shall be destroyed ' appears in Jub. xxx. 22.* The second conception, that of a record, appears in En. Ixxxix. 70 ft'., where the evil deeds of the shepherds are recorded and read before the Lord ; cf. xc. 17, 20, xcviii. 7, 8, civ. 7 (a daily record). The idea of a book of fate or prophetic history, is repre- sented by the ' heavenly tablets,' Ixxxi. 1, 2, xciii. 1 ti". ; but this should be kept separate. See, further, following article.
As regards the origin of the conception, if we take the heavenly book in the wider sense of a record of men's actions or a prophetic world history, it is obviously one of those conceptions for which it is not easy to establish a relation of dependence between one religion and another, since it is likely to arise independently in various l)laces. A. Jeremias (Bahylonisches im NT, Leipzig, 19U5, p. 69 ft"., and art. ' Book of Life,' in EEE) has pointed to the Bab. New Year's Festival, at which it was conceived that an assembly of the gods determined the events of the year, and especially the duration of men's lives, which was written down in a ' tablet of life.' For the narrower con- ception of the book of life as set forth above, the most interesting literary parallel is that cited by Jeremias from the Akhmim fragments of the Coptic Apoc. of Sophonias (Zephaniah), tr. L. Stern, in Zcitschr. fur dgypt. Sprache, xxiv. [1886]. There the seer inquires about two angels whom he sees, and is told by his angel guiile : ' These are the angels of the Lord Almighty who inscribe all the good works of the righteous in His scrolls, sitting at the gate of heaven. They give these scrolls to me, to take them to the Lord Almighty, in order that He may write their name {sc. names of the righteous) in the Book of the Living.' This passage is not of any value as evidence for the source of the conception, for the work shows in many places dependence upon Rev., but it prob- ably indicates correctly how the relation of the book of life to the other books in Rev 20^2 jg to be conceived. As Alford there explains it, on internal grounds, the other books are, so to speak, the ' vouchers ' for the book of life.
In the Apostolic Fathers the conception occurs in 1 Clem. xlv. 8 : ' Those who remained faithful, inherited glory and honour, were exalted and were inscribed by God in His memorial for ever ' ; Hermas, Vis. i. 3. 2 : ' Cease not to admonish thy children, for I know that if they shall repent with their Avhole hearts they shall be inscribed in the books of life with the saints,' and Sim. ii. 9 : ' He that does these things shall not be abandoned by God, but shall be inscribed upon the books of the living ' ; cf. Mand. viii. 6 : ' Refrain thyself from all these things, that thou mayest live to God, ami be enrolled with those who exercise self-restraint thei'ein.'
Among homiletic expositions of the passage Rev 20^2 one of the most impressive is that of St. Augustine in dc Civ. Dei, xx. 14. Taking the book of life as a record of men's deeds, he observes that it cannot be understood literally, since the reading of such a record would be interminable. ' We must therefore understand it of a certain Divine power by which it shall be brought about that every one shall recall to memory all his own works, whether good or evil, and shall mentally survey them with a marvellous rapidity, so that this knowledge will either accuse or excuse con- science, and thus all and each shall be simultane- ously judged.'
LiTERATDRE.— R. H. Charlcs, The Book of Enoch% Oxford, 1912, note on xlvii. 3 ; H. Zimmern, KA Ti, Berlin, 1903, p. 4niff. ; A. Jeremias, art. ' Book of Life' in ERE ; W. Bousset, Com.
* It is interesting to note that the Old Latin (Donatist) te.\t in Jer 1713 has ' recedentes a te scribantur in libro mortis ' (see Bnrkitt, Old Latin and Itala [TS iv. 3 (1896)], p. 87).
BOOK WITH THE SEVEif SEALS
brethren;
loy
(Gcittingen, 1896) on Rev 3-5 ; B. Duhm, Com. (Gottingen, 1902) oil Is 4-* ; A. Bertholet, Stellung der Israeliten v, der Juden zu den Fremden, Freiburg and Leipzig, 1896.
W. MOXTGOMEKY.
BOOK WITH THE SEVEN SEALS.— There is no more impressive piece of s3'ml)olism in the Apocalypse than that connected with the seven- sealed book (Rev 5). Much of the imagery of Rev. strikes the modern Western mind as exotic and unattractive ; it is only by a determined use of the historical imagination that we can bring ourselves to a sympathetic understanding of it. But here the qualities which we look for in great painting or in epic poetry are plainly to be seen. And this applies both to the imagery and to the dominant thought. The unnamed Presence in the glory of light on the central throne, the represen- tatives of humanity and nature grouijed around and before Him, the concentration of interest in the seven-sealed book held out upon (iwl, ace.) His liand, the dramatic challenge, the dread pause when tliere seems no answer, emphasized by the grief of the Seer, the triumphant approach of the Lion of the tribe of Judah — eacii point in the pro- gi-ess of the drama seizes the reader's imagination and increases the tension of his sympathies, till at last they are afforded relief by the magnihcent burst of acclamation which follows.