Section 328
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ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 297 .the opposite arguments. The other brethren present rejoiced also at this conference, and at the conciliatory spirit and unani mity exhibited by all." CHAPTER XXV. The apocalypse of John. AFTER this, he proceeds further to speak of the Revelation of John, as follows : " Some, indeed, before us, have set aside, and have attempted to refute the whole book, criticising every chapter, and pronouncing it without sense and without reason. They say that it has a false title, for it is not of John. Nay, that it is not even a revelation, as it is covered with such a dense and thick veil of ignorance, that not one of the apostles, and not one of the holy men, or those of the church could be its author. But that Cerinthus, the founder of the sect of Cerinthians, so called from him, wishing to have reputable authority for his own fiction, prefixed the title. For this is the doctrine of Cerinthus, that there will be an earthly reign of Christ; and as he was a lover of the body, and altogether sensual in those things which he so eagerly craved, he dreamed that he would revel in the gratifica tion of the sensual appetite, i. e. in eating and drinking, and marrying ; and to give the things a milder aspect and expression, in festivals and sacrifices, and the slaying of victims. For my part I would not venture to set this book aside, as the_r_e are, many b^thmrthaTvalue Itjnuch ..fBuTEa ving formed a conception of its subject as exceeding my capacity, I consider it also containing a certain concealed and wonderful intimation in each particular. For, though I do not understand, yet I suspect that some deeper sense is enveloped in the words, and these I do not measure and judge by my private reason ; but allowing more to faith, I have regarded them as too lofty to be comprehended by me, and those things which I do not understand, I do not reject, but I wonder the more that I cannot comprehend." After this, he examines the whole book of the Revelation, and 2P