thought.(17) On the other hand it has been efficiently maintained, favoring the later date, that the differences are mainly due to psychological effects wrought by old age in the mind of John, whose mental activities reverted to the familiar thought‐forms and apocalyptic conceptions of his youth, the Greek he used being simply a modified translation of Hebrew thought, while the Christological conceptions of the Apocalypse are manifestly among the most advanced in the New Testament.(18) In any case it will be seen that the reasons given under (1) and (2) have little force apart from the question of internal evidence, and are at most only inferences, while upon the other hand the divergent qualities given under (3), forceful as they are, cannot be assumed as without parallel in the history of literature. It has been pointed out that the difference in style between Carlyle’s earlier and later productions, as well as those found in the works of Milton, Watts, Burke, and Wordsworth, written at different periods in their lives, is quite as marked as that of the writings in question.(19) And we must not leave out of view the possibility that John, if at an advanced age, may have used one of his disciples as a collaborator, which would necessarily modify both the language and style of the work produced. So that after all has been said, it may be accepted as the concurrent judgment of the majority of interpreters,—the advanced critics being excepted,—that as great or greater difficulties are met in denying the Apostolic Authorship as in accepting it. For notwithstanding the confident assertion of most of the later critics that the Apocalypse was not written by the Apostle, yet indications are not lacking in some quarters now, influenced perhaps by the really cogent arguments so well stated by the decadent school of Baur, of a return in opinion to the recognition of the Johannine authorship as in some sense at least undeniable, though foreign elements are conceived to enter into it.(20) It has indeed, not infrequently been held, among those who deny that the Apostle was the author of the Fourth Gospel, that he wrote the Apocalypse; but still more commonly it is accepted that the work belongs to the “so‐called Johannine writings”, and originated in the same circle at Ephesus to which these writings are now attributed by advanced critics,(21) leaving the personal authorship more or less indefinite. The question of authorship, however, is a subordinate one, for the book maintains its own message, and it should be dealt with purely as a subject of historical inquiry and not one of dogmatic importance, in the interest of correctness rather than of traditional opinion. 4. The Unity.