صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

called them blessed, and they have His own sure word, His own gracious promise to rest upon; "Blessed are they that are persecuted for righte ousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you."

JOHN HENRY PARKER, OXFORD AND LONDON.

Sermons for the Christian Seasons.

ST. JOHN'S DAY.

THE APOSTLE OF LOVE.

ST. JOHN xxi. 24.

This is the disciple which testifieth

of these things, and wrote these things.

YESTERDAY was the festival of the first martyr, St. Stephen, a martyr both in will and in deed to-day is the festival of St. John the apostle and evangelist, a martyr for Christ in will, yet not in deed.

St. John was by birth a native of Galilee, son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother of St. James both the brothers, as well as their father Zebedee, were fishers, when our Lord called them to be His disciples, as we read in St. Matthew's gospel. gospel. "And going on from thence, Jesus saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets and He called them: and they immediately left the ship and their father and fol

37

lowed Him." St. John is usually thought to have been the youngest of the apostles, and to have been not yet thirty years old, when our Lord called him; which is very probable, as he did not die until seventy years after our Lord's crucifixion.

St. John had many singular marks of our Lord's love and confidence; he was allowed, together with St. Peter and St. James, to be present both at our Lord's transfiguration, and also at His agony in the garden. He re

ceived from our Lord, together with St. James, the name of Boanerges, i. e. sons of thunder: which has been thought to refer to the sublime doctrines which he preached; the sound whereof went out into the lands like the awful sound of the thunder, rather than the mere voice of man. But, beside this name which he had in common with His brother St. James, and the privilege of being with Christ on the mount, and in the garden, St. John had other and especial marks of the favour of Jesus Christ, in which no other shared. He is called (in an especial sense) the disciple whom Jesus loved, and he lay on Jesus' breast at the last supper. And it was to his care that our Saviour, from His cross, entrusted His holy and virgin mother. "When Jesus

therefore saw His mother and the disciple standing by, whom He loyed, He saith unto His mother, Woman, behold thy son. Then saith He to the disciple, Behold thy mother. And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home." Highly favoured indeed was he, who was thus left in Christ's place, to His blessed mother; to be as a son to her, to whom the Son of God Himself had been a Son. What higher mark of love and of confidence could one human friend shew to another; how much more when He, who thus shewed it, was that very God who knoweth the heart.

Of his great zeal for Christ there are two well-known notices in the gospel, wherein our Lord restrained him; as though his zeal and jealousy for his Lord were not as yet enough chastened by knowledge and charity: one, where he saw one casting out devils in Christ's name, and forbade him, because he followed not the apostles: the other, where, when a village of the Samaritans did not receive Christ, St. John and his brother said, "Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, even as Elias did ?" And the like may be said of our Lord's reply to the request of St. John and St. James, "Grant unto

us that we may sit the one on Thy right hand and the other on Thy left hand in Thy kingdom" to which our Lord made answer, "Ye know not what ye ask.'

:

[ocr errors]

Although, when our Lord was betrayed, all forsook Him and fled, and St. John among the rest, still his love seems to have soon overcome his fear he is usually thought to be that other disciple, "who was known unto the highpriest, and went in with Jesus into the palace of the high-priest, and brought in Peter." Certainly he was present at His crucifixion, (regardless it should seem of any danger to himself,) and close at the very foot of His cross, whence also he received in charge the blessed Virgin. He is again spoken of as "that other disciple," to whom, together with St. Peter, Mary Magdalene brought word that the body of Christ was not in the sepulchre; and he and St. Peter ran together to the sepulchre, to see with their own eyes the truth of what she said.

After our Lord's ascension, St. John is again joined with St. Peter, as healing the lame man at the gate of the temple, as preaching unto the people, as witnessing Jesus Christ before the council, and as sent, together with St. Peter, to confirm the Christian converts in Samaria. And

« السابقةمتابعة »