THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN.

St. John the Evangelist was the son of Zebedee and Salome, and the brother of James. The writer. With his father and brother he followed the occupation of a fisherman on the Lake of Galilee. It does not appear, however, that the family was poor. Zebedee had not only his own boat and nets, but hired servants (St. Mark i. 20); and we gather from comparing together St. Luke viii. 3; xxiii. 55; St. Mark xvi. 1, that Salome was one of those women that ministered to the Lord of her substance, and brought sweet spices and ointments to anoint him.

It seems from his account of things (chap. i. 35-40) that the Evangelist was the other of the two disciples that left the Baptist to follow Jesus, pointed out as the Lamb of God. At a later period he and his brother James were called by our Lord whilst they were in a ship with their father, mending their nets; and immediately they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after him (St. Mark i. 19, 20). Again, on the occasion of the miraculous draught of fishes, we read that Peter, James, and John forsook all and followed Jesus (St. Luke v. 10, 11). Our Lord gave John and his brother James the surname "Boanerges"-" sons of thunder;" and the impetuosity of their natural character was shown in their desiring to call down fire from heaven upon the inhospitable Samaritans (St. Luke ix. 54).

St. John was one of the three that our Lord on several occasions chose out from the rest of the twelve. He, with St. Peter and St. James, alone saw the raising of Jairus's daughter, the transfiguration, and the agony in the garden. He was honoured with the inestimable privilege of being "the disciple whom Jesus loved." At the last supper he lay on Jesus's breast, and at St. Peter's request asked our Lord who

should betray him. He followed his Master to the hall of Caiaphas, and he alone, of all the Apostles, stood by the cross of Jesus. Of him were those words spoken, "Woman, behold thy son;" and to him, the words, "Son, behold thy Mother." He witnessed the soldier pierce the side of Jesus, and the blood and water that came thereout. After the resurrection, on hearing the news of the empty tomb, he ran with Peter to the sepulchre, went in after Peter, and saw and believed. He it was that recognised the worker of the miracle on the sea of Tiberias, and said unto Peter, "It is the Lord." Concerning him, Jesus said unto Peter, "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?" (St. John xxi. 7-22.)

In the Acts of the Apostles we find St. John associated with St. Peter in the cure of the lame man at the beautiful gate of the temple; boldly confessing Jesus before the Sanhedrim in spite of threats; and again, with St. Peter, sent down to Samaria, to lay hands on the converts of Philip the deacon, that they might receive the Holy Ghost. St. Paul, in his epistle to the Galatians, speaks of John as one of those that seemed to be pillars of the Church in Jerusalem (Gal. ii. 9).

According to ecclesiastical tradition, the latter part of St. John's life was spent at Ephesus, in Asia Minor. St. Polycarp and St. Ignatius were among the disciples he educated there. He was exiled under Domitian to the island of Patmos : Tertullian says that this took place after he had been thrown into a caldron of burning oil, and had come forth unhurt. In Patmos, St. John beheld the visions of the book of the Apocalypse. After the death of Domitian, he returned to Ephesus, and died there in extreme old age, probably A.D. 100 or 101. There is a well-known story respecting him to the effect that when in his latter days he was so weak that he had to be carried to the assemblies of the faithful, his few words of exhortation were ever

the same, "Little children, love one another;" and that on being asked why he so constantly repeated this one injunction, he said, "It is the Lord's command, and whoso fulfils it has done all he need."

Besides the Gospel and the Book of the Apocalypse St. John wrote three Epistles.

St. John stands in marked contrast to the other Evangelists.

1. He introduces into his narrative comments and Contrast bereflections of his own; the other Evangeltween St. John ists narrate without comment.

and the other 2. St. John more than once claims the

Evangelists. authority of an eye-witness; the other Evangelists never do so.

3. The incidents of our Lord's ministry in Judea, before the last journey to Jerusalem, are not mentioned by the first three Evangelists; St. John gives them great prominence.

4. We could not gather from the first three Evangelists that our Lord's ministry lasted for more than one year; we know from St. John that it lasted for two, and probably three, years.

5. The doctrine of the first three Evangelists relates to the outside and more elementary truths of the Gospel; St. John reveals the deep things of God, and speaks wisdom to those that are perfect.

Again, certain terms-such as the Word, the Life, the Light, the Darkness, the Truth, the World, as used to express the leading ideas of the fourth Gospel-give it a distinctive character.

St. John's style, too, is very peculiar. He avoids the oblique form of narrative; discourses he gives as conversations; sentence is added to sentence without connecting particles, and the chief word of a sentence is constantly repeated-thus: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (i. 1); "He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not" (i. 10);

"And he confessed and denied not, but confessed" (i. 20); "If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true; there is another that beareth witness of me, and I know that the witness that he witnesseth of me is true" (v.31, 32); "If ye had believed Moses, ye would have believed me; but if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?" (v. 46, 47.) The result is a composition of wonderful simplicity and power.

The design of St. John's Gospel is to draw men to Christ by making them realise who he is: The design of that he is the Word made flesh; the same St. John's Word that was in the beginning with God, Gospel. and that was God; the same Word by whom all things were made; the Light that lighteneth every man that cometh into the world; whose glory was seen-the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth; that he is therefore the everlasting Life and Light of those that receive him, giving them power to become the sons of God, but the condemnation of those that receive him not, because such men show that they love darkness rather than light (St. John iii. 19). And this design marked out in the preface is evident throughout the whole narrative.

The discourses selected are those in which our Lord revealed his personal dignity, his preëxistence, his oneness with the Father; those in which he declared himself "the Salvation and Light of the world,” “the Giver of living water," "the Drink of the thirsty," "the Bread of life," the "Light of life;" those in which he showed his power to console his own, his authority to send the Paraclete.

The miracles, incidents, testimonies introduced were so many manifestations of the glory of the only begotten of the Father. And the death of Christ, we are made to see, was no prejudice to this glory. The good Shepherd, by his own power, lays down his life for the sheep, that he may take it again; and for so doing the Father loves him (x. 17, 18).

On the other hand, the conflicts with the Jews are made to exemplify the wilful blindness of those that reject Christ.

The main facts peculiar to St. John's Gospel are: 1. The doctrinal introduction on the Word made Facts peculiar flesh (i. 1-18).

to St. John's 2. The Baptist's testimony to Jesus as Gospel. the Lamb of God (i. 29-34).

3. Our Lord followed by two of the Baptist's disciples; the account of Peter's being brought to Jesus by Andrew; and Philip's interview with Nathaniel (i. 35-51).

4. The marriage-feast at Cana (ii. 1-11).

5. The visit to Jerusalem at the feast, and the first cleansing of the temple (ii. 13-25).

6. The conversation with Nicodemus (iii. 1-21). 7. The ministry in Judæa (iii. 22-24).

8. The discourse with the woman of Samaria (iv. 1-42).

9. The healing of the nobleman's son (iv. 43-54). 10. Cure of the infirm man at the pool in Jerusalem, and his subsequent discourse (v. 1-47).

11. Discourse on the Bread of life, and its effect (vi. 22-72).

12. Discussion among the Jews concerning Christ (vii. 11-13).

13. Our Lord teaching in the temple at the Feast of Tabernacles; its effect (vii. 14-36).

14. Nicodemus pleads for our Lord (vii. 37-53). 15. The woman taken in adultery (viii. 1-11). 16. The blasphemy of the Jews at our Lord's discourse on his divinity (viii. 12-59).

17. The healing of the man born blind (ix. 1-41). 18. Our Lord's discourse on himself as the Door and the good Shepherd (x. 1-21).

19. Our Lord's discourse in Solomon's porch, and its effect (x. 22-42).

20. The raising of Lazarus (xi. 17-46).