JOHN. 



Earded his own fafety. On this occafion he was diilingiiiflied 

 by the notice of his mafter, and by the recommendation of 

 his mother to the future proteftioii of tliis apoille. He 

 vas alfo a witnefs of the circumtlances that afcertaiiied our 

 Lords deatli and burial. After his refurreftion John w-as 

 the lirft who entertained the behef that he was really rifen 

 from tiiede.id. On fubfcqiient occafions, when Jefus mani- 

 fested himfelf to his difciples, and thus evinced the reahty of 

 his refurredion, John was one of the number. In one of 

 thefe interviewf, when Peter, having received information of 

 tiie manner of his own death, inquired with a rcpreher.fible 

 cnriolity concerning thj fate of John, our Lcrd replied, 

 " what if he tarry till I come," thus intimating either that 

 he would furvive the deftruction of Jerufalem, or that his 

 life woul^ be prolonged till it was terminated in the courfe 

 of nature. After the afcenfioa of Chrill, and the elFulion 

 of the Spirit on the day of pentecoll, John became one of 

 the chief apjftles of the circumcifion, and cxercifed his 

 miciftry at and about Jerufalem, in the manner and with the 

 fucccfs related in the book of Afts : he was prefent at 

 the council of this city held in the year 49 or 50. (See 

 Ads, XV.) Until this time he probably remained in the 

 land of Ifrael, and had not travelled into any foreign 

 countries. During his (lay in Judea, it appears that he 

 wrought many miracles. From the book of Revelation 

 (chap. i. 9.) we learn, that St. John was for fome time in 

 the iiland of Patmos, where he was favoured with vifions 

 and revelations. He is fuppofed to have been banithed 

 thither in the r th year of Domitian, and to have returned 

 in the beginning of the reign of Nerva ; fo that his exile 

 could not have laded more than two years, or perhaps not 

 above a year. From ecclefiaftical !ii!lory we learn that he 

 . lived to a great age, and that i:i the latter part of his hfe 

 he refided in Afia, particularly at Ephefus, tiie chief city 

 of that country. His fettiemont in Afia feems, from fe- 

 veral circumftances, to have taken place about the time 

 when the war broke out in Judea, in the y/ar 66, or a 

 ihort time before, when probably St. Peter and Paul had 

 been previoufly crowned with martyrdom. According to 

 Irenxus, this apoftle lived in Afia til! the time of Trajan, 

 who fuccceJed Nerva, AD. gS. From other accounts it 

 appears that he died at Ephefus, and was buried near that 

 city, about 68 years after otir Lord's paflion. Suppofing 

 our Lord to have been cruciSed in the year 32 of the vuU'ar 

 era, which feems to have been Jerox.'s opinion ; 68 years 

 wili extend to the year 100, or the third of Trt.jsin ; at 

 which year of that emperor the death of St. John is pL-.ced 

 by Jcrom in his chronicle. At tlie time of his death it 

 is not incredible, nor unlikely, that he was about 100 

 jears of age. Some other particulars have been recorded 

 concerning this apoille, which the mod impartial critics 

 have reckoned fabidous. It is related of him, that going 

 to bathe at Ephefus, and perceiving that Cerinthus, or, as 

 others fay, Ebion, was in the bath, he came out haftily 

 without bathing, faying to thofe that were with him, 

 " Let us flee hence, Ic.^t the bath (hould fall while Cerin- 

 thus the enemy of the truth is within." It is alfo faid, 

 that by order of the emperor Domitian, St. John was 

 call into a cauldron of boiling oil at Rome, and came out 

 agaih without being hurt. Tlie following account, given by 

 Jefom, of St. John's method of preaching when he was far 

 advanced in years, and not able to make a long difcourfe, is 

 more worthy of credit. " The blelled apoille John, living 

 at Ephefus to extreme old age, and being with difSculty 

 carried to church in the arms of tiie difciples, and being un- 

 able to make a tong difcourfe every time they a.Ttmbled, was 

 wcr.t to fay nothing but this : <• Little children, love one 



another." At length the difciples and brethren who at- 

 tended, tired- with hearing fo often the fame thing, faid, " Sir, 

 wdiy do you always fay this i" who then made this anfwer, 

 wortl'.y of himfeif : " Becaufe," fays he, " it is the Lord's 

 command ; and if that alone be done, it is fulficient." 



The writings which are generally afcribed to St. John, and 

 received as his, arc a gcfpel, three epilUes, and the book of 

 Revelation. 



Tiie gofpcl of St. John has been univerfally received as 

 genuine ; -and, as it is generally allowed that he had fcen 

 tlie other three gofpels, it may be confidercd as a kind 

 of fupplenient to thefe, containing feveral things that occur 

 in them, and many others which they have omitted. In the 

 account of our Saviour's perfecution, death, and rcfurrec- 

 tion, all four gofpels coincide in many particulars ; though 

 here St. John has various things peculiar to himfelf. In 

 his gofpel many things recorded by the other evangclills 

 are omitted. He has given us no account of our Saviour's 

 nativity, nor of his baptifni by John. He takes no notice 

 of our Saviour's temptation in the wildernefo ; nor of the 

 call, or names of the 12 apolUes ; nor of their miffion in the 

 time of our Saviour's life ; nor of our Lord's parables, or 

 other di!'courfes of his, recorded by thein ; nor of our Sa- 

 viour's journies, of v.liich they give an account ; nor of any 

 of thofe predirtioiis relating to the dofolations of Jerufalem, 

 which are found in the gofpels of Matthew, Mark, and 

 Luke ; nor has he repeated any miracles recorded by them, 

 excepting only that of the multiplication of fmall provilion 

 for feeding 50CO, with the extraordinary circumllances of 

 the return to Capernaum from the country, where that 

 miracle liad been wrought. But he mentions feveral inci- 

 dents which the other evangelifts have not noticed. St. 

 John gives an account of our Lord's cleanfing the temple, 

 at his firit paflbvcr, when he went to Jerufalem ; but ?ll 

 the other evangelills give a like account of his cleanfing 

 the temple at the laft paflover. Thefe two ads are, hov.-- 

 ever, different. He gives an account cf the efts of Chrift 

 before the imprifonment of John the Bant ill ; of the wedding 

 at Cana ; of Nicodemus; of the woman of Samaria; of the cure 

 of the man blind from his birth ; of the refurreclion ©f Laza- 

 rus; of the indignation of Judas at t!:e woman who anointed 

 the Lord with ointment ; of the Greeks th?.t came to Jefns ; of 

 Clirift wafliing the feet of his difciples; and of thecofifolatory 

 iaitiuition*, which he dehvered to his apoftles previoufly to 

 h-.s death, c'.c: St. John's gofpel contains alfo mere plain and 

 frequent afiiirances than thofe that occur in the other gofpels, 

 that Jefus is not only a prophet and mcffengcr of God, but the 

 Chrift, the Son of God, or that great prophtt, that fhoiild 

 come into the world ; referring, as many furpofe, by pecu- 

 liar expre.i;0!S, to his pre-exilleiit dignity, though otherfc 

 think thefe cxprtflions to be figurr.ii^ e. 



Writers are not agreed as to the' time when this gofpel 

 was written. St. John, according to Mill, Fabiici\is, and 

 Le Cierc, v/rote his gofpel at Ephefus, after his return from 

 ti;e ifle of P.itnios, A.D' 9;, at the defire of the Cliritlians 

 of Afia. Wettcein thought that this gofpcl might be v.ritten 

 about the year 32 after our Lord's afcenfion. B fnage ar.d 

 Lampe fuppofed that it was written before the deilruftion 

 ot Jerufalcp : Dr. Lardncr adopts this opinion, and afilgra 

 the date of it to the year of Chrill 68. This period brings 

 it nearer to that of the three other gofpels, which was about 

 the year 64 or 6^, and the gofpel itfelf, the leading dcfign 

 of wtncli uas t(j !hew how inexcufable the Jews were in not 

 receiving Jelus oS the Chrift, and to vindicate the providence 

 of Cod in the calamities already befallen, or now coming 

 upon them, was fuitable to the circumllances of the Jews 

 at this period. It is obfervcd by Dr. Lardiierj as an tvi'- 



