JOHN. 



dence that it was one great defign of St. Jolin, in writing 

 this gofpel, to fliew tlie unreafonablencfs and great guilt 

 of the Jeu-s in rejcfting Jefus, that in his gofpel aie inferted 

 more inllanccs of their attempts upon our Lord's life than 

 in the other gofpels. Chryf Horn was of opinion, that St. 

 John did not write his gofpel till after the deftruftion of 

 Jerafalem. John, he fays, writes not any of the things that 

 occur in Matt, xxiv., Icll it (hould be thought that he took 

 an advantage from the event : for he was livinsj a good while 

 after the deftrnftion of Jerufaleni. Bnt the other evan- 

 geliils, who died before the deftruc\ion of Jori.falem, and 

 faw none of thefe things, recora tlit;fe predictions. But 

 John, if he wrote at the time above fpecilied, wz. when the 

 event was near, might omit thefe prcdidlions, as they were 

 fufficiently recorded already, and as it is not his manner to 

 repeat what had been related before. He gives, however, 

 feveral intimations of the miferies that were coming upon 

 the Jewilh people. (Ch. iii. ^6 iii i8, 19. viii. 12. 21. 24. 

 ix. 39 — 41. xii. 3^, 36.) Mr. Whiiton, obferving that St. 

 John ufes the Roman or Julian beginning of the day in his 

 gofpel, and reckons the hours from midnight and noon, 

 urges this as an argument for the gofpel having been written 

 after the dellruttion of Jerufalem, and the period of the 

 Jewifh polity, at Ephefus, a place remote from Judea, 

 and under the Roman government. To this it is replied, 

 that St. John does not compute the hours of the day 

 after the Roman, but rather after the Jewifh manner ; and, 

 fuppofing St. John to have ufed the Roman method of 

 computation, it does not follow that he wrote after the de- 

 ilruction of Jerufdem, &c. As the gofpel was written at 

 Ephefus, at a dillance from Judea, he miglit, if he thought 

 fit, have ufed the Roman way of reckoning, efpecially when 

 the period of the Jewifli commonwealth was near, though 

 not quite accomplifhcd. The late date of the gofpel has 

 been alfo argued, from what foir.e have alleged, to have 

 been the object or end of the writer. Accordingly, many 

 ancient and fome modern writers fay, that this gofpel was 

 written with a defign to remove the errors of the Cerin- 

 thia.ns, Ebionites, and other fects, which cannot be fuppofed 

 to have ^appeared before the deftruflion of Jerufalem, and 

 the ovei*throvv of the Jewifii people. But Mr. Lainpe and 

 Dr. Lardner have urged feveral reafons to fliew that St. 

 John did not write againft Cerinthus, or any other heretics 

 in Iiis gofpel ; and that it was written before the rife of 

 thofeherefies, which are faid to be confuted by it. Lardner 

 • thinks that it would have been below an e\angelifl: to write 

 agaiuil heretics in the hiltory of his Lord and mailer ; and 

 that none of the evangelills have entered into a particular 

 account of things after our Lord's afcenfion. Nothing of 

 ^his kind, fays this writer, occurs in the reft of St. John's 

 gofpel ; and, thercfoi-e, why (hould we imairine that there is 

 any fucli thing in the introduftion ; the defign of which is to 

 {hew, that Jefus came and atted by the autliority of God, 

 the Creator of the world, the God and fupreme Lawgiver 

 of the Jewilh people. Some have thought, and particularly 

 Grotius, that St. John concluded his gofpel with the 

 words, which are at the end of the 20th chapter ; and that 

 which is in the 2 1 (I chapter was added after St. John's 

 death by the church of Ephefus. But this opinion is con- 

 tradifted by the general, or even univerfal, confelit of maiiu- 

 fcripts and verfions : to which it may be added, that none 

 of the ancient Chriftian writers ever made a quellion, whe- 

 ther this chapter was compofed by St. John or another. 

 Moreover, the ftyle is St. John's. Lardncr's Suppl. to the 

 Credibihty, or Works, vol. vi. chap. 9. 



Befides the gofpel, St. .John wrote three epiflles, which 

 are generally received in tiiefe parts of the world. The 



geninnenefs of the fir.l epiille does not feera to have beeti 

 ever quet'ioned. It is refe.Ted to by Pclycarp, and the mar- 

 tyrs of Lyons, and quoted by Papias. The Srft and fecotid 

 epillles are ci.ed by Irenseus, and received by Clement of 

 Alexandria. Origen mentions three epillles, though he 

 fays that the fecond and third were not allowed by all to 

 be genuine. Dionyfius of Alexandria receives the fir.1 

 cpiil e, calling it the " Catholic cpillk-,'' and he inentions 

 the other two as afcribed to St'. John. The fir'.b epillle was 

 received by Cyprian, and probably the other two. The 

 fecoiid ei)iflle is quoted by Alexander, bifiiop of Alexan- 

 dria. Eufcbius fays, " that befides the gofpel, his nrJl 

 epillle is univerfally'ac>knowledgcd by thofe of the prefi.it _ 

 time, and by the ancients ; but the other two are contra- 

 dicted," i.'c. doubted of by fome. AH the three epiUk* 

 were received by Athanafius, by Cynl of Je-.jfulem, by 

 the council of Laodicea, and by Epiplianius. Ail three 

 were received by Jerom : and the two lad were doubted of 

 by fome in his time. All three were^ccived by Ruiinus, 

 by the third council of Cartha^-e, by Auguiiine, and by 

 a'l thofe authors who received the fame canon of the Njw 

 Teilament with our's. All three are in the Alexandrian 

 MS. arid alfo in the catalogues of Gregory Nazianzen 

 and of Amphilochius. The Syrian churches, h:nvever, 

 received only one ; nor were any more received by Chryfuf- 

 tom. Upon the whole we may obferve, that one epidlc 

 was received by al! as certainly genuine ;. and it is not of 

 any importance to contend about the other two, as they 

 are fo very flioit, and refenible the f.rft in feutin.c.t, -jhrarc, 

 and manner of writing. Tiie fecond epilHc coniifts of only 

 thirteen of our verfcs ; and of thefe eight may lie found in 

 the firll, either in fenfe or exprcflion. See Caxon. 



As to the time when thefe epillles were wri'.ten, critics and 

 commentators have entertained different opinions. Grotius, 

 Hnmm nd, and Whitby, fuppofe the fiv'A to have been writ- 

 ten before the deftrudion of Jerufalem, and the former thinks 

 the place of writing it was Patii.ns. Dr. Benfon inclines 

 to date it in the year of our Lord 68. Mill and Le 

 Clerc refer it to the year 91 or 92 ; B.ifnage to the year 

 98, and Baronius to 99. Beaufobre and Leiifant refer it to 

 the end of the firll centui;y,when the apoflle was far advanced 

 in age. Whillon thought that .this, ai.d the two other 

 epifUes of St. John, were written not long after each other, 

 about the year of Chrill 82 or 8j. Lampe fuppofes the 

 firll epillle to have been -.vritten after the Jewifh war, before 

 St. John's exile in Patmos, and, probably, fome confider- 

 abk time before it : fo that he nearly agrees about the time 

 of the epiflle v.ilh WhiWon. Dr. Lardner, f onfidering that 

 there are no expreffions in the epillle declaring the time of 

 it, or clearly referring to the calamities attending the down- 

 fal of the Jewifli Hate, thinks it probable, that it was not 

 written till a good while after that event, about the year 

 of Chrill 80, or later. Some have thought that the fir^ 

 epillle was written to Jewifli believers in Parthia ; and 

 others are of opinion, that it was addicffcd to the Jewifh 

 Chrillians in Judea and Galilee. Others think it more pro- 

 bable, that it was directed to all believers. Gentiles as 

 well as Jews ; though Jewifh believers are efpecially re- 

 garded. The fecond cpiiUe isinfcribed " The cider to the 

 elett lady, and her children."' By the " tlefl lady" fome 

 have underllood the Chriftian church in general, and 

 others uiiderftand the appellation as dellgned to exprefs 

 fome particular church. Others again have fuppofed, that 

 it was addreffed to a female of the name of " Elefta,'' or 

 " Eclefta ;" and fome have rendered the infcription ■' to 

 the elect Kyria." Others again underftand the infcription 

 agreeably to our ov.n tranflation ; and this has been the 



commoD 



l^s 



