The analogous case, quoted from Dr. Hort in the conclusion of the preceding chapter, must not be pressed

too closely or it might prove misleading. The fact from which we have to start is that the First Epistle of Peter

enumerates the Provinces in the order in which a messenger sent from Rome would traverse them, and that,

similarly, the Seven Churches are enumerated in the order in which a messenger sent from Patmos would

reach them.

In the former case the letter was written in Rome, and the messenger would, in accordance with the regular

customs of communication over the Empire, sail to the Black Sea, and land at one of the harbours on the

north coast of Asia Minor. He might either disembark in the nearest Province, and make his way by land

round the whole circuit, ending in the most distant; or he might choose a vessel bound for the most distant

Province and make the circuit in the reverse order. There are some apparent advantages in the latter method,

which he adopted. He landed at one of the Pontic harbours, Amastris or Sinope or Amisos, traversed in

succession Pontus, Cappadocia, Galatia and Asia, and ended in Bithynia, at one of whose great harbours he

would find frequent opportunity of sailing to Rome, or, if he were detained till navigation had ceased during

the winter season, the overland Post Road, through Thrace and Macedonia, would be conveniently open to

him. Such a messenger would visit in succession one or more of the leading cities of each Province, because

the great Imperial routes of communication ran direct between the great cities. He would not concern himself

with distributing the letter to the individual Christians in each Province; that task would be left to the local

Church, which would use its own organisation to bring the knowledge of the message home to every small

Church and every individual. His work would be supplemented by secondary messengers on smalle r circuits

in each Province and again in each city. In no other way was effective and general distribution possible.

In the latter case the letter enclosing the Apocalypse with the Seven Letters was written in Patmos, and the

messenger would naturally land at Ephesus, and make his round through the Seven representative Churches

as they are enumerated by the writer. The route was clearly marked out, and the messenger could hardly

avoid it. He would go north along the great road through Smyrna to Pergamum (t he earliest Roman road built

in the Province about 133-130 BC, as soon as Asia was organised). Thence he would follow the imperial Post

Road to Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea, and so back to Ephesus, or on to the East, as duty

called him, using in either case the great Central Route of the Empire. At each point, like the other

messenger, he would trust to the local organisation to complete the work of divulgation.

In those two circuits --the general Anatolian circuit of First Peter, and the special Asian circuit of the

Apocalypse--it is obvious that the messengers were not merely ordered to take the letter (whether in one or

in several copies) and deliver it, using the freedom of their own will as to the way and order of delivery. The

route was marked out for them beforehand, and was already known to the writers when composing the

letters. The question then arises whether the route in those two cases was chosen expressly for the special

occasion and enjoined by the writer on the messenger, or was already a recognised circuit which

messengers were expected to follow in every similar case. Without going into minute detail, it may be

admitted that the route indicated in First Peter might possibly have been expressly selected for that special

journey by the writer, who knew or asked what was the best route; and thus it came to be stated by him in

the letter. Equally possibly it might be known to the writer as the already recognised route for the Christian

But the former supposition could n ot be applied in the case of the Apocalypse; it is utterly inconsistent with

the results established in chapter 6, since it would leave unexplained the fundamental fact in the case, viz.,

that the writer uses the expression "the Seven Churches" in 1:4, 11, as recognised and familiar, established

in common usage, and generally understood as summing up the whole Christian Province. Moreover, the

messenger in First Peter was starting on a journey to deliver a real letter; but in the Apocalypse the letter-

form is assumed merely as a literary device, and the book as a whole, and the Seven Letters as part of it, are