I  am  not  the  first  which  hath  attempted  this  office,  or  Protestation

i  ,A  .of  the  author

taken  upon  me   this  odious  enterprise,  full  of  rebukes  and  hereof.
slanders;  and   that  maketh  me  the  bolder.      Justinus,  be-
coming of  a  profane  philosopher  a  perfect  Christian,  wrote
an  exposition   upon  this  Apocalypse ;  and  was  slain  for  the
verity  in  the  year  from  Christ's  incarnation  154.     Meliton,  Hieron.  m
the  bishop  of  Sardis  in  Asia  (which  was  one  of  the  seven  uiustr.
congregations  unto  whom  John  wrote),  made  also  a  book  of
the  same,  and  lived  about  the   same  time,  in  the  year  of
our  Lord  160.     Irenaeus,  a  disciple  of  Polycarp,  bishop  offf^J-^
Smyrna  (which  was  also  one  of  the  said  congregations),  left  £uae°.cis'
behind  him  a  commentary  upon  the  same  book ;  and  suffered
strong  martyrdom  for  the  truth,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord
175.     Hippolytus,  a  bishop  in  Africa,  a  man  of  much  godly
wisdom  and  learning,  wrote  upon  the  same  about  the  year
of  our  Lord  220.     In  like  manner  Victorinus,  the  bishop  of  p«*r-  £quu.
*  et  Sopnron.
