the book of Revelation." There is no evidence making this probable. Papias was bishop of Hierapolis in Asia from 110 to 116 A. C., and introduced the opinion of the Millenarians; (a) he wrote a work entitled "An explication of the oracles of the Lord;" but he has left nothing to show that he ever saw the Apocalypse,

Justin Martyr, who composed an apology for the Christians, and suffered death about the year 167, says, " And a man among us by name John, one of the apostles of Christ, in the revelation made to him, has prophesied the believers in our Christ shall live a thousand

years in Jerusalem; and after that shall be the general, and in a word, the eternal resurrection, and judgment of all men to

a Lardner.

gether." This indeed resembles that passage in the Apocalypse which says that, the martyrs lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years, and that the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. Justin may have seen some of the Apocalypses. from which that which we now have was in part compiled; but I cannot agree that he ever saw the Apocalypse, in the form in which it now appears.

Polycarp, who suffered death about the year 166, in his works, quotes and refers to Matthew, Luke, The Acts, and ten of the Epistles; but he never mentions The Revelation. He wrote on the resurrection, and the last judgment; and he uses this expression, "Do we not know that the saints shall judge the world, as Paul teaches?"(b) If Polycarp

1 Col. 6. 2.

had known such a book as The Revelation of St. John the divine, and considered it as the work of John the apostle, he would, most assuredly, have quoted it when writing on such subjects; and had the work existed in his time, it must have been known to him; as he was for many years bishop of Smyrna, one of the seven churches.

Marcion, 144, received ten of the epistles of Paul; but he never mentioned the Apocalypse. Tatian, 172, received the gospels, and several of Paul's epistles; but he never mentioned the Apocalypse. Theodotus of Byzantium, 187, mentioned the books of John, Matthew, Luke, The Acts, and the epistles to Timothy, the Romans, the Galatians, and the Corinthians; but he said nothing of the Apocalypse.

Athenagoras of Alexandria, who,

about 177 or 180, wrote an apology for the Christians, speaks of a general opinion among them, that at the time of the resurrection, "the earth shall deliver up her dead;" but in writing a discourse of the resurrection of the dead, he never quotes or refers to the Apocalypse; a strong presumptive proof that no such work was known to him.

The Apocalypse is not mentioned in the writings of Theophilus bishop of Antioch, 181. Eusebius indeed has said

that, Theophilus in a book against Hermogenes, brought proof from the Apocalypse; but Eusebius is a writer of doubtful credit; and this unsupported hearsay testimony of his, is unsatisfactory. Theophilus says that the evil dæmon does not cease to accuse;

"this

dæmon is also called the dragon." This

may have furnished a hint to the writer of the Apocalypse.

Ireneus, bishop of Lyons in Gaul, who is supposed to have died in 202, speaks of the Apocalypse, and says, "It was seen no long time ago, but almost in our age, at the end of the reign of Domitian." In the fragments left by him, which are only found extant in a barbarous latin version, is this passage;* "As also John in the Revelation says, The incense is the prayers of the saints."(c)

It is said that Praxeas, from 194 to 207, argued from the Revelation, first chapter and eighth verse, "I am Alpha and Omega, &c."

Caius, a presbyter of Rome, from 210

to 217, as we are told by Eusebius,

1

* Lardner doubts whether this passage be genuine.

c Rev. 8. 3.