Church, their historical sense being either preserved, or (which is worse) set aside. The celebrated D. Lange , in Comm. Apoc. f. 34, seq., preserving the historical sense, extends the prophetical sense from the time of John as far as to the destruction of the whore and the beast. But we have shown that the applying of the seven epistles to seven periods is the work of human subtilty. See Erkl. Offenb. pp. 285-295. The epistles then plainly had reference to the seven churches in Asia, and especially to their angels : and whether at that time, when the book was sent from Patmos to Asia, other churches were to be compared with these seven, or not, the subordi- nation of these churches under John is here considered ; and from this all hearers, of all places and times, whether good, bad, or vary- ing in character, ought to apply to themselves the things which equally concern them. Each address to the angel of the church is concluded with a promise, which is given to him that overcometh. — rr];) The Cod. Alex, rw,1 2 and that not through carelessness. For it has it three times, r& Jv’Epgtrw Ix/cX^o'/ag* rw sv Uspyu/xw sxxXjjtr/ag (in Latin you might say, angelo ecclesiastico , qui est Ephesi , Pergarni : to the angel of the church , who is at Ephesus , and at Pergamos) ; and, rti sv Qvar/poig. These are the very three angels who are partly praised and partly blamed : and the language is more directly aimed at these in the epistles, than at the other two pairs, who are without exception either praised or blamed. — sv ’Epe<rw, at Ephesus) In that city Timothy both flourished for a long time, and died shortly after the giving of the Apocalypse. Polycrates , a bishop of Ephesus, de- scribed the martyrdom of Timothy : but this writing, as many others, has been interpolated by the diligence of the later Greeks, in such a manner, however, that the principal facts remained, and were preserved from interpolation in the more simple copies. This Poly- crates therefore, in Usslier de Anno Solan, f. 96, says, that the fes- tival of the Catagogia1 celebrated by the unbelievers at Ephesus, took place on the 22d day of January; and that on the third day after- wards Timothy was put to death by them, while Nerva was Emperor. Nerva did not see the 22d and 24th of January, as Emperor, except in the year 97, when he reigned alone, and in the year 98, when he reigned together with Trajan ; and died shortly afterwards, on the
1 AC have r£: B, rvtg. — E.
2 A festival in honour of Aphrodite. It was supposed that during the Anagogia the goddess went over to Africa. On her return, the feast of the Catagogia was kept with great rejoicing. See Athenseus, 394, f., also A bp Ussher’s Works, vol. vii. p. 360. — T.