Chapter 23

It appears well established by respectable historical testimony, that Cerinthus was contemporary with John at Ephesus, and that he had already made alarming progress in the diffusion of these and other peculiar errors, during the life of the apostle. John therefore, now in the decline of life, on the verge of the grave, would wish to bear his inspired testimony against the advancing heresy; and the occasion, scope, and object of his gospel are very clearly illustrated by a reference to these circumstances. The peculiar use of terms, more particularly in the first part,——terms which have caused so much perplexity and controversy among those who knew nothing about the peculiar technical significations of these mystical phrases, as they were limited by the philosophical application of them in the system of the Gnostics,——is thus shown in a historical light, highly valuable in preventing a mis-interpretation among common readers. This view of the great design of John’s gospel, will be found to coincide exactlywith the results of a minute examination of almost all parts of it, and gives new force to many passages, by revealing the particular error at which they were aimed. The details of these coincidences cannot be given here, but have been most satisfactorily traced out, at great length, by the labors of the great modern exegetical theologians, who have occupied volumes with the elucidation of these points. The whole gospel indeed, is not so absorbed in the unity of this plan, as to neglect occasions for supplying general historical deficiences in the narratives of the preceding evangelists. An account is thus given of two journeys to Jerusalem, of which no mention had ever been made in former records, while hardly any notice whatever is taken of the incidents of the wanderings in Galilee, which occupy so large a portion of former narratives,——except so far as they are connected with those instructions of Christ which accord with the great object of this gospel. The scene of the great part of John’s narrative is laid in Judea, more particularly in and about Jerusalem; and on the parting instructions given by Christ to his disciples, just before his crucifixion, he is very full; yet, even in those, he seizes hold mainly of those things which fall most directly within the scope of his work. But throughout the whole, the grand object is seen to be, the presentation of Jesus as the Messiah, the son of the living, eternal God, containing within himself the Life, the Light, the Only-begotten, the Word, and all the personified excellences, to which the Gnostics had, in their mystic idealism, given a separate existence. It thus differs from all the former gospels, in the circumstance, that its great object and its general character is not historical, but dogmatical,——not universal in its direction and tendency, but aimed at the establishment of particular doctrines, and the subversion of particular errors.Another class of sectaries, against whose errors John wrote in this gospel, were the Sabians, or disciples of John the Baptist;——for some of those who had followed him during his preaching, did not afterwards turn to the greater Teacher and Prophet, whom he pointed out as the one of whom he was the forerunner; and these disciples of the great Baptizer, after his death, taking the pure doctrines which he taught, as a basis, made up a peculiar religious system, by large additions from the same Oriental mysteries from which the Gnostics had drawn their remarkable principles. They acknowledged Jesus Christ as a being of high order, and designate him in their religious books as the “Disciple ofLife;” whileJohn the Baptist, himself somewhat inferior, is called the “Apostle ofLight,”——and is said to have received his peculiar glorified transfiguration, from a body of flesh to a body of light, from Jesus at the time of his baptism in the Jordan; and yet is represented as distinguished from the “Disciple ofLife,” by possessing this peculiar attribute of Light.This mystical error is distinctly characterized in the first chapter of this gospel, and is there met by the direct assertions, that in Jesus Christ, the Word, and the God, was not onlylife, but that theLIFEitself was theLIGHTof men;——and that John the Baptist “wasnottheLight, but was only sent to bear witness of theLight;” and again, with all the tautological earnestness of an old man, the aged writer repeats the assertion that “thiswas the true Light, which enlightens every man that comes into the world.” Against these same sectaries, the greater part of the first chapter is directed distinctly, and the whole tendency of the work throughout, is in a marked manner opposed to their views. With them too, John had had a local connection, by his residence in Ephesus, where, as it is distinctly specified in the Acts of the Apostles, Paul had found the peculiar disciples of John the Baptist long before, on his first visit to that city; and had successfully preached to some of them, the religion of Christ, which before was a strange and new thing to them. The whole tendency and scope of this gospel, indeed, as directed against these two prominent classes of heretics, both Gnostics and Sabians, are fully and distinctly summed up in the conclusion of the twentieth chapter;——“These things are written, that ye might believe thatJesusis theChrist, theSon of God, and that in believing on him, ye might haveLIFEthrough his name.”As to theplacewhere this gospel was written, there is a very decided difference of opinion among high authorities, both ancient and modern,——some affirming it to have been composed in Patmos, during his exile, and others in Ephesus, before or after his banishment. The best authority, however, seems to decide in favor of Ephesus, as the place; and this view seems to be most generally adopted in modern times. Even those who suppose it to have been written in Patmos, however, grant that it was first given to the Christian world in Ephesus,——the weight of early authority being very decided on this latter point. This distinction between the place of composition and the place of publication, is certainly very reasonable on some accounts, and is supportedby ancient authorities of dubious date; but there are important objections to the idea of the composition of both this and the Apocalypse, in the same place, during about one year, which was the period of his exile. There seem to be many things in the style of the gospel which would show it to be a work written at a different period, and under different circumstances from the Apocalypse; and some Biblical critics, of high standing, have thought that the gospel bore marks in its style, which characterized it as a production of a much older man than the author of the energetic, and almost furious denunciations of the Apocalypse, must have been. In this case, where ancient authority is so little decisive, it is but fair to leave the point to be determined by evidence thus connected with the date, and drawn from the internal character of the composition itself,——a sort of evidence, on which the latest moderns are far more capable of deciding than the most ancient, and the sagest of the Fathers. Thedateitself is of course inseparably connected with the determination of the place, and like that, must be pronounced very uncertain. The greatest probability about both these points is, that it was written at Ephesus,afterhis return from Patmos; for the idea of its being producedbeforehis banishment, during his first residence in Asia, has long ago been exploded; nor is there any late writer of authority on these points, who pretends to support this unfounded notion.HIS FIRST EPISTLE.All that has been said on the character and the objects of the gospel, may be exactly applied to this very similar production. So completely does it resemble John’s gospel, in style, language, doctrines and tendencies, that even a superficial reader might be ready to pronounce, on a common examination, that they were written in the same circumstances and with the same object. This has been the conclusion at which the most learned critics have arrived, after a full investigation of the peculiarities of both, throughout; and the standard opinion now is, that they were both written at the same time and for the same persons. Some reasons have been given by high critical authority, for supposing that they were both written at Patmos, and sent together to Ephesus,——the epistle serving as a preface, dedication, and accompaniment of the gospel, to those for whom it was intended, and commending the prominent points in it to their particular attention. This beautiful and satisfactory view of theobjectandoccasionofthe epistle, may certainly be adopted with great propriety and justice; but in regard to theplacesof its composition and direction, a different view is much more probable, as well as more consistent with the notion, already presented above, of the date and place of the gospel. It is very reasonable to suppose that the epistle was written some years after John’s return to Ephesus,——that it was intended, (along with the gospel, for the churches of Asia generally, to whom John hoped to make an apostolic pastoral visit, shortly,) to confirm them in the faith, as he announces in the conclusion. There is not a single circumstance in gospel or epistle, which should lead any one to believe that they were directed to Ephesus in particular. On the contrary, the total absence of anything like a personal or local direction to the epistle, shows the justice of its common title, that it is a “general epistle,” a circular, in short, to all the churches under his special apostolic supervision,——for whose particular dangers, errors and necessities, he had written the gospel just sent forth, and to whom he now minutely commended that work, in the very opening words of his letter, referring as palpably and undeniably to his gospel, as any words can express. “Of that which ‘was from thebeginning, of theWord,’ which I have heard, which I have seen with my eyes, which I have looked upon, which my hands have handled,——of theWordofLife”&c.; particularizing with all the minute verbosity of old age, his exact knowledge of the facts which he gives in his gospel, assuring them thus of the accuracy of his descriptions. The question concerns his reputation for fidelity as a historian; and it is easy to see therefore, why he should labor thus to impress on his readers his important personal advantages for knowing exactly all the facts he treats of, and all the doctrines which he gives at such length in the discourses of Christ. Again and again he says, “I write,” and “I have written,” recapitulating the sum of the doctrines which he has designed to inculcate; and he particularizes still farther that he has written to all classes and ages, from the oldest to the youngest, intending his gospel for the benefit of all. “I have written to you,fathers,”——“unto you,young men,”——“unto you,little children,”&c.What else can this imply, than a dedication of the work concerning “the WORD,” to all stations and ages,——to the whole of the Christian communities, to whom he commits and recommends his writings;——as he writes “to the fathers——because they know himwho was from the beginning,”——in the same way“to the young men, because they are constant, and theWord of Goddwells in them,” and “that the doctrine they have received may remain unchangeable in them,” and “on account ofTHOSE WHO WOULD SEDUCE THEM.” He recapitulates all the leading doctrines of his gospel,——the Messiahship, and the Divinity of Jesus,——his Unity, and identity with the divine abstractions of the Gnostic theology. Here too, he inculcates and renewedly urges the great feeling of Christian brotherly love, which so decidedly characterizes the discourses of Jesus, as reported in his gospel. So perfect was the connection of origin and design, between the gospel and this accompanying letter, that they were anciently placed together, the epistle immediately following the gospel; as is indubitably proved by certain marks in ancient manuscripts.It was mentioned, in connection with a former part of John’s life, that this epistle is quoted by Augustin and others, under the title of the epistle to the Parthians. It seems very probable that this may have been also addressed to those churches in the east, about Babylon, which had certainly suffered much under the attacks of these same mystical heretics. It is explained, however, by some, that this was an accidental corruption in the copying of the Greek.——Thesecondepistle was quoted by Clemens Alexandrinus, under the title of “the epistle to thevirgins,”προς παρθενους, which, as some of the modern critics say, must have been accidentally changed toπαρθους, by dropping some of the syllables, and afterwards transferred to thefirst(!) as more appropriate;——a perfectly unauthorized conjecture, and directly in the face of all rules of criticism.THE SECOND AND THIRD EPISTLES.These are both evidently private letters from John to two of his intimate personal friends, of whose circumstances nothing whatever being known, except what is therein contained, the notice of these brief writings must necessarily be brief also. They are both honorably referred to, as entertainers of the servants of Jesus Christ as they travel from place to place, and seem to have been residents in some of the Asian cities within John’s apostolic circuit, and probably received him kindly and reverently into their houses on his tours of duty; and them he was about to visit again shortly. Thesecondepistle is directed to a Christian female, who, being designated by the very honorable title of “lady,” was evidently a person of rank; and from the remark towards the conclusion, about the proper objects of her hospitality, it is plain that she must have been also a person of some property. Mention is made of her children as also objects of warm affection to the aged apostle; and as no other member of her family is noticed, it is reasonable to conclude that she was a widow. The contents of this short letter are a mere transcript, almost verbatim, of some important points in the first, inculcating Christianlove, and watchfulness againstdeceivers;——(no doubt the Gnostical heretics,——the Cerinthians and Nicolaitans.) He apologizes for the shortness of the letter, by saying that he hopes shortly to visit her; and ends by communicating the affectionate greetings of her sister’s children, then residents in Ephesus, or whatever city was then the home of John. Thethirdepistle is directed to Gaius, (that is, Caius, a Roman name,) whose hospitality is commemorated with great particularity and gratitude in behalf of Christian strangers, probably preachers, traveling in his region. Another person, named Diotrephes, (a Greek by name, and probably one of the partizans of Cerinthus,) is mentioned as maintaining a very different character, who, so far from receiving the ministers of the gospel sent by the apostle, had even excluded from Christian fellowship those who did exercise this hospitality to the messengers of the apostle. John speaks threateningly of him, and closes with the same apology for the shortness of the letter, as in the former. There are several persons, named Gaius, or Caius, mentioned in apostolic history; but there is no reason to suppose that any of them was identified with this man.For these lucid views of the objects of all these epistles, I am mainly indebted to Hug’s Introduction, to whom belongs the merit of expressing them in this distinctness, though others before him have not been far from apprehending their simple force. Michaelis, for instance, is very satisfactory, and much more full on some points. In respect to theplacewhence they were written, Hug appears to be wholly in the wrong, in referring them to Patmos, just before John’s return. Not the least glimmer of a reason appears, why all the writings of John should be huddled together in his exile. I can make nothing whatever of the learned commentator’s reason about the deficiency of “pen, ink and paper,” (mentioned in Epistleii.12, andiii.13.) as showing that John must still have been in “that miserable place,” Patmos. The idea seems to require a great perversion of simple words, which do not seem to be capable of any other sense than that adopted in the above account.THE TRADITIONS OF HIS LIFE IN EPHESUS.To this period of his life, are referred those stories of his miracles and actions, with which the ancient fictitious apostolic narratives are so crowded,——John being the subject of more ancient traditions than any other apostle. Some of those are so respectable and reasonable in their character, as to deserve a place here, although none of them are of such antiquity as to deserve any confidence, on points where fiction has often been so busy. The first which follows, is altogether the most ancient of all apostolic stories, which are not in the New Testament; and even if it is a work of fiction, it has such merits as a mere tale, that it would be injustice to the readers of this book, not to give them the whole story, from the most ancient and best authorized record.It is related that John, after returning from banishment, was often called to the neighboring churches to organize them, or to heal divisions, and to ordain elders. On one occasion, after ordaining a bishop, he committed to his particular care and instruction a fine young man, whom he saw in the congregation, charging the bishop, before the whole church, to be faithful to him. The bishop accordingly took the young man into his house, watched over him, and instructed him, and at length baptized him. After this, viewing the young man as a confirmed Christian, the bishop relaxed his watchfulness, and allowed the youth greater liberties. He soon got into bad company, in which his talents made him conspicuous, and proceeding from one step to another, he finally became the leader of a band of robbers. In this state of things, John came to visit the church, and presently called upon the bishop to bring forward his charge. The bishop replied that he was dead,——dead to God;——and was now in the mountains, a captain of banditti. John ordered a horse to be brought immediately to the church door, and a guide to attend him; and mounting, he rode full speed in search of the gang. He soon fell in with some of them, who seized him, to be carried to their head quarters. John told them that this was just what he wanted, for he came on purpose to see their captain. As they drew near, the captain stood ready to receive them; but on seeing John, he drew back, and began to make off. John pursued with all the speed his aged limbs would permit, crying out, “My son, why do you run from your own father, who is unarmed and aged? Pity me, my son, and do not fear. There is yet hope of your life. I will intercede for you; and, if necessary, will cheerfully suffer death for you, as the Lord did for us. Stop,——believe what I say; Christ hath sent me.” The young man stopped, looked on the ground, and then throwing down his arms, came trembling, and with sobs and tears, begged for pardon. The apostle assured him of the forgiveness of Christ; and conducting him back to the church, there fasted and prayed with him, and at length procured his absolution.Another story, far less probable, is related in the ancient martyrologies, and by the counterfeit Abdias. Craton, a philosopher, to make a display of contempt for riches, had persuaded two wealthy young men, his followers, to invest all their property in two very costly pearls; and then, in the presence of a multitude, to break them, and pound them to dust. John happening to passby, at the close of the transaction, censured this destruction of property, which might better have been given in alms to the poor. Craton told him, if he thought so, he might miraculously restore the dust to solid pearls again, and have them for charitable purposes. The apostle gathered up the particles, and holding them in his hand, prayed fervently, that they might become solid pearls, and when the people said “Amen,” it took place. By this miracle, Craton, and all his followers, were converted to Christianity; and the two young men took back the pearls, sold them, and then distributed the avails in charity. Influenced by this example, two other young men of distinction, Atticus and Eugenius, sold their estates, and distributed the avails among the poor. For a time, they followed the apostle, and possessed the power of working miracles. But, one day, being at Pergamus, and seeing some well-dressed young men, glittering in their costly array, they began to regret that they had sold all their property, and deprived themselves of the means of making a figure in the world. John read in their countenances and behavior the state of their minds; and after drawing from them an avowal of their regret, he bid them bring him each a bundle of straight rods, and a parcel of smooth stones from the sea shore. They did so,——and the apostle, after converting the rods into gold, and the stones into pearls, bid them take them, and sell them, and redeem their alienated estates, if they chose. At the same time, he plainly warned them, that the consequence would be the eternal loss of their souls. While he continued his long and pungent discourse, a funeral procession came along. John now prayed, and raised the dead man to life. The resuscitated person began to describe the invisible world, and so graphically painted to Atticus and Eugenius the greatness of their loss, that they were melted into contrition. The apostle ordered them to do penance thirty days,——till the golden rods should become wood, and the pearls become stones. They did so, and were afterwards very distinguished saints.Another story, of about equal merit, is told by the same authority. While John continued his successful ministry at Ephesus, the idolaters there, in a tumult, dragged him to the temple of Diana, and insisted on his sacrificing to the idol. He warned all to come out of the temple, and then, by prayer, caused it to fall to the ground, and become a heap of ruins. Then, addressing the pagans on the spot, he converted twelve thousand of them in one day. But Aristodemus, the pagan high priest, could not beconvinced, till John had drunken poison without harm, by which two malefactors were killed instantly, and also raised the malefactors to life. This resuscitation he rendered the more convincing to Aristodemus, by making him the instrument of it. The apostle pulled off his tunic, and gave it to Aristodemus. “And what is this for?” said the high priest. “To cure you of your infidelity,” was the reply. “But how is your tunic to cure me of infidelity?” “Go,” said the apostle, “and spread it upon the dead bodies, and say: ‘The apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ hath sent me to resuscitate you, in his name, that all may know, that life and death are the servants of Jesus Christ, my Lord.’” By this miracle the high priest was fully convinced; and afterwards convinced the proconsul. Both of them were baptized,——and persecution, from that time, ceased. They also built the church dedicated toSt.John, at Ephesus.For this series of fables I am indebted again to the kindness ofDr.Murdock, in whose manuscript lectures they are so well translated from the original romances, as to make it unnecessary for me to repeat the labor of making a new version from the Latin. The sight of the results of abler efforts directly before me, offers a temptation to exonerate myself from a tedious and unsatisfactory effort, which is too great to be resisted, while researches into historicaltruthhave a much more urgent claim for time and exertion.The only one of all these fables that occurs in the writings of the Fathers, is the first, which may be pronounced a tolerably respectable and ancient story. It is narrated by Clemens Alexandrinus, (about A. D. 200.) The story is copied from Clemens Alexandrinus by Eusebius, from whom we receive it, the original work of Clemens being now lost. Chrysostom also gives an abridgement of the tale. (I. Paraenes ad Theodosius) Anastasius Sinaita, Simeon Metaphrastes, Nicephorus Callistus, the Pseudo-Abdias, and the whole herd of monkish liars, give the story almost verbatim from Clemens; for it is so full in his account as to need no embellishment to make it a good story. Indeed its completeness in all these interesting details, is one of the most suspicious circumstances about it; in short, it is almost too good a story to be true. Those who wish to see all the evidence for and against its authenticity, may find it thoroughly examined in Lampe’s Prolegomena to a Johannine Theology (I.v.4–10.) It is, on the whole, the best authorized of all the stories about the apostles, which are given by the Fathers, and may reasonably be considered to have been true in the essential parts, though the minute details of the conversations,&c., are probably embellishments worked in by Clemens Alexandrinus, or his informants.The rest of these stories are, most unquestionably, all unmitigated falsehoods; nor does any body pretend to find the slightest authority for a solitary particular of them. They are found no where but in the novels of the Pseudo-Abdias, and the martyrologies. (Abdiae Babyloniae episcopi et Apostolorum discipuli de Historia,lib. V., St. John.)HIS DEATH.Respecting the close of his life,all antiquityis agreed that it was not terminated by martyrdom, nor by any violent death whatever, but by a calm and peaceful departure in the course of nature, at a very great age. The precise number of years to which he attained can not be known, because no writer who lived within five hundred years of his time has pretended to specify his exact age. It is merely mentioned on very respectable ancient authority,that he survived to the beginning of the reign of Trajan. This noblest of the successors of Julius, began his splendid reign in A. D. 98, according to the most approved chronology; so that if John did not outlive even the first year of Trajan, his death is brought very near the close of the first century; and from what has been reasonably conjectured about his age, compared with that of his Lord, it may be supposed that he attained upwards of eighty years,——a supposition which agrees well enough with the statement of some of the Fathers, that he died worn out with old age.Jerome has a great deal to say also, about the age of John at the time when he was called, arguing that he must have been a mere boy at the time, because tradition asserts that he lived till the reign of Trajan. Lampe very justly objects, however, that this proof amounts to nothing, if we accept another common tradition, that he lived to the age of 100 years; which, if we count back a century from the reign of Trajan, would require him to have attained mature age at the time of the call. Neither tradition however, is worth much. Our old friend Baronius, too, comes in to enlighten the investigation of John’s age, by what he considers indubitable evidence. He says that John was in his twenty-second year when he was called, and passing three years with Christ, must have been twenty-five years old at the time of the crucifixion; “because,” says the sagacious Baronius, “he was then initiated into the priesthood.” An assertion which Lampe with indignant surprise stigmatizes as showing “remarkable boldness,” (insignis audacia,) because it contains two very gross errors,——first in pretending that John was ever made a priest, (sacerdos,) and secondly in confounding the age required of the Levites with that of the priests when initiated. For Baronius’s argument resting wholly on the very strange and unfounded notion, that John was made a priest, is furthermore supported on the idea that the prescribed age for entering the priesthood was twenty-five years; but in reality, the age thus required wasthirtyyears, so that if the other part of this idle story was true, this would be enough to overthrow the conclusion. Lampe also alludes to the absurd idea of the painters, in representing John as a young man, even while writing his gospel; while in reality all writers agree that that work was written by him in his old age. This idea of his perpetual youth, once led into a blunder some foolish Benedictine monks, who found in Constantinople an antique agate intaglio, representing a young man with a cornucopia, and an eagle, and with a figure of victory placing a crown on his head. This struck their monkish fancies at once, as an unquestionable portrait of John, sent to their hands by a miraculous preservation. Examination however, has shown it to be a representation of the apotheosis of Germanicus.But even here, the monkish inventors have found room for new fables; and though the great weight of all ancient testimony deprives them of the opportunity to enter into the horrible details of a bloody and agonizing death, they can not refuse themselves the pleasure of some tedious absurdities, about the manner of his death and burial, which are barely worth a partial sketch, to show how determined the apostolic novelists are to follow their heroes to the very last, with the glories of a fancifully miraculous departure.The circumstances of his death are described in the martyrologies, and by Abdias, in this manner. He had a vision acquainting him with his approaching exit, five days before it happened.On a Lord’s-day morning, he went to the great church at Ephesus, bearing his name, and there performed public worship as usual, at day-break. About the middle of the forenoon, he ordered a deacon, and some grave diggers, with their tools, to accompany him to the burying ground. He then set them to digging his grave, while he, after ordering the multitude to depart, spent the time in prayer. He once looked into the grave, and bid them dig it deeper. When it was finished, he took off his outer garment, and spread it in the grave. Then, standing over it, he made a speech to those present, (which is not worth repeating,) then gave thanks to God for the arrival of the time of his release,——and placing himself in the grave, and wrapping himself up, he instantly expired. The grave was filled up; and afterwards miracles took place at it, and a kind of manna issued from it, which possessed great virtues.There is no need, however, of such fables, to crown with the false honors of a vain prodigy, the calmly glorious end of the “Last of the Apostles.” It is enough for the Christian to know, that, with the long, bright course of almost a century behind him, and with the mighty works of his later years around him, John closed the solemn apostolic drama, bearing with him in his late departure the last light of inspiration, and the last personal “testimony of Jesus, which is the spirit of prophecy.” Blessed in his works thus following him, he died in the Lord, and now rests from his labors on the breast of that loved friend, who cherished so tenderly the youthful Son of Thunder;——on the bosom of his Redeemer and his Lord,——“The bosom of his Father and his God.”

It appears well established by respectable historical testimony, that Cerinthus was contemporary with John at Ephesus, and that he had already made alarming progress in the diffusion of these and other peculiar errors, during the life of the apostle. John therefore, now in the decline of life, on the verge of the grave, would wish to bear his inspired testimony against the advancing heresy; and the occasion, scope, and object of his gospel are very clearly illustrated by a reference to these circumstances. The peculiar use of terms, more particularly in the first part,——terms which have caused so much perplexity and controversy among those who knew nothing about the peculiar technical significations of these mystical phrases, as they were limited by the philosophical application of them in the system of the Gnostics,——is thus shown in a historical light, highly valuable in preventing a mis-interpretation among common readers. This view of the great design of John’s gospel, will be found to coincide exactlywith the results of a minute examination of almost all parts of it, and gives new force to many passages, by revealing the particular error at which they were aimed. The details of these coincidences cannot be given here, but have been most satisfactorily traced out, at great length, by the labors of the great modern exegetical theologians, who have occupied volumes with the elucidation of these points. The whole gospel indeed, is not so absorbed in the unity of this plan, as to neglect occasions for supplying general historical deficiences in the narratives of the preceding evangelists. An account is thus given of two journeys to Jerusalem, of which no mention had ever been made in former records, while hardly any notice whatever is taken of the incidents of the wanderings in Galilee, which occupy so large a portion of former narratives,——except so far as they are connected with those instructions of Christ which accord with the great object of this gospel. The scene of the great part of John’s narrative is laid in Judea, more particularly in and about Jerusalem; and on the parting instructions given by Christ to his disciples, just before his crucifixion, he is very full; yet, even in those, he seizes hold mainly of those things which fall most directly within the scope of his work. But throughout the whole, the grand object is seen to be, the presentation of Jesus as the Messiah, the son of the living, eternal God, containing within himself the Life, the Light, the Only-begotten, the Word, and all the personified excellences, to which the Gnostics had, in their mystic idealism, given a separate existence. It thus differs from all the former gospels, in the circumstance, that its great object and its general character is not historical, but dogmatical,——not universal in its direction and tendency, but aimed at the establishment of particular doctrines, and the subversion of particular errors.Another class of sectaries, against whose errors John wrote in this gospel, were the Sabians, or disciples of John the Baptist;——for some of those who had followed him during his preaching, did not afterwards turn to the greater Teacher and Prophet, whom he pointed out as the one of whom he was the forerunner; and these disciples of the great Baptizer, after his death, taking the pure doctrines which he taught, as a basis, made up a peculiar religious system, by large additions from the same Oriental mysteries from which the Gnostics had drawn their remarkable principles. They acknowledged Jesus Christ as a being of high order, and designate him in their religious books as the “Disciple ofLife;” whileJohn the Baptist, himself somewhat inferior, is called the “Apostle ofLight,”——and is said to have received his peculiar glorified transfiguration, from a body of flesh to a body of light, from Jesus at the time of his baptism in the Jordan; and yet is represented as distinguished from the “Disciple ofLife,” by possessing this peculiar attribute of Light.This mystical error is distinctly characterized in the first chapter of this gospel, and is there met by the direct assertions, that in Jesus Christ, the Word, and the God, was not onlylife, but that theLIFEitself was theLIGHTof men;——and that John the Baptist “wasnottheLight, but was only sent to bear witness of theLight;” and again, with all the tautological earnestness of an old man, the aged writer repeats the assertion that “thiswas the true Light, which enlightens every man that comes into the world.” Against these same sectaries, the greater part of the first chapter is directed distinctly, and the whole tendency of the work throughout, is in a marked manner opposed to their views. With them too, John had had a local connection, by his residence in Ephesus, where, as it is distinctly specified in the Acts of the Apostles, Paul had found the peculiar disciples of John the Baptist long before, on his first visit to that city; and had successfully preached to some of them, the religion of Christ, which before was a strange and new thing to them. The whole tendency and scope of this gospel, indeed, as directed against these two prominent classes of heretics, both Gnostics and Sabians, are fully and distinctly summed up in the conclusion of the twentieth chapter;——“These things are written, that ye might believe thatJesusis theChrist, theSon of God, and that in believing on him, ye might haveLIFEthrough his name.”As to theplacewhere this gospel was written, there is a very decided difference of opinion among high authorities, both ancient and modern,——some affirming it to have been composed in Patmos, during his exile, and others in Ephesus, before or after his banishment. The best authority, however, seems to decide in favor of Ephesus, as the place; and this view seems to be most generally adopted in modern times. Even those who suppose it to have been written in Patmos, however, grant that it was first given to the Christian world in Ephesus,——the weight of early authority being very decided on this latter point. This distinction between the place of composition and the place of publication, is certainly very reasonable on some accounts, and is supportedby ancient authorities of dubious date; but there are important objections to the idea of the composition of both this and the Apocalypse, in the same place, during about one year, which was the period of his exile. There seem to be many things in the style of the gospel which would show it to be a work written at a different period, and under different circumstances from the Apocalypse; and some Biblical critics, of high standing, have thought that the gospel bore marks in its style, which characterized it as a production of a much older man than the author of the energetic, and almost furious denunciations of the Apocalypse, must have been. In this case, where ancient authority is so little decisive, it is but fair to leave the point to be determined by evidence thus connected with the date, and drawn from the internal character of the composition itself,——a sort of evidence, on which the latest moderns are far more capable of deciding than the most ancient, and the sagest of the Fathers. Thedateitself is of course inseparably connected with the determination of the place, and like that, must be pronounced very uncertain. The greatest probability about both these points is, that it was written at Ephesus,afterhis return from Patmos; for the idea of its being producedbeforehis banishment, during his first residence in Asia, has long ago been exploded; nor is there any late writer of authority on these points, who pretends to support this unfounded notion.HIS FIRST EPISTLE.All that has been said on the character and the objects of the gospel, may be exactly applied to this very similar production. So completely does it resemble John’s gospel, in style, language, doctrines and tendencies, that even a superficial reader might be ready to pronounce, on a common examination, that they were written in the same circumstances and with the same object. This has been the conclusion at which the most learned critics have arrived, after a full investigation of the peculiarities of both, throughout; and the standard opinion now is, that they were both written at the same time and for the same persons. Some reasons have been given by high critical authority, for supposing that they were both written at Patmos, and sent together to Ephesus,——the epistle serving as a preface, dedication, and accompaniment of the gospel, to those for whom it was intended, and commending the prominent points in it to their particular attention. This beautiful and satisfactory view of theobjectandoccasionofthe epistle, may certainly be adopted with great propriety and justice; but in regard to theplacesof its composition and direction, a different view is much more probable, as well as more consistent with the notion, already presented above, of the date and place of the gospel. It is very reasonable to suppose that the epistle was written some years after John’s return to Ephesus,——that it was intended, (along with the gospel, for the churches of Asia generally, to whom John hoped to make an apostolic pastoral visit, shortly,) to confirm them in the faith, as he announces in the conclusion. There is not a single circumstance in gospel or epistle, which should lead any one to believe that they were directed to Ephesus in particular. On the contrary, the total absence of anything like a personal or local direction to the epistle, shows the justice of its common title, that it is a “general epistle,” a circular, in short, to all the churches under his special apostolic supervision,——for whose particular dangers, errors and necessities, he had written the gospel just sent forth, and to whom he now minutely commended that work, in the very opening words of his letter, referring as palpably and undeniably to his gospel, as any words can express. “Of that which ‘was from thebeginning, of theWord,’ which I have heard, which I have seen with my eyes, which I have looked upon, which my hands have handled,——of theWordofLife”&c.; particularizing with all the minute verbosity of old age, his exact knowledge of the facts which he gives in his gospel, assuring them thus of the accuracy of his descriptions. The question concerns his reputation for fidelity as a historian; and it is easy to see therefore, why he should labor thus to impress on his readers his important personal advantages for knowing exactly all the facts he treats of, and all the doctrines which he gives at such length in the discourses of Christ. Again and again he says, “I write,” and “I have written,” recapitulating the sum of the doctrines which he has designed to inculcate; and he particularizes still farther that he has written to all classes and ages, from the oldest to the youngest, intending his gospel for the benefit of all. “I have written to you,fathers,”——“unto you,young men,”——“unto you,little children,”&c.What else can this imply, than a dedication of the work concerning “the WORD,” to all stations and ages,——to the whole of the Christian communities, to whom he commits and recommends his writings;——as he writes “to the fathers——because they know himwho was from the beginning,”——in the same way“to the young men, because they are constant, and theWord of Goddwells in them,” and “that the doctrine they have received may remain unchangeable in them,” and “on account ofTHOSE WHO WOULD SEDUCE THEM.” He recapitulates all the leading doctrines of his gospel,——the Messiahship, and the Divinity of Jesus,——his Unity, and identity with the divine abstractions of the Gnostic theology. Here too, he inculcates and renewedly urges the great feeling of Christian brotherly love, which so decidedly characterizes the discourses of Jesus, as reported in his gospel. So perfect was the connection of origin and design, between the gospel and this accompanying letter, that they were anciently placed together, the epistle immediately following the gospel; as is indubitably proved by certain marks in ancient manuscripts.

It appears well established by respectable historical testimony, that Cerinthus was contemporary with John at Ephesus, and that he had already made alarming progress in the diffusion of these and other peculiar errors, during the life of the apostle. John therefore, now in the decline of life, on the verge of the grave, would wish to bear his inspired testimony against the advancing heresy; and the occasion, scope, and object of his gospel are very clearly illustrated by a reference to these circumstances. The peculiar use of terms, more particularly in the first part,——terms which have caused so much perplexity and controversy among those who knew nothing about the peculiar technical significations of these mystical phrases, as they were limited by the philosophical application of them in the system of the Gnostics,——is thus shown in a historical light, highly valuable in preventing a mis-interpretation among common readers. This view of the great design of John’s gospel, will be found to coincide exactlywith the results of a minute examination of almost all parts of it, and gives new force to many passages, by revealing the particular error at which they were aimed. The details of these coincidences cannot be given here, but have been most satisfactorily traced out, at great length, by the labors of the great modern exegetical theologians, who have occupied volumes with the elucidation of these points. The whole gospel indeed, is not so absorbed in the unity of this plan, as to neglect occasions for supplying general historical deficiences in the narratives of the preceding evangelists. An account is thus given of two journeys to Jerusalem, of which no mention had ever been made in former records, while hardly any notice whatever is taken of the incidents of the wanderings in Galilee, which occupy so large a portion of former narratives,——except so far as they are connected with those instructions of Christ which accord with the great object of this gospel. The scene of the great part of John’s narrative is laid in Judea, more particularly in and about Jerusalem; and on the parting instructions given by Christ to his disciples, just before his crucifixion, he is very full; yet, even in those, he seizes hold mainly of those things which fall most directly within the scope of his work. But throughout the whole, the grand object is seen to be, the presentation of Jesus as the Messiah, the son of the living, eternal God, containing within himself the Life, the Light, the Only-begotten, the Word, and all the personified excellences, to which the Gnostics had, in their mystic idealism, given a separate existence. It thus differs from all the former gospels, in the circumstance, that its great object and its general character is not historical, but dogmatical,——not universal in its direction and tendency, but aimed at the establishment of particular doctrines, and the subversion of particular errors.

Another class of sectaries, against whose errors John wrote in this gospel, were the Sabians, or disciples of John the Baptist;——for some of those who had followed him during his preaching, did not afterwards turn to the greater Teacher and Prophet, whom he pointed out as the one of whom he was the forerunner; and these disciples of the great Baptizer, after his death, taking the pure doctrines which he taught, as a basis, made up a peculiar religious system, by large additions from the same Oriental mysteries from which the Gnostics had drawn their remarkable principles. They acknowledged Jesus Christ as a being of high order, and designate him in their religious books as the “Disciple ofLife;” whileJohn the Baptist, himself somewhat inferior, is called the “Apostle ofLight,”——and is said to have received his peculiar glorified transfiguration, from a body of flesh to a body of light, from Jesus at the time of his baptism in the Jordan; and yet is represented as distinguished from the “Disciple ofLife,” by possessing this peculiar attribute of Light.

This mystical error is distinctly characterized in the first chapter of this gospel, and is there met by the direct assertions, that in Jesus Christ, the Word, and the God, was not onlylife, but that theLIFEitself was theLIGHTof men;——and that John the Baptist “wasnottheLight, but was only sent to bear witness of theLight;” and again, with all the tautological earnestness of an old man, the aged writer repeats the assertion that “thiswas the true Light, which enlightens every man that comes into the world.” Against these same sectaries, the greater part of the first chapter is directed distinctly, and the whole tendency of the work throughout, is in a marked manner opposed to their views. With them too, John had had a local connection, by his residence in Ephesus, where, as it is distinctly specified in the Acts of the Apostles, Paul had found the peculiar disciples of John the Baptist long before, on his first visit to that city; and had successfully preached to some of them, the religion of Christ, which before was a strange and new thing to them. The whole tendency and scope of this gospel, indeed, as directed against these two prominent classes of heretics, both Gnostics and Sabians, are fully and distinctly summed up in the conclusion of the twentieth chapter;——“These things are written, that ye might believe thatJesusis theChrist, theSon of God, and that in believing on him, ye might haveLIFEthrough his name.”

As to theplacewhere this gospel was written, there is a very decided difference of opinion among high authorities, both ancient and modern,——some affirming it to have been composed in Patmos, during his exile, and others in Ephesus, before or after his banishment. The best authority, however, seems to decide in favor of Ephesus, as the place; and this view seems to be most generally adopted in modern times. Even those who suppose it to have been written in Patmos, however, grant that it was first given to the Christian world in Ephesus,——the weight of early authority being very decided on this latter point. This distinction between the place of composition and the place of publication, is certainly very reasonable on some accounts, and is supportedby ancient authorities of dubious date; but there are important objections to the idea of the composition of both this and the Apocalypse, in the same place, during about one year, which was the period of his exile. There seem to be many things in the style of the gospel which would show it to be a work written at a different period, and under different circumstances from the Apocalypse; and some Biblical critics, of high standing, have thought that the gospel bore marks in its style, which characterized it as a production of a much older man than the author of the energetic, and almost furious denunciations of the Apocalypse, must have been. In this case, where ancient authority is so little decisive, it is but fair to leave the point to be determined by evidence thus connected with the date, and drawn from the internal character of the composition itself,——a sort of evidence, on which the latest moderns are far more capable of deciding than the most ancient, and the sagest of the Fathers. Thedateitself is of course inseparably connected with the determination of the place, and like that, must be pronounced very uncertain. The greatest probability about both these points is, that it was written at Ephesus,afterhis return from Patmos; for the idea of its being producedbeforehis banishment, during his first residence in Asia, has long ago been exploded; nor is there any late writer of authority on these points, who pretends to support this unfounded notion.

HIS FIRST EPISTLE.

All that has been said on the character and the objects of the gospel, may be exactly applied to this very similar production. So completely does it resemble John’s gospel, in style, language, doctrines and tendencies, that even a superficial reader might be ready to pronounce, on a common examination, that they were written in the same circumstances and with the same object. This has been the conclusion at which the most learned critics have arrived, after a full investigation of the peculiarities of both, throughout; and the standard opinion now is, that they were both written at the same time and for the same persons. Some reasons have been given by high critical authority, for supposing that they were both written at Patmos, and sent together to Ephesus,——the epistle serving as a preface, dedication, and accompaniment of the gospel, to those for whom it was intended, and commending the prominent points in it to their particular attention. This beautiful and satisfactory view of theobjectandoccasionofthe epistle, may certainly be adopted with great propriety and justice; but in regard to theplacesof its composition and direction, a different view is much more probable, as well as more consistent with the notion, already presented above, of the date and place of the gospel. It is very reasonable to suppose that the epistle was written some years after John’s return to Ephesus,——that it was intended, (along with the gospel, for the churches of Asia generally, to whom John hoped to make an apostolic pastoral visit, shortly,) to confirm them in the faith, as he announces in the conclusion. There is not a single circumstance in gospel or epistle, which should lead any one to believe that they were directed to Ephesus in particular. On the contrary, the total absence of anything like a personal or local direction to the epistle, shows the justice of its common title, that it is a “general epistle,” a circular, in short, to all the churches under his special apostolic supervision,——for whose particular dangers, errors and necessities, he had written the gospel just sent forth, and to whom he now minutely commended that work, in the very opening words of his letter, referring as palpably and undeniably to his gospel, as any words can express. “Of that which ‘was from thebeginning, of theWord,’ which I have heard, which I have seen with my eyes, which I have looked upon, which my hands have handled,——of theWordofLife”&c.; particularizing with all the minute verbosity of old age, his exact knowledge of the facts which he gives in his gospel, assuring them thus of the accuracy of his descriptions. The question concerns his reputation for fidelity as a historian; and it is easy to see therefore, why he should labor thus to impress on his readers his important personal advantages for knowing exactly all the facts he treats of, and all the doctrines which he gives at such length in the discourses of Christ. Again and again he says, “I write,” and “I have written,” recapitulating the sum of the doctrines which he has designed to inculcate; and he particularizes still farther that he has written to all classes and ages, from the oldest to the youngest, intending his gospel for the benefit of all. “I have written to you,fathers,”——“unto you,young men,”——“unto you,little children,”&c.What else can this imply, than a dedication of the work concerning “the WORD,” to all stations and ages,——to the whole of the Christian communities, to whom he commits and recommends his writings;——as he writes “to the fathers——because they know himwho was from the beginning,”——in the same way“to the young men, because they are constant, and theWord of Goddwells in them,” and “that the doctrine they have received may remain unchangeable in them,” and “on account ofTHOSE WHO WOULD SEDUCE THEM.” He recapitulates all the leading doctrines of his gospel,——the Messiahship, and the Divinity of Jesus,——his Unity, and identity with the divine abstractions of the Gnostic theology. Here too, he inculcates and renewedly urges the great feeling of Christian brotherly love, which so decidedly characterizes the discourses of Jesus, as reported in his gospel. So perfect was the connection of origin and design, between the gospel and this accompanying letter, that they were anciently placed together, the epistle immediately following the gospel; as is indubitably proved by certain marks in ancient manuscripts.

It was mentioned, in connection with a former part of John’s life, that this epistle is quoted by Augustin and others, under the title of the epistle to the Parthians. It seems very probable that this may have been also addressed to those churches in the east, about Babylon, which had certainly suffered much under the attacks of these same mystical heretics. It is explained, however, by some, that this was an accidental corruption in the copying of the Greek.——Thesecondepistle was quoted by Clemens Alexandrinus, under the title of “the epistle to thevirgins,”προς παρθενους, which, as some of the modern critics say, must have been accidentally changed toπαρθους, by dropping some of the syllables, and afterwards transferred to thefirst(!) as more appropriate;——a perfectly unauthorized conjecture, and directly in the face of all rules of criticism.

THE SECOND AND THIRD EPISTLES.These are both evidently private letters from John to two of his intimate personal friends, of whose circumstances nothing whatever being known, except what is therein contained, the notice of these brief writings must necessarily be brief also. They are both honorably referred to, as entertainers of the servants of Jesus Christ as they travel from place to place, and seem to have been residents in some of the Asian cities within John’s apostolic circuit, and probably received him kindly and reverently into their houses on his tours of duty; and them he was about to visit again shortly. Thesecondepistle is directed to a Christian female, who, being designated by the very honorable title of “lady,” was evidently a person of rank; and from the remark towards the conclusion, about the proper objects of her hospitality, it is plain that she must have been also a person of some property. Mention is made of her children as also objects of warm affection to the aged apostle; and as no other member of her family is noticed, it is reasonable to conclude that she was a widow. The contents of this short letter are a mere transcript, almost verbatim, of some important points in the first, inculcating Christianlove, and watchfulness againstdeceivers;——(no doubt the Gnostical heretics,——the Cerinthians and Nicolaitans.) He apologizes for the shortness of the letter, by saying that he hopes shortly to visit her; and ends by communicating the affectionate greetings of her sister’s children, then residents in Ephesus, or whatever city was then the home of John. Thethirdepistle is directed to Gaius, (that is, Caius, a Roman name,) whose hospitality is commemorated with great particularity and gratitude in behalf of Christian strangers, probably preachers, traveling in his region. Another person, named Diotrephes, (a Greek by name, and probably one of the partizans of Cerinthus,) is mentioned as maintaining a very different character, who, so far from receiving the ministers of the gospel sent by the apostle, had even excluded from Christian fellowship those who did exercise this hospitality to the messengers of the apostle. John speaks threateningly of him, and closes with the same apology for the shortness of the letter, as in the former. There are several persons, named Gaius, or Caius, mentioned in apostolic history; but there is no reason to suppose that any of them was identified with this man.

THE SECOND AND THIRD EPISTLES.

These are both evidently private letters from John to two of his intimate personal friends, of whose circumstances nothing whatever being known, except what is therein contained, the notice of these brief writings must necessarily be brief also. They are both honorably referred to, as entertainers of the servants of Jesus Christ as they travel from place to place, and seem to have been residents in some of the Asian cities within John’s apostolic circuit, and probably received him kindly and reverently into their houses on his tours of duty; and them he was about to visit again shortly. Thesecondepistle is directed to a Christian female, who, being designated by the very honorable title of “lady,” was evidently a person of rank; and from the remark towards the conclusion, about the proper objects of her hospitality, it is plain that she must have been also a person of some property. Mention is made of her children as also objects of warm affection to the aged apostle; and as no other member of her family is noticed, it is reasonable to conclude that she was a widow. The contents of this short letter are a mere transcript, almost verbatim, of some important points in the first, inculcating Christianlove, and watchfulness againstdeceivers;——(no doubt the Gnostical heretics,——the Cerinthians and Nicolaitans.) He apologizes for the shortness of the letter, by saying that he hopes shortly to visit her; and ends by communicating the affectionate greetings of her sister’s children, then residents in Ephesus, or whatever city was then the home of John. Thethirdepistle is directed to Gaius, (that is, Caius, a Roman name,) whose hospitality is commemorated with great particularity and gratitude in behalf of Christian strangers, probably preachers, traveling in his region. Another person, named Diotrephes, (a Greek by name, and probably one of the partizans of Cerinthus,) is mentioned as maintaining a very different character, who, so far from receiving the ministers of the gospel sent by the apostle, had even excluded from Christian fellowship those who did exercise this hospitality to the messengers of the apostle. John speaks threateningly of him, and closes with the same apology for the shortness of the letter, as in the former. There are several persons, named Gaius, or Caius, mentioned in apostolic history; but there is no reason to suppose that any of them was identified with this man.

For these lucid views of the objects of all these epistles, I am mainly indebted to Hug’s Introduction, to whom belongs the merit of expressing them in this distinctness, though others before him have not been far from apprehending their simple force. Michaelis, for instance, is very satisfactory, and much more full on some points. In respect to theplacewhence they were written, Hug appears to be wholly in the wrong, in referring them to Patmos, just before John’s return. Not the least glimmer of a reason appears, why all the writings of John should be huddled together in his exile. I can make nothing whatever of the learned commentator’s reason about the deficiency of “pen, ink and paper,” (mentioned in Epistleii.12, andiii.13.) as showing that John must still have been in “that miserable place,” Patmos. The idea seems to require a great perversion of simple words, which do not seem to be capable of any other sense than that adopted in the above account.

THE TRADITIONS OF HIS LIFE IN EPHESUS.To this period of his life, are referred those stories of his miracles and actions, with which the ancient fictitious apostolic narratives are so crowded,——John being the subject of more ancient traditions than any other apostle. Some of those are so respectable and reasonable in their character, as to deserve a place here, although none of them are of such antiquity as to deserve any confidence, on points where fiction has often been so busy. The first which follows, is altogether the most ancient of all apostolic stories, which are not in the New Testament; and even if it is a work of fiction, it has such merits as a mere tale, that it would be injustice to the readers of this book, not to give them the whole story, from the most ancient and best authorized record.It is related that John, after returning from banishment, was often called to the neighboring churches to organize them, or to heal divisions, and to ordain elders. On one occasion, after ordaining a bishop, he committed to his particular care and instruction a fine young man, whom he saw in the congregation, charging the bishop, before the whole church, to be faithful to him. The bishop accordingly took the young man into his house, watched over him, and instructed him, and at length baptized him. After this, viewing the young man as a confirmed Christian, the bishop relaxed his watchfulness, and allowed the youth greater liberties. He soon got into bad company, in which his talents made him conspicuous, and proceeding from one step to another, he finally became the leader of a band of robbers. In this state of things, John came to visit the church, and presently called upon the bishop to bring forward his charge. The bishop replied that he was dead,——dead to God;——and was now in the mountains, a captain of banditti. John ordered a horse to be brought immediately to the church door, and a guide to attend him; and mounting, he rode full speed in search of the gang. He soon fell in with some of them, who seized him, to be carried to their head quarters. John told them that this was just what he wanted, for he came on purpose to see their captain. As they drew near, the captain stood ready to receive them; but on seeing John, he drew back, and began to make off. John pursued with all the speed his aged limbs would permit, crying out, “My son, why do you run from your own father, who is unarmed and aged? Pity me, my son, and do not fear. There is yet hope of your life. I will intercede for you; and, if necessary, will cheerfully suffer death for you, as the Lord did for us. Stop,——believe what I say; Christ hath sent me.” The young man stopped, looked on the ground, and then throwing down his arms, came trembling, and with sobs and tears, begged for pardon. The apostle assured him of the forgiveness of Christ; and conducting him back to the church, there fasted and prayed with him, and at length procured his absolution.Another story, far less probable, is related in the ancient martyrologies, and by the counterfeit Abdias. Craton, a philosopher, to make a display of contempt for riches, had persuaded two wealthy young men, his followers, to invest all their property in two very costly pearls; and then, in the presence of a multitude, to break them, and pound them to dust. John happening to passby, at the close of the transaction, censured this destruction of property, which might better have been given in alms to the poor. Craton told him, if he thought so, he might miraculously restore the dust to solid pearls again, and have them for charitable purposes. The apostle gathered up the particles, and holding them in his hand, prayed fervently, that they might become solid pearls, and when the people said “Amen,” it took place. By this miracle, Craton, and all his followers, were converted to Christianity; and the two young men took back the pearls, sold them, and then distributed the avails in charity. Influenced by this example, two other young men of distinction, Atticus and Eugenius, sold their estates, and distributed the avails among the poor. For a time, they followed the apostle, and possessed the power of working miracles. But, one day, being at Pergamus, and seeing some well-dressed young men, glittering in their costly array, they began to regret that they had sold all their property, and deprived themselves of the means of making a figure in the world. John read in their countenances and behavior the state of their minds; and after drawing from them an avowal of their regret, he bid them bring him each a bundle of straight rods, and a parcel of smooth stones from the sea shore. They did so,——and the apostle, after converting the rods into gold, and the stones into pearls, bid them take them, and sell them, and redeem their alienated estates, if they chose. At the same time, he plainly warned them, that the consequence would be the eternal loss of their souls. While he continued his long and pungent discourse, a funeral procession came along. John now prayed, and raised the dead man to life. The resuscitated person began to describe the invisible world, and so graphically painted to Atticus and Eugenius the greatness of their loss, that they were melted into contrition. The apostle ordered them to do penance thirty days,——till the golden rods should become wood, and the pearls become stones. They did so, and were afterwards very distinguished saints.Another story, of about equal merit, is told by the same authority. While John continued his successful ministry at Ephesus, the idolaters there, in a tumult, dragged him to the temple of Diana, and insisted on his sacrificing to the idol. He warned all to come out of the temple, and then, by prayer, caused it to fall to the ground, and become a heap of ruins. Then, addressing the pagans on the spot, he converted twelve thousand of them in one day. But Aristodemus, the pagan high priest, could not beconvinced, till John had drunken poison without harm, by which two malefactors were killed instantly, and also raised the malefactors to life. This resuscitation he rendered the more convincing to Aristodemus, by making him the instrument of it. The apostle pulled off his tunic, and gave it to Aristodemus. “And what is this for?” said the high priest. “To cure you of your infidelity,” was the reply. “But how is your tunic to cure me of infidelity?” “Go,” said the apostle, “and spread it upon the dead bodies, and say: ‘The apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ hath sent me to resuscitate you, in his name, that all may know, that life and death are the servants of Jesus Christ, my Lord.’” By this miracle the high priest was fully convinced; and afterwards convinced the proconsul. Both of them were baptized,——and persecution, from that time, ceased. They also built the church dedicated toSt.John, at Ephesus.

THE TRADITIONS OF HIS LIFE IN EPHESUS.

To this period of his life, are referred those stories of his miracles and actions, with which the ancient fictitious apostolic narratives are so crowded,——John being the subject of more ancient traditions than any other apostle. Some of those are so respectable and reasonable in their character, as to deserve a place here, although none of them are of such antiquity as to deserve any confidence, on points where fiction has often been so busy. The first which follows, is altogether the most ancient of all apostolic stories, which are not in the New Testament; and even if it is a work of fiction, it has such merits as a mere tale, that it would be injustice to the readers of this book, not to give them the whole story, from the most ancient and best authorized record.

It is related that John, after returning from banishment, was often called to the neighboring churches to organize them, or to heal divisions, and to ordain elders. On one occasion, after ordaining a bishop, he committed to his particular care and instruction a fine young man, whom he saw in the congregation, charging the bishop, before the whole church, to be faithful to him. The bishop accordingly took the young man into his house, watched over him, and instructed him, and at length baptized him. After this, viewing the young man as a confirmed Christian, the bishop relaxed his watchfulness, and allowed the youth greater liberties. He soon got into bad company, in which his talents made him conspicuous, and proceeding from one step to another, he finally became the leader of a band of robbers. In this state of things, John came to visit the church, and presently called upon the bishop to bring forward his charge. The bishop replied that he was dead,——dead to God;——and was now in the mountains, a captain of banditti. John ordered a horse to be brought immediately to the church door, and a guide to attend him; and mounting, he rode full speed in search of the gang. He soon fell in with some of them, who seized him, to be carried to their head quarters. John told them that this was just what he wanted, for he came on purpose to see their captain. As they drew near, the captain stood ready to receive them; but on seeing John, he drew back, and began to make off. John pursued with all the speed his aged limbs would permit, crying out, “My son, why do you run from your own father, who is unarmed and aged? Pity me, my son, and do not fear. There is yet hope of your life. I will intercede for you; and, if necessary, will cheerfully suffer death for you, as the Lord did for us. Stop,——believe what I say; Christ hath sent me.” The young man stopped, looked on the ground, and then throwing down his arms, came trembling, and with sobs and tears, begged for pardon. The apostle assured him of the forgiveness of Christ; and conducting him back to the church, there fasted and prayed with him, and at length procured his absolution.

Another story, far less probable, is related in the ancient martyrologies, and by the counterfeit Abdias. Craton, a philosopher, to make a display of contempt for riches, had persuaded two wealthy young men, his followers, to invest all their property in two very costly pearls; and then, in the presence of a multitude, to break them, and pound them to dust. John happening to passby, at the close of the transaction, censured this destruction of property, which might better have been given in alms to the poor. Craton told him, if he thought so, he might miraculously restore the dust to solid pearls again, and have them for charitable purposes. The apostle gathered up the particles, and holding them in his hand, prayed fervently, that they might become solid pearls, and when the people said “Amen,” it took place. By this miracle, Craton, and all his followers, were converted to Christianity; and the two young men took back the pearls, sold them, and then distributed the avails in charity. Influenced by this example, two other young men of distinction, Atticus and Eugenius, sold their estates, and distributed the avails among the poor. For a time, they followed the apostle, and possessed the power of working miracles. But, one day, being at Pergamus, and seeing some well-dressed young men, glittering in their costly array, they began to regret that they had sold all their property, and deprived themselves of the means of making a figure in the world. John read in their countenances and behavior the state of their minds; and after drawing from them an avowal of their regret, he bid them bring him each a bundle of straight rods, and a parcel of smooth stones from the sea shore. They did so,——and the apostle, after converting the rods into gold, and the stones into pearls, bid them take them, and sell them, and redeem their alienated estates, if they chose. At the same time, he plainly warned them, that the consequence would be the eternal loss of their souls. While he continued his long and pungent discourse, a funeral procession came along. John now prayed, and raised the dead man to life. The resuscitated person began to describe the invisible world, and so graphically painted to Atticus and Eugenius the greatness of their loss, that they were melted into contrition. The apostle ordered them to do penance thirty days,——till the golden rods should become wood, and the pearls become stones. They did so, and were afterwards very distinguished saints.

Another story, of about equal merit, is told by the same authority. While John continued his successful ministry at Ephesus, the idolaters there, in a tumult, dragged him to the temple of Diana, and insisted on his sacrificing to the idol. He warned all to come out of the temple, and then, by prayer, caused it to fall to the ground, and become a heap of ruins. Then, addressing the pagans on the spot, he converted twelve thousand of them in one day. But Aristodemus, the pagan high priest, could not beconvinced, till John had drunken poison without harm, by which two malefactors were killed instantly, and also raised the malefactors to life. This resuscitation he rendered the more convincing to Aristodemus, by making him the instrument of it. The apostle pulled off his tunic, and gave it to Aristodemus. “And what is this for?” said the high priest. “To cure you of your infidelity,” was the reply. “But how is your tunic to cure me of infidelity?” “Go,” said the apostle, “and spread it upon the dead bodies, and say: ‘The apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ hath sent me to resuscitate you, in his name, that all may know, that life and death are the servants of Jesus Christ, my Lord.’” By this miracle the high priest was fully convinced; and afterwards convinced the proconsul. Both of them were baptized,——and persecution, from that time, ceased. They also built the church dedicated toSt.John, at Ephesus.

For this series of fables I am indebted again to the kindness ofDr.Murdock, in whose manuscript lectures they are so well translated from the original romances, as to make it unnecessary for me to repeat the labor of making a new version from the Latin. The sight of the results of abler efforts directly before me, offers a temptation to exonerate myself from a tedious and unsatisfactory effort, which is too great to be resisted, while researches into historicaltruthhave a much more urgent claim for time and exertion.

The only one of all these fables that occurs in the writings of the Fathers, is the first, which may be pronounced a tolerably respectable and ancient story. It is narrated by Clemens Alexandrinus, (about A. D. 200.) The story is copied from Clemens Alexandrinus by Eusebius, from whom we receive it, the original work of Clemens being now lost. Chrysostom also gives an abridgement of the tale. (I. Paraenes ad Theodosius) Anastasius Sinaita, Simeon Metaphrastes, Nicephorus Callistus, the Pseudo-Abdias, and the whole herd of monkish liars, give the story almost verbatim from Clemens; for it is so full in his account as to need no embellishment to make it a good story. Indeed its completeness in all these interesting details, is one of the most suspicious circumstances about it; in short, it is almost too good a story to be true. Those who wish to see all the evidence for and against its authenticity, may find it thoroughly examined in Lampe’s Prolegomena to a Johannine Theology (I.v.4–10.) It is, on the whole, the best authorized of all the stories about the apostles, which are given by the Fathers, and may reasonably be considered to have been true in the essential parts, though the minute details of the conversations,&c., are probably embellishments worked in by Clemens Alexandrinus, or his informants.

The rest of these stories are, most unquestionably, all unmitigated falsehoods; nor does any body pretend to find the slightest authority for a solitary particular of them. They are found no where but in the novels of the Pseudo-Abdias, and the martyrologies. (Abdiae Babyloniae episcopi et Apostolorum discipuli de Historia,lib. V., St. John.)

HIS DEATH.Respecting the close of his life,all antiquityis agreed that it was not terminated by martyrdom, nor by any violent death whatever, but by a calm and peaceful departure in the course of nature, at a very great age. The precise number of years to which he attained can not be known, because no writer who lived within five hundred years of his time has pretended to specify his exact age. It is merely mentioned on very respectable ancient authority,that he survived to the beginning of the reign of Trajan. This noblest of the successors of Julius, began his splendid reign in A. D. 98, according to the most approved chronology; so that if John did not outlive even the first year of Trajan, his death is brought very near the close of the first century; and from what has been reasonably conjectured about his age, compared with that of his Lord, it may be supposed that he attained upwards of eighty years,——a supposition which agrees well enough with the statement of some of the Fathers, that he died worn out with old age.

HIS DEATH.

Respecting the close of his life,all antiquityis agreed that it was not terminated by martyrdom, nor by any violent death whatever, but by a calm and peaceful departure in the course of nature, at a very great age. The precise number of years to which he attained can not be known, because no writer who lived within five hundred years of his time has pretended to specify his exact age. It is merely mentioned on very respectable ancient authority,that he survived to the beginning of the reign of Trajan. This noblest of the successors of Julius, began his splendid reign in A. D. 98, according to the most approved chronology; so that if John did not outlive even the first year of Trajan, his death is brought very near the close of the first century; and from what has been reasonably conjectured about his age, compared with that of his Lord, it may be supposed that he attained upwards of eighty years,——a supposition which agrees well enough with the statement of some of the Fathers, that he died worn out with old age.

Jerome has a great deal to say also, about the age of John at the time when he was called, arguing that he must have been a mere boy at the time, because tradition asserts that he lived till the reign of Trajan. Lampe very justly objects, however, that this proof amounts to nothing, if we accept another common tradition, that he lived to the age of 100 years; which, if we count back a century from the reign of Trajan, would require him to have attained mature age at the time of the call. Neither tradition however, is worth much. Our old friend Baronius, too, comes in to enlighten the investigation of John’s age, by what he considers indubitable evidence. He says that John was in his twenty-second year when he was called, and passing three years with Christ, must have been twenty-five years old at the time of the crucifixion; “because,” says the sagacious Baronius, “he was then initiated into the priesthood.” An assertion which Lampe with indignant surprise stigmatizes as showing “remarkable boldness,” (insignis audacia,) because it contains two very gross errors,——first in pretending that John was ever made a priest, (sacerdos,) and secondly in confounding the age required of the Levites with that of the priests when initiated. For Baronius’s argument resting wholly on the very strange and unfounded notion, that John was made a priest, is furthermore supported on the idea that the prescribed age for entering the priesthood was twenty-five years; but in reality, the age thus required wasthirtyyears, so that if the other part of this idle story was true, this would be enough to overthrow the conclusion. Lampe also alludes to the absurd idea of the painters, in representing John as a young man, even while writing his gospel; while in reality all writers agree that that work was written by him in his old age. This idea of his perpetual youth, once led into a blunder some foolish Benedictine monks, who found in Constantinople an antique agate intaglio, representing a young man with a cornucopia, and an eagle, and with a figure of victory placing a crown on his head. This struck their monkish fancies at once, as an unquestionable portrait of John, sent to their hands by a miraculous preservation. Examination however, has shown it to be a representation of the apotheosis of Germanicus.

But even here, the monkish inventors have found room for new fables; and though the great weight of all ancient testimony deprives them of the opportunity to enter into the horrible details of a bloody and agonizing death, they can not refuse themselves the pleasure of some tedious absurdities, about the manner of his death and burial, which are barely worth a partial sketch, to show how determined the apostolic novelists are to follow their heroes to the very last, with the glories of a fancifully miraculous departure.The circumstances of his death are described in the martyrologies, and by Abdias, in this manner. He had a vision acquainting him with his approaching exit, five days before it happened.On a Lord’s-day morning, he went to the great church at Ephesus, bearing his name, and there performed public worship as usual, at day-break. About the middle of the forenoon, he ordered a deacon, and some grave diggers, with their tools, to accompany him to the burying ground. He then set them to digging his grave, while he, after ordering the multitude to depart, spent the time in prayer. He once looked into the grave, and bid them dig it deeper. When it was finished, he took off his outer garment, and spread it in the grave. Then, standing over it, he made a speech to those present, (which is not worth repeating,) then gave thanks to God for the arrival of the time of his release,——and placing himself in the grave, and wrapping himself up, he instantly expired. The grave was filled up; and afterwards miracles took place at it, and a kind of manna issued from it, which possessed great virtues.There is no need, however, of such fables, to crown with the false honors of a vain prodigy, the calmly glorious end of the “Last of the Apostles.” It is enough for the Christian to know, that, with the long, bright course of almost a century behind him, and with the mighty works of his later years around him, John closed the solemn apostolic drama, bearing with him in his late departure the last light of inspiration, and the last personal “testimony of Jesus, which is the spirit of prophecy.” Blessed in his works thus following him, he died in the Lord, and now rests from his labors on the breast of that loved friend, who cherished so tenderly the youthful Son of Thunder;——on the bosom of his Redeemer and his Lord,——“The bosom of his Father and his God.”

But even here, the monkish inventors have found room for new fables; and though the great weight of all ancient testimony deprives them of the opportunity to enter into the horrible details of a bloody and agonizing death, they can not refuse themselves the pleasure of some tedious absurdities, about the manner of his death and burial, which are barely worth a partial sketch, to show how determined the apostolic novelists are to follow their heroes to the very last, with the glories of a fancifully miraculous departure.

The circumstances of his death are described in the martyrologies, and by Abdias, in this manner. He had a vision acquainting him with his approaching exit, five days before it happened.On a Lord’s-day morning, he went to the great church at Ephesus, bearing his name, and there performed public worship as usual, at day-break. About the middle of the forenoon, he ordered a deacon, and some grave diggers, with their tools, to accompany him to the burying ground. He then set them to digging his grave, while he, after ordering the multitude to depart, spent the time in prayer. He once looked into the grave, and bid them dig it deeper. When it was finished, he took off his outer garment, and spread it in the grave. Then, standing over it, he made a speech to those present, (which is not worth repeating,) then gave thanks to God for the arrival of the time of his release,——and placing himself in the grave, and wrapping himself up, he instantly expired. The grave was filled up; and afterwards miracles took place at it, and a kind of manna issued from it, which possessed great virtues.

There is no need, however, of such fables, to crown with the false honors of a vain prodigy, the calmly glorious end of the “Last of the Apostles.” It is enough for the Christian to know, that, with the long, bright course of almost a century behind him, and with the mighty works of his later years around him, John closed the solemn apostolic drama, bearing with him in his late departure the last light of inspiration, and the last personal “testimony of Jesus, which is the spirit of prophecy.” Blessed in his works thus following him, he died in the Lord, and now rests from his labors on the breast of that loved friend, who cherished so tenderly the youthful Son of Thunder;——on the bosom of his Redeemer and his Lord,——

“The bosom of his Father and his God.”

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