ftances ought not to be ftrained, nor the truth of history be founded upon it. Secondly, we must take the ftory, as it is related by Clement, and other ancient authors. Clement e placeth it after the death of the tyrant, by whom John had been banished: and Eufebius fuppofeth him to mean Domitian. Thirdly, if St. John lived in Afia two, or three, or four years after his return from Patmos, that is time enough for the events of this ftory. Sir Ifaac adds in the fame place: And John in his old age was fo infirm, as to be carried to church, dying above ninety years old and therefore could not be then fuppofed able to ride after the thief.' Nevertheless in the original account, which we have of this affair, St. John is exprefsiy called f an old man: Sir Ifaac therefore has no right to make him young; for that would be making a new ftory. If a man allows himfelf fo to do, and argues upon it; the neceffary confequence is, that he deceives himfelf and others. Upon the whole, I fee not much weight in any of these arguments of Sir Ifaac Newton; and must adhere to the common opinion, that St. John was banifhed into Patmos, in the reign of Domitian, and by virtue of his edicts for perfecuting the Chriftians, in the latter part of his reign. Says Mr. Lampe: Alle antiquity is agreed, that St. John's banishment was by order of Domitian.' VI. We fhould now inquire, when St. John was released, or how long his banishment lafted. h According to Tertullian, Domitian's perfecution was very fhort, and the emperor himfelf, before he died, recalled thofe whom he had banished. Hegefippus likewife fays, that i Domitian by an edict put an end to the perfecution which he had ordered. Eufebius fays, that after the death of Domitian, John returned from his banifhment.' And before, in another chap ter of the fame book, he said more largely: After 1 Domitian had reigned fifteen years, Nerva fucceeded him, and the Roman Senate decreed, that the honourable titles bestowed upon Domitian fhould be abrogated, and moreover, that they who had been banished by him might return to their 'homes, and repoffefs their goods, of which they had been ' unjustly deprived. This we learn from fuch as have written the hiftory of thofe times. Then therefore, as our ancestors fay, the apostle John returned from his banishment, and again took up his abode at Ephefus.' Jerom, in his book of Illuftrious Men, fays: When m 'Domitian had been killed, and his edicts had been repealed by the Senate, because of their exceffive cruelty, John returned to Ephefus in the time of the emperor Nerva.' n I place below a paffage of the martyrdom of Timothy in Photius, and another of Suidas, faying, that after Domitian's death, when Nerva was emperor, St. John returned from his banishment. This is alfo agreeable to the general accounts in Dion Caffius, and a the author of the Deaths of Perfecutors. ૧ Indeed, Hegefippus and Tertullian, as before obferved, intimate, that the perfecution of Domitian ended before his death. But it is very remarkable, that Eufebius r having quoted both of them, gives a different account, as we saw juft now. And, as learned men have obferved, it is a great prejudice to their authority in this point, that Eufebius does not follow them, but prefently afterwards differs from them. It seems probable therefore, that St. John, and other exiles, did not return from their banishment, until after the death of Domitian which is the opinion of Bafnage, and likewife of t Cellarius. Domitian την δομετιανε τελευτην επανελθών φυγης. ασέβεια αφήκε, και τες φεύγοντας κατηEaf. H. E. 1. 3. cap. 23. in. H. E. 1. 3. cap. 20. p. 9o. B. C. Νερβα δε τα ρωμαικο κρατες το γαγε. κ. λ. Dio. 1. 62. in. p. 769. a De M. P. cap. 3. r H. E. 1. 3. cap. 20. $ Utrum Domitianus decretum revocarit, difficilis quæftio eft. Sic enim antiquorum nonnullis vifum. Hegefippus... Hegefippo afentitur et Tertullianus... Contra vero nobilis hiftoricus Dio, qui rerum Romanarum Hegelippo peritior erat, et Tertulliano, difertiffime teftatur, Nervæ indulgentia Domitian" is computed to have died Sept. 18. A. D. 96.1 after having reigned fifteen years, and fome days. Nerva * died the 27th day of Jan. 98, after having reigned one year four months, and nine days. Therefore Trajan began his reign Jan. 27. A. D. 98. If the perfecution of Domitian began in the fourteenth year of his reign, and St. John was fent to Patmos that year, and reftored in the beginning of the reign of Nerva, his exile could not laft more than two years, perhaps not much above a year. If St. John's life reached to the third year of the reign of Trajan, which is the opinion of Cave and many others, he lived three years after his return from Patmos : if it reached to the fourth year of Trajan, as Bafnage thought, he must have lived four years after his return. Or, in other words: if St. John returned about the end of the year 96, or the beginning of 97, and did not die till the year 101, he lived four years in Afia, after his return from Patmos. If he died in the year 100, he lived three years after his return. VII. Having now faid of St. John all that is needful by way of hiftory, we come to his writings, of which there are five generally afcribed to him: a gofpel, three epiftles, and the Revelation: two of which, the gospel, and the first epistle, are univerfally received as genuine. Now I fpeak of the gofpel only. And here in the first place I fhall recite the accounts of the ancients, but chiefly fuch, as Prol. 1. 1. cap. 4. § ix. Vid. et indulgentia revocatos fuiffe Chrif. tianos: Nerva autem eos qui damnati erant impietatis abfolvit, exulefque re- z Interfecto Domitiano Epheftituit. Neque alia mens Lactantio fum rediit ann. Chr. 97. in qua, de Mort. Perf. cap. 3. Bafnag. ut et in regionibus circumviann. 96. num iv. Cellar. de cinis, reliquum vitæ tranfegit, et Septem. ecclefiis Afiæ. cap. xvii.-... anno Chr 100. Trajani 3. juxBafnag ann. 96. n. xiii. ta Eufebium et Hieronymum, anno uno aut altero centenario major... in Domino placide obdoimivit. Cav. H. L. T. 1. p. 16. XX. u * Bafn. A. D. 98.i. Pagi. ann. 98. ii. In alterum tantum annum ad fummum duravit, quando Nerva fuccedens Domitiano exules revocavit, et cum eis Joannem, uti ex vetulliorum fide refert Eufebius, 1. 3. H. E. cap. 20.... Que qui dem eo majorem fidem merentur, quia ipfe Dio, feu ex eo Xiphilinus, revocationem exulum Chrif tianorum Nervæ tribuit. Lampe a Cæterum cum ex antiqua traditione hauftum videatur, Joannem fenio confectum, 68, poft paflionem anno mortuum effe, quæ in 33 ære noftræ incidit, probabilis elt conjectura, Joannem anno labente finem hujus lucis inveniffe. Bain. A. 101. n. ii. concern concern the time when it was written; omitting many other teftimonies, as not neceffary to be mentioned now, though very valuable in themselves: after which we will obferve the the judgments of learned moderns concerning the fame point; I mean, the time when it was written. Irenæus having spoken of the gofpels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, adds: Afterwards John the difciple of the Lord, who alfo leaned upon his breaft, likewife published a gospel, 'whilft he dwelled at Ephefus in Afia.' In another place he fays: John the difciple of the Lord 'declaring this faith, and by the publication of the gospel 'defigning to root out the error, which had been fown among 'men by Cerinthus, and long before by those who are called 'Nicolaitans thus began in the doctrine, which is according to the gospel: In the beginning was the Word.' d In another place of the fame ancient writer are these expreffions: As John the difciple of the Lord affures us, faying: But thefe are written, that ye might believe, that Jefus is the Chrift, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name. [ch. xx. 30.] Forefeeing thefe blafphe'mous notions that divide the Lord, fo far as it is in their 'power.' In the preceding paffage Irenæus fpeaks, as if St. John's gofpel was written after the rife of Cerinthus, and other herefies: but here he seems to fay, that it was written before them, and foreseeing them. In like manner afterwards, in the fame chapter, he fays of Paul: as he fays: It is Chrift that died, yea rather that is rifen, who is at the right hand of God. Rom. 'viii. 34. And again, Knowing that Christ being raised from See vol. II. p. 158. Hanc fidem annuntians Joannes Domini difcipulus, volens per Evangelii annuntiationem auferre eum, qui a Cerintho infeminatus erat hominibus errorem, et multo prius ab his qui dicuntur Nicolaitæ, qui funt vulfio ejus, quæ falfo cognominatur fcientia. . . . Sic inchoavic in ea quæ eft fecundum evangelium doctrina. In principio erat verbum, &c. Adv. Hær. 1. 3. cap. xi. p. 188. Bened. d quemadmodum Joannes Domini difcipulus confirmat, dicens, Hæc autem fcripta funt, ut credaris, quoniam Jefus eft Filius Dei, the dead, dies no more, ch. vi. 9. For he alfo forefeeing by the fpirit, the divifions of evil teachers, and being defirous to 'cut off from them all occafion of diffenfion, fays what has been juft quoted.' f Clement, of Alexandria, fpeaking of the order of the gof pels, according to what he had received from prefbyters of more ancient times, fays: Laft of all John obferving, tha in other gofpels thofe things were related, which concern the humanity of Chrift, and being perfuaded by his friends, and alfo moved by the fpirit of God, he wrote a fpiritual gofpell Here it is fuppofed, not only, that St. John wrote the laft o the four, but likewife, that he had seen the gospels of th other three evangelifts. 3 Origen fpeaks of all the four gofpels in our prefent orde that is, Matthew's firft, and John's laft. A long paffage of Eufebius concerning St. John's gospe may be seen vol. IV. p. 224–227. It cannot be omitted her But it fhall be abridged. And that it has been justly place by the ancients the fourth in order, and after the oth three, may be made evident.-For Matthew delivered h gofpel to the Hebrews. And when Mark and Luke all had published the gofpels according to them, it is faid, the John who all this while had preached by word of mouth, wi at length induced to write for this reafon. The three fir written gofpels being now delivered to all men, and to Joh himself, it is faid, that he approved them, and confirmed th truth of their narration by his own teftimony, faying: Th was only wanting a written account of the things d by Chrift, in the former part, and near the beginning preaching-And, certainly, that obfervation is true Epiphanius fpeaks of St. John's gofpel, as the! four. He alfo fays, that St. John wrote it, after! declined fo doing through humility, when he wa of age, and when he had lived in Afia many ye turn thither from Patmos, in the time of the e He moreover fays in feveral places, the occafioned by the errors of the Ebionites, other heretics. h |