JOHN. 



common opmion, fupported by the aiitliorliics of Bcza, 

 Mill. Wolfius, Wall, Le Clerc, and others. 



The third cpilllc of St. Joliri is infcrihcd, « The elder to 

 the beloved Gains." There were two pcrfoiis of this name, 

 mentioned in the Afls (six. 29.), and in St. Paul's cpillles 

 (i Cor. i. 14. Rom. xvi. 2^5.) He foems to have been an 

 eminent ChriRian, who lived in feme city of Afia, not far 

 from^ Ephefus, where St. John chiefly refidcd, after his 

 leaving Jiidea. Concerning the cafe to which St. John re- 

 fers in this cpiftlc, there have been various fentiments of 

 learned men. Grotius fuppofed that the ilrangers here 

 fpoken of were believing Jews, whom Diotrephes, a gen- 

 tile, and bi(hop of Pergamos, would not receive, becaufe 

 they were Jews, or becaufe they were for blending the rites 

 of the law with Chriftianity. Others think, that Diotrephes 

 was a Jew, and zealous for the law, and that he would not 

 admit thefe ftrangers, converts from among the Gentiles, 

 becaufe they did not confent to the obfcrvauce of the rites 

 and ceremonies of the law of Mofes. Learned men have 

 lately been of opinion that St. John here fpeaks of fome, 

 particularly Jews, who had gone out into the world, to 

 propagate the Ciiriftian religion, without receiving any pe- 

 cuniary recompence from thofe whom they had converted to 

 fne Chriftian faith : and they think, that' Caius or Gains is 

 commended by St. John for encouraging fuch teachers, 

 whilil he blamed Diotrephes for not receiving and helping 

 them. But this opinion is rejected by Lardner as un- 

 founded, and he fees nothing that fhould lead us to think 

 preachers here fpoken of, but only ftrangers in want. 

 Some have fuppofed, that Diotrephes excommunicated, or 

 caft out of the church, the " brethren," members of it, 

 who were for receiving thefe Ilrangers. Others fuppofe 

 that the perfons, whom Diotrephes caft out of the 

 church were thefe ftrangers, not members of the church. 

 It is fuppofed, that Diotrephes had the difpofal of the re- 

 venues of the church ; and that he oppofed the diflribution 

 of the common ftock to thefe ftrangers, partly Jews and 

 partly Gentiles, who needed rehef, and difcouraged fuch 

 as were willing to affift them out of their own property. 

 Concerning the time of writing thefe two epiftlos, no- 

 thing can be faid with certainty. Mill places them about 

 the fame time with the lirft, in 91 or 92. Whifton fnp- 

 pofes, that all three were written about the year 82 or 83. 

 Dr. I.ardner conceives, that St. John was fomewhat ad- 

 vanced in age, and tliat he had rcfided a good while in 

 Afia, before he wrote any of thefe epiftles. Hence he con- 

 cludes, that thefe two were not written fooner than the lirft; 

 and if the firft was written about the year 80, thefe two 

 may be reckoned to have been written between the years 

 80 and 90. See Epistlb. Gardner's Works, vol. vi. chap. 

 20. 



The book of Revelation has been alfo afcribed to St. 

 John. See REVEr..\TioN. 



John-, St., Chrijlians of. See CniiiSTiAxs. 



John, furnamed Mark. See Mauk. 



John- I. emperor of the Eaft, furnamed Zimifces, was an 

 Armenian noble, who ferved with diftinclion in tlie armies of 

 Romanus the younger. After the death of that emperor, 

 he aftifted Niccphorus Phocas in Ins elevation to the empire 

 and his marriage of the imperial widow, Theophano. Zi- 

 mifces became an objeft of fufpieion to Nicephorus, who 

 deprived him of the poft of general of the Eaft, in which he 

 had been generally viclorious, and banifticd him from court. 

 The hero was refolved to be revenged for the indignities in- 

 flifted on him, and having infniuated himfelf into the good 

 graces of tlic emprefs, he contrived a plot to take away her 

 hufliand's liR-. The plan fucceeded, Nicephorus wat (lain, 



Vor.. X.LX. 



ami John was immediately declared emperor, AD. 9^9. 

 Before the patriarch would confecrate him he was told lie 

 muft, by public penance, expiate the crime of which he had 

 been guilty. .Tohn threw the blame of the deed on his com- 

 panions, and readily agreed to feparate himfelf from them. 

 I'heophano parted in a paroxyfm of rage, and was imme- 

 diately ftmt up in a monaftery of Armenia. The reign of 

 John was chiefly fpent in military tranfaCtions, in which hit 

 valour and good fortune were equally confpicuous. He ob- 

 tained many victories over the Ruffians, Bulgarians,, and Sa-. 

 raccns ; and is fuppofed to have fallen a facrilice to the eunuch 

 Balil, whom he had offended, after a reign of fix year.<^ 

 John Zimifces, though arriving at the crown by an ad of 

 treafon, wore it with glory, and fcemed to merit it by his 

 public and private virtues. His piety is extolled by writers 

 of the time, and he is recorded as the firll emperor who 

 caufed the effigy of Chriil to be ftamped upon the coin, with 

 the legend, " Jefus Chrift, the King of Kings." 



John II. emperor of the Eaft, was born in 1088, and fuc- 

 ceeded his father Alexius in 1118. Soon after his acceflion 

 a coiifpiraay was excited againft him by his filler, the ce- 

 lebrated Anna Comnena, to depofe him in favour of her 

 hufband TJryennius. The confpiracy was difcovered in time 

 to prevent the evils that would otherwife have refulted from 

 it. This was the only domeftic trouble by which his reign 

 was difturbed, and he had the happinefs of being able, 

 during an adminittration of twenty-five years, to banifli ca- 

 pital punilhments from the whole empire, not excepting the 

 cafe of thofe perfons who had engaged with his li.ler to 

 take away his life. Againft the public enemies of l-.is 

 country he was a&ive and fuccefsful, and he entertained 

 the ambitious projcft of extending the eaftern cmpiie to 

 its former limits, and recovering Antioch from the domi- 

 nion of the Latins. He not only planned the enterprize 

 but actually fet out on the bufmefs, accompanied by his two 

 fons. Thefe were carried oft' by a premature death, and he 

 himfelf died Ihortly after, in 1 143, of a wound from one of 

 his own poifoned arrows. He was called the " Handlpme," 

 an appellation which has been thought to have been applied 

 ironically : but whatever the qualities of his body were, 

 his foul was formed in the mould of moral beauty, and few 

 pofteftbrs of a throne have graced it with purtr manners 

 and more humane principles. 



John- III., Dlcas, {m-mmei. Vat aces, emperor of the 

 Eaft, was born in 1193, and fucceeded, by virtue of his 

 marriage with the daughter of Theodore Lnfcaris, to the 

 t1irone°at the death of that prince. Conilantinople, the ca- 

 pital of the empire, was, at this period, in the hands of 

 the-Latins, as was likewife a confiderable part of the em- 

 pire. John, however, was a prince of ^-..mc virtue, and 

 recovered all the other places which had been taken by the 

 Latins, and reduced under his dominion the European terri- 

 tories almoR to the gates o'f Conftantinople, .^Iid nearly the 

 whole of LcfTer Afia. He fought-and gained-many bat- 

 tles, defeating the Scvthians, Tartars, and Bulgarians, and 

 extended his empire on all fides. Whi.c he was thus dif- 

 tinguilhed in war, he was equally illuftrious in the internal 

 admimftration of his .aflfairs, by which he reftorcd profperity 

 to the har:;lfed fubjefts of the eaitern empire. He encou- 

 raged agriculture," and the ufeful arts, and promoted fim- 

 phcity and regularity of manners. He died in 1 258, after 

 a glorious reign of 3 ^ years. 



.loirx I'V., La-scaris, fon of Theodore the younger, 

 whom he fucceeded in 1259, at the age of fix years, but 

 ere he had fat on the throne a fingle year, he wa.-, deprived 

 of his eyes, and ioiprifoncd for life, by the defpot Michael 

 Palxoloffus. 



U u John 



