2. This accords with the representation of history, and with the probabilities of the case, that John was actually banished to Patmos in a time of persecution. See § II. On this point the representations of history are uniform, and they are such, that if a writer had _designed_ to forge a book in the name of John, he would, in all probability, have fixed on Patmos as the scene of the vision, from the fact that he was actually banished there. 3. If Patmos was merely a fictitious place, why should John select it? What was there in _that_ island that would have occurred to him as a proper place to be the scene of such visions? It was little known; it had no sacred associations; it had never been represented as a place visited by the Most High, and it had no particular relation to the scenes which are referred to. One born in Judea, and trained under the influence of the Hebrew religion; one who was a disciple of Christ, and who had witnessed the scene of the transfiguration or the ascension, would have been much more likely to select Sinai, Carmel, Hermon, Tabor, or Olivet, as the scene where the visions were to be laid. These were consecrated spots. On these God had manifested himself in a peculiar manner; had conversed with men, and had given glorious exhibitions of his character and plans. Why should not one of these spots――any one of them in itself is as well adapted to be the scene of such visions as the lonely isle of Patmos――have been selected? Why was a _Grecian_ island chosen――a place not once named in all the sacred writings, and so small and so desolate as to have been almost entirely, before this, unknown even in the heathen world? 4. All the circumstances have the aspect of _reality_. It was a _real_ persecution to which the writer refers, and it was a _real_ affliction which he was experiencing, and the concinnity of the passage requires us to understand this as a _real_ transfer to a lonely island. If that were a mere vision, then we should be required also to understand the statement that he was “a companion of others in _tribulation_” as a vision also, and his affliction as an account of an _ideal_ transfer to that island. But this is contrary to the spirit of the passage in chap. i. 9; and the whole, therefore, should be understood as the statement of a literal fact. These considerations are sufficient to show, that the common opinion, that the visions were seen in the island of Patmos, has every probability in its favour, and should be received as correct. Whether the _record_ was actually made on that island, or was made afterwards, is a point on which no light can be observed, and which is of no importance. From such passages, however, as those in chap. x. 4; xiv. 13; xix. 9; and xxi. 5, it would seem probable {li} that the record was made as soon as the visions were seen, and that the book was actually _written_ in Patmos. § IV.――_The Nature and Design of the Book._