and especiaUy
the then prevalent Gnosticism. St. John is denouncing,
not the church, but Gnosticism. The message of the Spirit
is directed to those who do not have (i. e. hold) the doc
trines of Gnosticism. They are bidden to hold what good
they have. The phrase, "Have not, as they say, knovm
the depths of Satan," might be rendered, "Have not, as
men say, gnosed, i. e., intellectually accepted, the deep
things of Satan."

THE FIFTH SECTION. IT IS CHAPTERS XV TO XVIII
AND XIX, 16 TO 23.
St. John had included so much in Chapters XV to XIX
that he was not satisfied to match them to a single letter.
He therefore made Chapter XIX in two parts ; and mated
with them the fourth and third letters. The body of the
Chapters XV to XVIII deals with the symbolisms of sin as
beasts, a false (or pseudo) prophet, and a luxurious city.
Chapter XIX separates these; and one part deals with the
wickedness of the city, and the other deals with the sin that
is beastly, and the sin that comes from wrong beliefs.
The text of the fifth section is therefore Chapters XF to
XVIII, and also XIX, 16 to 21,, as foUows:

St. John's 301
Rev. xix.
16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written,
KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with
a loud voice, saying to all of the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven.
Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great
God; 18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains,
and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of thera
that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both
small and great.
19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their
armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the
horse, and against his army.
20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet
that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that
had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his
image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with
brimstone. 21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat
upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all
the fowls were fiUed with their flesh.
This section exhibits the last of the Hebrew Apocalyptical
Doctrines, the last judgment of the wicked. The Judge
and Conqueror is He who has been described as having a
sharp sword proceeding out of his mouth, which is a symbol
of " The Word of God " in XIX 13, ij, as explained on page
197. In accordance with the habits of the apocalyptical
writers, he is also called by the interchangeable name " The
Lamb of God." (See page 59.)
Verse 16 exhibits "The Word of God" with the names
"King of Kings and Lord of Lords." In XF/7, 14, he
has been called "The Lamb of God" with these same
names. The greatness of the names of The Creator is a
great feature in all apocalyptical literature. It was

302 The Apocalypses
brought forward in Rev. Ill, 12, and has been somewhat
noticed on pages 241, 291.
Of course, almost all, if not all, names of God must be
mere titles, or descriptive; and as such the Hebrews
regarded them; and as such they made and multiplied
them. Both in the Bible and in other books, these descrip
tive titles are numerous and varied. But the Hebrews had
a feeling that God had a name, a distinctive personal
name, inseparable from Himself, and holy; a name stand
ing for Him only. They understood the divine teaching to
approve this idea, and to have instituted it for them in
Exod. Ill, 14, where it said that God named Himself " I
am that I am." But they never used that name, and
rather regarded it as indicating that God made his name a
secret. They turned to other verses of Exod. Ill and F7
for the names of the Creator. In 777, 6, 13, God said, " I
am Elohim of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." In F7, 3, he
said, "I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El
Shaddai," or, as perhaps we should translate'the verse, "I
was seen Abraham's Elohim, Isaac's Elohim, Jacob's Elo
him, El Mighty; and, as to my name, Jahoh, I was not
known to them." In 777, 13, Moses received, as names
of The Creator, " Elohim" and " Jahoh Elohim," with the
declaration, "This is my name forever; and this is my
memorial unto all generations." Then the writer of The
Pentateuch seems to have inserted, or substituted, the
names Jahoh, and Jahoh Elohim, in the chapters of
Genesis. But, having the name Jahoh, the Hebrews reverenced
it too much to speak it. Instead, in reading where it was
written, they said Elohim, or Adonai, which means Lord.
Hence, although the Hebrew Old Testament has the name
Jahoh thousands of times, it is, wherever possible, trans-

St. John's 303
Iated in Greek, Syriac, English, and other languages, by
words that mean Lord. Thus all peoples avoid giving a
name to the Creator, and substitute a title. Of course it
is understood that El and God are generic, and not personal,
names. The Hebrews found, in Deuteronomy X, that Moses gave
them, as from God Himself, the descriptive titles "God
of Gods, and Lord of Lords." These were given them
in close association with the placing in the Ark of Testi
mony of two stones inscribed with the ten commandments,
and with the name Jahoh eight or nine times. But these
new titles never became common in Jewish literature;
and seem to have been invested with almost as much rev
erence as the name Jahoh. Their use here (XIX, 16)
is equivalent to saying. The Word and Lamb of God is
Jahoh, or Jehovah.
This exaltation of the name of God in XIX, 16, is how
ever another bf the suggestions which St. John has adopted
from Isaiah X to X7F, and Exodus XV. The Hebrew tex
of Exodus XV, 2 says "Jah is my strength and song."
Isaiah XII, 2 turns this into " Jah Jahoh (or Jehovah) is
my strength and song," and this is one of the very few
places in which Jehovah occurs in our English Bibles.
Perhaps he finds a suggestion there of the name Lord of
Lords also; for Exod. XV, 18 says, "Jehovah shall be
King unto eternity and forever." In Philo's day this had
become, in Greek phrase, "King of the ages" (aibnon,
eternities or worlds). In Isaiah XII, 4, it is represented by
the words "Praise Jehovah! Call upon his name! Make
mention, that his name be (or is) exalted!"
The "Song of Moses" is all of a character to exalt the
name Jehovah, and to impress the reader with the thought
that this is its great design. The name is repeated thirteen

304 The Apocalypses
times. Among these are the following, "I will exalt him.
Jehovah is his name." "Jehovah is my God." "Who
is like Thee, Jehovah, among the Gods?
As said above, the title "King of Kings and Lord of
Lords" does not appear much in the Old Testament or
the Apocalyptical Literature. Philo refers to it only three
times, and turns it into, ."Lord (Kurios) King of Gods."
And yet Daniel II, 47, putting it into the mouth of a heathen
King of Babylon, who also calls him " Revealer of Secrets,"
seems to indicate that it was a fixed item of some well-
known part of the Hebrew Apocalyptical System, as a
title of "The Word of God."
In verses 17 and 18, St. John introduces a new figure.
For this, he has gone to another section of the Hebrew
Bible; and by so doing he has called attention to the fact
that the Book of Ezekiel contains many elements of the
Apocalyptical System, and gives much evidence of having
been^ written with direct relation to that system.
For the figures of Rev. XIX, 17, 18, St. John has gone
to Ezek. XXXIX, 17, 18, ig, a section which deals chiefly
with Gog and Magog, which is a figure which St. John
is about to use in Rev. XX, These verses say,
EZEKIEL XXXIX
17 And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God; Speak unto
every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble your
selves., and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that
I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of
Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.
18 Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty., and drink the blood of
the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks,
all of them fatlings of Bashan.
1:9 And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till. ye be
drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.

St. John's 305
The same idea was evidently common to Enoch arid the
Apocalyptical Literature.
Verse 20 exhibits the last Hebrew Apocalyptical Doc
trine, the final punishment of the wicked. These are
specialized as in this section (regarded as beginning with
Chapter XV), as "The Beast" and "The Pseudo Prophet."
The symbol of The Beast, an emblem of all gross
wickedness has been sufficiently explained in preceding
pages. The symbol of The Pesudo-Prophet has also
been somewhat explained (see page 263), but St. John's
repetition of the symbols makes further explanation desirable.
The ruinous nature and effects of false doctrines and
ideas is made the sixth item in the system of Hebrew Apoca
lyptical Doctrines. It seems to have come into the system
both naturally, because of its importance, and specially,
because Cain and Balaam, as types of ruinous opinions,
occupied a large and most important place in the attention
and sentiments of the Hebrews. At the Christian era this
fact had become intense, because of the peculiar condition
of the philosophies of the day.
Greek philosophy, as to its forms and methods, had
divided into two schools or classes of adherents; of which
classes the one believed human reason capable of sure
knowlege of first principles of truth; and the other was
skeptical and agnostic. Greek phUosophy was also divided
into two great classes in respect to moral science and prin
ciples; one class cherishing the lofty and pure doctrines
of Plato, and the other reverencing no moral law, and
respecting no restraints. Cicero's Disputations and De
Natura Deorum are perhaps the best example of the
former, and the Caesarian depravity displays the latter.
The best class was either produced by Hebrew influence,
or. greatly benefited by- it.

3o6 The Apocalypses
Hebrew philosophy was also divided into two great
classes, of which the one, of which Philo is a type, reasoned
out a philosophy of faith, and assurance of first principles,
and moral law, and divine authority, founded on human
likeness to God, and on a reasonable doctrine of mind and
spirit. The other class cherished the ancient doctrines,
and the prophecies, as traditions, but neglected the rational
defense of them, and consequently held an immense number
of diverse opinions, many of which were wise and excellent,
whfle others were provocative of contempt, or of most
extraordinary doctrines among the heathen Syrians. At
the same time, the Jews were the most active and most
phflosophical thinkers of the world, and exercised an enor-
ipous influence on aU philosophic thought.
In these conditions, there prevaUed a great deal of
pseudo-phUosophy, under the name Gnosticism. This
name is made from the Greek verbal adjective gnostds,
which means knovm. Gnosticism was a mixture of good
and bad, wise and foolish, pure and wicked, doctrines.
Among the Gnostics were many who declared that aU
Jewish beliefs were the reverse of the truth, that Jehovah
was the enslaver of mankind, that the serpent was a bene
factor, that the faU of man was a progress, that Cain
was commendable, and that Balaam was a wise teacher.
To such an extent did these notions prevail that the names
Cainite, and Balaamite, and Nikolaitan were given to
Gnostics who taught doctrines opposed to those of the
Hebrews; and these three names seem to have been inter
changeable names for the same people. These names
are made so important by St. John that we must linger to
observe them.
The name Balaam is in Hebrew Bilgham, and is made
from b'lagh which means (when an adjective) frivolous,

St. John's 307
and (when a verb) to destroy, and gham, which means
people. Bilgham means frivolous people, or as Phflo says
in Greek mdiaios lads. Phflo says a great deal about
Balaam as a frivolous people, and a symbol of a class.
He says almost the same things about Cain as a symbol
of the same class of . frivolous (in opinions of philosophy)
phflosophers, who were at once vain and arrogant. He
shows that the Cainites, in his day, were a pretentious class
of Gnostics, whom the orthodox Jews abhorred.
At that day, the two languages, Greek and Syriac (or
Hebrew), were spoken everywhere, and mingled and con
fused. At the same time the methods of studying lan
guages and the meanings and origins of words were very
faulty. Philo, for example, makes absurd guesses at the
origin of Greek words, and overlooks obvious facts; At
that time, there arose the above mentioned class of Cainish
People, and with them came the necessity of giving them
a name for the use of both Jews and Greeks. There
resulted the name Nikolaitan, as if made from the name
Nikolaos, meaning nik-people. Guesses have been made
that the name originated from some man named Nikolas;
but there is no good historical ground for the conjecture.
Other guesses have been made that the name originated
from the Greek verb nikao, to conquer; but this conjecture
is contrary to several principles of Greek etymology. The
Syriac 'writers omitted vowels, and wrote the name Niq,
instead of Nik. Now Niq is Cain, as the Syrians 'wrote
it, writing from right to left; and Niqolaos may be a com-
poimd mongrel word for Cain-people, the name Cain
being written just as the Syrians wrote it, or intentionally
reversed. It was a word intermediate between the Greek
Chatenites and the Jewish Bilgham.
These facts are much exhibited by Philo, and have been

3o8 The Apocalypses
partly shown by quotations from him on pages 261 to 266.
Philo says* much about Balaam as a symbol of Frivolous
People. In the essay On The Life of Moses, I, 4j to '48,
he makes a long story of the traditional history of Balaam.
In the essay On The Migration of Abraham, Ch. 20, Phflo
says "The frivolous (mdiaios) Balaam, alhough he sang
songs to God of exceeding sublimity, among which is the
one beginning, 'God is not as a man,' the most beautiful
of all songs * * * is rightly judged an impious and accursed
man." Philo especially refers to Balaam as a bad people
influencing other people. In the essay On The Sacrifices
of Abel and Cain, Ch. 2, he places much importance on
the word lads (people) as a name of a larger host than a
genos (race). What he says about Cain has been shown
on pages 139, 232, 260 to 263.
The names Nicholaitans and Balaamites are symbols
of classes of people who are also exhibited under the names
Beast and Pseudo-Phrophet, who are always numerous,
but in the first century were speciaUy active, and are known
in the history of Gnosticism as Cainites.
In verse 20, the symbol of the nature and place of the
punishment of wicked men is a crater of a volcano. It was
a conception that had become common among Hebrews.
The mention of it here may be one of St. John's sug
gestions from Isaiah XIV, g, ij, which says, "HeU from
beneath is moved for thee, to meet thee at thy coming. It
stirreth up the dead for thee. * * * Thou shalt be
brought down to heU, to the sides of the pit." Isaiah has
made the conception definite in Chapter XXX, 32.
33 For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared;
he hath made it deep and large : the pile thereof is fire and much wood;
the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.
'"On the Lije oj Moses, I jo; On the Confusion of Tongues,
Ch.ji,

St. John's 309
This is also a common and strong feature in the Book
of Enoch. Verse 20 also declares the apocalyptical doctrines that
human souls never die, and that the wicked wiU be finally
punished. Verse 2 1 by the symbol of a sword proceeding from his
mouth, plainly designs to indicate that the intention here is
to declare the Hebrew Apocalyptical System as the source
of these ideas, and to honor that system which declares
The Word of God as the great Revelation and Acting
Person of God. (See page 290.)
The thirty-fourth chapter of Isaiah seems to have lent
much to the graphic features of St. John's conceptions here.
ISAIAH XXXIV.
I Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let
the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that
come forth of it.
2 For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and his
fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath
deUvered them to the slaughter.
3 Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come
up out of their carcasses, and the mountains shall be melted with
their blood.
4 And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens
shall be roUed together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down,
as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig
tree. 5 Por my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come
down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment.
6 The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made fat with
fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, -with the fat of the
kidneys of rams: for the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a
great slaughter in the land of Idumea.
7 And the unicorns shaU come down with them, and the bul
locks -with the bulls; and their lands shaU be soaked with blood, and
their dust made fat with fatness.

3IO The Apocalypses
8 For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the year of
recompenses for the controversy of Zion.
9 And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the
dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burn
ing pitch. 10 It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof
shall go up forever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste;
none shall pass through it for ever and ever.
The fifth section has for its section-marker the third
letter, the letter to Pergamum. REV. II.
12 And for the angel of the church in Pergamum write; These
things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges;
13 I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where
Satan's throne is: and thou boldest fast my name, and hast not denied
my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful witness,
who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.
14 But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there
them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a
stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed
unto idols, and to commit fornication.
15 So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolai-
tans, which thing I hate.
16 Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight
against them with the sword of my mouth.
17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the spirit saith unto
the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden
manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new
name written, which no man knoweth sa'ving he that receiveth it.
This letter, like the others, introduces the Lord, for
whom the Spirit speaks, by a phrase from Chapter I, 16,
which is from the Hebrew Apocalyptical System, and
identifies him as "The Word of God." (See pages 45
and 197.)
Then, like the other letters', it divides people into two

St. John's 311
classes in reference to the phases of sin which have been
depicted in the section. One accepts and the other resists
the wickedness. The representation that these classes
were in Pergamum, seems to be only a way of holding the
classification up to view.
In verse 13, the phrase, "The throne of Satan," is an
epitome of XF7, ij, where the Dragon, the Beast, and the
Pseudo-Prophet confederate to rule the earth; and of XF7,
JO, where the Beast's throne is mentioned; and again of the
description of the royal power of Babylon. (Chapter XVII
and XF777.)
In verse 13, the mention of Antipas has been supposed
to demonstrate that St. John was in fact, specially addressing
the church in Pergamum, and referring to local history.
That appearance is fallacious. Probably no name Antipas
was originally in this chapter. All scholars agree that the
Greek text of this verse is uncertain, and probably muti
lated. Fortunately we have the Syriac version to help us.
In that, there is no Antipas; but in its place is a word
which means "He was seen." The Syriac version says,
"Thou didst not deny my faith (i.e. truth), in those days
when it (the faith) was visibly seen, (even) He, my Witness,
He, my Faithful One; He that was killed among you, where
Satan dweUs." The Greek language has the words autoptes
and autoptos to express the idea of real-sight, or eye-wit
nessing; and we must believe that one of these words was
originally in the Greek text of this verse; antip and auiop
being in appearance so similar. The assertion that the
Witness was slain among the people of Pergamum, may be
similar to the saying of Paul, that Jesus Christ was cruci
fied among the Galatians (Gal. Ill, i).
Guided by the correspondences of the letter and the
section, we know that the "Faithful Witness" is the "Word

312 The Apocalypses
of God," who has been so described in X7X, p to ij; and
secondarily He is Jesus.
In verses 14 and 15, the reference to Balaamites and
Nickolaitans can scarcely be considered as anything more
than a further reference to the Beast and the Pseudo-
Prophet of Chapter XIX, 20. It makes the correspondence
of the letter and the section. Balaamites and Nickolaitans
were probably no more numerous in Pergamum than in the
other six cities, their nearest neighbors. The reference to
them simply makes them a subject of remark, and implies
no toleration of them in the church.
In verse 16, the command to repent is the one common
to all the letters and to the Hebrew Apocalyptical Litera
ture. Verse 17 promises manna, and a clean stone with a new
name. This is correspondent with Chapter XV, 5, where
the Tabernacle of Testimony is mentioned. The ark in the
tabernacle contained a pot of manna, and the Tables of
the Law on stones, on which were inscribed the name
"Jehovah, I am Jehovah," etc. This reference to The
Name is also a correspondence with Chapter XIX, 16, which
has been quite fully discussed on pages 291, 301 to 303.
St. John seems to have had a predilection for such references
to the inscription of the name Jehovah, in connection with
the tabernacle and temple. In the sixth letter (Rev. Ill, 12)
he makes a very similar reference to the name of The Word
of God, under the figure of an inscription on a pillar.
There is some reason for believing that the Hebrews pub
licly posted the Ten Commandments in that way. The
Samaritans did this; and there is, or was recently, at
Nablous, near Mt. Gerezim, in Samaria, a plastered piUar
bearing the Decalogue in Samaritan letters.
Perhaps some readers here may ask if this is not a

St. John's 313
dubious explanation of the stone and the name. At least
it is an honorable one, and conforms to the spirit of the
whole chapter and section. Is it confirmed by any corres
ponding suggestion or mention of the sanctuary, in the
section which matches this letter (Rev. XV to XIX), or in
the "Song of Moses" or "The Twenty-third Psalm " ? Yes !
The beginning of the section (XV, j, 6) shows " The temple
of the tabernacle of the testimony opened," and " The
seven angels came out of the temple." It would seem a
preposterous test if we ask if the suggestion of the sanc
tuary is in the "Song of Moses," which was sung before,
so far as we know, even the tabernacle had been proposed,
or in the "Twenty-third Psalm," which is a song of the
open fields. And yet, the test holds; for Exod. XV, 2 does
say, "I wfll prepare him a habitation," and Exod. XV, 17
does say, "The place, O Jehovah! thou hast made for thee
to dwell in ; the sanctuary which thy hands have establish
ed;" and Psalm XXIII, 6 does say, "I will dwell in the
house of Jehovah for many days."
The letter to Pergamum, although brief and promising
few things, is full of the essence of revelation and of the
gospel. It is a message of The Word as the suffering
Witness. It promises his presence in the long and terrible
contest of human souls with sin; and finally it flluminates
the view of the Holy of Holies by a new assurance of the
living presence of The Lord in the spiritual consciousness
of believers. THE SIXTH SECTION. IT IS CHAPTER XX.
I And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key
of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is
the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and

314 The Apocalypses
set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till
the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be
loosed a little season.
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment
was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded
for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not
worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his
mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and
reigned with Christ a thousand years.
5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand
years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection:
on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests
of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him'a thousand years.
7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be
loosed out of his prison,
8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four
quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to
battle : the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed
the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came
down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of
fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and
shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
II And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from
whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found
no place for them.
12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and
the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is
the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which
were written in the books, according to their works.
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it: and death
and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were
judged every man according to their works,
14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This
is the second death.
15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was
cast into the lake of fire.

St. John's 315
This section, or chapter, has always been a source of
delight and enthusiasm to Christians. Its spectacles of the
arrayed powers of God in Earth and Heaven, of the defeat
and crushing of aU evil powers, and of the transformation
of death into blessed eternal life, have animated faithful
souls in aU sorrow and bitterness of life, and cheered the
departing souls with visions of triumphs and endless joys.
This chapter is unsurpassed in literature, alike in gran
deur of conceptions, in power of movements, in grasp of
the greatest principles of truth, and in its address to the
quickest and most earnest emotions of human spirits.
It is a display of consummations, and of the last of the
apocalyptical principles. St. John has previously arrayed
all of the first principles in graphic symbols. He does
not care to add to these. Little probably could be gained
by so doing; for they exist only for the consummations;
and these consummations are what is to fill all eyes, thriU
all spirits, and inspire all lives. So St. John, in this chapter,
recalls the symbols and figures which he has already por
trayed. He does not present them as a sequence. He
does not care in what section or relation he exhibited them.
He is indifferent to the fact that they cannot be imagined
as things or events, and that as periods of long time they
could not be visions. All this does not matter; for his
figures are each a symbol in itself, and he makes them,
not into a rope of gems, but into a mosaic, of which every
part is a jewel, and the whole is a picture of transcendant
art, instinct with divine life.
First (verse i), he recalls the figures of Chapter IX, the •
bottomless pit (see pages 238, etc.), the first wicked spirit, the
king of sinners, Abaddon. He depicts him (verse 3 as in
X77, g), defeated, hindered, hemmed in, partly bound, while
the history of the world nevertheless goes on, with its

;^i6 The Apocalypses
mingled conflicts and joys. To represent that this is not a
detached episode, nor a separated portion of time, he uses
the figure of a thousand years. This figure, the cube of
ten; which itself is the symbol of largeness in things earthly,
is evidently only a figure of indefinite duration which cannot
be adapted to any measure. It is simply a part of the
symbol that the power of Satan over men, living or dead,
is restrained in the hand of God. It is not wholly a duration,
but a condition, and so far as it is a duration, it is one that
varies with individuals.
St. John does not wish to represent that all of human
interest is confined to the soul's first earthly life, and that
the judgment is nothing but a form or an idea. It is part
of the apocalyptical scheme to represent the " Judgment of
the Great Day" as a real and serious thing, having to do
with the principles of eternal justice, and with the Creator's
personal sovereignty, and with His vindication, and to
represent the final state of the blessed dead, as not a course
of nature, nor a selection and movement by the soul itself,
but an assignment and bestowal, in dignity and grace,
with mercy, beneficence, and love, by the Creator. Such
is the great purpose of this chapter. It is the great spectacle
of the crisis of time, the forms of life, and the display of the
very essence of the nature and values of eternal life.
Hence, apparently, in the last part of verse 3, he repre
sents the Devil as allowed to be the accuser before the
judgment seat, and to make a final effort to seize the souls
of men. Hence he represents this as a time, and as a limit
of the time in which Satan is restrained. Perhaps there
is no other way to represent it figuratively.
In verse 4, the scene is the thrones of God and the Lamb,
of which so much is said in The Apocalypse and in Enoch.
He sees again, in thought, as in F7, 9, the soifls that have

St. John's 317
been -faithful unto death placed in special honor and hap
piness. These also are said to be in this state a thousand
years. This is only another view of the withdrawal of the
power of Satan. He has no power over the dead, till he
makes his accusation at the judgment.
How much of misconception, and misdirected thought
and emotion, have been caused by this figure of a thousand
years, "The Millennium." St. John as dearly as possible
exhibits it as solely a figure of the blessed life of faithful
souls with The Anointed One (verse 4) before the judgment.
It is a declaration that the faithful souls never die, nor
even sleep. Their life with The Anointed One, imme
diately following earthly death, is "The first resurrection"
(verse j). Of the rest of the dead, the disobedient, St.
John says (verse 5) that they lived not again till the thousand
years were finished. Apparently this cannot mean any
thing except that St. John has nothing to say about them,
and they have no part in that life which is symbolized as
a thousand years. They are apart from the redeemed,
and are not sharers in "the first resurrection" which is
a continuance of the blessed spiritual life in the presence
of God. The redeemed with Christ (verse 6) are Priests of God
and of "The Anointed One," and they reign with him.
In these few words, St. John recalls the figure of the
Temple and the Ark (X7, ig; XIV, i, 12; XV, j, 5, and
77, 17; III, j, II, 12, 21). It is in the sanctuary and the
presence of God that priests serve and are honored; and
it is in the throne chamber of presence that they sit on
thrones with the Lamb. What such exalted conceptions
may portend cannot be conceived. They are figures for
the expression of St. John's grandest and most enthusiastic
hopes and faiths; but they are symbols, and not visions.

3x8 The Apocalypses
After these figures St. John (verse 7) bring? forward
the conception of a last desperate effort to defeat the
salvation of men. This is the reassertion of the tenth apoc
alyptical principle, the continuance of the contest with
sin till the end of earthly life and history. This is a part
of the Hebraic conception of Satan. Satan means accuser;
and an accuser he is, pleading with specious arguments
that there can be no redemption, no forgiveness, no grace.
Satan argues for a one-sided justice, and for a religion of
nature, materialistic, legal, and totally opposed to the apoca
lyptical idea that the Creator, in creating, bore the sins of
the created chfldren in advance, and in advance, without
nullifying his law, made provision for salvation by the
" Lamb slain from the foundation of the earth." St. John
here recaUs the ideas of Rev. XII, j, 4, 10, 11, where The
Accuser of our brethren is the one who began his accusa
tion before the throne in heaven, when the souls of men
existed only in the purposes of the Creator.
St. John, in verse 8, turns again to the Old Testament
and finds chapters of the prophets for figures. The chap
ters that he selects are Ezekiel, XXXVIII and XXXIX,
in which the prophet utters declarations of God's hostility
to Gog and Magog, who are portrayed as dangerous
enemies of Israel.
Gog and Magog were, and still are in Arabic, the com
mon names for the Scythians, the tribes of the present
Russian empire. In several centuries before the Christian
era, these tribes were the terror of the civilized Orient, as
one of them, "The Ogres," became later the terror of
Europe. In those days no distinction was made between
the Slavonic and the Tartar tribes, who indeed perhaps
confederated more or less. The Scythians once overran
Syria almost to the borders of Egypt. They invaded

St. John's 319
Persia, and provoked the first Persian invasion of Europe.
As a wild people little known, they filled Syria with
acute and excessive alarms. At the time when St. John
wrote, they had ceased to be a cause of fear to Syria,
because of the Roman power, and they hurled their
invasions, both warlike and peaceftfl, against the peoples
of eastern and northern Europe. But they were tra
ditional enemies of Syria, and the two chapters of Ezekiel
furnished phrases and pictures with striking and strong
features. The armies of Gog and Magbg (verse 8) are said to be
"as the sand of the sea," and it was chiefly their enormous
numbers that alarmed Syria. The Scythians proper are said
in Ezekiel ( XXXVIII, 6, g) to have had "many people"
with them, and when they were defeated, the place of their
overthrow (as seen in prophetic vision, Ezek. XXXIX, 11)
was named "The Valley of the Hordes of Gog." Among
the people associated with Gog and Magog in Ezekiel,
there are Persians, Ethiopians, Libyans, and perhaps Celts
(Gomer). Gog and Magog are simply a symbol of an
innumerable host of enemies of God's people, under the
lead of Satan, against whom a battle must be waged tfll
the end of time.
Next St. John (verse 10) recalls the spectacles of the
punishment of the wicked in a volcanic crater, as depicted
in XIV, 10 and XIX, 20. (See pages 269 and 308.) As in
those chapters, the wickedness and wicked people are
symbolized as "The Beast and the Pseudo-Prophet." Of
course it is a symbolical figure only, as it is in Enoch; but
it is a graphic conception of the apocalyptical principle,
that wickedness is dreadful, accursed, doomed, and beset
by the justice and power of the personal Creator. Next
(yerse 11) St. John recaUs the spectacle of the "Great

320 The Apocalypses
White Throne" from IV, 2, etc., which however he had not
previously called white. Enoch however says, " Its appear
ance was like the hoarfrost (Chapter XIV, 18). His con
ception is that it is like a mountain top covered with
snow (Chapter XXV, 3).
This section is a resume of all the apocaljrptical prin
ciples and symbols; for the apparent purpose of presenting,
with new emphasis, the doctrines of the day of judgment,
the unbroken human life, and the punishment of the
wicked. The final figures (verses 11 to ij) are wonderfully
graphic. First, in verse 11, God is separated from the earth,
and sits alone, in His majesty and power. Then (verse 12)
the figure of the book of the Creator's knowledge and pur
poses is recalled, and has its usual place in the apocalyptical
figures. Then (verse ij) the universality of the gathering
of the dead is depicted. There is none escaping, forgotten,
or hidden. The phases of verse 13 may well be compared with
Enoch LI, I to 3.
"And in those days the earth will return that which is en
trusted to it; and Sheol will return what is entrusted to it, which it
has received; and HeU (Abaddon or haguel) will return what it owes
And he will choose the just and holy from among them, for the day
has come that they be saved. And the Chosen One in those days
will sit upon his throne, and all the secrets of wisdom will proceed
from the thoughts of his mouth; for the Lord of the spirits has given
it to him, and has honored him."
The words of verse 14 are not altogether clear, unless
Death and Hell are meant, not as figurative names of a
place, but as collective names of the wicked who were not
with Christ after death, and so did not enjoy the first resur
rection (verse j). In that case, verse 14 says that the wicked,
whose state was already naturally and morally decided,

St. John's 321
were, as the result of the final judgment, consigned to the
fate of those who are called " The Beast and the Pseudo-
Prc^het" in verse 10.
The conception of the final condemnation, as "The
Second Death," is the distinctive feature of this section.
It is the one distinctive feature of the corresponding letter,
and occurs nowhere else except in XX7, 8. It helps to set
the last of the apocalyptical principles over against some
of the preceding ones. It recalls the first sins and the
beginning of moral death in Gen. II, 17; III, j; IV, ij,
and all that has been said in the preceding sections about
sin as a living death. (See pages 139, 261.) Now here,
without saying much, and without either dogmatically or
figuratively adding minute or extended details and de
scriptions, St. John closes over the disappearance of the
stUl living and immortal wicked the awful silence and the
impenetrable veil of the second death. However, it is
possible that by the phrase Second Death, St. John here
refers to some such idea as Jude ij, where the phrase is
"Twice dead," and has reference to both the nature and
the destiny of the wicked.
The sixth section being finished, we turn to its corre
sponding letter, the second, the letter to Smyrnai

REV. II, 8 TO 11.
8 And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These
things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive;
9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty (but thou art
rich), and / know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews,
and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold,
the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and
ye shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death, and
I will give thee a crown of life.

32 2 The Apocalypses
II. He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith
unto the churches. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the
second death. •
The correspondences of the letter and the section
are detailed on page 26. This letter, like its correspond
ent section, introduces few new features. It is an ad
dress of a loving teacher to souls faithful to their Lord.
These will suffer in their earthly lifetime, symbolized as
ten days; but, at its end, for the lifetime with God, they
shall receive an imperishable wreath to wear in honors
and rejoicings of the Father's court.
The distinctive features of this letter and its section
are the "Second death," and the "Crown of life" or
living wreath. James i, 12 gives us reason for supposing
that the phrase "Crown of life" came from Christ's lips.
Crowns were primarily garlands of leaves, worn chiefly
at festivals. Here St. John is writing of the redeemed
before God's throne. He sees them with festival adorn
ments. He is going to continue his description through
another section, but he already has in his mind the
figures of the "Water of life," and the "Tree of life,"
as in chapter xxii. He is going to sa.y in xxii, 2 "The
leaves of the tree of life are for the therapeia of the na
tions." Therapeia means service, and is a word especial
ly appropriate to describe the festival service of happy
persons before the throne of a king, where they reverence
and rejoice. The "Living wreath" is a symbol of the
conceptions figured in Rev. xx, 4, 6. Philo tells of con
gregations of Therapeutae who arrayed themselves in
white during their studies and worship.

St. John's 323

THE SEVENTH SECTION. IT IS CHAPTERS XXI, XXII,
TO VERSE 5.
JOHN'S CHAPTER XXI.
I And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven
and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming dovra
from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her
husband. 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the
tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they
shaU be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be
their God.
4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there
shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there
be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
5 And he that sat upon the throne said. Behold, I make all things
new. And he said unto me. Write: for these words are true and
faithful. 6 And he said unto me. It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the
beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the
fountain of the water of life freely.
7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his
God, and he shall be my son.
8 But the fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable, and
murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all
liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and
brimstone: which is the second death.
9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the
seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying,
Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.
10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high moun
tain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending
out of heaven from God,
II Having the glory of God: and her Ught was like unto a stone
most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
12 And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at
the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the
names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel :

324 The Apocalypses
13 On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the
south three gates; and on the west three gates.
14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them
the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure
the city and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.
16 And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the
breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand
furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.
17 And he measured the-wall thereof, a hundred and forty and
four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.
18 And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city
was pure gold, like unto clear glass.
19 And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished
with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper;
the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald.
20 The fifth sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite;
the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the
eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.
21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate
was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were
transparent glass.
22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty
and the Lamb are the temple of it.
23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to
shine in it : for the glory of God did Ughten it, and the Lamb is the Ught
thereof. 24 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the
Ught of it; and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour
into it.
25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there
shall be no night there.
26 And they shaU bring the glory and honour of the nations into
it. 27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defil
eth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a Ue: but
they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.

St. John's 325
JOHN'S CHAPTER XXII.
I And he shewed me a pure river of water of Ufe, clear as crystal,
proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river,
was there the tree of Ufe, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and
yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the
healing of the nations.
3 And there shall be no more curse : but the throne of God and
of the Lamb shall be in it ; and his servants shall serve him :
4 And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their fore
heads. S And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle,
neither Ught of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them Ught: and they
shall reign for ever and ever.
In the first verse (of XXI) St. John suggests everything
that is in the apocalyptical doctrines; for he sees the pro
posed end perfected. He sees creation completed and
glorified. In sweeping vision and rapid view he surveys
the prepared home of the redeemed, and the perfect happi
ness of God and his children in that home. For expres
sion of the nature and beauty of that home, he draws both
on his own exalted spiritual perceptions, and on the richest
poetical im,agery of the ancient prophets. The book of
Isaiah, from chapter XL to the end, furnishes many of the
phrases and conceptions of Rev. XX. These chapters are
prophetic of a symbolical glorified Jerusalem. Isaiah XL
itself corresponds with this chapter in many verses, and
suggests many of the apocalyptical principles.
In the first verses, " The new heaven and earth," are like
Enoch XCI, 16 and LXXII, i, and Isaiah LXV, 17, 18. " I
create new heavens and a new earth: and the former things
shaU not be remembered. * * * i create Jerusalem a
rejoicing, and her people a joy." The second verse shows,
"The holy city." This suggests Isaiah LXV, 11, and

326 The Apocalypses
7,XF7, 20, which names, " My holy mountain, Jerusalem."
The figure of a wife and husband here is like Isaiah LIV, 4,
j, which says, " Thy Maker is thine husband. The Lord of
Hosts is his name. For the Lord hath called thee as a
wife, forsaken and grieved in spirit, even a wife of youth
when she is cast off."
Also Isaiah LXII, 5 says, " As the bridegroom rejoices
over the bride, so shaU thy God rejoice over thee."
The figure of weeping eyes in verse 4 is a continuation
of Isaiah LV, 18, above quoted, which says (7,F, 19), " I wiU
rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people; and the voice
of weeping shaU be no more heard in her, nor the voice of
crying." The figures of the beginning and the end, in verse 6,
are symbols of the apocalyptical principles; but they are also
in Isaiah XLIV, 6, "I am the first, and I am the last; and
besides me there is no God," and Isaiah XLVIII, "I am.
I am the first. I also am the last. Yeai Mine hand
hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand
hath spread out the heavens."
The figures of thirsting and of water, in verse 6, are also
common in Isaiah LV, i, " Ho, every one that thirsteth, come
ye to the waters," and X77, 18, "I wUl open rivers on the
bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I
wUl make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land
springs of water."
The figure of the burning lake, in verse 8, recalled from
X7X, 20, and XX, 14, although common in Enoch, is also
in Isaiah, as quoted on page 308.
In all this chapter, St. John writes as one who hears
words of Isaiah and Ezekiel. In verse 10, he is hearing
Isaiah LII, i, " Put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem,
the holy city." And the last verse of this chapter XXI, Is

St. John's 327
like an echo of Isaiah LII, 11, "Touch no unclean thing.
Go ye out of the midst of her. Be ye clean that bear the
vessels of the Lord." The description of new Jerusalem, in
verses 10 to 21, is; in some degree an imitation of Ezekiel
XL to XLVIII, where the city is described and measured.
The new Jerusalem is conceived as covering the side
of a terraced mountain, rising in tiers and benches, with
alternations of magnificent stones, gardens, foliage, and
waters, both stiU and running. It is a revived conception
of the prophets, especially Ezekiel XL, 2, and Isaiah LXV,
II, and LXVI, 20. It does not seem to be a conception of
an enlargement of Zion. Beautiful and dear as Zion and the
other hiUs of Jerusalem were, the prophetic imaginations
had outgrown these. There seems to have been, alike in
the prophecies and in the apocalyptical literature, a con
ventional figurative conception, which had as its substance
Lebanon, "The White Range"; for Lebanon means white.
In this conception Lebanon is the "Great White Throne"
(Rev. XX, 11), rising with verdant forests, and bearing
brooks and basins of "Living water." (Psalm LXXII,
16; Cantic. IV, ij.)
A suggestion of this is in Isaiah' LX, ij. "The glory of
Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine, and
the box tree together; to beautify the place of my sanctuary,
and I wiU make the place of my feet glorious."
In verse 22, St. John says a surprising thing. He has
repeatedly exhibited the temple and sanctuary (777, 12; VII,
Ij; VIII, 3; XI, I, 19; XIV, Ij; XV, 5, 6). Now he says
that there is no temple. This is the climax of one of the
principles of these last chapters. St. John had so risen,
and the conceptions had so expanded, that although he
had StiU to use figures and symbols for his readers, the eye
of his faith had swept its view through and beyond them.

328 The Apocalypses
Not only had the old earth passed away, but even the old
heavens, and all their transcendant glories and beauties
had become as nothing; for St. John had reached such
exaltation of supreme faith, that, in the person of God and
Christ all else was gathered. In spirit he stood in the
presence chamber, where knowledge of all else was stripped
of adequate expression, and all created things shrank into
their weakness and dependence, and yet the purposes and
power and wisdom of God cast a glory over them, which
again was mirrored back as the image and life of The
Father. Such conceptions had already, even in a great degree,
made the apocalyptical books radiant. One of them, the
conception of light from the presence of God and the Lamb,
St. John introduces in verse 23; but it had long before
shone in the spirits of Hebrew fathers when their dim eyes
read of God's creation of the first light, and they knew that
the Lord would increase it until the final eternal day. It
is in Enoch I, 8; XLVIII, 4; CVIII, 12; but here St. John
seems to adopt it chiefly irom Isaiah LX, i, ig. "Arise^
shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen
upon thee. The sun shall be no more thy light by day;
neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee;
but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and
thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down : neither
shaU thy moon withdraw itself, for the Lord shaU be thine
everlasting light. (See also page 42.)
From the same chapter of Isaiah, St. John adopts the
phrases of verses 24, 25, 26. Isaiah says (LX, 2), " Nations
shafl come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy
rising," and (verse 11), "Thy gates also shaU be open con
tinuously. They shall not be shut, day nor night; that
men may bring unto thee the wealth of the nations, and
their kings."

St. John's 329
The section closes probably with the fifth verse of Chapter
XXII. The five verses of this chapter reproduce the figures
of chapter XXI, but display also the "Tree of Life," the
latter being the one special feature that is included in the
corresponding letter, and indicates the correspondence and
the section's end.
Primarily the symbolical tree of life originates in Genesis
III, and in various forms appears in other oriental literature.
Here, however, it stands as a part of the apocalyptical sys
tem of symbols. What Enoch says of it is interesting.
XXIV. "The heights were like the seats of a throne, and sur
mounted with fragrant trees. And among them was a tree such as
I had never smelt before, nor was there a fragrance Uke its. Its
leaves and buds and wood do not wither in eternity. Its fruit is
beautiful, like the fruit of the vine and the palm tree." XXV.
"And Michael said to me, 'This high mountain, which thou hast seen,
is the throne where the holy and great God of glory, the Eternal
ICing, will sit when he shall descend to visit the earth with goodness.
And this tree of beautiful fragrance cannot be touched by any flesh
until the time of the great judgment. When all things shall be
atoned for and consummated for eternity, this will be given to the
just and humble. From its fruits, Ufe wiU be given to the chosen
ones. It will be planted towards the north, in a holy place, towards
the house of the Lord, the Eternal King. Then they will rejoice
greatly, and be glad in the Holy One. They will let its fragrance
enter their members, and live a long life upon the earth, as thy
fathers lived. And in their days no sorrow or sickness or trouble or
affliction will touch them.' "
The promised light from God and the Lamb, (XXII, 5,
and XX7, 23) has cheered the souls of all Christians, and
ever will, for it is no new doctrine of St. John, but a rich
element in the older theology. (See pages 42, etc.) We may
iUustrate this by words of Philo, who says:
"God is the first light. 'The Lord is my Ught and my Saviour'
(Psalm XXVI) is the word of the Psalms; and not only the light,
but he is also the archetypal pattern of every light, or rather he is

33© The Apocalypses
more ancient and more sublime than even the archetypal model; for
the model was his Word, The Light, and He' Himself is Uke no
created thing." (On Dreams Being sent From God, XIII.) "The
Living God, being the archetypal light, pours forth innumerable
rays." (On Cain and His Birth, Chapter 28.)
At the last, St. John has written with the rapture ofa
mind filled with the same conceptions that gleam in Isaiah
LX to LXII. He seems to have had those chapters in
his thoughts, and uses almost their words. In the phrases
of both Isaiah and John occur God's Light, the gates, the
walls, the nations, the new building, the tree or branch, the
mourning, the serving, the rejoicing, the kings, the city, and
the crowns. The sentence "I make all things new," in
XXI, 3, is almost an epitome of Isaiah LX and LXI.
But he has also in his mind, as he comes to his perora
tion, the last chapter of the book of Daniel, which, as
we have seen (see page 154) is probably an epitome of
the last part of the book of Enoch. We may compare
some of their phrases.
DANIEL XII. REV. XXI.
I. "Everyone that shall be 27. "They which are written
found written in the book." in the Lamb's book of life."
2. " Sleepers of earth-dust 4. "Death shall be no more."
shall awake."
2. " Some to everlasting 6. " I will give the water ol
life." life."
3. "Shall shine as the bright- 4, 10. * * * "having God's
ness of the firmament * * * ^s glory. * ? * the Lord God
the stars for ever." shall give them light. * * *
like a most precious gem."
4. "Shut up the words. Seal 5. "Write! for these things
the book." are true."
4_ * * * " even to the time 5. " I am the beginning and
of the end." the end."

St. John's 331
DANIEL XII. REV. XXI.
7. "The holy people." 3. "They shall be his peo
ple."
2. " Some to shame and ev- 8. ***"shall have their
erlasting contempt. part * * * which is the second
death.''
7. "All these shall be fin- 4. "Former things are
ished." passed away."
10. " Stand in thy lot at the 7 * * * "shall inherit."
end." xxn.
5. * * * "bank of the river." i. " River of water of life.''
* * * "on either bank."

The seventh section of The Apocalypse has been the
delight of the world. Its description and its promises have
thrilled the souls of countless mfllions. Looking through
it, as through a tinted and magnifying lens, spirits ih the
battle of life have risen to a sublime and heroic enthusiasm;
and other spirits, in the chfll and darkness of the night of
earthly ills, have seen in the skies the radiant lights, and
the affluence, and the gladness of unclouded bliss; and
other spirits, in the weakness and sinking of their last earthly
hours, have been borne, in a faith that was almost conscious
ness, into the presence of indescribable glory.
And so will it be forever; and the preciousness of this
chapter will increase with the years, as the reader's spiritual
perceptions increase with his expanding sense of the infinite
breadth and height and richness of the purposes of God,
and of the boundless love that planned and Wrought and
bore, in the measureless beginning, in order that a share of
the life of the perfect, the holy, and the blessed realm of
the immortal spirits might be shared by a countless race
of the chfldren of the supreme Father.

22"^ The Apocalypses
The seventh section being finished, we turn to its cor
responding letter, the first, the letter to Ephesus.
REV. II.
±. Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things
saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh
in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks:
2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how
thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them
which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars :
3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake
hast laboured and hast not fainted.
4 Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast
left thy first love.
5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent,
and do the first works; or else I ¦will come unto thee quickly, and will
remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolal-
tans, which I also hate.
7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life
which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
The descriptive phrases of verses 2 and 3, appear, to a
casual reader, to be general and applicable to many churches
or Christians. But there appears to be, in fact, a special
description peculiarly appropriate to correspondence with
Chapter XXI, when that chapter is observed with reference
to its origin in Isaiah.
The mention of the lamp (candlestick) in verse 5 cor
responds with XXII, 23, according to the Jewish figurative
conceptions. The souls addressed are the faithful ones, who have
rejected false prophets, who as Nikolaitans, are living among
them. The correspondent parts of Chapter XXI exhibit
the Bride of Christ; but the parts of Isaiah from which
that conception is derived, exhibit that Bride in two char-

St. John's 233
acters as do 77, 2, 5. Isaiah LI, 12, 13, says, " Who art thou,
that hast forgotten the Lord thy Maker, that stretched forth
the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth ?" Jeru
salem has been "Forsaken" and "Desolate" (75. 7,X77, 4),
and "Forsaken and grieved and cast off" (7^. 7,7F, 6), but
she is also the chosen and adorned bride.
The letter ends with a look towards Eden, " The paradise
of God." Paradise is a Persian name for a park, a pleasant
tract of woods and lawns and waters. Such was Eden.
Smaller ones were included in the walls of Babylon and of
other Asiatic cities ; and such was the vicinity of the " Tree
of life" in XXII, i. It is the word of Jesus for a symbol of
the home of the ever blessed redeemed in joy (Luke XXIII,
43)- THE PERORATION, JOHN'S CHAPTER XXII, 6 to 21,
6 And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and
the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his
servants the things which must shortly be done.
7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings
of the prophecy of this book.
8 And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I
had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel
which shewed me these things.
9 Then saith he unto me. See thou do it not: for I am thy fellow
servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep
the sayings of this book: worship God.
10 And he saith unto me. Seal not the sayings of the prophecy
of this book: for the time is at hand.
1 1 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still : and he which is filthy,
let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous
StiU; and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is ¦with me, to
give every man according as his work shall be.
13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, thd first
and the last.

334 The Apocalypses
14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may
have right to the tree of Ufe, and may enter in through the gates into
the city.
15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and
murderers, and idolaters, ' and whosoever loveth and maketh a. lie.
16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in
the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the
bright and morning star.
17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that
heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And who
soever wiU, let him take the water of Ufe freely.
18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the
prophecy of this book. If any man shall add unto these things, God
shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book
of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life,
and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this
book. 20 He which testifieth these things saith. Surely I come quick
ly: Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
At verse 6, St. John seems to resume the lines of con
ception and expression which he had used in Chapter I;
but that which was there an introduction, is here the natural
finish. What was there the opening of a door, is here the
view that fills the eye of a spirit within the palace and before
the throne.
St. John here writes in a rapture, sober indeed and tem
perate and strong, but yet such a one that he feels aU the
enthusiasm of a soul full of confident assurance of the truth
and value of what he has written. But, as in the first
chapter, he alternates between words of an angel, words
of Jesus, and words of his own responsive spirit.
With the first chapter and the last, St. John seems to
invest the structure that occupies the body of the book, with
a radiance and glow. If there is use of artificial material in

St. John's 335
the body, here it is a living voice that speaks. It is as if
St. John, having made a statue, has wrapped around it a
drapery of his own vitality, and by a touch of divine power
has made it a living spirit. The Master, through the spirit
of an angel, calls him, and he answers, not so much with
words, as with a consciousness that he is with his Lord.
Will not the souls, that loved The Apocalypse as a vision
of St. John, love it more as the Beloved Disciple's, the wisest
Aposde's, assemblage of the lessons of centuries of divine
leadership, and of the refined essence of the piety of many
generations, and of the Divine Spirit's iUumination of devout
and saintly souls in many centuries, and of the inner sense
of the holiest and most exalted of the prophecies ?
Men's truth is like stones, inscribed indeed, and painted,
and carved, delightsome to the eye, but yet stones. God's
truth is like a nut, its crusted coat hard, gnarled, discolored;
but, within it, the kernel, teeming with living fibers and ofls
and juices, and lined out into cells, each of which is an
eternal law, rests and waits, till in its time it opens, spreads,
develops, into wide-reaching strength, beauty, and ministry.
The secret of this Apocalypse of Jesus Christ lies in the
fact that it is radiant and alive with St. John's own sense
of the infinite value of the facts and doctrines that he sees.
They are to him the unquestionable facts of eternity, past
and future. They are the very thoughts of God. They
are the boundless depths of the divine life of that Master
in whose bosom h6 had lain, and whom he had heard say, in
the extremity of his sin-bearing, "Father forgive them,
They know not what they do."
If there have been misapprehensions about The Apoc
alpyse, and if Christian souls have delighted in its spectacles
and promises, because these have been supposed to be trance-
visions in a rapt soul, visions possible only to St. John,

336 The Apocalypses
visions granted only once for an hour to a single recording
disciple, this has been a loss to the disciples, but one of
which, in the wealth of the recognized splendor, they never
felt the defects.
In God's ways of teaching there are no falls, no retro
grade moves. If a past is dropped, it is for a better grasp.
If a thing dies, it is that its frame may remain forever.
God teaches, although the teachers feebly and unperceiving
perish, and the pens are lost, and the books crumble. The
lessons stand; and as the Creator built the universe, with
plan and wisdom and power, but built, so he builds and
has built, his realm of truth, intellectual, moral, and spiritual,
by revelations, and thoughts, and experiences, and emotions,
and endeavors and victories; till the truth, that in Eden
was existent only as two elements, just the person of the
Creator and the person of his child, is a limitless, spiritual
vision of eternal wisdom and love, working, with infinite
patience and measureless variety and adaptation, for the
enlightenment, the moral glory and the happiness of the
children.

APOCALYPSES OF OTHER APOSTLES.
It is now demonstrable that the Hebrew Apocalypti
cal System is, in general, identical with the doctrines and
philosophy of Christianity, and that the terms, phrases,
and figures of that system were so inwrought in it, before
the Christian era, that many of them might be expected to
continue permanently as vehicles and dress of Christian
doctrine. And this is precisely what did occur, so that a large
number of parts of the New Testament must not be under-

The Epistle to the Hebrews 337
stood to be new revelations by The Divine Spirit to the
Apostles, but must be recognized as adaptations, and al
most quotations, of a system of doctrines and terms pre
viously universally accepted as the soul and body of the
truth. This historical fact is of enormous importance in Bibli
cal study. It goes far towards sweeping away a great deal
that has been written about distinctions in Jacobine, Pet
rine, Pauline, and Johannine theology, and about a tardy
development of Christian doctrine. It puts a knife into a
great variety, and a great mass, of speculations, theories,
and arguments, devised sometimes for the advantage , but
more often for the damage, of Christian faith.
There is in the New Testament so much of the Hebrew
Apocalyptical System that its full exhibition would be a
great work in a voluminous literature. Here we must give
a place only to a few more paragraphs, which, however,
are sufficient to show that all the Apostles designed to
honor, expound, and proclaim the Hebrew Apocalyptical
Theology as being, so far as it went, identical with the
doctrine of Jesus and of Christianity.

IN THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS.
This epistle has puzzled all students as much as The
Apocalypse, and for much the same reasons. It becomes
lucid when it is compared with the Hebrew Apocalyptical
System and that system is recognized as essentially Chris
tian. It begins:
God, speaking anciently in many portions and in many ways
to (or for) the fathers about the last part of the days, spoke of
these things to (or for) us by a Son, etc.

22^ The Apocalypses
From the beginning, this epistle continues, through
chapter after chapter, the ideas, terms and phrases of the
Hebrew Apocalyptical System, among which are, son,
spoken, appointed, heir, worlds (aidnes), effulgence, image,
glory, substance, power, sat, right-hand, angels, name, father,
firstbegotten, winds, flame, throne, sceptre (rod), anointed,
beginning, crown, suffering-of-death, High Priest of the
Confession, and end of the days. AU of these words are
characteristic and distinctive words of Phflo or Enoch.
Many parts of the first five chapters resemble the aUegorical
expositions of Phflo, except that Phflo asserts that the Old
Testament is allegories, but this epistle only treats them
as suggestions of aUegorical meanings. For example, in
Chapters III and IV, a Jesus, who is the ancient Joshua,
is treated as a representative of Jesus Christ.
The first five chapters declare the preexistent Son of
God, The Word of God, the eternal purposes, the kingdom
of God, the anointing, the priesthood of The Son, the eternal
atonement, and the sure triumph. The first chapter needs,
for its owri explanation, the Hebrew Apocalyptical System;
but it also illuminates that system, and, as has been shown
on pages 35 to 37, it teaches us that Psalms II, XL F,. and
CX are apocalyptical, and are evidences of the antiquity
and wide prevalence of the system.
Secondly, these ideas about the preexistent Word of
God are transferred to Jesus, whom the writer of this epistle
so merges in The Word of God that he sometimes seems
to refer to the earthly life of Jesus.
HEBREWS I.
3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of
his person, and upholding aU things by the word of his power, when
he bad by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of
the Majesty on high;

The Epistle to the Hebrews 339
4 Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by in
heritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
S For -unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my
Son, this day have I begotten thee ? And again, I will be to him a
Father, and he shaU be to me a. Son ?
6 And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world
he saith. And let aU the angels of God worship him.
7 And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits,
and his ministers a flame of fire.
8 But unto the Son he saith. Thy throne, O God, is ior ever and
ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.
9 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore
God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above
thy fellows.
10 And, thou. Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation
of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands.
1 1 They shaU perish, but thou remainest; and they all shall wax
old as doth a garment;
12 And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be
changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.
13 But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right
hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool ?
14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for
them who shall be heirs of salvation?
HEBREWS II.
I Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things
which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them sUp.
2 For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every
transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward;
3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at
the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us
by them that heard him;
4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders,
and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to
his own ¦will?
5 For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to
come, whereof we speak.
6 But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that
thou art mindful of him ? or the Son of man, that thou ¦visitest hira ?

340 The Apocalypses >
7 Thou madest him a Uttle lower than the angels; thou crownedst
him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy
hands: 8 Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in
that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing tliat is not put
under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.
9 But we see Jesus, who was made a Uttle lower than the angels
for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he
by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are
all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of
their salvation perfect through sufferings.
II For both he that sanctifieth and they who arc sanctified atre
all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,
12 Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst
of the church ¦will I sing praise unto thee.
13 And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I
and the children which God hath given me.
14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and
blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through
death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the
devil; iJ And deliver them, who through fear of death were all their
Ufetime subject to bondage.
16 For verily he took not on him the nature oj angels; but he took
on him the seed of Abraham.
17 Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto
his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest
in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of
the people. 18 For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able
to succour them that are tempted.
HEBREWS III.
I. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly caUing,
consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus;
2 Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses
was jaithjul in all his house.
3 For he hath been counted worthy of more glory than Moses,

The Epistle to the Hebrews 341
inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than
the house. 4 For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all
things is God.
S And Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a
testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;
6 But Christ was as a son over his own house; whose house are
we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm
unto the end.
The few verses of Chapter III are almost like a quota
tion from Philo 's essay On Dreams I, 37, where he says :
"One house of God is the world, in which the High Priest is the
Di'vine Word his own Firstborn Son. The other is the rational soul
of a man, the priest of which is the real man (i. e. The Archetypal
Man, or Son of Man, The Word of God) of whom the priest
performing his vows and sacrifices is a copy. * * * He aims at im-
mortaUty. * * * The great High Priest oj The Confession, then,
has now been sufficiently described."
In the first verse of Chapter III, Jesus means the
pre-existent Word; and the additional name Christ is
of doubtful authenticity, so that it is expunged by some of
the best critical editors.
In verse 5, it is a question whether the name Christ
means Jesus or the preexistent Anointed Word of God, the
latter being far the more probable.
The "Heavenly CaUing," mentioned in 777, i, is a
common matter in the Hebrew Apocalyptical literature
where "The Called" and "The Chosen Ones" are syn
onymous terms and much used; e. g., Phflo says, "Those
persons who are insatiable in their desire for wisdom are
said in the sacred books to be ' Cafled up.' For it is legiti
mate that those persons who have been filled with God's
Spirit should be caUed up to Him." Noah's Plantation,
II, 6. (See pages 77 to 80.)

34^ The Apocalypses
HEBREWS IV.
I Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering
into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but
the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith
in them that heard it.
3 For we which have beUeved do enter into rest, as he said. As
I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although
the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
4 For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise.
And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.
5 And in this place again, if they shall enter into my rest.
6 Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein,
and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of
unbelief: 7 Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To-day,
after so long a time; as it is said. To-day if ye will hear his voice,
harden not your hearts.
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then would he not after
ward have spoken of another day.
9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
IO For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from
his own works, as God did from his.
II Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man
fall after the same example of unbelief.
12 For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper
than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder
of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discemer
of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight:
but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom
we have to do.
14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed
into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
15 For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with
the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as
we are, yet without sin.
16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that
we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

The Epistle to the Hebrews 343
HEBREWS V.
I For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for
men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and
sacrifices for sins:
2 Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that
are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity.
3 And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for
himself, to offer for sins.
4 And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is
called of God, as was Aaron.
5 So also Christ glorified not himself to be made a high priest;
.but he that said unto hira, Thou art my Son, to-day have I begotten
thee. 6 As he saith also in another place. Thou art a priest forever
after the order of Melchisedec.
In 7F, 12, I J, the language is almost a quotation from
Philo. (On The Pleir of Divine Things, Chap. 26.)
" God's Word cuts through everything. Being sharpened to the
finest possible edge, it never ceases dividing the objecti'vities of the
outward senses; and when it has gone through them all, and
arrived at the indivisible atoms, it begins to divide the objecti-vities
of reason into unspeakable and indescribable portions * * * di^vid-
ing the soul into its rational and irrational parts, and logos (speech)
into truth and falsehood."
The likeness to Philo's words here is so close that it
even throws light on the otherwise puzzling last phrase of
7F, I J, which our translaters have rendered into "With
whom we have to do." The Greek of this is Pros hon
hemin ho logos; and this literally means "In relation to
whom speech is to us" (or we have speech).
In F, 6, the name Christ (or Anointed One) must, by
analogy with 7, 5 to 8, be understood to mean the preexistent •
Messiah. The first verse of Chapter VI may be translated in
many ways, each of which is defensible, unless we must be

344 The Apocalypses
governed by the preceding chapters; but, in view of those
chapters, the proper translation seems to be, "Wherefore,
dismissing our discourse of the beginning of the Anointed,
let us be carried to the finish."

IN THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL.
Many persons delight in dilating on the differences
between the theology of St. Paul and that of other Apostles,
and in theorizing therefrom as to the course of the develop
ment of Christian doctrine. Such discussions have their
vvalue; but when the Hebrew Apocalyptical System is
known to be the antecedent structure of the greater part
of Christianity, aU discussion of the part borne by different
Apostles in the work of construction falls to the ground;
and the Christian System stands forth as everywhere one
and the same, a system to which all the Apostles came as
disciples, while each, according to his mental and spiritual
temperament, or according to his special relations to
special churches, discussed or emphasized various selected
elements of the system, or various subsidiary matters of
Christian truth.
Whoever in those early days wrote epistles to Hebrews
and Romans, would have been unfit for such a work if he
did not make his letter to Hebrews different from his
letter to Romans. The Hebrews had a trained belief in a
Creator of the universe, and in a revelation from God, and
in the whole Apocalyptical System, and in a body of proph
ecy declaring it. The Romans, if they accepted the He
brew System, came to it with a very different attitude, and
with minds disposed towards a very different class of prob
lems. In fact, whfle the Apocalyptical System was essentially

St. Paul's 345
necessary to the establishment of Christianity, a new line
of discussion and exposition was just as necessary for a
propaganda among Gentiles.
St. Paul's letter to the Romans is a discussion of the
phflosophy of Christianity on its intrinsic merits, avoiding
its special historical basis, and its Jewish color. But it is
still the Hebrew System ; and indeed it brings into Christian
literature, for a forceful logic, for a practical phUosophy,
and for a reasonable psychology, a great deal that among
the Jews had been the property of only academicians, or
held only in fanciful, or poetical, or mystical rhapsodies,
and quite distinct from those simple elements of the Apoc
alyptical System which were nearly universal among Jews.
We may select the eighth chapter of The Epistle to the
Romans, as one that is typically Pauline. It is the chap
ter that preeminently systematizes St. Paul's doctrine of
human salvation, both as to its basis in a divine atone
ment, and as to spiritual operations and exercises in and by
human souls. We can also say that it conforms to the
Hebrew Apocalyptical System, and it is full of the ideas,
terms, and phrases of the Jewish literature.
For convenience the text of the chapter is here inserted.
In order to read it inteUigently, the reader must keep in
his mind the fact that in the Greek language, the " Definite
Article" is commonly used instead of the "Personal Possessive
Pronouns;" and that, in verses i, 4 to 10, 13, 16, 23, 26, 27,
"The spirit" means "Your spirit"; and, in verses 19 to 24,
"The creature" and "The creation" mean "Your created
being." ROMANS VIII.
I There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are
in Christ fe^ns, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.

346 The Apocalypses
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me
free from the law of sin and death.
3 For, what the law could not do in that it was weak through
the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and
for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who
walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh;
but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
6 For to be carnally minded is death ; but to be spiritually minded
is Ufe and peace.
7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not
subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the
Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of
Christ, he is none of his.
10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but
the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
II But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead
dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken
your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live
after the flesh.
13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the
Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
14 For as'many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons
of God. IS For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear;
but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba,
Father. 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are
the children of God:
17 'And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with
Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified
together. 18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in jis.
19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the
manifestation of the sons of God.

St. Paul's 347
20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not wilUngly,
but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope;
21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the
bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of
God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth
in pain together until now.
23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first
fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting
for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope:
for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for ?
25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience
wait for it.
26 Likewise the spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know
not what we should pray for as we ought: but the spirit itself maketh
intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind
of the spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according
to the will of God.
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be
conformed to the' image of his Son, that he might be the Firstborn
among many brethren.
30 Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called:
and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified,
them he also glorified.
31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us,
who can be against us ?
32 He that spared not his own Son, but deUvered him up for
us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things ?
33 Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's Elect? It is
God that justifieth.
34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribu
lation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril,
or sword?

348 The Apocalypses
36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long;
we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through
him that loved us.
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels,
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able
to separate us from the love of God; which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord. Any person familiar with the Hebrew Apocalyptical
System will notice, at a glance, many ideas and terms in
this chapter that are elements of that system. But this
chapter is not like Daniel, or Enoch. The Hebrew Apoc
alyptical System had its germ in a double-bodied doctrine
proclaimed in Gen. I, II. One-half of the doctrine affirmed
the personality and perfection and purposes of the Creator
of aU things; the other affirmed the nature of the human
soul as a child of God, made alive by Divine Spirit. It
was the second half that Philo, the expounder of principles,
chiefly proclaimed; saying very little about the outward
aspect of the reign of God, or of the redemption, or of the
immortal life; but laying, for faith in these, a scientific
basis in a doctrine of the spiritual relationship of God and
men. Precisely the same is true in this chapter of St.
Paul; for he follows the lines of the common Hebrew
Apocalyptical System, proclaims its doctrines in its common
terms, and bases aU Christian faith and hopes on the
nature of God and men, and on the psychological connection
of God's Son and Spirit with human spirits. In this ex
position in this chapter, St. Paul very largely repeats Phflo's
doctrines, uses many of his phrases, and indeed seems to
have Philo's ideas constantly in his mind; but St. Paul
rises above the crudities, the ruinous errors, and the
materialism of Philo, and lifts the whole psychology into
a higher plane.

St. Pajal's 349
The logical line of St. Paul's exposition is as follows:
First, The Creator (verses 19 to 22, 39); then, the Creator's
eternal and everlasting foreknowledge and purposes (verses
19 to 25, 28 to 31); then, the First-begotten Son of God
(verses 3, 29, 32); then, the Son's inheritance (verses 3, 4,
17); then, human souls as children of God (verses 14 to 21) ;
then, human souls and the Son of God bound together in
a relation of life and destiny (verses i to 4, 11, 17, 20 to
39); then, human souls as spirits made alive by the Divine
Spirit (verses 4, 9, 10, 13 to 16); then, the perpetual con
flict, the spiritual and fleshly natures of a man warring
against each other, and the evil in men warring against God
(verses 2 to 8, 13, 20, 35 to 37); then, the doctrine that
wickedness is such a living death, that only the souls that
live in spiritual union with Christ are truly alive, and can
have the "Installation" (huiothesia) as sons (verses 6, 10,
II, 13 to 19, 21, 23, 29); then, the presence of the Son,
The Anointed, with and in willing souls (verses i to 11,
i^, 14, 23, 26, 27, 39); then, the assured blissful eternity
of the Christian (verses i, 6, 10, 13, 17 to 39).
All of this course of doctrine is pervaded by, and over
spread with, a doctrine that is the essential framework of
the Hebrew Apocalyptical System, viz.. Sin foreseen was
condemned in God's Son, by his perpetual relation to it as
Condemner, Mediator, Savior, Judge, and Rewarder.
And in all this, there is one vagueness or uncertainty
which is percisely the one that pervades all the apocalyp
tical literature, viz., an uncertainty as to the time desig
nated for the presence of the Messiah. Those apocalyptists
who derived their expectations and doctrines from pro
phetical books generally expected a Messiah to appear in
some middle time of history, as a king; but those apocalyp
tists who founded their faith on principles of philosophy,

350 The Apocalypses
and who made prophecies, saw the Messiah as bound
up with men from eternity, present in all time, and to be
manifested at last in triumph. So, in the book of Enoch,
and in Philo's essays, and in this chapter of St. Paul, it is
often doubtful whether the writer refers to The Anointed
One as before creation, or as during the world's history,
or as at the end of the world ; because in fact the writers
see the three presences all in one, in the eternal vital
relation of The Son of God with righteous souls.
With verses i and 2 compare the following from Philo:
The soul of the wise man, which descends from above, is
sojourning in an alien land, until repentance condemns the vices;
and thus the soul is set free. Questions and Solutions, iii, 10.
The races of men are two, the heavenly and the earthly. The
heavenly man, as born in the image of God, has no participation
in anything corruptible. * * * God breathed into the heavenly
man the spirit of life. * * * On the Allegories of the Sacred
Laws, i, 12.
Men who are under the dominion of appetite or] passion are
slaves, and those who live according to law are free. But the
unerring law is Right Reason, a law imperishable and stamped
by immortal nature on the immortal mind. On the Freedom of
the Virtuous. Chs. 6 and 7.
Adam received his soul by God's breathing the Spirit of Life
into his face ; so that his nature was a combination of the cor
ruptible and the incorruptible. Questions and Solutions. i,.f.
In former times there were men who lived in accordance with
the law'; that is to say, with the Right Reason of Nature, and were
free. On the Freedom ofthe Virtuous. Ch. zo.
Verse 3 is a reference to that Son of God and of Man
kind who is an immense and logically necessary element
in the Hebrew Apocalyptical System. (See pages 39 and
70. For similar ideas in the book of Enoch, see pages
77 to 85.) Verse 3 is to be compared with the words of
Jesus in John iii, 16, 17, which are equally apocalyptical

St. Paul's 351
(seepages 181 and 183); for Jesus was speaking of God's
provision in his Son, before the creation, for the salvation
of sinners. St. Paul seems to be writing of God's Son as
also the archetypal man, and so also the condemner of
the sin that made salvation needed.
With verse 3 compare the following, and see pages
38 to 42:
God bestows on man relationship to his own Word, after whom,
as the archetypal model, the human mind was formed. On
Curses. Ch. 8. Every man, in respect to his intellect, is a
fragment of the Divine Word. On the Creation of the
World. Ch.51.
In this world the High Priest is the Divine Word, God's
Firstborn Son. On Dreams. 1,37.
Philo quite fully develops the idea that the High Priest, while
mediating for the forgiveness of repentant sinners, is a symbol
of the law and of conviction in the consciences of men. (See
pages 56 to 59.)
With verses 4 and 5 compare the following:
Moses considers that there is an undying law in the nature of
the universe, embracing the principle that instruction is a saving
thing * * * and the laws which are according to truth are eternal,
since Right Reason, which is law, is not perishable. On Drunk
enness. Ch. JJ.
The constitution of man is the Right Reason of Nature, which
is well named law. * * * He who associated with rational Divine
Natures was naturally living in happiness, being akin to the
Ruler of all, inasmuch as a great deal of Divine Spirit had flowed
into him. On the Creation of the World. Ch. jo.
The rational part of man is substance of the Divine Spirit
Questions and Solutions, ii. 39.
Right Reason is man living according to law. On the Alle
gories ofthe Sacred Laws, iii, 31.
With verses 6 to 10 compare the following:
Spiritual death is engendered by voluptuousness. Questions,-
and Solutions, i, 31.

352 The Apocalypses
The death of the soul is the destruction of virtue, and the
admission of vice. * * * God is speaking of the death which
is the death of the soul buried in its passions and in all kinds of
evil. On the Allegories ofthe Sacred Laws, i, 33.
By holiness and piety an immortal life is secured. On the
Creation of the World. Ch. jj.
* * * Announcing, instead of inward slavery and innumerable
evils, peace and an abundance of all other good things, to flow
over a good life. On the Freedom ofthe Virtuous. Ch. 10.
The two ideas that sin is a living death and that it is a war,
are the central and tremendous doctrines of the Hebrew Apoca
lyptical System. Philo has a great deal to say about sin as a
living death . (See page 61.)
The body is an evil thing and dead * * * the mind initiated
into the mysteries of God judges the body to be a hostile thing
* * * and the lover of wisdom cares for what is alive within him,
which is his soul. On the Allegories of the Sacred Laws.
Book iii, Ch. 22.
With verses 8 to 13 compare the following:
Each of us is two persons, the animal and the man * * * and
the faculty of man which is derived from the rational source is
spirit. The Worse Against the Better. Chs. 22, 23.
The essence of soul of man is Divine Spirit * * * a ray emitted
from the blessed nature of God. On Special Laws. Book ii,
Ch. II.
The mind, which was created like the image of God, may be
said to partake of his spirit. On the Allegories of the Sacred
Laws, i, 13.
That which breathes in is God * * * and that which is
breathed in is spirit. * * * The mind is quickened (vivified) by
God. On the Allegories ofthe Sacred Laws, i, //.
The wicked are dead * * * but the good, even if separated
irom the body, live forever. On Fugitives. Ch. 10.
With verses 11 to 13 compare the following:
The Divine Spirit is the essence of the rational part of a man.
Fragments. A good man does not die, but attains an eternal end Ques
tions and Solutions, i. 31.

St. Paul's 353
The Divine Spirit is sent in order that man may be immortal
in that part of him which is invisible. On the Creation of the
World. Ch. 4.6.
A mind inspired with divine things no longer exists in itself,
since it received the Divine Spirit within itself. Questions and
Solutions, iii, g.
With verses 14 to 21 compare the following:
He who is associated with the Divine Nature, being akin to
the Ruler of all things, inasmuch as a great deal of the Divine
Spirit has flowed into him, is eager to say and do everything
which might please his P'ather, following him step by step in the
paths which the virtues prepare, and in which those souls pro
ceed who consider that the proper end of their existence is to
attain a likeness to God. On the Creation of the World.
Ch. 30.
Some men are born of the Earth, and some are born of
Heaven, and some are born of God * * * having raised them
selves above the objects of the outward senses. On the Giants.
Ch. 13.
They who have real knowledge are properly addressed as
Sons of the One God, as Moses entitles them where he says, "Ye
are Sons of the Lord God," and again, "God who begot thee,"
and again, "Is not he thy Father ?" * * * Even if there be not
as yet any one worthy to be called a Son of God, nevertheless let
him labor to be adorned according to his Firstborn Word, the
eldest of his angels (messengers sent), the great Archangel of
many names. • * * For even if we are not suitable to be called
Sons of God, we may deserve to be called children of his eternal
image, his most sacred Word. On the Confusion of Tongues.
Ch. 28.
Wickedness and passion dominate souls. * * * That man
alone is free who has God for his leader. * * * Men under the
dominion of passion or wickedness are slaves. On the Freedom
ofthe Virtuous. Chs. 3 and 7.
The intellect of man has received a purer and more excellent
nature, of which the Divine Natures are formed. On God's
Unchangeableness. Ch. 10.

354 ' The Apocalypses
How could the soul have perceived God if He had not
inspired it ? * * * Human intellect would not have dared to
lay claim to the nature of God if God himself had not drawn
it to himself, and formed it according to those powers. On the
Allegories ofthe Sacred Laws, ii, 13.
With verses 15 to 19 compare the following:
Who then shall be the heir? * * * That reasoning part of
man which is loosened from bonds and emancipated. * * * The
inspired mind is destined to become an heir of God. On the
Heir of Divine Things. Ch. 11.
Only he who is inspired from above (dnothen) is thought
worthy of divine things, having received a portion of heavenly
and divine inheritance. On the Heir of Divine Things. Ch. 13.
Such a man receives almost equal honor with the universe.
* * * He alone is nobly born *, * * being God's adopted Son,
all wealthy and of exceeding, glory. * * * He is the only King
and free man. On Sobriety. Ch. 11.
The spirit of a man is that Godlike creature by which we
reason, which God has exalted and directed upwards, that it may
have its food of heavenly and incorruptible nature. * * * Its
archetype was the invisible Image of God, his Word. On the
Worse Against the Better. Chs. 22 and 23.
With verses 20, 24, 25, compare the following:
The Creator has sown seed in man's rational soul. Of these
seeds the most important is hope, the fountain of all men's lives.
On Rewards and Punishments. Ch. 2.
To hope belongs only to the wise man * * * for Moses tells
us that the name of Seth's son was Enoch, which is interpreted
Hope. "This one," Moses says, "first hoped to name the name of
the Lord," speaking wisely ; for to a man inspired with the prin
ciples of truth what can be more akin and appropriate than a
hope of good things from God? This is the only real birth of
men. * * * The definition of a man, according to Moses, is a dis
position of the soul, hoping in the living God. On the Worse
Againstthe Better. Ch. 38.
Since the beginning of participation in good things is hope,
the sacred historian has named the first lover of hope Enoch.
* * * They do not look on the man devoid of hope as a man
at all. On Abraham. Ch. 2.

St. Paul's 355
Man is a being who has received a wonderful portion of hope,
and this is, as it were, inscribed on his nature, and celebrated
there; for the human intellect hopes. Questions and Solutions.
i. So. With verse 21 compare foregoing quotations com
pared with verses 2 and 6.
With verses 22 to 27 compare the following:
To the woman he said, "I will multiply thy sorrow and thy
groaning." The affection which is called pain is peculiar to
wotnan, who here is a symbol of the outward senses. On the
Allegories ofthe Sacred Laws, iii, 71.
Groaning is of a twofold nature. One kind is wicked, the other
is that which proceeds from persons who repent, and are
distressed for their sins. * * * This kind of groaning exists after
the impious disposition has perished. * * * Therefore, as soon
£s vice is dead, the man who has become alive to the perception
6f God, and of his own sin, groans * * * for when the disposition
devoted to pleasure dies, the soul groans over the sins. * * * The
Outward sense is always grieved and groans * * * as also God
Says, " In sorrow shall thou bring forth children.'' On the Alle
gories ofthe Sacred Laws, iii, 73, 76.
God does not reject his suppliants when they, groaning over
the Egyptian deeds and passions, cry to him in sincerity and
truth. On the Worse Against the Better. Chs. 23, 26.
In verses 26 to 28, "The Spirit" means -Our Spirit.
The struggles and groans are those of a soul struggling for
righteousness. "Because he maketh intercession," in the
Greek and Syriac versions means "That it prays." Verse
28 means that, in a person who loves God, the body, soul
and spirit co-operate to produce goodness of the man.
The phrase "He that searches the hearts" is a phrase
of the Hebrew Apocalyptical literature. For its explana
tion see pages 44, 45, 297, 298, 343. The words called
and chosen, as shown on preceding pages, are apocalyp
tical terms. As used by Philo they are shown on page 341.

356 The Apocalypses
With verses 28 to 30 compare quotations on pages
32, 34, 35-
With verses 28 to 35 compare the following: .,
Such (sensual) men are to be despised by those who seek to
live in accordance with the will of God * * * who, having learnt to
despise the pleasures of the flesh, pursue the delight of the mind.
* * * This conduces to the honor of God * * * and benefits the
persons. * * * And the benefit is twofold, being both an admission
to a share of good things, and a deliverance from evil. On Ani
mals Fit for Sacrifice. Chs. 3, 4.
The sacrifices of blood display our gratitude for ourselves as
being composed of blood; but the offerings of incense show
gratitude for our rational spirit, which was fashioned after the
archetypal model of the Divine Image. Same. Ch.3.
The law here symbolically teaches us that the mind is by
every sort of words, intentions and actions, always showing its
desire to please God. * * * For the soul of the man who is
devoted to God, being eager for truth, springs upward * * * being
eager to be classed with, and to move in concert with the sun and
moon and all the rest * * * under the immediate government of
God * * * in accordance with which he justly governs the universe.
Same. Ch. 6.
With verses 30 to 32 compare the following:
When God gave to man to partake of kinship with himself,
he, before creation, provided for him everything in the world.
On the Creation of the World. Ch. 23.
I admire him who said, " God will provide (foresee) himself a
lamb for a burnt offering * * * therefore God will provide. On
Fugitives. Ch. 24.
We have God for our Father, whom I invoke as the witness of
my reconciliation. * * * In the future ye shall enjoy still better
fortune. On Joseph. Oh. 4j.
All that is sure is connected with God. * * * Those that are
connected with God live. * * * This Ufe must be to eternity with
God. On Monarchy. Ch. 2.
The creating Father has given to his most ancient Word to
Stand on the confines of both worlds. ¦* * * And the Word is a
suppliant for mortals. On the Heir of Divine Things. Chs.38,42.

St. Paul's 357
With verse 37 compare the following:
This man was proclaimed a conqueror * * * and crowned as
such in the sacred contests, * * * I mean such contests as the soul
is by nature forced to go through. On Rewards and Punish
ments. Ch. 9. This whole essay treats of such contests, the
conquerors, and the prizes.
With verses 38 and 39 compare the following, and see
page 52:
Whatever is consolidated is bound by God's Word, for this is
a glue and chain. On the Heir of Divine Things. Ch. 38.
It is a law of nature that the Creator must take care of what
he has created. On Rewards and Punishments. Ch. 7 .
The Word of the Living God, being the bond of everything,
holds all things together, and prevents them from being loosened
or separated. On Fugitives. Ch. 20.
The goodness of the Living God is the cause of the creation of
the world. On God's Unchangeableness. Ch. 23.
The indissoluble bonds of the universe are the powers of God.
On Abraha7n's Migration. Ch.32.
The supreme and primal powers of God are goodness and
authority; and between the two, and joining them together,
is the Word ; for it is owing to the Word that God was both a ruler
and good. On the Cherubim. Ch. g.
From verse 27 to the end of the chapter, almost every phrase
is out of the Hebrew Apocalyptical Literature. Indeed, all except
the word Jesus in verse 39 might have been written by a Jew
apocalyptist to declare the doctrines of the Apocalyptical System.
Especially the words, Spirit, Saints, Gods purpose. Foreknow,
Predestinate, iTnage of His Son, Firstborn, Called, Elect, The
Anointed that died; Right hand of God, Sheep, Conquerors,
Him that loved us. Angels, Powers, Creature, are words or idea
conspicuous on the pages of Enoch or Philo. Philo, however,
applies them to The Word of God, and St. Paul is applying them
to Jesus. OTHER APOCALYPSES OF ST. PAUL.
The Epistle of St. Paul to the Ephesians is a recital of
the doctrines of the Hebrew Apocalyptical System, with

358 The Apocalypses
the additional declaration that The Anointed is Jesus.
It is like Rofnans VIII, with less exposition of spiritual
psychology. It is crowded with' the doctrines, terms, and
phrases of the system, and contains the whole system, but
lays its especial emphasis on the purposes of God before
the creation. It is less Phflonine than Romans VIII; but
nearly a hundred of its phrases are out of The System.
It does not seem to care to argue the system, nor to expound
it; but holds up the doctrines to view oratorically and
spiritually and enthusiastically, in an effort to quicken
Christians to personal faith and holiness, and to a high
conception of the church as the object of the lov6 of God
and The Anointed.
The Epistle of St. Paul to the Colossians contains a
great deal of the Hebrew Apocalyptical System; but with
far less of discussion and philosophy than Romans VIII.
It deals with "The Father, The Son, The Anointed, The
Spirit, God's Will, Spiritual Understanding, The Light,
The Inheritance, The Image of God, The Firstborn of
Creation, The consistence of all things in The Son of God,
The Beginning, The Atonement by The Son, Hope, The
Word of God as the hidden mystery, Liberty, The Anointed
at the right hand of God, Life in The Anointed, Future
glory and blessedness, and The Elected."
The First Epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians, IV, 13,
to V, II, is all apocalyptical. The Second Epistle to ihe
Thessalonians, in its first two chapter's, presents the apoc
alyptical doctrine of The Kingdom of God, and especiaUy
its finish in the coming of Messiah in fire, with angels,
rewarding and punishing. In doing this it uses many of
the terms of St. John's Apocalypse. It mentions God's
eternal purposes (77, ij) as the foundation of faith. In
Chapter II the forecast of a great wickedness needs not to

St. Peter's 359
be taken as a prophecy of any person or organization of
wickedness; for it is the sixth apocalyptical doctrine (see
page 71), and largely corresponds to Rev. IX. In verse 4,
the phrase "Son of perdition" is "Son of Abaddon" in
the Syriac version. It is the same idea of False Doctrine,
discrediting God, that is repeated in Rev. IX, XI, and XX.

IN THE EPISTLES OF ST. PETER.
Probably every modern reader of St. Peter's two Epistles
has been puzzled and disturbed by its peculiar rhetoric
and phrases, and has hesitated much in his judgment of
certain paragraphs. For all these puzzles there is a very
simple and satisfactory solvent. Let the reader become
famUiar with the Hebrew Apocalyptical System; then let
him recognize that this "System" of doctrine became the
Christian System, and that many of its books were approved
by Christians, and that many o,f its terms, words, and phrases
became common Christian phrases; then let him recognize
that St. Peter, as writing to a people familiar with that
apocalyptical literature, thinks himself free to assume its
acceptance and use its terms, and only does use them as a
basis for exhortations, and for practical spiritual principles.
In The First Epistle of St. Peter at least forty of the
words or phrases are from the apocalyptical literature.
The most of them are distinctly Christian; but a few of
them are very questionable until, by comparison with
apocalyptical literature, a light is thrown on them, which,
without changing their character, accounts for St. Peter's
use of them.
Of the greater features of the Hebrew Apocalyptical
System, St. Peter mentions, The Creator (IV, ig) and

360 The Apocalypses
Father (7, 17) and his power (7, 4) ; his eternal purposes
and foreknowledge (7, 2, 20) ; the Son of God (7, 3) before
the foundation of the earth (7, 20); his inheritance (I, 4)
and dominion (IV, 11; V, 11); the Light (77, 10); the Devfl
as a beast (V, 8); the sufferings of the saints (V, g); the
earthly manifestation of The Anointed One (7, 2, 11, 20;
II, 21-24; III, 15, i^! iy> II', V,i)', the opposition of
unbelievers (77, 12; IV, 4) the faithfulness of Christians (7,
7, g, 14) ; the coming end (7, 5, 20; IV, 7) as a triumph of
Messiah (7, 21; III, 22; IV, 11; V, 11, 13), and a judgment
(IV, j, 17), and a punishment of the wicked (IV, 18), and a
bliss of the saints (7, 3, 5, 8, ij, 20).
Along 'with these doctrines, St. Peter uses the following
terms and phrases, which, on preceding pages, have been
observed as elements in the Apocalyptical literature:
He names the manifestation of Christ at the end of
time an "Apocalypse" (7, 7, 13; IV, 13).
He names Christ " The Lamb foreknown before
creation (7, 18).
He mentions "The Word of God" (7, 23, 23)..
•He caUs Christians the "Chosen Ones" and the
" Called Ones," both of which are common names in
Enoch (I, i; II, g, 21; V, 10, 13).
He speaks of " The Chief Shepherd," which is common
m Phflo and the Apocalyptical literature (77, 23; V, 2, 4).
(See pages 278, 292.)
In II, 12, and IV, i, he seems to have in mind that
conflict of two natures in a man, which St. Paul writes of
in Rom. VIII.
In IV, 6, he seems to refer to the proclamations to be
made when the dead are judged at the Judgment; but
he may refer to that contest of flesh and spirit of which St.
Paul writes in Rom. VIII.

St. Peter's 361
In III, 18, 19, the meaning is disputable. Whfle these
verses are not a quotation from Enoch, they are in manner
similar to that book, if they mean that The Anointed One
was vicariously slain before the creation of the world, but
remained spiritually alive; and Enoch, as in the imaginary
figures of the book of Enoch 12, 13, was made a symbol of
Messiah, when " God took him" (Gen. V, 24). Enoch was
sent to preach to the fallen angels in prison (Enoch 12, 13).
Noah is made, in the book of Enoch, another symbol of the
same ideas (Enoch 10, 6j, 106), but was a preacher to men.
All of this perhaps is what St. Peter is using, while he has
in view the spiritual facts symbolized by the figures, and
sees in them the same ideas that St. Paul develops in Rom.
VIII. In this view, the phrase " Prayer of a good conscience
to God" (777, 21) would have some resemblance to Philo's
paragraph* in which he calls a man's Conscience his Ad
vocate, and also to St. Paul's saying (Rom. VIII, 27) that
The Searcher of Hearts, or a man's own spirit, implores
God (see pages 355 and 356), while fighting the flesh; for
both Phflo and St. Paul, in these paragraphs, set the
chief reliance of the man's spirit on the help of the Spirit
of God. In The Second Epistle of St. Peter there are the foUowing
distinctive elements of -the Hebrew Apocalyptical System.
The creation is viewed as the work of The Word of God
(777, 4, j, 7,). It is progressing to a decreed end (777, 4 to
13). There is a Kingdom of God, of which the King is
God's Son. The worst enemies of the Kingdom are the
perverters of truth, makers of feigned words, false prophets
(77, I to ig). Balaam is a symbol of them (77, ij). Their
words are of frivolity (mataidtes). Angels first sinned
* See quotation on preceding page 59, and the doctrine of the
Paraklete on pages 56 to 61.

362 The Apocalypses
(77, 4), and are kept in prison (77, 4). Wicked men are
beastly (77, 12). The saints are named "The CaUed" and
"The Chosen" (7, 10). God's Word is a Light (7, 19).
Christ reigns in souls by spiritual help (7, 2 to ii). Jesus
is The Anointed One and Son of God (7, i, 8, 11, 14, 16,
17; III, 2). A Day of Judgment is decreed (77, 9; III, 7,
10 to 13). The redeemed will participate in the glory of
The Anointed One (7, 3, 11; III, 14), and the unrepentant
wifl be punished (77, 9, 21).
In The First Epistle of St. John, there is distinctly
the Hebrew Apocaljrptical System of doctrine and symbols,
supplemented by the assertion that the Anointed One is Jesus.
First there is mention of The Beginning (I, i; II, 7,
14, 24), and of The Father (7, 2, 3, 7; II, ij; III, i, 2), and
his will (77, 7, 17), or purposes (77, 2j). Then God is re
vealed in his Son (7, 4, 7; II, 2j, 24, etc.), who is his Word
of Life, or Living Word (7, 2; II, 7). He is The Light
(7, j, 7; II, 8, 9). He is The Life (7, 2; III, 14). Sin
originated with the Devfl (777, 8, 10). It is symbolized by
Cain (777, 12), and the worst form of wickedness is that
of pseudo-prophets or Antichrists (i. e.. Rival Christs)
(77, 4, 18, 22; IV , I, J). The Revealed Son of God is Jesus
(7, j; II, I, 22; III, 8; IV, i, j). He is the Paraklete
(Advocate) (77, i, 12). Salvation is by His blood (7, 7; II,
2; III, 16); and by His Spirit (777, 6, 24; IV, 6; V, 7);
and is an installation as Sons (777, 2), and is Hope (777, j).
The Son of God is The Witness (V, 9, 10) by his Spirit (V,
7, 8). Christians "Conquer" (IV, 4; V, 4, j). Sin is
death (777, 14; V, 12, 16). Messiah is coming again (77,
18, 28). There wfll be a day of judgment (IV, 17). The
life of the saints is eternal (77, 25; 777, 2, 11; IV, g, ij;
V, II, 20).

St. John's Epistle 363
This epistle, like Rom. viii, answers the universal
question, " How does the Divine Life become life, knowl
edge, and excellence in men?" (see pages 160 to 164),
and is identical with that chapter in tenor. Each ex
plains the other. Each prodlaims Christian psychol
ogy as the basis of Christian faith, and each has the
same likeness to Philo.
But St. Paul writes as one who has come to his faith
through reason and study of science and philosophy,
and St. Jphn writes as one listening to his Lord, with
whom he has gone to baptismal waters, and whom he
heard say " If man be not born of water and spirit, he
cannot see the kingdom of God " (John iii, 3), and
whom he heard promise "Another Advocate, The Spirit
of Truth," The Witness and Convincer (John xv, 23), and
whom he heard say "This is my blood and my body"
(Mark xiv, 23, 24), and near whom he stood when blood
and water flowed from his side.
St. Paul and St. John see that human bodies have
place in the science of spiritual life of men, and in the
truth of "The Son of Man," Tbe Witness and Advocate.
Hence, in Rom. viii, g to 11, and i John v, 6 to g, they
say that Christ witnesse.d by his body, and that a good
man's body aids his spiritual life. But St. John says
water and blood, where St. Paul says creature (ktisis) and
body a.nd. fiesh. In doing this he is like Philo as follows:
Of the part of the soul which is connected with the senses
and with vitality, blood is the substance. * * * The spirit is in
terwoven and mixed with the blood. * * * Breath is the essence
of the soul, but it has no place independently of the blood, but
it resembles, and is combined with, blood. Questions and Solu
tions, 39.

364 The Apocalypses
The sacrifices of blood display our gratitude for our Selves as
being composed of blood. On A nimals Fit for Sacrifice. Ch. 3,
Blood is the essence of the entire soul, and Divine Spirit of
the dominant part. On the Heir of Divine Things. Ch. 10.
Moses would not have spoken of the blood as most important
in the body unless he was referring to some necessary principle.
* * * The faculty which is common to us with the irrational
animals has blood for its essence. * * * Of our vivifying power,
of which blood is the essence, one portion has the particular
honor of voice and speech. The Worse against the Better.
Chs. 22, 23, 2j.
Blood is the substance of the soul that is endowed with the
outward senses. Fragment. Our bodily essence is earth and
water, of which Moses reminds us by the purifications. * * *
Earth and water may almost be said to utter voices, and to say,
"We are the substance of your bodies." Oti Those Who Offer
Sacrifices. Ch. 2.
The elements of man are dust and water. On Dreams. ii,30.
Water is the bodily essence of children. The Creation ofthe
World. Ch.46.
In V, 6, St. John is writing of Jesus, but also of the
Son of Man before the creation, and of the Paraklete.
(See pages 56, 59.) He means just what chapter 47 of
Enoch means when it says " The blood of the Righteous
One ascended from the Earth," and "The blood of the
Righteous One had been demanded before the Lord of
the Spirits." (See page 78.)

St. Jude's ' '365
In The Epistle of St. Jude, in a desultory way, are
scattered fifteen or more of the distinctive elements of the
Hebrew Apocalyptical System, all of them showing that
this system was the Christian System, and some of them
being quotations of, or references to, The Book of Enoch.
The Christians are the CaUed Ones (verse i). God is
The Father (verse i). He is revealed in The Anointed
Jesus (verse i). There is a decreed glorious end (verse 24).
Sin is living death (verse 12). Sinners are like irrational
creatures (verse 10). Cain is their symbol (verses 10, 11).
Angels first sinned (verse 6). They are kept in prison
(verse 6). The worst sinners are the arrogant (verses 8, 15,
16, 18) and wordy ones (verses 4, 9, 10). Balaam is their
symbol (verse 11). Unfaithful teachers are False Shepherds
(verse 12). A Judgment Day is coming (verses 6, 15).
The wicked wiU be punished (verses 13, 14). The saints
wiU be blessed with Christ (verses i, 21). Christian life is
from God's Spirit (verses 19, 20).
Verse 14 is a quotation of Enoch I, 9; and mentions
Enoch as if he were the author of that book; but the phrase
"Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied saying, etc.,"
in no way implies that St. Jude did not recognize the alle
gorical character and recent origin of The Book of Enoch.
This phrase is itself a paraUel to Enoch XCIII, 3, where
the author makes Enoch say, "I was born the seventh in
the first week;" and this paragraph, at the end of The Book
of Enoch, is part of a chapter which reviews aU the history
of the Jews, and divides it up into "Weeks."
In verse 13, the phrase "Twice dead" seems to be the
same idea as the "Second death" in Rev. II, 11; XX, 14,
but with reference to its nature as a " Living Death," and
as a state of the sotfl. (See pages 261, 321.)

THE APOCALYPSE IN THE GOSPEL
OF MARK
The connection of the Apocalyptical, the Messianic
and the Christian systems might be best shown to many
minds by an analysis of the Gospels. But such an expo
sition would be a work too extensive for the designed
size of this book, and would involve a great deal of rep
etition of matter already included in preceding pages.
We may, however, review one of the Gospels ; and, in
asmuch as some study of the Gospels of Matthew and
John has been used in preceding pages, we now select
the Gospel of Mark for examination.
It will be found that this Gospel depends, for intel
ligibility, on an understanding of the doctrines, terms,
phrases and symbolisms of the Apocalyptical Messianic
System ; and that it continues these. What difference
there is arises from, and inheres in, the fact that the
expected Kingdora of God, and its Anointed King, are
declared to have come.
We must take up first the doctrine of God's Being,
the most important of all doctrines, and the foundation
of all philosophy. This is the subject of the first and
second items of the Apocalyptical Messianic System.
These two items are, in Mark's Gospel, as everywhere
else, mostly viewed in definitions of the second item,
because, in fact, very little can be said of infinite inef
fable God.
In Mark's Gospel, God is represented as Father, Son
and Spirit. These names are those of the Apocalyptical
Messianic System, and had their origin in that system.
366

In Mark's Gospel 367
As to the name Father, it is not in the Old Testa
ment as a name of God except in Psalm lxxxix, 26,
and Isaiah ix, 6; lxiii, 16; lxiv, 8: and in each of these
texts it is a direct product and part of the Apocalyptical
Messianic literature.
Psalm 8g, 26. He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my
God, and the rock of my salvation. I also will make him my
Firstborn. This Psalm is wholly Messianic, and is explicable only
by the Apocalyptical literature. It three times mentions
the "Anointed One," and includes about twenty-five
words and ideas that are peculiar to the Apocalyptical
writings. Superficially it is a glorification of David; but
It is plain that David, there, is only a symbolical name
of the "Anointed One."
Isaiah g, 6. Unto us a child is born ; unto us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulders : and his name
shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting
Father, Prince of Peace.
On page 41 it has been noticed that this chapter of
Isaiah is a part of a section of the Apocalyptical litera
ture about The Messiah, and introduces a section, extend
ing through chapter xiv, which is wholly Messianic, and
of which St. John's Apocalypse makes much use. (See
pages 274 to 293.)
Isaiah 63, 16. Thou art our Father, though Abraham know
eth us not, and Israel doth not acknowledge us. Thou, O Lord,
art our Father ; our Redeemer, from everlasting, is thy name.
Isaiah 64, 8. Now, O Lord, thou art our Father.
It has been noticed (on pages 42, 62, 255, 325,
327, 330) that the last chapters of Isaiah from lix, 16, to
the end (as well as ix to xiv, xxxiv, lii, liii, and others)
are Apocalyptical literature, and filled with the ideas
and words of the System.

368 The Apocalypses
The name Father, applied to God, seems to have
come into use only through the Apocalyptical System,
and to have been one of the latest terms adopted in its
books. But in Philo's books it is one of the commonest
names of God, occurring in books on all topics, and
hundreds of times.
Moreover, the name Father seems to have come into
use directly as a part and sequence of the Apocalyptical
conception that the Divinity revealed in the Speech, or
Word, of God, may be called The Son of God. God, as
Father, was primarily the Father of The Word ; but when
that Word of God was conceived to be the Archetypal
Man and the Son of Mankind, who became the Creator
of men, and implanted Divine Spirit in men, the con
ception that God is father of men was complete.
As to the name The Son of God,* it was a name
repugnant to all men, and especially so to Jews, except
as they were prepared for it by previous conceptions,
which they did not have except in and by the Apoca
lyptical Messianic System. It is not in the Old Testa
ment, except in those few verses where it is distinctly a
reference to the Apocalyptical doctrines, viz: Psalm ii,
7,12; Job i, 6; ii, i; xxxviii, 7; Isaiah ix, 6. These
verses have been shown in their Apocalyptical character
on pages 35, 36, 37, 41.
As to the doctrine that God is Spirit or a Spirit,
it is in the New Testament a new doctrine. In the Old
Testament, God has spirit, or He acts by his Spirit; or
He gives Spirit; but the recognition that He is a Spirit
came only with and in the Apocalyptical Messianic
System. ¦* It is in i, I, II; iii,ii ; v,7 ; ix, 7; xiii, I2; xiv, 61; xv, ig.

In Mark's Gospel 369
If we search the Old Testament for declarations, or a
recognition that God is a Spirit, or that a Spirit person
ality is one of the manifestations of the person of God,
we find the nearest approach to such a declaration in
those chapters and verses which are distinctly prompted
by the Apocalyptical System, and are included in its
literature, viz : Job, the Messianic Psalms, the Messi
anic parts of Isaiah, Ezekiel i to xi, and Zechariah iv to vii.
But even in these there is no declaration of a third per
sonality in a Divine Trinity.
If now we turn to the Apocalyptical Hebrew lit
erature, we find that Philo, in commenting on the Old
Testament's sayings about God's Spirit, applies to them
what he thinks is the logic of psychological science, and,
from God's spiritual actions, infers what he is. He
views spiritual wisdom as an impartation from spirit to
spirit, and infers that spirit-being is a vital reality in
God and in men.
Philo's books are crowded with sayings about God's
spirit, some of which are comments on biblical texts;
but more are definitions in psychology. But Philo only
lays a foundation, and builds a framework on which a
clearer logic, and a superior science, could construct a
more vital doctrine.
Only Plato and Philo, among philosophers, are real
rivals for the honor of presenting theories which attempt
to thoroughly explore and systematize the known facts
and logical inferences of both physical and rational
psychology, and to define the vital being of human
souls. Plato says that these are forms (eide) of God's
thoughts, and they have a being that somehow shares in
the vitality of God. Philo says supreme God is incor
poreal, inconceivable. Associated with Him in his Being

370 The Apocalypses
is Spirit, which also is incorporeal. The Word, who is
the Firstborn Son of God, is that Archetypal incorpor
eal Man into whose face the Father "Breathed the
Living Breath," which again He breathed into the first
earthly man, and which also He has breathed into hosts
of angels, whom the Greeks call daimones.
Anything like a full exposition of Philo's psychology
would be of too great bulk for these pages ; but we may
show something of it by a few quotations.
Moses has called the rational soul the image of the invisible
God; for he says "God breathed into his face the breath of life
(or living breath). * * * He who received it must be made in
the likeness of the sender. * * * The intellect (didnoia) has a
pure and very excellent essence, from i which the divine natures
were made." On The Kosmos, Chs. iii and v.
Moses used the word breath (pnoe) , not spirit (pnedma) ; for
there is a difference between these words: for spirit (in Hebrew
ruach) is conceived according to strength, and intensity, and
power; but breath (in 'Hebr e\i nishmdh) is an exhalation. There
fore the mind created in God's image partakes of his spirit; for
its reasoning has strength. On The Allegories of the Soared
Laws. Book I, Ch. xiii.
The faculty of man which flowed from the rational {logiki)
fountain, which is the Word of God, is spirit, a representation and
stamping (character) of the Divine faculty, which Moses calls
an image, showing by his language that God is the archetypal
pattern of a rational nature. On The Worse Against The
Better, Ch. xxiii.
God's Spirit is spoken of as bringing a third element, in
addition to air and water. * * * And Moses shows this » * * in
these words (Exod. XXXI, ii) : "And God summoned Bezaleel,
and filled him withDivine Spirit, with wisdom, and understand
ing, and knowledge. So, what Divine Spirit is, is definitely
described in these words. Such also is the Spirit which was on
Moses (Numb, XI, 17), which was put upon the seventy elders.
"¦ * * It is the wise, the Divine, the indivisible, the good, every
where diffused, filling the universe." On Giants, Chs. v, vi.

In Mark's Gospel 371
In the book of Enoch the chief name of God is The
Lord of the spirits. (See pages 78, etc.)
The logically next step for us to take, in reviewing
Mark's Gospel, is to trace what is there said to be the
originally proposed plan of God as the Creator and
Father. The Apocalyptical Messianic System of doctrine, in
its third item, delineated this as a Kingdom, of which
The Son of God was, and is, King, under the title "The
Anointed" (Messiah, Christ). Such also is the doctrine
of Mark's Gospel. This fact is too clear, and too pro
fusely stated, to need any detailed delineation here.
'What we must notice is, that the doctrine about the
Kingdom of God, and the Christian acceptance of Jesus
under the name "The Anointed," were results of the
previous acceptance of the Apocalyptical Messianic doc
trine, and that is the basis on which the names "Christ
and Christianity" rest.
The next doctrine to be observed is in regard to the
origin of wickedness, that ever debatable, never settled,
and most complicated question.
The Apocalyptical Messianic System alone has been
wise and strong enough to grapple philosophically with
the problem, and to seriously propose a scientific doc
trine. Its doctrine contains at least the following ele
ments, viz: There can be no author of life except the
one spiritual Father; and He is the author only of
goodness. He has created spirits, who are free agents
under moral laws in respect to their attitude and actions
towards Him, and his plans, and his will in regard to
other souls. Wickedness is a result of finiteness; and
must always be possible in the life pf finitf beings. Its

372 The Apocalypses
beginning is to be expected not in the humblest, but in
the superior spirits. It began among angels, or at least
they were its instigators among men; and they are still
promoting it. Good and bad spirits influence men, and
both operate according to the laws and methods of spirit
life. The Gospel of Mark presents this doctrine like
the fourth item of the Apocalyptical Messianic System.
First we have the statement (/, /j) that Jesus was
tempted (or tested) by Satan. It seems clear that the
statement is something narrated only by Jesus himself,
and as a spiritual experience. He alone could know
the facts. Only spiritually could the alleged facts be
real. Be that as it may, Jesus in his statement seems to
approve the doctrine that a chief wicked spirit, under
the name Satan, is hostile to God and hurtful to men.
The name Satan means .opponent. It is the opposite of
the name Paraklete (advocate). Both names originated in the
Apocalyptical Messianic System. The name Satan is not used
in the Old Testament except in certain plainly apocalyptical
paragraphs, viz: Job i, 6, 7, g, 12; ii, 1,3, 6, 7, and Zech. iii, i.
The book of Enoch, in the Ethiopic language, speaks of evil
spirits as Satans and accusers, (xl, 7.)
Another passage of Mark's Gospel is to be considered in
this connection. This is v, i to 18. It is the account of the
man who was possessed by a legion of devils, who left him, and
drove a herd of swine into the sea. The same story is given in
Matt, viii, 28, etc., and Luke viii, 26, etc.
This story as a record of facts is incredible. But it
seems more like two combined stories, from which some
phrases have been dropped. Jesus seems to have met
a maniac and cured him, very probably making an
extended discourse, in which he recited the story of the
legion as a parable. If this be so, this part of the story
is a graphic statement of the fourth, fifth, and sixth items
of the Apocalyptical Messianic System, and the Legion

In Mark's Gospel 373
is a representation of evil spiritual influences, and the
swine are a figure of men made beastly by sin. In
that case, the concluding statement, that the people, to
whom Jesus had come with a beneficent service, rejected
him, is an admirable presentation of the sixth item of
the System, the rejecters being the adherents of false
doctrines. The representation, in the New Testament, regarding
evil spirits, is something unique. It has nothing in
common with any other sagas, mythologies, or folk lore.
It is a doctrine based, well or ill, on great fundamental
principles. It comes forward imperiously, demanding
respect and adherence. It was made for the glory of
the Creator and Father, by men to whom his justice was
a transcendent fact, and as a defence against atheism
and materialism, and as the opposite of superstition, and
as a rescue from that evil.
It is first definitely put forward in the book of Enoch;
and the whole intelligibility of that book turns on its
theory of the nature of spirit life.
This matter is one that lies little explored, and per
haps unexplorable, on the borders of both physical and
rational science. In reading the Apocalyptical literature,
both Jewish and Christian, some may take too literally
the words and phrases that are, in fact, parts of the figur
ative and symbolical treatment of this most recondite
matter. In all the Apocalyptical books the existence of rebel
lious and misleading spirits is put forward, neither as a
side thought, nor as a concession to the imperfection of
human ideas, nor as a superstition. On the contrary,
it is put forward as the exact opposite of superstition,
and to combat it.

374 The Apocalypses
In the parable of the Legion (Mark v. i to i8), in
the Greek text, the spirits are called daimones. This
word means a superhuman being, but does not denote
any character or disposition. The Greeks called the
mythological Gods, and the heroes, daimones. The souls
of men, when regarded as to their non-material nature,
were daimones. The word diabolos (devil) is the Greek
equivalent of Satan. These words came into Christian
use with and by the Apocalyptical System and its litera
ture. We may view here some paragraphs of the many
in the essays of Philo.
If you consider that souls, and daimones, and angels, are
things identical in reality, you will be able to discard that most
heavy burden, superstition (deisidaimonia) * * * 'VTou will not
err if you look on some of the angels as unholy. On The Giants,
Chs. II, iv, and On The World, Ch. III.
The air is full of incorporeal souls * * * Philosophers, in
general, call these daimones, but the sacred Scriptures call them
angels. On Dreams Being Sent From God, Chs. 32 and 33.
The evil of deisidaimonia is widely spread among us, and has
overwhelmed many unmanly and ignoble souls. On The Change
of Scripture Names, Ch. 24.
The book of Enoch says a great deal about spirits,
good and bad, and gives names and offices to many.
But this cannot be regarded as an exhibit of Jewish
beliefs. It is simply a graphic, imaginative way of writ
ing an Apocalypse, and especially the doctrines that all
spirits derived their life from God, that angels were origi
nally holy, and were and are used by God as messengers
and servants, and that some angels became rebellious,
and are enemies of God and hurtful to men, and that
wicked spirits of all kinds will be punished at last.
We pass on now to compare the central body of the
doctrine of Mark's Gospel with the seventh division of

In Mark's Gospel 375
the doctrines and symbols of the Apocalyptical Messianic
System. At once the identity of the ideas and the
phrases and symbols shows the Christian System a con
tinuation and fulfillment of the Apocalyptical Messianic
one. (See page 72.) This is so evident, and there is
so much of it, that a detailed comparison cannot be made
here. The older system was a forecast of a Kingdom
of God ruled by the Son of God, and inspired by the
Spirit of God. The new system was the publication of
the institution of that kingdom. We can observe only
a few of the details. Every title given to Jesus is one
that was common in the Apocalyptical Messianic System,
and is made explicable by that.
We are met at the beginning of Mark's Gospel by
an extraordinary statement respecting the authentifica-
tion of Jesus. A similar account is given in Matt, iii,
16, 17 ; Luke iii, 22; John i, 31 to 34.
Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan. And coming up
out of the water, he (John) saw the heavens rent asunder, and
the Spirit, as a dove, descending upon him (John) ; and a voice
came out of the heavens, Thou art my beloved Son, i, 9, 10,
II, or, This is my beloved Son, in Matt., iii, 17.
From the account in St. John's Gospel, it appears
that these stories record something known to the Baptist
only, and narrated only by him.
The case was simply this. A Messiah was looked
for; but the Jews were by no means ready to follow the
first claimant. They were a people who relied very
much on a guidance by supposed inspiration. The Bap
tist stood forward as an inspired prophet. The people
trusted him, and interrogated him. For an answer he
asserted his inspiration, and his identification of Jesus,
as Messiah, through that inspiration. It is evident that
all of the evangelists have omitted a large part of what

376 The Apocalypses
the Baptist said, and that he discoursed on the nature
and authority of inspiration, and that, in this discourse,
he spoke of certain ideas of inspiration which were some
what common previously, in Jewish literature. What
those ideas were we are able to show from Philo.
A trance, which proceeds from inspiration, takes strong
hold on us * * * when the divine light shines, the human light
sets, » * * the mind that is in us is removed from its place at
the arrival of the Divine Spirit. On Who is the Heir of Divine
Things, Ch. liii.
The mind could never make such correct and felicitous con
jectures unless a Divine Spirit guided it in the way of truth.
On The Life of Moses, Ch. xxxvi.
When the intellect is inspired with divine things * * * it
receives the Divine Spirit within ; or rather, as Moses has ex
pressed it, a Spirit falls upon him. Questions and Solutions,
Book IH,g
I am not ashamed to relate what I know from having expe
rienced it innumerable times. * * * Sometimes, when I have come
to my work empty, I have suddenly become full, ideas being, in an
invisible manner, showered upon me, and implanted in me from
on high ; so that, through the influence of divine inspiration, I
have become greatly excited, and have known neither the place
in which T was, nor those who were present, nor myself, nor
what I was saying, nor what I was writing ; for then I have been
conscious of a richness of interpretation, an enjoyment of light,
a most' penetrating sight, a most manifest energy having such an
effect as the clearest ocular demonstration would have on the
eyes.- On Abrahams's Migration, Ch. vii.
What is said, in Mark i, lo, about the Spirit as a
dove, has doubtless puzzled all readers, and offended
many; but, in fact, it is a valuable addition to the ac
count; because it evidences that the Baptist did make
a discourse about inspiration, and, in it, spoke of certain
symbols of the Divine Spirit, such as had been used by
Philo in commenting on that most recondite and diffi
cult subject. In commenting on Gen. xv, g, and Lev. i,

In Mark's Gospel 377
^4: ^, 7s •*¦», 6, 8 J xiv, 22; XV, 14, 2g, Philo represents that
the turtle dove had been treated by Jews as a symbol of
the wisdom of God inherent in, or operating by, the
Divine Spirit. Perhaps because doves were soaring above
him, the Baptist referred to that as a familiar symbolism.
To many Jews, the reference would be not only very
interesting, but also helpful. We quote from Philo.
The fifth element (spirit) is the only pure and unmixed one,
* * * therefore it is well said, "Abraham did not divide the birds,"
since the heavenly nature is raised on high like that of birds, the
dove and pigeon, * * * for the indivisible nature is of a fifth
essence more unmixed and pure than the others, and therefore
it more closely resembles unity. Questions and Solutions,
Book III, 6.
God sa.{d(Gen.xv,g)"t3ke for me * * * a turtle dove, that
is to say, divine wisdom * * * accustomed to soar on high * * *
on account of the only God, whose possession she is ; and this is
called a dove symbolically. On The Heir of Divine Things,
Ch.25. It is the especial property of divine wisdom, like a bird, to be
always soaring on high * * * and anxious to attend only on the
Supreme Being. Same, Ch.26.
Moses adds, "But the birds he did not divide"; meaning, by
the term birds, the two Words, which are winged, and inclined by
nature to soar to the investigation of sublime subjects ; one of
them being the archetypal pattern, and above us, and the other
being the copy of the former, and abiding among us, * * * for
here the dove is compared to the model * * * for the Word of
God is fond of retirement * * * being accustomed to roam on
high, and being anxious to be an attendant only on the one
Supreme Being. Same, Ch. 48.
One species of wisdom is related to what are called incor
poreal species. These the dove is found to resemble. * * * The
heaven is found to be familiarly connected with flying birds, such
as the pigeon and turtle dove, * * * therefore these birds are
assimilated to be divine attributes. Questions and Solutions,
Book, IH, 3.

378 The Apocalypses
We must, before leaving our view of Mark's presen
tation of the seventh item of the Apocalyptical System,
notice words of Jesus in Mark iii, 2g, and Matt, xii, 31.
" Whosoever shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit hath
never forgiveness, but is guilty (enochos-liable, or in the hold
of) of eternal sin" {hamartias-wickedness. Some versions say
hamartematos-act of sin. Others say kriseos-condemnation).
Matthew says also, " Whosoever shall speak a word against the
Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world (or
age^ nor in that which is to come."
There is a boundless disputation over this paragraph;
and it may not be much discussed here, except to say
that it seems to be a statement of psychological facts,
and fundamental principles, rather than a fulmination
of vindictiveness. The readers must notice that it fol
lows words in which Jesus proclaimed the possibility of
the forgiveness of almost every kind of sin. Perhaps
the following from Philo will make the meaning clear :
It is impious to invoke God to be the witness of a lie. * * *
Conscience * * * preserves its own nature, always to hate evil,
and to love virture, being itself at once an accuser and a judge
* * * as a judge it wages an endless and implacable war against
him. * * * You are not free from excessive impiety, saying to
God, with your conscience, "Assist me in my impiety." * * *
He who is about to make an oath must consider if his tongue is
free from blasphemy. * * * Let him know that he is impure and
defiled, and that Justice keeps her eye on all human affairs, being
implacable and inflexible towards enormities of such a character.
On The Ten Commandments, Chs. 17, 18, ig.
In such matters it is impossible for the Spirit of God to
remain. * * * 'Very often, even over the most polluted and
accursed beings, there hovers a sudden appearance of the good,
but they are unable to take firm hold on it, and to keep it among
them * * * for it quits its place, and departs, rejecting those who
live in defiance of law and justice. On The Giants, Chs. 3 and 12,

In Mark's Gospel 379
Whoever accuses not himself, but God, as the cause of his
sin, let him be punished, being deprived of that refuge tothe altar
which tends to salvation and security; and which is meant for
suppliants alone. To pronounce the Deity the cause of evil is a
spot which it is hard to cure, or rather, which is altogether incur
able. * * * If they who bring accusations against their mortal
parents are led away to death, what punishment must we think
that those men deserve who venture to blaspheme the Father
and Creator of the universe? On Fugitives, Chs. 13, 16.
Before leaving the seventh item' of The System, we
may notice that Jesus seems to have intended reference
to the half-seven symbol, in viii, 31; ix,3i; x,34; xiv,
38; XV, 2g, when he speaks of three days preceding his
resurrection. He uses just that form of the symbol
which is common in Z^aw/i?/ (see pages 70, 126, 128, 129,
137) and in Jonah, (see Appendix C). In four of these
verses he is speaking of the Son of Man. In Matthew
xii, 3g-4i ; xvi, 4, and Luke xi, 2g-32, Jesus mentions
Jonah as a symbol of half-seven, as explanatory of what
he says of himself, as the Son of Man.
The next item of the Apocalyptical Messianic System
is the eighth, the doctrine that human souls have a con
tinuous and endless life. Jesus found this doctrine
common and accepted just so far as the Apocalyptical
System was accepted and familiar. It stood as "the
resurrection of the dead," but in terms so vague as to
leave it simply a doctrine of a perpetual life. Naturally
it is mentioned almost exclusively in connection with
apocalyptical doctrines of future happiness or punish
ment. It occurs in viii. 38; i, I, 43, 48; x, i7,30,3g, 40 ;
xii, 22, 27 ; xiii, 27, 37 ; xiv, 23, 62.
The next item of the System, the ninth, is the depend
ence of the Kingdom of God on its proclamation by the
words and lives of its subjects. To logical minds, this

380 The Apocalypses
is a fact naturally inherent in the Hebrew Apocalyptical
doctrine, that God's Kingdom is a spiritual dominion of
moral beings who are free agents. This ninth doctrine
came forward only with and by "The System." It
pervades the whole of Mark's Gospel, but only in con
nection with other doctrines of the System. It is in i,
8, 14, 17, 44; tii, 14; iv, 2 to g, 14 to 20, 27 to 32; vi, 7 to
12; xiii, 10.
We come next to the tenth item of the Messianic Sys
tem, the doctrine that "The Gospel," or "The Kingdom,"
is offered to all human beings. It is made prominent in
the Gospels; but it must be noticed that, in the promi
nent texts where Jesus speaks of the universality of the
Gospel, he does it in connection with other words that
are references to other features of the Apocalyptical
Messianic System. There are some who understand
Jesus' use of the word "The Elect," or rather, "The
Chosen Ones," as contrary to the doctrine. But, in fact,
it is common in the Apocalyptical writings, especially the
book of Enoch, and only means that saved souls are dis
tinguished and apart in their life. It seems, in fact, to
have been evolved in The System friom the essential
doctrine that the Logos is The Divider, He himself
being called "The Chosen."
We come next to the eleventh doctrine of The Mes
sianic System, viz: Sin and its trouble will continue on
Earth till the end of time.
Jesus declares this emphatically; but never as a new
doctrine, and always in connection with other sayings
which are distinctly utterances of other doctrines of The
System, and especially of its twelfth item, e. g. See the
above mentioned xiii, 10, and the rest of the chapter,
which is an Apocalypse, and is largely made up of

In Mark's Gospel 381
phrases from other Apocalypses, especially Daniel and
Enoch. The peculiar phrases of xiii, 30 and 32, have
been explained on page 180. As to the conception that
there will be an earthly Millennium, see page 316.
We come next to the twelfth doctrine of The Apoca
lyptical Messianic System, — the doctrine that The Mes
siah will come at the Judgment Day. It is presented
chiefly in chapter xiii. What we have to notice here is
the fact that Jesus always proclaimed the doctrine in the
words and phrases of the Apocalyptical literature, and
very largely in the terms and phrases of Daniel a.n& Enoch.
He says in viii, 38, When the Son of Man cometh in the
glory of his Father with the holy angels : and in x, 37,
some of his disciples say, Grant to us that we may sit on
thy right hand and left hand in thy glory ; and in xiii, 26,
Jesus says. They shall see the Son of Man coming in
clouds with great power and glory. It is hard to doubt
that, in saying these words, Jesus had in mind such
words of the book of Enoch as the following:
The Holy and Great One will step on to Mount Sinai, and
appear with his host. Chap. 1, 6.
On that day the Chosen One will sit upon the throne of
glory. Ch. 43,3. In that day I saw The Head of Days as He
sat upon the throne of his glory, * * * and that Son of Man was
called near the Lord of the Spirits Chs. 47, 48. The Chosen One
has arisen before the Lord of the Spirits, and his glory is to all
eternity, and his power to all generations. Ch. 4g.
And the Lord of the Spirits placed his Chosen One on the
throne of his glory. * * * And then will cry out all the host cf
the heavens, and all the, holy ones above, and the host of God
etc. Ch. 61.
And the Lord of the Spirits sat on the throne of his glory
* * * and all the powerful kings, and the exalted, and they who
rule the Earth, will fall before him upon their faces, and will wor
ship, and will hope in the Son of Man. Ch, 62,

382 The Apocalypses
We come lastly to the final two items of doctrine in
the Messianic and the Christian Systems, viz.: the future
condition of human souls. This is chiefly presented by
Jesus in answer to questions of the disciples in regard to
the apocalyptical doctrine that the Christ will come for
a "Judgment Day." Here, as everywhere in the New
Testament, the figurative, or symbolical, use of all the
descriptive words must be recognized, in the Apocalyp
tical symbolism.
As to the wicked souls, Jesus says (viii, 38; ix, /),
" Whosoever shall be ashamed of me, and of my words
* * * of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed when He
cometh, in the glory of his Father, with the holy angels.
* * * There are some here, of them that stand by, which
shall in nowise taste of death till they see the Kingdom
of God come with power."
These words are plainly referrable to the Apocalp-
tical Messianic System. The first verse of chapter ix,
seems to mean that some of the bystanders would be
condemned at the Judgment, and that the real death is
such condemnation. (See page 224.)
In ix, 43, 45, 48, Jesus names the unquenchable fire
and Ge Henna. Ge Henna means Hinnom's 'Valley,
which is wholly a figure or symbol of the condition
of lost souls. In the Apocalyptical Messianic System,
every writer made his own figurative and symbolical
words. The word Ge Henna was the newest one at the
time of Jesus. It is not in the Old Testament. It
had at first only a local significance, because it was the
place near Jerusalem where carcasses were burned ; but
by the influence of Christianity it passed into the Syriac,
Greek, and Arabic languages.

THE PLACE OF PHILO
It has been shown, in preceding pages, that Philo
exercised an enormous influence on the definition and
phrasing of the ideas that became the first half of the
Christian Apocalyptical System of doctrine. It is now
necessary to define more particularly his relation to the
initiation of Christianity.
Philo was probably born nearly forty years before
the birth of Jesus ; and he lived till nearly ten years after
the crucifixion. He lived at Alexandria in Egypt, where
Jews were very numerous. His family's standing among
Jews was of the highest. His training and education
must have been of the best possible in his day. This
may not have won him favor among the antihellenistic
Jews of Judea.
His books were all finished during the reigns of
Augustus, Tiberius, and Cains Csesar; and probably the
most of them were published before the public life of
John the Baptist began. His last books were a history
of the terrible Roman persecutions of the Jews, with a
laudation of the meteoric Herod Agrippa, as their savior
from the mad Caligula (Caius Csesar), and with the story
' of Agrippa's vengeance on the ferocious Flaccus.
Philo was absolutely and uncompromisingly Hebraic,
and loyal to the religion and traditions of his race. But,
he was responsive to the life in the best classical Greek
literature, and the culture and science of that Augustan
age of Rome. He names and quotes almost every noted
Greek poet and philosopher. He was enthusiastic in
383

384 The Apocalypses
musical taste, and often mentioned the facts of musical
chords and the laws of harmony. He was apparently
informed in the sciences; and he wrote intelligently
on the facts of mathematics, the spherical astronomical
system, and such recondite physiological matters* as the
circulation of the blood and the functions of the liver.
He is often called a Platonist, but the allegation is
not warranted. He only agreed with Plato in a very
few matters ; while he gives far more approbation to
Aristotle, J especially as to the categories of knowledge.
He was a philosopher; but in a class by himself,
unique, and centuries ahead of his time. The only phi
losophy of the present day which is at once scientific,
rational, and self-defensible against materialism, agnos
ticism and mysticism is the psychology that is based on
mental consciousness and spiritual conscience. And this
is very modern. Yet Philo formulated clearly and
affirmed II repeatedly the power and authority of con-
cionsness (syneidesis) and conscience (to syneidos); and his
system of philosophy included, in their just relations,
the physical body, the intellectual soul, and the living,
exalted spirit. He seems to be the only philosopher of
ancient time, if not of all times, who saw a reasonable,
psychological, and defensible scientific theory of divine
inspiration of men. If the time shall come when men
shall be glad to join together a scientific psychology of
physics and reason, and the Pauline doctrines about the
psychical and pneumatic bodies and lives, it may be that
to Philo as a philosopher a preeminent place of honor
will be accorded.
* On Animals for Sacrifice, ch. vii.
X On the Ten Commandments, ch. viii. On The Incorrupti
bility ofthe World, ch. iii, iv, v. On The World, ch, viii.
II See Man and His Divine Father, by John C. C. Clarke.

Philo's Place 385
In his comments on the Pentateuch, Philo treated
nearly all the nominally historical statements as allegori
cal. He does not say that they are or are not facts ; but
he regards them as the dress of great principles, or as
vehicles of great lessons.
The number of topics on which Philo, in his essays,
made remarks, often profound and always intelligent and
instinct with a vital humanity, is amazing. He must
have been gifted with vast comprehension, and alert with
a quick sense of the faculties, sentiments, forces and
experiences of men. His essays teem with observations
of great sagacity on questions of the most profound and
wide reaching principles; and in these he is original
and unique. If he had not been a Jew, and a Jewish
theologian, having perpetually in his mind the body of
Jewish doctrine, he might have been famous as an
original and far advanced philosopher.
In the great number of topics treated by Philo, three
constantly predominate, and frequently reappear, as the
great germinal and formative principles of his system.
These three are: First, Creation of all things by a perfect
personal only God; second. Birth of mankind from the
Word and Spirit of Gpd; third. Conviction, by conscious
ness and conscience, is the basis of true philosophy.
With all his allegorizing, and his mysticism, and his
philosophical bent, and his devotion to Judaism, Philo
was intensely practical. All his dogmas were directed
towards spme practical worthy purpose. He constantly
pleaded for God and righteousness, a righteousness based
on repentance of sin, and formulated on ideals of God-
likeness and obedience to the Creator of the universe.
His theology was not merely Jewish, nor for Jews alone.

386 The Apocalypses
It was to him a spiritually revealed religion; but one
that was revealed only because it was based on fact, vi&s
logically constructed, was conformed to the nature and
life of both God and men, and was suited to all men
everywhere. His statements* of the natural, or cosmo-
logical, evidences of the fact of creation by a perfect
personal Creator probably have never been excelled.
His itemization** of the actual kinds of human wicked
ness is much fuller and more terrible than St. Paul's.
The place of Philo in the history of the Apocalyptical
System is not that of a creator of doctrine, nor even that
of a systematizer. It is doubtful if any of the Apoca
lyptical terms or phrases were originated by him. They
were centuries older than he. In all his comments on
the Bible he is wonderfully intelligent; but it is the intel
ligence of a man who has seen the relations of his
doctrines to each other so firmly linked that, for him,
any modifications, or changed relations, or substitutions,
would be impossible. Perhaps he fatally lacked imagi
nation, if imagination is the faculty by which mystical
things become real, and possible things become actual,
and the sentimental side of human vitality is made alive.
Still less can Philo be considered a promoter of the
Christian part ofthe Apocalyptical System. He thought
his own system was the cycle of truth, with its last word
spoken. For him all theology, all philosophy, all truth,
ended with the first half of the Apocalyptical System;
and, for him, that system was written in the Pentateuch.
* On Monarchy, ch. iv. On Rewards and Punishments,
ch. Vll. On the Allegories of The Sacred Laws, Book III,
ch. xxxii. Fragments in Yonge' s Translation, Vol. IV, pages
264,261. ** On the Wages ofa Harlot, ch. iii.

Philo's Place 387
Between Philo and even the poet prophets of Israel lay
a gulf. He had no words of approbation, and no appar
ent sympathy, for the immortal penmen, who had put
into matchless phrases and songs the hopes and senti
ments of Israel, although these rested on the doctrines
that he loved.
Between Philo and Christianity lay an abyss, and
Philo neither saw nor desired a bridge. For him there
was no farther shore. He was like a gardener whose
own garden is magnificent because, for generations be
fore, other gardeners have cleared the ground, set the
trees and plants, and watched and described the beau
ties and uses of the products. But he was a gardener who
could not believe that the gardens ought to be, or could
be, extended, on different plans, with new glorious
growths evolved or developed.
Christianity was born of two parents. Its father was
tbe first half of the Apocalyptical System, as Philo
expounded the doctrines. Its mother was the Messianic
System, including all that Philo thought, and also all the
Messianism of the poet prophets of Israel. The parent
age was like many a human one, where the father is
deliberate, methodical, logical, systematic up to certain
points, then inert, stubborn, and finished; and the mother,
born of the same race, inheriting the same traditions, the
same principles, and the same affections, quickens the
principles into life, clothes the truths with the vitality
of sentiment, adorns the rude forces with the glowing
dress of spiritual uses, craves and believes in values of
things unseen but felt, and, yearning for motherhood,
welcomes a child whose features are its father's, but
whose soul is her own image.

388 The Apocalypses
Philo's half of the Apocalyptical doctines was like a
glorious tree, having deep, wide-reaching roots, sym
metrical foliage on soaring boughs, and a wealth of
fruit; but finished, and without a future. Such trees die
from their apex to the ends of their roots, unless felled
by a woodman's axe or a storm; but if so felled„on the
pregnant root another tree springs out, and grows, and
perpetuates the vitality and the forces. Parentage is
the climax of the pathos in human life, — a perpetuation
that is not self-immortality, — a royalty crowning itself
with thorns. So the system of Philo, alert with vigor to
lay foundations firm as the hills, was only the base of the
temple of beauty, that symbolized and homed the wor
ship of heaven-born truth.
It is part of the melancholy in human life that the
men who shape the great constructions, the political,
intellectual, or social ones, must at last stand as the
obstructors of the new systems that come imperiously
forward. Philo was no exception to the rule. No man
in all Israel was so prepared, or so posed, as to be more
inimical alike to the ancient faith of the Jews, and to the
new "Kingdom of God and His Anointed." And yet, as
has been shown, this was not because of his moral atti
tude, or of his doctrines, or of his temperament; but
simply because he had reached the limit of his sight.
He was like a prospector in the gold fields, who has gone
over every area of his district, has found a.0d mined every
seam and stratum to a certain depth, and, when his eyes
grew dim, and his strength failed, said, "There is no more
treasure here," while below lay unnjeasurable wealth.
While Philo was so Hebraic, he was in fact the phi
losopher of mankind. Much truth lies in paradoxes, and

Philo's Place 389
Philo was a paradox. He was like a man writing with
both hands in two languages, then placing his two
scripts together, one over the other, and holding them
up to the light, against which both show at once. He
wrote Greek thoughts in a Hebrew style, or Hebrew
thoughts in Greek words. The paradox is in his broad
humanitarian ism; for the incident that he wrote only in
Hebraic expressions, and in exposition of Hebrew Scrip
tures, and in defence of Jewish doctrines, was the sequence
of his beliefs as to inspiration. First declaring that all
human minds and spirits are born of God, and that
He is the universal Father, and that therefore spiritual
truths can be and are revealed to human spirits, he exalted
the Hebrew Scriptures as products of such inspira
tion, because he found them agreeable to his reason, and
because he found them, not merely the best body of
inspired truth, but the only literature, in his day, that
pretended to be inspired, according to his ideas of
inspiration. If we could take out from Philo's words
everything having a Jewish origin and cast, there would
still remain essentially the same philosophy, and the
broad humanity. Nowhere in his essays does he recog
nize the Hebrews as a special people of God at that day.
When he views God as having made a covenant, the
doctrine so dear to Jews, he leaps out of narrow bounds;
sees the covenant as a relation of the fatherhood of
God; and summons all men to rejoice in heaven-born
hopes and their divine inheritance.
We may quote from Questions and Solutions, Book HI, 42,
where, in reference to Genesis xvii. 4, he says, "After he (Jeho
vah) has shown himself, and said 'I,' He makes an addition, say
ing, ' Behold my covenant, which is nothing but myself ; for I am
myself my covenant, * * * according to which all things are

390 The Apocalypses
distributed and arranged." Now, the form of this prototypal
treaty is put together from the ideas and incorporeal measures
and forms in accordance with which this world was made. * * *
Therefore He says, "Be no more a son, but a father; and the
father, not of one individual, but of a multitude, not partially, but
of all nations." * * * For a lover of God will devote his atten
tions * * * to all mankind.
Again Philo says {Questions and Solutions, Book III, 40),
"The whole covenant of God is the incorporeal Word."
Philo's kindliness and broadness 'were remarkable.
He wrote earnestly, vehemently, against wicked men, but
he wrote judicially, and without passion. He inveighed
against calumny, and probably no man ever wrote so
positively a great system of doctrines, with never a word
of harshness, or even of disrespect, for those who had
differed from him. Even for the wicked, he held out
salvation in repentance and the grace of God. In a
great many of the divergent philosophers he found some
excellence, or wisdom, to commend. Even while detest
ing the character and acts of Balaam, he yet said that
Balaam's psalm,* in which he said "God is not as man,"
was the most excellent of religious songs.
Philo's allegorism ruined his prestige with the Christ
ians; but, in fact, it was not the source nor the shaper of
his theology. On the contrary, he allegorized because
he had such an unbounded faith in the inspiration of
the Scriptures that he could not believe that their mean
ing was no greater and richer than their letter.
While so much that is good can be said of Philo and
of his doctrines, it is probably true that, in the estimation
of some of the first Christians, he stood as an object ot
peculiar horror, such as they felt only as to three other
*To hieroprephtaton asmdton. On Abraham's Migra
tion. Ch. XX.

Philo's Place 391
persons. Two of these, Cain and Balaam, he had him
self paraded in deadly words for execration by the Jews.
By the application of his own logic, he passed into their
class for obloquy as a misleading philosopher. The
other was Judas Iscariot, — Judas who consorted with
Jesus, and knew his doctrines, — Judas who came up to
the decisive hour when loyalty was demanded, and then
failed. So, Philo, — who saw so clearly the Eternal
Father, — and whose doctrines, in the estimation of the
Messianites, logically demanded the advent of The
Anointed King, The Son of Man, — Philo, whom the
Christians called upon to identify the matchless man of
Galilee as the Paraklete and the Word of God, — this
Philo, at the crucial time, turned his back.
But Philo was no traitor, nor a renegade, nor a de
serter. What he had been he continued to be. He had
never known a need for an earth-born Son of God, nor
for an Anointed One, nor for a Son of Man, nor for an
earthly Advocate, nor for a Kingdom of God. These
names had never been written by his pen. Although he
had honored the half-seven symbol of the Son of God,
it was to him only an emblem of the person, and not a
portent of his advent on earth at any time.
It is by no means certain that Philo ever heard
much about Jesus; for Philo's home was in Egypt, and
it was a time of terrible persecution of Jews in Egypt,
Syria and Italy. He was already a very old man when
Jesus was in public life; and he survived Jesus only a very
few years; knd those few years were the period of the
bewilderment of the Christians, when Christianity was
undefined and unwritten, and Saul was the leader of the
persecutors of "Innovators."

392 The Apocalypses
The feelings of the first Christians about Philo must
have mingled sorrow with disapprobation. Probably
the Evangelists and Apostles, when they honored and
reiterated the doctrines of the Apocalyptical System,
grieved because the man who had best explored the first
half of them, had not followed their leading, as the
Prophets had done, and did not love the climax as he
loved the beginning. When they remembered that
he had magnified the glory and love of the Creating
Father, and had glorified the eternal beneficence of the
revealed Son of God, and had rejoiced in the Lamb
slain before the creation of the world, and had called
all men to repentance and to obedient righteousness,
then, while they lamented the incompleteness and insuf
ficiency of his view and of his doctrine, we. may be sure
that the Apostles, seeing in him the herald and champion
of the one omnipotent God revealed and acting in his
Word and his Spirit, cherished a love and faith for the
kindly spirit and enlightened mind whose long years of
service for mankind had after all closed untimely.
When St. John wrote "In the beginning was the
Word," had he no reverence for the pen of Philo that
had written the same words hundreds of times ? When
the author of "The Epistle to Hebrews" wrote "The
Word of God is alive and mighty, sharper than a double
edged sword," etc. (see pages 44: 343.), did he not honor
the pen of Philo, who had constructed that formula?
When St. Paul had finished the eighth chapter of " The
Epistle to Romans," teeming with Philo's phrases, he
immediately added (Rom. ix. 2, 3), "1 have great sorrow
and unceasing pain in my heart; for I could wish that I
myself were anathema from Christ for my brethren's

Philo's Place 393
sake, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Isra
elites." Did he not shed a tear for Philo ?
When St. Paul wrote, "I obtained mercy because I
did it ignorantly, in unbelief" (/. Tim. i. 13), he may
have had a kindly thought of Philo writing, "As long as
the Divine Word has not come to one's soul, as to a hos
pitable hearth, its actions are blameless." On Gods
Unchangeableness. Ch. 28.
St. Paul says, in //. Cor. xii. i: "I will come to
visions and apocalypses of the Lord (or the Lord's
Apocalypses). I know a man (who was) in Christ four
teen years ago, — whether (he was) in a body I know not.
Whether (he was) out of his body, I know not; God
knows, — such a one caught up, even to the third heaven.
And I know such a man, whether in a body, or apart
from his body, I know not, God knows, — that he was
caught up to Paradise, and heard unspoken words, which
it is not permitted (or possible) to a man to speak. Over
such a one I will boast, but over myself I will not boast
except for my weakness." Could he have had then in
loving thought the teacher who had had such great
conceptions of the goodness and glory of the Father,
and who wrote of his own spiritual exaltation and illumi
nation in such words as are quoted on page 376 ?

394 The Apocalypses
THE SPIRIT IN THE APOCALYPSES
The preceding pages have exhibited momentous facts
in the history of religion, philosophy, and literature. If
the truth or value of these pages is to be further debated,
the crux of inquiry is, "What part has the Spirit of God
in the matter?"
Christianity is essentially a doctrine of spirit life ; and
is infinitely more than a creed or a morality. Modern
neglect or denial of this fact is shaking it to its founda
tion. The Bible is a book of "The Kingdom of God,"
and of "The Anointed One"; but, equally, or rather
first, last, and all through, it is a book of God's Spirit
communicating with human spirits. Either that or
nothing ; and if it is nothing, there is no valuable sub
stitute possible. Moral anarchy is the alternative.
The Apocalyptical System is a spiritual logic, formu
lating a spiritual revelation. It starts from Genesis i, i, 2,
with a doctrine that God's Spirit is Father of human
spirits. Out of that fact proceeds an assurance that
God's Spirit' can impart truth and good influences to
spirits of men, and has done so. Then follows the
"Apocalyptical System," as a system of spiritual truth,
spiritually conceived through spiritual reasoning, by
spiritual men taught by God's Spirit. As just that it is
rejected by infidelity; and as just that it appeals to
Christians ; and as just that it has been mysterious ; and
as just that it survives and will endure.
No person can understand the Apocalyptical System,
nor much of the Bible as a whole, who does not recog
nize that the physical body of doctrine in the fourteen
items, and the spiritual life that pervades the Bible, are
equally essential elements in the Apocalyptical System.

The Apocalypses 395
They are not separated, and are not separable. At any
place in the Bible where either the apocalyptical doc
trines or the vital spirituality is intense, precisely there
is the other, and equally intense. Thence is the signifi
cance of John the Baptist's assertion of the Spirit's
proclamation of The Son of God. Thence is the signifi
cance of the words of Jesus to Nicodemus (John iii, 3
to 21), and of the words of Jesus in John xiv, xv, xvi,
when he promised the Advocate who was the Spirit.
Thence, too, is the significance of the epistles of all
the Apostles. The body of the physical substance of
their theology is the fourteen items of the Apocalyptical
System; but interjoined with this is such a philosophy
of the psychology of Divine Spirit and human spirits as
has no rival in the libraries of science. For example: the
eighth chapter of the "Epistle to the Romans" is in
every letter supremely Christian ; and yet, it would show
emphatically its apocalyptical character even if we had no
words of Philo for comparison.
Therefore, wherever, in the Bible, the phrases are
most markedly apocalyptical, there the words or figures
which represent the Spirit's presence and actions are not
mere embellishments, although they may be imagina
tive. They are essential parts.
So St. John's final words are not a mere rhetorical
figure; for the whole of Christian hope is in the words
"The Spirit and the Bride say come."

APPENDIX A.

additional comparisons of ENOCH AND THE NEW TESTAMENT.
Similar selections from Enoch might be greatly multipUed.

Matt. iii. 10. "The axe is
laid unto the root of the trees.
Therefore every tree which
bringeth not forth good fruit is
hewn down, and cast into the
fire."

Matt. xiii. 41. "The Son of
Man shall send forth his angels,
and they shall gather out of his
kingdom all things that offend,
and them which do iniquity."
Matt, xviii. to. "Their an
gels do always behold the face of
my Father who is in heaven."

Matt. xix. 28. "In the regen
eration, when the Sort of Man
shall sit on the throne of his
glory, ye also shall sit on twelve
thrones judging the twelve tribes
of Israel."
(See below, on Matt, xxviii. 18.)

Enoch xci. 8, g, 11. "Op
pression will be cut off from its
roots; and the roots of unright
eousness together with deception,
and they will be destroyed from
under heaven, *** and will be
thrown into a condemnation of
fire, *** and then the roots of un
righteousness will be cut off ***
and the roots of the revilers will
be cut off."
Enoch c. 4. "The angels will
come into the secret places, and
will gather in one place all those
that aided in sin."
Enoch c. j. "Over all the
just and holy he will place holy
angels as watchmen to watch
them like the apple of an eye."
civ. I. " I swear to you, just
bnes, that in heaven the angels
will have a remembrance con
cerning you before the glory of
the Great One."
Enoch lxi. g. "The Lord of
the spirits placed his Chosen One
on the throne of his glory, and he
will judge all the deeds of the
holy ones in high heaven, and
will weigh their deeds on scales.
And when he shall raise his coun
tenance to judge their paths * * *
then they will all speak with one
voice, and bless, and praise, and

397

398

The Apocalypses

Matt. xxiv. JO. "Then shall
all the tribes of the earth mourn,
and they shall see the Son of Man
coming in the clouds of heaven
with power and great glory."

Matt. xxiv. Jj. "Heaven
and earth shall pass away."

Matt, xxviii. l8. "And Je
sus came and spake unto them,
saying, AU power is given unto
me in heaven and in earth."
, Mark iii. 2g. "He that shall
blaspheme against the Holy
, Spirit hath never forgiveness, but
is in danger of eternal damna
tion.''

Luke X..20. "Your names
are written in heaven."
Luke xiv. 14. "Thou shalt
be recompensed at the resurrec
tion of the just."

Acts XX. 2g. "Grievous
wolves shall enter in among you,
not sparing the flock."

exalt, and_glorify the name of the
Lord of the Spirits."
(See also lxix. 27, 2g, below or
on page 82.)
Enoch i. 3, 4. "I conversed
concerning them with the Holy
and Great One, the God of the
world, who will come from his
abode. And from there he vrill
step on to Mount Sinai, and ap
pear with his hosts, and appear
in the strength of his power from
heaven." Enoch xci. 16. "And the
first heaven will pass away and
cease." xci. 14. "The world will be
written out for destruction."
lxix. 27. "He sat upon the
throne of his glory, and the sum
of the judgment was given to
him, the Son of Man."
Enoch xxvii. 2, 3. "Here
will be assembled all those who
have spoken with their mouths
unseemly words against God,
and speak insolently of his glory;
here will be their judgment.
And in the latter days there will
be the spectacle of a just judg
ment upon them in the presence
of the just in eternity forever."
xlviii. 10. "Before him
they will fall and not rise again
* * * because they have denied
the Lord of the spirits and his
Anointed." Enoch civ. I. "Your names
will be written before the glory
of the Great One."
Enoch xci. 10. "The just
ones will arise from sleep, and
wisdom will arise, and will be
given to thera." Also, xcii. 3.
"The just will arise from sleep,
and walk in the paths of justice."
Enoch lxxxix. 6j, etc. "1
saw till those shepherds began to
kill and to destroy more than was

Appendix A

399

Acts xvii. 31. "He hath
appointed a day in the which he
will judge the world in righteous
ness by that man whom he hath
ordained."

I Cor. ii. 7, 8. "'We speak
the wisdom pf God in a mystery,
the hidden, which God ordained
before the world unto our glory;
which none of the princes of this
world knew; for, had they
known it, they would not have
crucified the Lord of Glory."

I Peter i. 12. "'Which things
the angels desire to look into."

I Peter iii. Tg. "By which
(the Spirit) he went and preached
unto the spirits in prison, which
sometime were disobedient, when
once the longsuffering of God
waited in the days of Noah.

commanded them. * * * And
the shepherds and their compan
ions delivered those sheep to all
the wild beasts to devour them."
Etwch xlv. 4, etc. " On that
day I will cause my Chosen One
to dwell among them, * * * for
the sinners there awaits before
me a judgment. * * * This is
the Son of Man, who has justice:
and justice dwells with him.* * *
And he will expel the counte
nance of the strong: and shame
will fill them," etc.
Enoch xlviii. 2, etc. "The
Son of Man was called near the
Lord of the Spirits, and his name
before the Head of Days. And
before the sun and the constella
tions were created, before the
stars of heaven were made, his
name was called before the Lord
of the Spirits. * * * He was
chosen and hidden before him
before the world was created.* * *
There will be no one to lift them
up, because they have denied
the Lord of the Spirits, and his
Anointed One. * * * For wis
dom is poured out like water,
and glory does not cease before
him to all eternity, * * * and
his glory is to all eternity."
Enoch lxix. 2, etc. "Behold
the names of these angels * * *
And this one said to the holy
Michael that he should show
them the secret name, that they
might see that secret name, and
that they might mention this
name that is in the oath, and they
may tremble before that name
and the oath."
Enoch X. 12. "Bind them
under the hills of the earth; * * *
in prison they will be locked for
all eternity." xii. 4. "Enoch, thou scribe
nf justice, go, announce to the

400

The Apocalypses

/ Peter iv. 6. "For this
cause was the gospel preached
also to them that are dead, that
they might be judged according
to men in the flesh, but live ac
cording to God in the spirit."
I Peter v, 4. "'When the
Chief Shepherd shall appear, ye
shall receive a crown (garland)
of glory that fadeth not away."

/ Peter v, 8. "Your adver
sary the devil, as a roaring lion,
walketh about, seeking whom
he may devour."

// Peter ii, 4. "If God
spared not the angels that sinned,
but cast them down to hell, and
delivered them into chains of
darkness, to be reserved unto
judgment."

watchers of heaven, who have
left the high heaven, and the holy
eternal place, and have contam
inated themselves."
Xlii. 3. "And then, going
I spoke to them all together; and
they were all afraid."
XV. 2. "Go (Enoch), say to
the watchers of heaven * * *
Why have ye left the high holy
and everlasting heaven."
xxi. 2. "I saw there some
thing terrible, a void place, awful
and terrible. * * * And one of
the holy angels who was with me
said to me, * * * This is the
piison of the angels, and here
they are held to eternity "
Enoch xxii. 3, etc. "They
(beautiful places) have been cre
ated that here all the souls of the
sons of men might be assembled
* * * till the day of their judg
ment." Enoch xc, 20. "I saw till a
throne was built on the earth in
the pleasant land, and the Lord
of the sheep sat upon it, and he
took all the sealed books and
opened those books."
FMoch xl, 7. "I heard the
fourth voice keeping off the satans
(adversaries), and not allo-wing
them to come before the Lord of
the .spirits to accuse those who
dwell on the earth."
Enoch lxxxix. "He gave
them all into the pov/er of lions,
that they should tear and devour
them." Enoch vi, 2, etc. "And the
angels, the sons of the heavens
saw and lusted * * * and they
all swore together, and bound
themselves mutually by a cause."
Enoch vii, 5. "And they
(angels) began to sin against the
birds and the beasts * * * and
devoured their flesh, etc."

Appendix A

401

II Peter iii, IJ. "We, ac
cording to his promise, look for
new heavens and a new earth
wherein dwelleth righteousness.

I John i, j. " God is light,
and in him is no darkness at all."

Jude 6. "The angels which
kept not their first estate, but
left their own habitation, he hath
reserved in everlasting chains
under - darkness unto the judg
ment of the great day."

Jude I J. "Wandering stars
to whom is reserved the black
ness of darkness forever."

Enoch xvi, j. "Ye (fallen
angels) have been in heaven, and
though the secrets were not yet
revealed to you, ye knew illegiti
mate mysteries, and these ye
have, in the hardness of your
hearts, related to the women, and
through these mysteries women
and men increase wickedness
over the earth. Tell them there
fore. Ye have no peace."
Enoch xviii, ij. "This is a
prison for the stars of heaven and
for the hosts of heaven."
Enoch xci, 16, 17. "And
the first heaven will pass away
and cease. * * * And after that,
there will be many weeks, with
out number, to eternity, in good
ness and in righteousness, and
sin will not be mentioned from
that time on to eternity."
Em)ch I, I. "The light of
the days wil! dwell over them."
lviii, 6. "The light will be
mighty before the Lord of the
spirits, etc."
Enoch xviii, 14, Ij. "This
is the place of the consummation
of heaven and earth. It is a
prison for the stars of heaven,
and for the host of heaven. And
the stars that roll over the fire
are they who have transgressed
the command of God * * * and
he was angry with them, and
bound them till the time of the
consummation of their sins in
the year of the mystery."
Enoch xxi, 6. "These are
of the stars who have trans
gressed the command of God
Most High, and are bound here
till ten thousand worlds, * * *
shall have been consummated."
X, y. "Cover him with
darkness that he may remain
there forever,"

402 The Apocalypses
Jude 14. "Enoch also, the Enoch i, g. "Behold he
seventh from Adam, prophesied comes with myriads of the holy,
of these, saying, Behold, the to pass judgment upon them (the
Lord cometh, with ten thousand wicked), and will destroy the
of his saints, to execute judgment impious, and will call to account
upon all, and to convict all that all flesh for everything the sin-
are ungodly among them of their ners and the impious have done,
ungodly deeds, which they have and have committed against him.
impiously committed." Enoch xciii, j. "Enoch
commenced to relate from the
books, and said, I was born the
seventh in the first week."

More than forty features of St. John's Apocaij^se are in Enoch.
These are : The Judgment, Enoch i, g; x, 12- Lions and horses,
from the east, Rev. ix, 14; Enoch lvi, j. The blood of The Para
klete, Rev. V, g; xii, 11; Enoch xlvii, 4; xlviii, j. The abyss. Rev.
IX, II; Enoch xviii, 11, etc. The title "King of Kings," Rev. xix,
16; Enoch lxiii, 2, 7; lxxxiv, 2. The Son of Man on God's throne,
Rev. iii, 21; vii, Ij, 17; Enoch lv, 4; lxi, 8; lxii, 2, j. Denying
Messiah's name. Rev. iii, 8; xi, 18; Enoch xlviii, 10. The prayefs
of the dead for justice. Rev. vi, g, etc.; Enoch xi, etc. The sword
before the face of the Son of Man, Rev. ii, Ij; xix, Ij; Enoch lxii, 2;
lxiii, II. The secret name, Rev. ii, 17; iii, 12; Enoch lxix, 14. The
name "First and Last," Rev., ii, 8, etc.; Enoch lx, II. Eating and
dwelling -with the Son of Man, Rev. ii, 7; iii, 20; Enoch lxii, 8, 14; lxxi,
17. Overcoming (conquering). Rev. ii, 7, 11, 17, 26; iii, j, 12, 21;
Enoch I, 2. A new heaven, Rev. xxi, l; Enoch xci, 16. A volcanic
hell. Rev, xix, 20; Enoch x, ij; xc, 2j, etc. A cessation of darkness.
Rev. xxii, j; Enoch lviii, j. The book of Ufe, Rev. iii, j; xiii, 8, etc.;
Enoch xlvii, j; cviii, ij. The Chosen Ones, Rev. xvii, 14; Enoch
xxxviii, 2, 4, etc. Saints on thrones, Rev. iii, 21; v, 10; Enoch cviii, 12.
The Son of Man's White hair. Rev. i, 14; Enoch evi, 2. The Son of
Man's flaming eyes, Rev. i, 14; xix, 12; Enoch evi, 2. Prayers of the
'wicked to natural objects. Rev. vi, Ij; Enochlxxx, I. Horse'sbreast
deep in blood. Rev. xiv, 20; Enoch c, j. Cherubim (see page 34), Rev.
iv, 7, 8; Enoch xiv, ll;xx, 7. Angels gathering souls for the judgment,
Rev. xiv, 18; xlx, 17; Enoch c, 4. The tree of life, Sev. ii, 7; xxii,
2; Enoch xxv, 4, j, 6. Water of Ufe, Rev. xxii, I; Enoch xvii, 4.
Paradise, Rev. ii, 7; xxii, 2; Enoch xx, 7; lx, 2j, etc. Shame of
rich sinners. Rev. iii, 17; vi, ij; Enoch lxiii, 10. The root, rod, or

Appendix A 403
plant of God, Rev. v, j; xxii, l6; Enoch xciii, lO- The moon
changed, Rev. vi, 12: Enoch lxxx, 4. Sending out spirits, Rev. vii;
viii; xii, 7; Enoch often. A star faUen, as an angel becoming a king
of sin. Rev. ix, 1, 11; Enoch icviii, ij; lxxxvi, i, etc. Angels in
prison, Rev. xix, 20; xx, 17; Enoch x, ij; xxii, 4, etc. Sheol and
Hell gi'ving up the dead. Rev. xx, ij ¦ Enoch li, I. The Word of
God, Rev. i, 2; xix, Ij; Enoch xiv, 14. The serpent, Rev. xii, g;
XX I ; Enoch xx, 7. Angels measure the holy place and saints.
Enoch lxx; Rev. xi, i.

APPENDIX B.

ON II ESDRAS.

Only through acquaintance with The Hebrew Apocalyptical
System can II Esdras (sometimes named IV Ezra) be appreciated
or understood. All of the book after Chapter 'V is derived from, or
connected with that system of doctrine, and is an enumeration of its
elements. It is not a didactic treatise, nor an argument, nor a con
secutive sequence of principles, nor a prophecy in any proper sense.
It professes no new doctrines or ideas. It is simply one volume in a
literature that, in many forms, exhibits the recognized and approved
elements of The Hebrew Apocalyptical System. Just as The Psalms
and Isaiah mention those Apocalyptical ideas, using poetical and
rhetorical phrases for moral and spiritual efi^ects, so this book men
tions them, and aims to make them effective.
'When we analyze it, we find that not only its doctrines, but also
a great number of its figures and phrases, are those of the Hebrew
Apocalyptical System; and that the author mentions them in such
brief, casual, and disconnected sentences that he intimates plainly
that he supposes his readers to be already familiar with his ideas, and
in sympathy with them, and that therefore he is free to write only for
emotional or spiritual effects.
The following arrangement of a few sentences, selected from the
many, shows the book's way of marshaling the apocalyptical doctrines.
I. The Creator as Personal God, is viewed as in eternity, with the
emblems of his power and glory.
"O Lord, that dwellest in eternity, who, from above, beholdest
things in heaven and in the air; whose throne is inestimable; whose
glory is incomprehensible; before whom the hosts of the angels stand
with trembling; whose service is conversant with wind and fire, etc."
VIII, 20, etc.
II. Cod is revealed in his Word, who is his Son, and The Begin
ning and The Son oj Man. 405

4o6 The Apocalypses
"Stand upon thy feet, and hear a mighty sounding voice." VI, IJ.
"Thou spakest from the beginning of the creation." VI, 38.
"As soon as thy Word went forth, the work was done." VI, 43.
"A voice like many waters." VI, 17.
"When it speaketh, be not afraid; for the Word is of the End."
VI, Ij.
" I am come to show thee the time of the night to come." VI, JO.
"By his Word were the stars made," etc. XVI, j6.
"'Whereas thou sawest a Man coming up from the midst of the
sea: the same is He whom The Most High has kept a great season,
* * * and then shall My Son be declared, whom thou sawest as
a Man ascending." XIII, 2j, 26, 32.
"A voice called me.'' XIV, 38.
III. God decreed, in the beginning, a kingdom, in which his
Word is the Anointed One.
"In the beginning, when the Earth was made, before the bounds
of the Earth were fixed * * * I considered these things; and
they all were made through me alone: by me also shall they be ended."
VI, I to 6.
" O Lord, thou hast ordained that the righteous shall inherit these
things," etc. VII, 17.
" For their sakes I made the world, * * * then was decreed
what now is done." VII, II.
" The Most High spake of these things from the beginning * * *
The times of the Most High have endings in effects and signs,
* * * I have sanctified them from the beginning." IX, 4, 6, 8.
"I considered the world, and behold there was peril." IX, 20.
"This My Son shall rebuke the wicked inventions." XIII, 37.
"This (lion) is The Anointed whom the Most High has kept."
XII, 32.
"Thou shalt remain with My Son, and with such as be like thee,
until the times be ended." XIV, 8.
IV. Tlie jallen angels began sin.
This doctrine is omitted by Esdras.
V. Wicked men war against God. They are symbolized as beasts.
Chapters XI, XII and XIII exhibit wickedness as an eagle, which
has three heads, and twelve feathers, which again are divided and
grouped as twos, fours, eight and ten. There is in this some general
resemblance to Daniel's figurative beasts; and it is said "The eagle

Appendix B 407

which thou sawest come up from the sea is the kingdom which was
seen in the vision of thy brother Daniel." XII, ii.
Four beasts are described in XI.
"They despised the Most High, scorned his law, and forsook his
ways." VIII, j6.
VI. False religion is a leader in sin, ana is figured as a beast.
"The fourth beast came, and surpassed all the beasts, and had
power over the world * * * and so long time dwelt he upon the
earth with deceit." XI, 40.
VII. The Word will be present, at a middle time, as "The
Anointed," etc.
"'What shall be the parting of the time? Or when shall be
the end of the first, and the beginning of that which foUoweth?
VI, 7.
"The days come that I will begin to draw near, and to visit them
that dweU on the Earth." VI, 18.
"The time shaU come * * * and The Bride shall appear
* * * that now is -svithdrawn from the Earth. * * * My
Son Jesus shaU be revealed * * * after these years shaU My
Son The Anointed die." * * * VII, 28, 2g.
In verse 28, instead of "My Son Jesus," which occurs only in the
Latin version, the Ethiopic version says "My Anointed," and the
Arabic says "My Anointed Son."
VIII. Human souls never die.
"The Earth shaU restore those that are asleep in her." VII, 32.
"In the end is showed the treasure of immortality.'' VIII, J4.
IX. The kingdom is extended by fAelity and testimony.
This doctrine is omitted by Esdras.
X. The kingdom includes people oj all races.
This doctrine is omitted by Esdras.
XI. Sin and trouble continue till the end oj time.
f'The trumpet shall sound, which when every man heareth, they
shall be suddenly afraid. At that time shall friends fight one against
another * * * Whosover remaineth, from all these that I have
told thee, shaU escape and see my salvation, and the end of your
world," VI, 23-2 j.
"The day of doom shaU be the end of this time, and the begin
ning of the immortality to come, wherein corruption is past."
VII, 43-

4o8 The Apocalypses
"'When there shall be seen earthquakes, and uproars of the
people in the world." VIII, 3.
"There was gathered a multitude of men to subdue the Man that
came out of the sea (as a lion)." XIII, j.
XII. The Word oj Cod will come again jor a judgment oj souls oj
men. "My Son Jesus shall be revealed with those that be with him."
VII, 28.
"The Most High shaU appear upon the judgment seat." Vll, 33.
"'When the world, that shall begin to vanish away, shall be
finished, then will I show these tokens: the books shaU be finished
before the firmament, and they shall see all together." VI, 20.
"The Earth shall restore those that be asleep in her, and the dust
those that dwell in silence; and the secret places shall deliver those
souls that were committed unto thera." VII, 32.
"Lo, as it were a roaring lion; and he sent out a voice unto the
eagle and said, '* * * his abominations are fulfilled.' " XI, 37-44.
"The Uon * * * is The Anointed whom The Most High
hath kept. * * * And He shall set them before him aUve in
judgment, and shall rebuke and correct them." XII, 31-33.
" After death shall the judgment come, when we shall live again."
XIV, 35.
XIII. The wicked will be punished jorever.
"The ungodly shaU perish. VII, 17.
"Wicked, deeds shall bear no rule." VII, 3j.
"They that have loathed my law * * * must know it after
death by pain." IX, 12.
"Wo be unto them that are bound with their sins." XVI, 77.
XIV. The righteous will be happy jorever,
" O Lord! Thou has ordained that the righteous shall inherit these
things." VII, 17.
"Misery shall pass away, and the long suffering shall have
amend." VII, 33.
"There is promised to us an everlasting hope. And that there are
laid up for us dwellings of health and safety." VII, jO, jl.
"This is the life whereof Moses spoke." VII, jg.
"1 will rejoice over the disposition of the righteous, and"! will
remember also their pilgrimage, and the salvation, and the reward
that they shall have." VIII, 3g.

Appendix B

409

¦^ There shall be shown a Paradise, whose fruit endureth forever
* * * the faces of those that have used abstinence shall shine
above the stars." VII, J3-jj.
The following figures or symbols that are used in St. John's
Apocalypse are used in // Esdras.

St. John's Apocalypse.

II. Esdras.

Anointed One

1,1,:., 5; XI, 15
10; XX, 4, 6.

XII,

VII, 29; XII, 32.

Babylon as a wanton

XVII, XVIII.

XV, 46, 47-

Babylon's children

ll. 23.

XV, 57; XVI, 2.

killed

Book
V, 1-9; xvn, 8;
12; XXI, 27.
XX,
XII, 3, 7; XIV, 26-47.
City builded
XX, 10.
VIII, 52. X. 27, 42.
Earthquake
VL 12; VIII, 8.
IX, 3.
Fire out of a mouth
XLs-
XIII, 10, 27.
Hell-fire
XX, 10.
XIII, 38.
Lion (Son of God)
v,s.
XI, 3. 6, 37.
Paradise
11,7-
VII, S3; VIIL 52.
Plagues
II, 25.
XV, 5, II, 27; XV, 5,
8, 14, 37-
XVI, 5, 8, 14, 37-
Searching Spirit
ll, 23-
XV, 62.
Silence
VIII, I.
VII, 31.
Son of Woman
XIT, 5.
IX, 15; X. I.
Son of God
II, 18.
xm, 32. 37. 52; XIV,
Trumpet
VIII, 2, 7.
vni, 18; VI, 20, 23.
Tree of Life
II, 7; xxn, 22
vm, 52.
APPENDIX C
THE BOOK OF JOB
The book called Job is an Apocalypse, nothing more,
nothing less. In that fact all its mysteries find explan
ation. It has, however, a peculiar form, because it states so
briefly the first few and last few elements of the System
in symbolical figures, in prose, and then in poetry, reiter
ates all the doctrines, especially the central ones of the
System, at great length.
The book begins with a parable (i, i to 3), which
abruptly brings to view that which made necessary the
Messianic, or Apocalyptical, System, viz., human sin-
Job, a perfect man with wicked children, is made a symbol
of the eternal problem, viz.: How is there sin and misery
in the realm of perfect, omnipotent God, and what is to
be the end of it?
From this introduction, an Apocalypse starts, and
proceeds regularly to its end, in that sequence of sym
bols of doctrines which is detailed on pages 70 to 72.
First. God is conceived as in the seat of his govern
ment, and in the midst of holy spirits (i, 6; ii, i to
7). The poetical chapters add in words an in
comparable idea of God's nature and government.
He is specially mentioned as The Creator (xxxviii).
Second. Next, God is conceived as speaking, revealing
himself by his Word. Also, his first Word referred to
411

412 Xhe Apocalypses
the Son of Man, of whom Job is a symbol («', 8).
Thoughout the book, Job's words often represent
God's Word.
Third. Job, as the Son of Man, is called, by God, his
"Servant." This suggests "God's Kingdom," as
also do Satan's words about what God has done for
men (i, lo).
Fourth. Satan is mentioned as the Adversary of God
and men (i, 7 to 12; ii. 3 to 6).
Fifth. The numbers of Job's wicked children (/, 2),
three, seven, and ten, are the same symbols of the
kinds of sin as in Daniel (vii, 7, 8) and St. John's
Apocalypse. (See pages 65, 138, 139, 260.)
Sabeans and Chaldeans («, 13, 17) (the Greek ver
sion says Spearmen and Horsemen) are made sym
bols of triumphant violent wickedness, ravaging
God's earthly kingdom. The three bands (i, 17)
seem to be another figure of the number of chief
sins, the same as in Daniel.
Sixth. The sixth element of the System is the evil of
false doctrine, and vain sophistry. Here it is sym
bolized by three men who parade frivolous common
places as religious truths. Philo and the Apostles
make Balaam a symbol of this, (see pages 263, 306
to 308) his name signifying vain people.
That the writer oijob has Balaam in his mind as a
symbol is evident; for he calls the three speakers
"The People" (vii, 2), and their words "Vain" (xvi,
3), and the men "Forgers of lies" {viii, 4).
The number of the false prophets, three, seems to
indicate that there was some definite established
idea attached to it in connection with false doctrine;

Appendix C 4i3
for St. John, in the sixth item of two of his versions
of the Apocalypse (Rev. xiii, ii to 17 ; and xvi, 13,
14) makes the number of the falsehoods three, by
associating, in one offence, a dragon, a beast, and a
false prophet, as speakers of the same untruths.
The common apocalyptical idea, that wicked men
and false prophets are like beasts, is in xviii, 3.
Seventh. In the Apocalyptical System, the seventh item
includes all elements of the doctrine of thp actual
Kingdom of God on Earth. It, therefore, contains
two parts or groups; one of which embraces the
representation of the characters and performances
assumed bythe Messiah; and the other includes the
doctrines of the facts and philosophy of the nature,
necessities, and performances, of the human Subjects,
or Children of the Kingdom.
Job is made a symbol of The Messiah. He is
brought in by the half-seven symbol of The Word
of God (see pages 65 to 68), as Daniel in i, 17 ; iii, 25,
etc., by making him speak after three other persons.
(See pages 84, 125, 137, 150.)
In several ways it is suggested that Job is a type
of the Divine Archetypal Man, or Son of Man
(^see i, 8,22; iii, 3 ; xiv, /; xxv, 4, 6); and in xxxviii,
21, he is distinctly mentioned as having been born
before the creation of the world. The language of
vii, 17, 18, is almost a paraphrase of Psalm viii, 4,
6, and both paragraphs are apocalyptical references
to the Messianic Son of Man. (See page 41.)
Job is also a type of The Divine Witness (xlii, 7),
and of The Paraklete (Advocate) (i, 3; xlii, 10).

414 The Apocalypses
He is also a symbol of the apocalyptical "Lord of
Lords and King of Kings." (/, 3.)
Perhaps Job's abasement and cure are symbols of
The Messiah's death and rising.
In his typical humanity, as Son of Man, Job,
although sinless, shares the miseries of the "Living
Death" {ch. iii), of which the Apocalyptists say so
much (see pages 131, 261), and is made to say, "I
repent in dust and ashes," thus introducing the
suggestion of that necessity of human repentance
which the Apocalyptists demand, {xlii, 6.) (See
pages 79, 165, 166, 206.)
In all Apocalypses, the Messianic Kingdom in
cludes a knowledge of God, coming to men from
God's personal Word and from spiritual revelations.
This, in the book of Job, seems to be symbolized
by making Job, Elihu, and an unexplained voice,
speak for God and truth. Perhaps there is here a
strong hint of The Holy Trinity.
Eighth. Resurrection, or perpetual life, is symbolized
by Job's recovery, {xlii, 10, 12.) The words of
Job xix, 23, 26, have always been cherished as
among the clearest of the Old Testament's affirma
tions of human immortality. Immortality is also
implied in xiv, 13, to 13; xxxiii, 30.
Ninth. The presentation of the ninth element of "The
System" is, to the majority of readers, the chief
characteristic of the book Job. Job typifies the
faithful life and preaching of the Subjects of the
Messiah's Kingdom on Earth, and also the triumph
of the Kingdom in which "They Conquer." (See

Appendix C 415
vii, I ; Rev. ii, 7, 11, 17, 26; iii, 4, 12, 21.)
Tenth. Many races and families are represented in
Job's auditors.
Eleventh. It is implied that the world continued as
before.
Twelfth. The vital principle, that God judges sin, is a
great feature of the whole book.
The poetical discussions declare a judgment
coming, (xix, 2g; xxi, 30.)
The numerical symbol of the last advent of the
Messiah is introduced in xlii, 16, as the term of Job's
life. In Hebrew symbolism, and the apocalyptical
books, seventy is a symbol of a presence of The
Word — Son of God. (See pages 67, 155.)- Job's life
of twice seventy years seems a plain symbol of a
second presence {parousia). Perhaps it is the same
¦ as the two resurrections in Rev. xx^ 6 ; xxi, 3, or "One
two Christs in Rev. xi, 2, 12. (See pages 246 to 248.)
Thirteenth and Fourteenth. The state of the good and
the bad in the future life may not be figured in the
parable by symbols; but the tenor of all the poetical
discussion proclaims the System of the government
of God, which has its logical end in the future bliss
of the saints with God, the Savior, while sin has its
just permanent result to the wicked.
Besides the orderly presentation in Job of the features
ofthe "Apocalyptical System," there are scattered through
the book a great many of the words, phrases, and figures
that are used by other apocalyptists for ideas that have
their origin and place only in that System ; just as a great
many are scattered through the book called Second
Esdras. They are not orderly, like flower beds in a

4i6 Thfe Apocalypses
garden, but are like selected plants set here and there,
and flowering amid grasses and bushes, e. g. :
God's call to The Paraklete. {xiii, 22; xiv, 13.) (See
pages 56, 57, 78.)
Branches cut down, (xxi, 18; xix, 10; xxiv, 20, 24.)
Roots dried, (xviii, 16.) (See pages 83, 130.)
Living death, (iii, 21.) (See page 261.)
Righteousness a clothing, {xxix, 14.) (See page 227.)
God's rod. (xxi, g.) (Seepages 225 and 292.)
Gates of death, (xxxviii, 77.) {Rev. /, 18.)
God's secret, (xxix, 4.) (See pages 77, 79, 241, 242,
291.) Sons of God. (i, 6; ii, i.) (Compare Rom. viii, J4, 16.)
Hope, (xi, 18.) (Compare Rom. viii, 20 to 23.)
The portion of God from above, and the heritage of
The Almighty, (xxxi, 2.) (Compare Rom. viii, 16, 17.)
Groaning, {xxiii, 2; xxiv, 12.) (Compare Rom. viii,
23, 26.)
In chapters 40 and 41, there is a peculiar element
that must puzzle every thoughtful reader. In chapter
38, there is commenced a kind of a hymn on the glory
of* God as a Creator. First it refers to his grander
works, as suggested by Genesis i. In chapter 39 it
ceases to speak of God, and mentions various living
creatures. In chapter 40, it first speaks words for God
that are majestic and exalted ; but in verse i S it begins
to speak of a great animal called Behemoth.
In Hebrew, the word Behemah means either cattle or
beasts. Its plural form is behemoth, which in Hebrew
may mean either many beasts or a great beast. Here it
seems to mean the elephant.

Appendix C 4^7
In chapter 41, another great beast is called Leviathan.
What is said of these beasts begins and ends in nothing.
It does not seem to praise God or teach anything.- No
explanation appears in any other part of the Bible; but
there is an explanation to a certain degree in other
Apocalyptical literature, as follows:
The book of Enoch (Chapter lx) says: "When the day and
the power and the punishments, and judgments come, which the
Lord of the Spirits has prepared * * * a day of covenant for the
chosen ones, and a trial for the sinners. * * * On that day, two
monsters will be separated, a female monster named Leviathan
to dwell in the depth of the sea, over the fountains of the waters.
But the masculine one is named Behemoth, who occupies with
his breast a void desert called Dendain in the east of the garden
where the chosen and holy will dwell, where my grandfather
(Enoch), the seventh from Adam, was taken up. * * * And I
asked the other Angel to show me the power of those monsters,
how they were separated in one day, and how one descended
into the depths of the sea, and the other went to the desert. And
he said to me, "Thou Son of Man, thou desirest to know here
that which is a secret." * * * And the Angel of Peace, who was
with me, said to me: "These two monsters are prepared to be
fed, according to the greatness of God, that the punishments from
God be not in vain ; and sons will be killed with their mothers, and
children with their fathers. When the punishments from the Lord
of the Spirits rest over them it will rest ; so that the punishments
from the Lord of the Spirits may not come in vain over those.
After that there will be a judgment in his mercy and patience."
// Esdras, vi, 4g to 31, says: "Thou ordainedst two living
creatures, the one thou calledst Enoch, and the other Leviathan ;
and didst separate the one from the other; for the seventh
part, where the water was gathered together, might not hold
them both. Unto Enoch thou gavest one part, which was dried
up in the third day {Gen. i, g), that he should dwell in the same,
wherein are a thousand hills. But unto Leviathan. thou gavest
the seventh part, namely the wet, and hast kept him to be
devoured of whom thou wilt and when."

4i8 The Apocalypses
The book called II Esdras is a late apocryphal book
filled with the Messianic doctrines and Apocalyptical
figures. (See Appendix B.) It is worthy of an extended
study. It exists only in Latin and Ethiopic versions and
translations from these. The above quotation is from the
Latin text. The Ethiopic text calls the beast Behemoth
instead of Enoch. We may reasonably conjecture in
the original text the name was Behemoth, and that
in place, or explanation, of this, some Greek wrote
Elephas (Elephant), and then some one else wrote elpis
for elephas. He may have done this partly because both
words would be written elps in Shemitic letters. He
may have done it because elpis means hope, and, in
Hebrew, hope is Enoch (see page 354), and he understood
from Enoch lx, 8 that Enoch was mixed in' the matter.
It seems, clear that Behemoth and Leviathan, in the
Apocalyptical System, are symbols of some doctrine.
There is reason tb believe that they symbolize the destruc
tive forces, physical and moral, that cause physical and
moral death to human beings.
This conjecture seems to have confirmation in Enoch's
next chapter (lxi), which portrays Angels measuring the
Just Ones (compare Rev. xi, /) and revealing the secrets
of the depths of the Earth ; and also portrays souls who
have been destroyed by the desert, and by fish, and by beasts,
who are to be with God's Chosen One when on his
throne, in blissful life, praising God.
In a general way we may say that Job xl and xli seem
unfinished and broken ; but what is said of Behemoth and
Leviathan seems to strongly mark the book of Job as
being distinctly an Apocalyptical composition.

Appendix C 419
The word Leviathan is not known as the specific
name of any creature in any language. It occurs in the
Hebrew Bible only in the following texts, viz.:
Psalm 74, 14. Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in
pieces. Thou gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the
wilderness. (Compare last line of page 417.)
Psalm 104, 26. There (in the sea) is leviathan, whom thou
hast formed to take his pastime therein.
Isaiah 27, i. In that day the Lord, with his great and strong
sword, shall punish leviathan, the swift serpent, and leviathan,
the crooked serpent, and he shall slay the dragon that is in
the sea. All of these are Messianic parts of the Bible. The
words Behemoth and Leviathan seem to have come into
use only with the Messianic literature, and as parts of its
symbolisms. Both seem to have signified a great beast,
and to have been applied to particular animals, as any
writer might choose, according to his mystical intent.
In Job, Behemoth maybe rhinoceros, elephant or buffalo,
but not hippopotamus, and Leviathan seems to be the
crocodile, and symbol of Egypt, as it is in Psalm 74, 12
to 13, which, like Isaiah 12, is a reference to the Psalm
of Moses in Exod. 13, so much used by Philo and Saint
John. (See pages 268, and 274 to 280.) In Psalm 74,
14 and // Esdras vi. 51, the leviathan might be the hip
popotamus. Etymologically, leviathan may be a variant of elephant,
which itself is of uncertain origin. Or it might be
the African Arabic word lebia (pronounced levia) which
means lion or lioness, and is perhaps the root of the
Latin leo. The th may be the common Shemitic femi
nine wordend. The final n may be the common Shemitic
plural wordend.

420 The Apocalypses
THE BOOK OF JONAH
This book is simply an apocalypse, presenting, in
figures, the items of the Hebrew Apocalyptical Sys
tem in the usual sequence. We compare its elements
with those of the System as shown on pages 70 to 72.
First. It shows God as a Ruler (/, /), and Creator (z, g).
Second. God's Word is uttered, and connected with
human beings. (/, /, 2.)
Third. God's kingdom is the opposite of a bad human
one. Nineveh here is the same symbolism that
Babylon is in Daniel, Isaiah, and St. John's Apoc
alypse. (See pages 274, 288.)
Fourth. The fish is the symbol of Satan as a beast.
Fifth. All the men in the story are sinners. Jonah
symbolizes human rebellion against God, and alsp
is a symbol of Living Death (see pages 130, 131,
261), and of subjection to a beast. (See Rev.
xii, 4.)
Sixth. False religion is symbolized by the heathen sail
ors, who deliver Jonah to the beast, and by the
Ninevites, some of whom had a great philosophical
religion, while many (120,000) were densely ignor
ant of moral and spiritual truth. (See iii, 11.)
Jonah is much like Balaam (see pages 263, 306,
308), like whom he utters a psalm of great excel
lence. This mentions Vanities (ii, 8), which is what
Philo says Balaam symbolizes.
Seventh. The Messianic doctrines of "The System"
are all strongly depicted in this book. The Word
of God a second time (Hi,. 2, 3), and effectively, is
on Earth. It follows three days of delay, and so
makes just such a half-seven symbol as is common
in Daniel and elsewhere. (See pages 70, 128, 129,

Appendix C 421
137, 150.) Its advent into Nineveh is made again
a half-seven symbol by the mention of "Three
days." It becomes in Nineveh "The Witness" and
"The Advocate." (Chapter iv?)
In this connection, chapter ii is of extraordinary
interest. As a prayer of praise it classes with those
of Daniel ix, and Enoch lxxxiv. (See page 146.)
As a poem it classes with Psalm xxiii, and complies
with the same test of Messianism that is instituted
on page 313. (See ii, 4, 7.) It is so like Psalm
xlii that it seems like a part of the same composi
tion; and, in verse 3, it quotes verse 7 of that psalm.
It classes with Exod. xv, and Rev. xv, 3, which, as
studied on pages 273 to 278, are most important
and fascinating biblical literature, which Philo illu
minates. The seclusion of the Word with Jonah, in the fish,
seems to symbolize God's delay of salvation, which
Enoch lxxii calls " Hiding The Son of Man," and
which Jesus called "Hiding again the hidden treas
ure." (Matt, xiii.) (See pages 80, 173.)
Eighth. Jonahls prayer in iv, i to g is, the same figure
as the prayers of the saints in Heaven in other
apocalypses (see pages 78, 221), where it implies
human immortality.
Ninth. Jonah depicts like all other apocalypses the
character of God's kingdom. The Word is pro
claimed. Repentance is demanded, and men re
pent. Wicked men glorify the real God of Heaven
in Nineveh, as Daniel says Nebukadnezzar did in
Babylon, with words rivaling the best heard in Jeru
salem. (See Dan. iii, 2g; iv, 34, 37.)

42 2 The Apocalypses
Tenth. The sinners addressed are of various races, for
Nineveh was metropolitan.
Eleventh. Sin did not cease with the conversion of the
few. God's forbearance is the same that Jesus
figured in Matt, xiii, 30.
Twelfth. The perishing of Jonah's gourd vine (iv, 6, 7)
seems to be the same figure as the hewntree symbol
in Dan. iv, and John the Baptist's figure in Matt.
iii, 10, and Jude's figure (verse 12) of trees "Twice
dead, plucked up by the roots." (See pages 129,
365.) It embodies the idea of a day of judgment.
Jonah's prophecy of forty days' delay of judgment
may be based on the common Hebrew system of
symbolical numbers: for the number four would
symbolize half-seven (see pages 70, 126, 129, 137,
150), and its multiplication by the highest digit
(the symbol of extreme imperfection) might sym
bolize the Judgment Day as delayed, and sin not
ceasing till that day. (Compare Philo on seventy,
on page 67.)
Thirteenth. The threats uttered by Jonah have for their
base God's moral attitude towards sin and its pun
ishment.
Fourteenth. Jonah's psalm (chapter ii) is symbolical of
the joy of saints in Heaven. In ii, 2 the words are
like parts of Enoch I, li. (quoted on pages 79, 320)
and suggest the doctrines of Rev. xx, 13. (See
pages 314, 320.) The mentions of "The Temple"
in ii, 4, 7, like those in other apocalyptical psalms
mentioned on page 313, suggest Rev. xi, i ; Hi, 12.
(See page 250.) The resurrection is suggested by
ii, 6 to g; for Salvation is a word of great meaning.

Appendix C 423
The statement that Ninevites did not know their right
hand frora their left, may be illuminated by historical
facts. Nineveh was in Missopotamia, a territory that had
been the battle-ground of races, was the center of a large
slave population, was identified neither with the East or
the West, and never had any long abiding predominant
race, nor a racial civilization or literature. It began to
receive influences from Syria before the period of Persian
supremacy; and this influence increased until after the
conquests of Alexander The Great, when the Aramaic
alphabet was takfen up by India, and sent on to the races
of northern and southern Asia.
From Syria to Nineveh two types of civilization,
philosophy, and literature, contended, viz.: the Shemitic,
which was mainly Hebre'w, and the European of the
Greeks and Romans. The Shemites wrote from right to
left, and the Europeans wrote from left to right. "Right
handed and left handed literature" was a good naming of
all that a Syrian would value; and the people that knew
neither, or could not choose between the two, was to a
Syrian a pitiful or despised object, a proper object for
the missionary to attack.

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