with what remarkable propriety it happened to John, that he should, on the Lord’s day, both see and describe the Lord as coming.
I once thought that the vision, which Ezekiel relates from ch. xl., was on the day of the Sabbath, and that that day of the Sabbath might be compared with the Lord’s day mentioned in this passage ; but 1 now of my own accord give up that idea. For indeed, in the year of the world 3374, in which Calvisius places that vision, the first day of Tisri was the Sabbath ; but the vision was three years afterwards, on the tenth day of Tisri, in the middle of the week. The Lord’s day opens another inquiry. Irenseus, nearly a contem- porary writer, affirms that the Apocalypse was seen upbg r& reXet, at the end of the reign of Domitian ; and, besides others, Newton vainly opposes him, in his Observ. on the Ap. p. 1 63. See Exeg. Germ. p. 174. But Domitian was slain in the 96th year Dion., on the 18th Sept., on the Lord’s day : and since Irenseus thus accu- rately marks the time of the vision by the well-known death of the persecutor, it will be most safe to depart as little as possible from the very day. But what if that Lordts day in that year was the 3d April, that is, the paschal feast; or the 19th June: comp. Ord. Temp. p. 389 [Ed. ii. p. 334, sq.] ; or the 18th of September itself? I define nothing : I follow the footsteps of Irenasus. At any rate, the fact of the Apocalypse being given before the death of Domitian supplies another observation. Apollonius of Tyana was addressing the people at Ephesus , and in the middle of his speech he exclaimed, Strike the tyrant; and again, Be of good courage, the tyrant is slain. And on that day, and at that hour, Domitian was slain at Rome. Whether Apollonius had been aware of the conspiracy against Do- mitian, or perceived from any other source what was taking place, the Apocalypse at the same time supplied the Ephesians with a much greater discovery of future events, to check the followers of Apollonius, and to vindicate the glory of Jesus Christ. — rjxovaa on/eu pov, I heard behind me) John’s face had been turned towards the east ; and in like manner the Lord, while Pie appears to him, directed His face to the east, towards Asia, to which the -writing was to be sent.
11. Aeyovffqs) John often, according to the Hebrew custom, con- strues words with others that are nearer, though they cohere in sense with those that are more distant. He would have said, tpuvriv X eyouffuv instead of which he says, GuXKiyyog Xeyouffrjg. — o /3Xecr e/g) Some1 prefix *Eyu> e ifu TO A xc&i ro ft, o crpurog xoti o sff^arug, xai, 1 So Rec. Text. But ABC Vulg. omit the words. — E.