The second portion of the work gives a prolix account of the prophet's ascent through seven heavens, each more resplendent and more glorious than the other. It contains distinct prophetical allusions to the miraculous birth of Christ of the Virgin Mary at Bethlehem; his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension: and the worship of" the Father, his beloved Christ, and the Holy Spirit." The mode of the prophet's own death is also announced to him. "The whole work." observes its learned trans- lator, "is singularly characterized by simplicity of nar- ration, by occasional sublimity of description, and by richness as well as vigor of imagination." Dr. Laurence conceives that the writer had no design of imposing upon the world a spurious production of bis own as that of the prophet, but rather of composing a work, avow- edly fictitious, but accommodated to the character and consistent with the prophecies of him to whom it is as- cribed.
As to the ai^e of this work. Dr. Laurence supposes, from the obvious reference to Nero and the period of three years seven months and twenty-seven days, and again of three hundred and thirty-two days, after which Berial was to be dragged to Gehenna, that the work was written after the death of Nero (which took place on June 9, A.D. 68 I, bul before the close of the year 69. Liicke, however ( l-'.inh itiing), looks upon these numbers as purely arbitrary and apocalyptical, and maintains that the dogmatical character of the work, the allusion to the corruptions of the Church, the absence of all reference to the destruction of Jerusa- lem, and the Chiliastic view, all point to a later period. All that can be considered as certain respecting its date is that the lirst portion was extant before the lime of I Irigen and the whole before Epiphaniua It has been doubted whether the work does not consist of two inde- pendent product inns, which were afterwards united into one. as in the Ethiopic version; bul ibis i- a question impossible to decide in the absence of the original. The Latin fragments discovered by ^'a' correspond literally with the Ethiopic; while they not only differ from the Venetian edition in single phrases, bul the latter con- tains passages so striking as to induce the supposition i bat it is derived from a later recension of the original text
The author was evidently a Jewish Christian, as ap- pears from the u>e made of the Talmudical legend al- ready referred to. as well as by his representing the false
REVELATIONS, SPURIOUS 1071 REVELATIONS, SPURIOUS
accuser of Isaiah as a Samaritan. The work also abounds in Gnostic, Valentinian, and Ophitic notions, such as the account of the seven heavens and the presiding angels of the first five, the gradual transmutation of Christ un- til his envelopment in the human form, and finally the docetic conception of his history on earth. All this has induced Liicke (ut sup.) to consider the whole to be a Gnostic production of the 2d or 3d century, of which, however, the martyrdom was first, written. Dr. Lau- rence finds so strong a resemblance between the account of the seven heavens here and in the testament of Levi {Twelve Patriarchs), that he suspects the latter to " be- tray a little plagiarism." If this learned divine were right in his conjecture respecting the early age of this production, it would doubtless afford an additional testi- mony, if such were wanting, to the antiquity of the be- lief in the miraculous conception and the proper deity of Jesus, who is here called the Beloved, the Lord, the Lord God, and the Lord Christ. In respect, however, to another passage, in which the Son and Holy Spirit are represented as worshipping God, the learned prelate tru- ly observes that this takes place only in the character of angels, which they had assumed.
Dr. Liicke observes that the drapery only of the apoc- alyptic element of this work is Jewish, the internal char- acter being altogether Christian. But in both form and substance there is an evident imitation, if not of the Apocalypse of St. John, at least of the book of Daniel and of the Sibylline oracles. The use of the canonical Apocalypse Liicke (op. cit. § 16) considers to be undeni- able in viii, 45. Comp. Rev. vii, 21-23 ; xix, 10 ; xxii, 8, 9. See Isaiah.
7. The Epistle ofBaruch is given as the " First Book of Baruch" in the Paris and London Polyglots in Syriac and Latin, the "Second Book of Baruch" being there what is commonly known as the. apocryphal book of Baruch. This letter is also contained in the Syriac "Apocalypse of Baruch" noticed below.
(I.) The Design of this Epistle is to comfort the nine tribes and a half who were beyond the river Euphrates. by assuring them that the sufferings which they have to endure in their captivity, and which are far less than they deserve, are but for a season, and are intended to atone for their sins ; and that God, whose love towards Israel is unchangeable, will speedily deliver them from their troubles and requite their oppressors. They are therefore not to be distracted by the prosperity of their wicked enemies, which is but momentary, but to ob- serve the law of Moses, and look forward to the day of judgment, when all that is now perplexing will be rec- tified.