Such is the external positive testimony in favour of the opinion that the book of Revelation was written by the apostle John.
To this might be added certain internal marks, or certain facts in the life of John which accord with this supposition, and seem to confirm it. They are such that if they did _not_ exist there might be some room for plausible doubt, though it must be admitted that, in themselves, they do not amount to positive proof of any considerable strength that he _was_ the author. There is not room to dwell upon them, and they can only be briefly referred to. They are such as these:――(1) That the author calls himself _John_, evidently with the design of representing himself as the _apostle_ of that name; for (a) his supposed relation to the churches of Asia Minor is such as the relation of the apostle John was, and (b) the name _John_, unless there was something to qualify it, would be naturally understood as referring to the apostle of that name. (2) The fact that John lived at Ephesus, and was well known to the seven churches of Asia Minor. (3) The fact that he lived to extreme old age――to the time when the book was supposed to have been written. See § II. (4) The fact that there was a persecution in the time of Domitian, when this book is supposed to have been written; and (5) what might be derived from a comparison of this book with the acknowledged writings of John.
II. To confirm the argument, it is necessary to show the insufficiency of the reasons for doubting that John was the author. This point may be considered { xxxvi} under two heads――the alleged grounds for doubting that it was written by John by the ancients; and the reasons alleged by the moderns.
(a) It has been maintained that it was rejected by Caius, a presbyter at Rome. He flourished, according to Cave, about A.D. 210. See Lardner, ii. 394‒410. There is a single passage in his writings, from which it has been inferred that he designed to reject the Apocalypse. This is in the following words――“And Cerinthus also, who by his revelations, as if written by some great apostle, imposes upon us monstrous relations of things of his own invention, as shown him by an angel, says, ‘that after the resurrection there shall be a terrestrial kingdom of Christ, and that men shall live again in Jerusalem, subject to sensual desires and pleasures. And being an enemy to the divine Scriptures, and desirous to seduce mankind, he says there will be a term of a thousand years spent in nuptial entertainments’” (Lardner, ii. 400, 401).