The connection between the different parts is organic and internal. Not only is the doctrinal standpoint the same throughout, but the whole book has an immense number of connecting thoughts and words. The letters to the seven Churches contain statements which are taken up in the visions which follow. Among such we may compare ii. 7 with xxii. 2; ii. 11 with xx. 6; ii. 26 with xii. 5, ii. 28 with xxii. 16; iii. 5 with xix. 8; iii. 12 with xxi. 2. The description of the glorified Redeemer in i. 10-18 is reflected in numerous passages, and the strong assertion of the author's personality in i. 9 is again presented in xxii. 8. And the meaning of the book rapidly becomes clearer to the reader if he sees (a) that the notices of contemporary history in each of the seven parts of the book are arranged chronologically in reference to what is contained in that part; (b) that these seven parts are not related to one another in the order of temporal succession: each part is complete in itself, and is a full presentation of one aspect of the whole subject. This is exactly what we find in Isaiah, Amos, and Zechariah. This leads us to another fact. Some writers have held that the Revelation is to be interpreted simply on _historical_ lines, as though it contained a list of events occurring through the whole of history since the time of St. John. Other writers {278} have held that little or no historical meaning can be found in the book, and that it is to be interpreted on _ideal_ lines, as teaching certain principles of religion. The truth seems to be that these two methods of interpretation are both partly true. Certain historical facts, such as the Ascension of our Lord, the destruction of Jerusalem, the persecution of the Church, the struggle between the Church and the Roman empire, are taken as a basis. Certain great principles of God's dealings with the world, and of the continued conflict between good and evil, are then illustrated in connection with these facts, and the whole is knit together by the fixed expectation that Christ will come again to vanquish the wicked and rescue the good. While each division of the book thus possesses a real meaning, it seems hardly possible to attach a significance to each detail in the imagery which is employed. Many items and even numbers appear to be introduced in order to make the scenes clear to the mind's eye rather than impart a knowledge of independent events. In after-ages Dante, like St. John, showed this care for minute imagery in the midst of verses of mystic vision. The book is the highest example of Christian imagination led and inspired by the Holy Spirit, and although at is written in prose it is of the nature of a poem.