JOHN. 



{o liis requeft. As foon as tins fervice was concli'.ded, John 

 baJ ample evidfnce prefented to him of the diirnity and real 

 chnratlcrof Jefus ; for a lambent flame defceaded upon him 

 with a ki:;d of hovering dove-like motion, and a voice 

 from heaven accompanii>d it, proclaiming " Tiiis is my bi- 

 loved Son, in whom I am well pleafed."' John, being tho- 

 roughly fatislied that Jffiis \va^ the proniifed and c:;pefted 

 Mefliah, eagerly embraced every opportunity that occurred 

 of announcing him to the multitude, which attended his mi- 

 niih-y, v.ndcr this chnraclei-. The difciples of John became 

 jealous of the iricrendng fame of Jefus ; and fearful that the 

 reputation and influence of their mafter v^ould decline : but 

 John correded their milapprehenfions, acknowledged his infe- 

 riority to Jefus, and direded the people to transfer their views 

 and regard from him, who was merely the forerunner of the 

 Meffiih and Saviour, to the perfon who really fuftained this 

 high charafter, and to whom thefe honourable appellations 

 belonged. In the courfe of John's minilV.-y his fame com- 

 manded the attention of Herod, tetrarch of Galilee, and 

 induced him to fend for the preacher to his court ; for fome 

 time his inilruttion and counfel feemed to imprefs the te- 

 trarch's mind, and to give him pleafure. But the fidehty 

 of John would not permit Herod to form an inceftuous con- 

 nexion with Hcrodias, his brother's wife, without feafonable 

 animadvcrfion and fevere reproof. The tetrarch refented 

 the faithf il reproheniion of John, and committed him to 

 prifon. During the interval of his confinement, Herodias 

 was plotting his death : but Herod, for fome time, partly 

 from reverence for John, and partly from a dread of the 

 people, who believed him to be a prophet, refilled the ma- 

 chinations of Herodias. An opportunity at length occurred, 

 tipon the birth-day of Herod, for the execution of the cruel 

 purpofe which this wicked woman had formed againll John. 

 Her daughter, by her former hulhand, danced before the 

 aiTembly that w.is convened in honour of his nativity, fo 

 much to the fatisfaclion of Herod, that he promifed with an 

 oath to grant her whatfoever (lie requelled, even though it 

 fliould bJ to the value of half his kingdom. The princels, in- 

 llrufted by her mother, requelled that the head of John the 

 Baptilt Piiould be delivered to her in a charger, or'large difh. 

 Herod wa3 for fome time reluflant ; but upon her perfilf ing 

 in !i5r requelt, Herod complied, and ordered John to be be- 

 headed in the prifon. The death of John tlie Baptill is 

 mentioned by Jofephus in a paflage, the genuinenefs of which 

 is generally admitted by learned men. A difpute had arifen 

 betv/een Aretas, king of Petrsa, the father of his firft wife, 

 whom he had put away for the fake of Herodias, wliich was 

 partly owing to this conJuft, and partly to fome difference 

 tJiat took place between them about the limits of their re- 

 fpeftivj territories. In a contelt between them Herod's 

 whole army was defeated ; and this defeat, fays Jofephus, 

 ■was conudered by fome of the Jews as a jull punifliment 

 providentially inflidled on Herod, for the death of John,- 

 called tiie Biptift. For Herod, continues the Jewifli writer, 

 had killed- him who was a jull man, and had called upon the 

 Jews to be baptifed, and to praAife vjrui?, oxcrcifi:ig both 

 juftice towards men, aad piety toward.s G-od : for fo would 

 bapiifm be acceptable to God, if they made ufe of it, not 

 for the expiation of their lins, but for the purity of the 

 bodv' ; the mind being firll puiilied by rightcoiifnefs. And 

 matiy coming to him, for they were wonderfully taken with 

 his difcourics, Herod w.ib fejzed with apprchcnfions, lefl:, by 

 his agthori.y, they fliould be led into f.'dition affainft him, 

 for they feemed capuble of undertaking any thing by his di- 

 veftioii, &.C. <Aniiq. 1. xviii c §■ § J, 3.) It, lias been faid 

 by fome perfons, that this paragraph contradicts oyr evange- 

 liils : for, acordiiii' to then:, it was at the folicitaticn of He- 



rodias and her daughter that John was beheaded. But liere 

 it is faid, that Herod put John to death becaufe he feared 

 that he might be the caufe of a fedition. But the two ac- 

 counts are by no means inccnfiftent : for Herod tnight have 

 apprehenfions from John's popularity, and be difpofed, on 

 that account, to take him off. See Lardner's Works, vol. vii. 

 p. 117. The fellival of the nativity of John the Baptift was 

 appointed to be obferved in the Chriftian church on the 24th 

 of June : the date of the firil appointment is not known ; 

 but tliat it is to be placed before the end of the fourth cen- 

 tury, appears from the fermons of St. Augulline, adapted 

 to the day. 



Joiis Bnptift, Hermits of. See Hermits. 



John', Saint, an apsjlle and c-vangelifi, was the fon of Zc- 

 bedee, a fidierman.of the town of Bethfaida, on the fea of 

 Galilee, the younger brother of James the elder, (fee Jame.s,) 

 and commonly reckoned the youngeft of all Chrift.'s dif- 

 ciples. His mother's name was Salome. Zebedee, though 

 a fiflierman, was not poor, and therefore we have no reafon 

 to imagine that his children were altogether illiterate, which 

 fome have imagined to have been the cafe, from a mifinter- 

 pretation of A6ls, iv. 13, in which the terms .i-.pa;,ijUK>yi and 

 jJia-lxi denote perfoiis that were neither doftcrs nor magi- 

 ftrates, but men of private ilations, who had not been edu- 

 cated in the fchools of the Rabbies. (Grot, in loc.) See 

 Idiot. They were, without doubt, well acquainted with 

 the fcriptures of the Old Tellament ; having not only read 

 them, but having heard them pubhcly read and explained in 

 the fynagogues. In common with other Jews, they enter- 

 tained the cxpeSation of the Mefliah, and had heard Jolui 

 the Baptift preach, though they were not enlifted in the 

 number of his difciples. Before 7ohn was called to be an 

 apoftlo, it cannot be queflioncd that he had feen and heard 

 our bleffed Lord, and had been witnefs of fome of hi.<i mi. 

 racles, particularly that at the wcddi.ng of Cana in Galilee. 

 (See John, ii. i — 1 1.) His call to attend upon Jefus fiatedly 

 is related Matt. iv. 21, 22. Mark, i. 19, 20. Luke, v. 1 — 

 10. From this time he and his brother James were the con- 

 ftant attendants on Chrift ; they heard his difcourfes, and 

 faw his miracles j and after previous inftruclion, both public 

 and private, they were honoured with a feleftion and ap- 

 pointment to be of the number of the twelve apoftles. What 

 was his age at this time, his hillory does not precifely afccr- 

 tain. Some have fuppofed that he was then 22 years old : 

 others conjefture that he was about 25 or 26 ; and other* 

 again think, that he was about the fame age with our Sa- 

 viour. Dr. Lardner is of opinion, that none of the apollles 

 of Chrift were much under the age of 30, when they were 

 appointed to this important office. However it be, John 

 feems to have been the youngeft of the twelve, and to have 

 been diftir:guiflied by a temper Angularly mild, amiable, and 

 affeflionate. He was eminently the objedl of our Lord's 

 regard and confidence, and admitted, on various occafions, 

 to free and intimate intercourfe with him ; fo that he was 

 charadleiized as " the difciple whom Jefi'.s loved." The 

 evangelical hiftory recites many inllances which evince the 

 intimacy that fubfiftcd b'.tween him and his mailer, and tiic 

 high opini(m which our bleffed Lord entertained of his dif- 

 pofition and character. His faihngs, however, did not 

 efcape notice ; and he svas reprehendtd for them by our 

 Lord. Notwithftar.ding his atredlionate attachment to 

 Carill, and the numerous inftances of kind and condefcend- 

 ing attention with which he had been honoured, he, in com. 

 mon with the other apoftles, betrayed a culpable timidity \x\ 

 forfaking him during his !all conflict ; tliough he afterwards 

 recovered his firmnefs, and attended the crucifixion : and, 

 indeed, he fecais to have been the only apoftle who thus ha. 



z aided 



