nnection of subject,
sometimes (though incidentally) by sequence of time. In St. John, on the
other hand, the successive festivals at Jerusalem are the vertebrae of
the chronological backbone, which is altogether wanting to the account
of Christ's ministry in the Synoptists. We cannot indeed be sure even
here that the vertebrae are absolutely continuous; many festivals may
have been omitted; the ministry of Christ may have extended over a much
longer period, as indeed Irenaeus asserts that it did [131:3]; but the
three passovers bear testimony to a duration of between two and three
years at the least.

The second point has reference to the diction of the fourth Gospel, as
compared with the Apocalypse [131:4]. Here I am glad to find that there
is less difference of opinion between us than I had imagined. If our
author does not greatly differ from Luthardt's estimate of the language,
neither do I [132:1]. On the other hand, I did not deny, and (so far as
I am aware) nobody has denied, that there is a marked difference between
the Apocalypse and the Gospel, in respect of diction; only it is
contended that two very potent influences must be taken into account
which will explain this difference. In the first place, the subjects of
the two books stand widely apart. The apocalyptic purport of the one
book necessarily tinges its diction and imagery with a very strong
Hebraic colouring, which we should not expect to find in a historical
narrative. Secondly, a wide interval of time separates the two works.
The Apocalypse was written, according to the view which our author
represents 'as universally accepted by all competent critics,' about
A.D. 68, 69 [132:2]. It marks the close of what we may call the
_Hebraic_ period of St John's life--_i.e._, the period which (so far as
we can gather alike from the notices and from the silence of history) he
had spent chiefly in the East and among Aramaic-speaking peoples. The
Gospel on the other hand, according to all tradition, dates from the
last years of the Apostle's life, or, in other words, it was written (or
more probably dictated) at the end of the _Hellenic_ period, after an
interval of twenty or thirty years, during which St John had lived at
Ephesus, a great centre of Greek civilization. Our author appears to be
astonished that Luthardt should describe the 'errors' in the Apocalypse
as not arising out of ignorance, but as 'intentional emancipations from
the rules of grammar.' Yet i