Next, as to the Book of _Revelation_. The evidence this affords is important, because nearly all critics admit that it was written by St. John. And if so, it shows conclusively that one at least of Christ's intimate followers firmly believed in His Divinity. For he not only speaks of Him as being universally worshipped both in heaven and on earth, but describes Him as _the First and the Last_, which is a title used by God in the Old Testament, and is plainly inapplicable to anyone else.[433] And we may ask, is it conceivable that an intimate friend of Christ should have believed Him to be the Everlasting God, unless He had claimed to be so Himself, and had supported His claim by working miracles, and rising from the dead? Is it not, rather, certain that nothing but the most _overwhelming_ proof would ever have convinced a Jew (of all persons) that a fellow Man, with whom he had lived for years, and whom he had then seen put to death as a malefactor, was Himself the Lord Jehovah, _the First and the Last_? [Footnote 433: Rev. 5. 11-14; 1. 17, 18; 2. 8; 22. 13; Isa. 44. 6.] But it is urged on the other side, that the writer also calls Him _the beginning of the Creation of God_, as if He had been merely the first Being created.[434] But the previous passages clearly show that this was not his meaning. It was rather that Christ was the _beginning_ of creation, because He was its Source and Agent; He by whom, as the same writer declares, _all things were made_. And elsewhere a similar title is given Him for this identical reason, as He is called _the first-born of all creation_, because _all things have been created through Him_.[435] [Footnote 434: Rev. 3. 14;] [Footnote 435: John 1. 3; Col. 1. 15, 16.] Equally important evidence is afforded by _St. Paul's Epistles_. For though he is not likely to have known Christ intimately, he must have been acquainted with numbers who did, including, as he says, _James the Lord's brother_.[436] And his early conversion, before A.D. 35, together with the fact that he had previously persecuted the Church at Jerusalem, and afterwards visited some of the Apostles there, must have made him well acquainted with the Christian doctrines from the very first. Moreover he tells us himself that the faith which he taught was the same as that which he had previously persecuted; and that when he visited the Apostles he _laid before them_ the Gospel he preached, evidently to make sure that it agreed with what they preached.[437] [Footnote 436: Gal. 1. 19.] [Footnote 437: Gal. 1. 23; 2. 2.] There can thus be no doubt that the Christianity of St. Paul was the same as that of the Twelve. And all through his Epistles he bears witness to the _superhuman_ character of Christ; declaring, among other things, His sinlessness, and that He is the Ruler, Redeemer, and final Judge of the world.[438] [Footnote 438: 2 Cor. 5. 21; Rom. 14. 9; 1 Cor. 15. 3; 2 Cor. 5. 10.]