Could Jesus be the Revealer of God and of Son- ship with God and yet be under illusion as to the end of the world? Yes, because human life in- volves this ignorance, and the Son of God was made flesh. And yes, again, because the illusion was to Him the transparent veil of the certainty that the Righteous Father lived and reigned.
But what of the religion of the future? Must we not leave eschatology and put evolution in its place? No, because these are not alternatives. Evolution no more excludes eschatology than science excludes religion. No, again, because one cannot have religion without eschatology. To the religious man human history is not a mere spectacle. It is a work in which he is involved as a partner with God. It is the working out of God's purpose. And it must have an end, because God must fulfil Himself. Only, let our eschatology be a thing of dignity and freedom. Let it be reserved even when it speaks with effusion. Let it never be separated from the spirit of moral discipline and religious worship. Let it be ' in the spirit on the Lord's Day,' and go with Him to a height where we see more than ' all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them ' because we see Him. Let it be 'a companion in tribulation' with the hum- blest of men and women, who are the servants of God and the redeemed of Jesus Christ. Fulfilling these conditions, it will recover (should it have lost it) the note of authority that is struck in the NT and attains such lofty expression in the Apoca- lypse of John. If we do not call this note science, it is because we must use a greater word and call it prophecy. The heart of Christian prophecy is the ' testimony of Jesus.' It is the confidence gained not from man but from God, that history has no otiier end than the reconciliation of sinful man to God through Jesus Christ, and the reign of holi- ness and love in their hearts. The ' Lamb' is also
* This point is clearly and admirably brought out in reference to our Lord in C. W. Emmet's article {Expositor, 8th ser. xxiii. [1912] 423) entitled, ' Is the Teaching of Jesus an Interims- ethikf
APOLLONIA
APOLLOS
81
' the Lion of the tribe of Judah ' who has prevailed to open the book of human destiny. ' Jolm ' used largely the language of primitive religious im- agination to convej" his prophecj^, and who Avill say that in his hands the language has not shown itself tit ? If the modem Christian prophet thinks he can do better with the language of evolution, let him put his belief to the test of experiment.
In its passage seawards, the river of life is joined by innumerable tributaries. But there is only one force of gravity, and only one main stream. The tributaries reach the ocean only by first reaching the main stream. There is some- thing in God that is akin to everything that is human, yet it may well be that nothing human reaches the end or fulfilment of God — nothing, as 'John' might say, receives the 'crown of life' or finds its ' name written in the Lamb's book of life ' — save through the channel of the sacrificial will and the heart of faith. These do not come by evolution or any involuntary process. They come through the travail of self-discipline and prayer and sympathy with our fellows. And, when they come, it is by vision and revelation. It may surely be claimed that the abiding and the loftiest witness to this in literature is the Apocalypse of John.
Literature. — The handbooks, C. A. Scott's 'Revelation,' in the Century Bible, London, 1905, and F. C. Porter's The Messages of the Apocalyptical Writers, do. 190.5, will be found (esp. the latter) extremely helpful. Of the larger commentariea may be mentioned : J. Moffatt (EGT ; see esp. ' Literature ' in the Introduction) ; Liicke-deWette, Bonn, 1S52 (epoch-making for the modern method of interpretation); W. Bousset, Gottingen, 1906 (' Excursuses' and history of the interpretation of the Apocalypse speciallj' valuable) ; J. Weiss, in Sehriften d. NT neu ubersetzt u. Jiir d. Gegenwart erkldrt, do. 1908. For Biblical Eschatology may be noted : A. Titius, Die neutest. Lehre von der Seli;ikeit, Tubingen, 1895-1900 ; E. Haupt, Die egchat. Aiissagen Jesu in den si/n. Evang., Berlin, 1895; and L. A. Muirhead, Eschatol. of Jesics, London, 1904 (the two last for the Gospels). For the Epistles of St. Paul : H. A. A. Kennedy, St. Paul's Conceptions of the Last Things, do. 1904 ; R. Kabisch, Esch.d. PattZiiS, Gottingen, 1893. On Jewish E^chat- ology in general, see the great relative works of W. Bousset and P. Volz, and the still valuable work of A. Hilgenfeld, Die jUd. Apokalyptik, Jena, 1867. On the mythical groundwork of eschatolo:,'y : H. Gunkel, Schiypfung u. Chaos, Gottingen, 1895 ; H. Gressmann, Der Ursprung der israel.-jiid. Eschatologie, do. 1905.
Readers of German will find readiest and fullest access to the texts of most of the extra-canonical apocalypses in the invalu- able work, representing many scholars. Die Apokryphen u. Psettdepigraphen des Alten Testaments, 2 vols., ed. E. Kautzsch, Tubingen, 1900. The texts are given in German translations. There are critical introductions and notes.