Page:Lives of the apostles of Jesus Christ (1836).djvu/372

 *ported by ancient authorities of dubious date; but there are important objections to the idea of the composition of both this and the Apocalypse, in the same place, during about one year, which was the period of his exile. There seem to be many things in the style of the gospel which would show it to be a work written at a different period, and under different circumstances from the Apocalypse; and some Biblical critics, of high standing, have thought that the gospel bore marks in its style, which characterized it as a production of a much older man than the author of the energetic, and almost furious denunciations of the Apocalypse, must have been. In this case, where ancient authority is so little decisive, it is but fair to leave the point to be determined by evidence thus connected with the date, and drawn from the internal character of the composition itself,—a sort of evidence, on which the latest moderns are far more capable of deciding than the most ancient, and the sagest of the Fathers. The date itself is of course inseparably connected with the determination of the place, and like that, must be pronounced very uncertain. The greatest probability about both these points is, that it was written at Ephesus, after his return from Patmos; for the idea of its being produced before his banishment, during his first residence in Asia, has long ago been exploded; nor is there any late writer of authority on these points, who pretends to support this unfounded notion.

HIS FIRST EPISTLE.

All that has been said on the character and the objects of the gospel, may be exactly applied to this very similar production. So completely does it resemble John's gospel, in style, language, doctrines and tendencies, that even a superficial reader might be ready to pronounce, on a common examination, that they were written in the same circumstances and with the same object. This has been the conclusion at which the most learned critics have arrived, after a full investigation of the peculiarities of both, throughout; and the standard opinion now is, that they were both written at the same time and for the same persons. Some reasons have been given by high critical authority, for supposing that they were both written at Patmos, and sent together to Ephesus,—the epistle serving as a preface, dedication, and accompaniment of the gospel, to those for whom it was intended, and commending the prominent points in it to their particular attention. This beautiful and satisfactory view of the object and occasion of