{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_17166/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_17166","id":"gutenberg_17166","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17166","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Biographies","Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Religion/Spirituality","John, the Apostle, Saint"],"text":"Produced by Janet Blenkinship, Curtis Weyant and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: ST JOHN\n_Domenichino Frontispiece_]\n\n\n\n\nA Life of St. John\n\nFor the Young\n\nBY\n\nGEORGE LUDINGTON WEED\n\nAUTHOR OF \"A LIFE OF CHRIST FOR THE YOUNG,\" \"A LIFE OF ST. PAUL FOR\nTHE YOUNG,\" \"GREAT TRUTHS SIMPLY TOLD,\" ETC., ETC.\n\nPHILADELPHIA\n\nGEORGE W. JACOBS & CO\n\n103-105 SOUTH FIFTEENTH STREET\n\nCopyright, 1900\n\nBY GEORGE W. JACOBS & CO\n\n\n\n\n_PREFATORY NOTE_\n\nThe recorded incidents of the Life of St. John are few. Almost all those\nof which we certainly know are related in the Gospels, the Acts of the\nApostles, The Epistles of St. John, and The Revelation. Some of the\ntraditions concerning him are in such harmony with what we do know that\nwe are almost ready to accept them as historic.\n\nThe known events though few, are very distinct. They are the beautiful\nfragments of a great picture. The plan of this volume does not include\nthose which pertain to him in common with the twelve disciples. Such a\nrecord would practically involve the story of the life of our Lord. This\nis limited to those events in which his name is mentioned, or his person\notherwise indicated; to those in which he was a certain or implied\nactor; to those in which we may suppose from his character and relations\nhe had a special interest; to those narratives whose fulness of detail\nmakes the impression that they are given by an eye-witness; to those in\nwhich a deeper impression was made on him than on his fellow-disciples,\nor where he showed a deeper insight than they into the teachings of the\nLord, and is a clearer interpreter; to those records which add to, or\nthrow light upon, those of the other three Evangelists; and especially\nto those things which reveal his peculiar relation to Jesus Christ.\n\nAnother limitation of this volume is its adaptation, in language,\nselection of subjects and general treatment, to young people, for whom\nit is believed no life of John, at any rate of recent date, has been\nprepared. It is designed especially for those between the ages of ten\nand twenty, though the facts recorded may be of value to all.\n\nThe attempt is made to trace the way by which John was led to, and then\nby, Christ. We first see him as a boy with Jewish surroundings, taught\nto expect the Messiah, then watching for His coming, then rejoicing in\nfinding Him, then faithful and loving in serving Him; becoming the most\nloved of His chosen ones. We see the Christ through John's eyes, and\nlisten to the Great Teacher with his ears. Christ and John are the\ncentral figures in the scenes here recorded.\n\nThe full table of contents suggests the variety and scope of the topics\npresented.\n\nIn the mind of the writer the interest of many of the scenes described\nhas been greatly deepened by memories of the paths in which he has\nfollowed in the footsteps of the Master and His disciple.\n\nThe many quotations of words, phrases and texts--which are from the\nRevised Version--are designed to direct the young to Scripture forms\nwith which they should become familiar; and sometimes to emphasize a\nfact or truth, or to recall a former incident.\n\nGrateful acknowledgment is made especially to the works of Farrar,\nEdersheim and Stalker, for facts, and germs of thought which have been\nsimplified in form and language for the interest and instruction of the\nyoung, in the hope that they may thereby be led into deeper study of one\nof the noblest of human lives.\n                                                               G.L.W.\n_Philadelphia, July, 1900_.\n\n\n\n\n   ~CONTENTS~\n\n                                                                      PAGE~\n\n   CHAPTER I\n\n   A HOME IN THE BLESSED LAND, BY THE SACRED SEA\n\n\n   A Fitting Study for the Young--The Glory of all Lands--Divisions of\n   Palestine--Galilee--People of Galilee--Gennesaret and its\n   Surroundings--Comparisons--Jewish Sayings--McCheyne--Towns, Villages and\n   Palaces--Fisheries--Bethsaida                                        19\n\n\n  CHAPTER II\n\n  FIVE BOYS OF BETHSAIDA--RAMBLES ABOUT HOME\n\n  Five Apostles of Jesus--Two Pair of Brothers--Salome--Brothers\n  Indeed--Views from a Hilltop--View of the Lake--Poetic\n  Description--Rambles North of the Lake--On the West--Keble's Poem--Answer\n  to the Poet's Question--The Sower--Object Lessons of the Great\n  Teacher--Mount of Beatitudes--Nature's Influence on John--Philip      24\n\n\n  CHAPTER III\n\n  JOHN'S ROYAL KINDRED\n\n  Salome and Mary Sisters--John and Jesus Cousins--Visit to\n  Bethsaida--Visit to Nazareth--A Picture of the Boy Jesus--The Picture a\n  Help--A Phrase to Remember--A Kinsman of John and Jesus--Education--The\n  Messiah                                                               31\n\n\n  CHAPTER IV\n\n  THE GREAT EXPECTATION IN JOHN'S DAY\n\n  Prophecy Concerning the Messiah--Jewish Mistakes--Roman Conquest--Judas\n  of Galilee--The Five Bethsaidan Boys--John and Peter                  35\n\n\n  CHAPTER V\n\n  EARLY INFLUENCES ON CHARACTER\n\n  Special Influences on the Five--Scripture Students--Rabbi Like Simeon,\n  or a Teacher--Prophetess Like Anna--Home Teaching--From the Five to\n  Two--Salome and Her Sons--Review--Boyhood\n  Traits--Imperfections--Perfection                                     39\n\n\n  CHAPTER VI\n\n  FIRST VISIT IN JERUSALEM\n\n  Jewish Boy at Twelve--Interest in the First Pilgrimage--John's\n  Journey--The Jordan Ford--City, Temple and Altar--John and Saul--Silent\n  Years--Parental Thoughts Concerning John                              44\n\n\n  CHAPTER VII\n\n  JOHN'S VIEW OF THE COMING MESSIAH\n\n  John's Old Testament Studies--First Gospel Promise--Promises to\n  Abraham, Isaac and Jacob--Promise to David--Mary and Immanuel--Names and\n  Titles of the Messiah--John's Misreading of the Old Testament--Christ's\n  Sufferings                                                            48\n\n\n  CHAPTER VIII\n\n  JESUS THE HIDDEN MESSIAH\n\n  The Infancy of Jesus Forgotten--Our Ignorance of Christ's\n  Childhood--The Boy in the Temple--The Carpenter's Silent Years         53\n\n\n  CHAPTER IX\n\n  \"THE PROPHET OF THE MOST HIGH\"\n\n  Elizabeth and Her John--A Father's Prophecy--The Prophet in the\n  Wilderness--Young Men of Galilee--The Hermit--His Galilean\n  Disciples--His Public Ministry--His Hearers--His Preaching--St. John the\n  Baptist--St. John of Galilee                                           57\n\n\n  CHAPTER X\n\n  THE MESSIAH FOUND\n\n  \"Jesus from Galilee to Jordan\"--Baptism of Jesus--Temptation--\"Behold\n  the Lamb of God\"--Andrew and John with the Baptist--Our First Knowledge\n  of John of Galilee--Parting of the Baptist and Jesus--The Two St. Johns\n  and Jesus--Following Jesus in the Way--Blessed Invitation\n  Accepted--Precious Memories--Change of Discipleship--Silence of\n  John--Disciples at Emmaus--Brothers Brought to Jesus--Memorials of\n  Andrew--John's Memories of His First Day with\n  Jesus--Philip--Nathanael--Jesus' First Disciples--John the Nearest\n  to Him                                                                63\n\n\n  CHAPTER XI\n\n  JOHN A WEDDING GUEST\n\n  Invited Guests to a Marriage Feast--Words of Mary and Jesus Concerning\n  Wine--Three Commands of Jesus--First Miracle--Belshazzar's\n  Feast--Believing Disciples--Believing Samaritans--What John Might Have\n  Written--First Miracle, for Innocent Joy--John and Mary at the\n  Feast--Mary's Thoughts of John and Her Sons--Her Thoughts of Jesus    72\n\n\n  CHAPTER XII\n\n  JOHN AND NICODEMUS\n\n  Reasons for a Night Visit to Jesus--John's Possible Abode in\n  Jerusalem--Nicodemus Goes Thither--His Conversation With Jesus--Seven\n  Great Truths--Golden Text of the Bible--Golden Truth of John--Tradition\n  of Nicodemus                                                          79\n\n\n  CHAPTER XIII\n\n  ST. JOHN AND THE SAMARITANESS\n\n  John's Record--With the Master--Valley and Well--A Personal\n  Privilege--John With Jesus at the Well--Memories of the\n  Region--Abraham--Thoughts of the Future--A Samaritaness--Strange\n  Request--Living Water--Greater than Jacob--Difference in Waters--Woman's\n  Request--Jesus a Prophet--Place and Spirit of True Worship--\"Messiah\n  Cometh\"--John an Earnest Listener--Jesus' Revelation of Himself--Changed\n  Name for the Well--Wonder of the Disciples--The Samaritaness a Gospel\n  Messenger--Unknown Meat--John's Watchful Eye--His Story of the Well--A\n  Memorable Hour for Him                                                84\n\n\n  CHAPTER XIV\n\n  THE CHOSEN ONE OF THE CHOSEN THREE OF THE CHOSEN TWELVE\n\n  Two Pair of Brothers Mending Nets--Call of Four Disciples--Fishers of\n  Men--A Partner in Fishing--Followers of Him--True Brothers--Family\n  Ties--The Twelve Chosen--First Disciples, First Apostles--The Inner\n  Circles--Peter and John--John--Aaron's Breastplate--Apostolic Stones  92\n\n\n  CHAPTER XV\n\n  JOHN IN THE HOME OF JAIRUS\n\n  A Father's Cry--Reason for Hope--Sad Message--Strength of Faith--\"Fear\n  Not\"--Curious Crowd--The Twelve and the Three--Jealousy--Ambition--A\n  Coming Change--John One of Three--\"Tahtha Cumi\"--A Lesson for John--A\n  Future Scene--Influence of a Secret                                   97\n\n\n  CHAPTER XVI\n\n  JOHN A BEHOLDER OF CHRIST'S GLORY\n\n  Family Prayer--Sayings of Men Concerning Jesus--Saying of Peter--A\n  Great Need--Christ's Prophecy of His Death--Apart by Themselves--Not\n  Tabor, but Hermon--Thoughts of the Nine and of the Three--Heavy with\n  Sleep--Answers to Two Prayers of Jesus--Transfigured--Moses and\n  Elijah--Moses' Shining Face--The Lord's Shining Figure--The Shechinah--A\n  Strange Proposal--Voice from the Clouds--Touch and Word of\n  Jesus--Descent from Hermon--A Great Secret--Peter's Memory of the\n  Transfiguration--John's Record--Greater than John the Baptist or\n  Moses--Moses and the Shechinah--Ungranted Request, but Answered\n  Prayer--Hermon, a Mount of Prayer                                    101\n\n\n  CHAPTER XVII\n\n  ST. JOHN'S IMPERFECTIONS\n\n  Four Reasons for Recording Failings--Jealousy and Pride--Intolerant\n  Spirit--Two Questions, What? and Who?--First and Last--An Object\n  Lesson--The Child-Spirit--Startled Disciples--John's Confession--Lesson\n  Not Learned--Hospitality--Samaritan Hatred--Hospitality\n  Refused--Indignant Brothers--A Story of Elijah--Fiery Spirit of James\n  and John--Rebuked by Jesus--Ambitious Brothers--Mother's Request--Sons'\n  Request--Sorrowing Lord's Reply and Thoughts--Two Thrones--Though\n  Imperfect, a Grand Character                                         111\n\n\n  CHAPTER XVIII\n\n  JOHN AND THE FAMILY OF BETHANY\n\n  John's View of a Family Group--His Relation to It--A Sad Message and\n  the Reply--The Lord's Delay and Concealed Purpose--A Possible Thought of\n  John's--John and Thomas--\"Our Friend\"--\"Sleepeth\"--John an\n  Eye-witness--Mary and Jesus--\"Jesus Wept\"--Mourning Disciple--Glorified\n  Father and Son--Jesus with Martha at the Tomb--Repeated Command,\n  \"Arise\"--The Release from the Tomb--John a Companion in Joy--John's\n  Memory of Mary--Lazarus' Tomb and Jesus' Cross--A\n  Tradition of Lazarus\n                                                                       120\n\n\n  CHAPTER XIX\n\n  JOHN'S MEMORIAL OF MARY\n\n  A Scene in Bethany--An Unfinished Picture--John with Manuscripts of\n  Matthew and Mark--A Great Event not Understood--A Joyful Meeting--A\n  Supper in Honor--A Fitting Place--Omitted Names--An Unnamed Woman\n  Named--Mary's Cruse--Interested Witnesses--An Unusual Anointing--An\n  Unwoven Towel--Odor of the Ointment--Judas the Grumbler--Jesus' Defence\n  of Mary--A Prophecy--John the Preserver of Mary's Name--Prophecy\n  Fulfilled--Judas and Mary--Judas and the Chief Priests--A Group of\n  Three--A Sublime Action--A Group of Four                             128\n\n\n  CHAPTER XX\n\n  JOHN A HERALD OF THE KING\n\n  The Messiah-King--The Prophetic Colt--The Lord's Need--The Lord's\n  Heralds--Hosannas--Disciples' Thoughts--Changed Earthly Scenes--Lamb on\n  Earth and in Heaven--A Prophecy Recalled--Twice a Herald             138\n\n\n  CHAPTER XXI\n\n  WITH THE MASTER ON OLIVET\n\n  The Lord in His Temple--His Farewell to It--Admiring Disciples--Sad\n  Prophecy--The Two Pair of Brothers on Olivet--A Sacred Memory--The Poet\n  Milman's View from Olivet--Unanswered Question--The Coming Fall of\n  Jerusalem--The Poet Heber's Lament Over Jerusalem                    142\n\n\n  CHAPTER XXII\n\n  JOHN A PROVIDER OF THE PASSOVER\n\n  The Betrayer--A Lamb and a Place--Not Judas, but Peter and John--A\n  Secret Sign--The Goodman of the House--A New Friendship--Upper\n  Room--\"Furnished\"--\"Prepared\"--Paschal Lamb--Child Memories--John and\n  the Baptist--Temple Worship--Obeying Silver Trumpets--Slaying of the\n  Lamb--Chant and Response--Lamb and Lamps--Alone with Jesus--Jerusalem\n  Chamber--John and the Upper Room                                     148\n\n\n  CHAPTER XXIII\n\n  JOHN'S MEMORIES OF THE UPPER ROOM\n\n  The Open Door of the Upper Room--Door Ajar--Revelation by John--Two\n  Statements by Luke--Cause of Contention--John's Relation to the\n  Quarrel--Sittings at the Table--John and Judas Beside Jesus--Two Things\n  About Jesus--Grieved Spirit--Bethany Recalled--A Great Contrast--Love\n  and Reproof--Lesson Ended--A Sacred Relic--A Guest an Enemy--Troubled\n  Spirit--\"Verily, Verily\"--Looking and Doubting--John's Gaze--\"Is It\n  I?\"--Peter and the Great Secret--Jesus' Hint of the Great\n  Secret--Meaning of the Sop--Judas and Satan--Departure of Judas--\"It Was\n  Night\"--A New Name--A New Command--Farewell Words and Prayer and\n  Song--Closed Door to be Opened Again                                 154\n\n\n  CHAPTER XXIV\n\n  ST. JOHN WITH JESUS IN GETHSEMANE\n\n  An Eye-witness--Departure from the Upper\n  Room--Kidron--Gethsemane--Olive Trees--John's Memories--Garden\n  Owner--Charge to the Nine--Mt. Moriah--Final Charge--A\n  Prophecy--Companions in Glory and Sorrow--A Sad Change--John Beside\n  Jesus--Sorrowful Soul--Charge to the Three--Jesus Alone--Jesus Seen and\n  Heard--Garden Angel--Agonizing Prayer--Sleeping Disciples--Midnight\n  Scene--Sleeping for Sorrow--Awakening Call--Flesh and Spirit--Repeated\n  Prayer--Victory--\"Arise\"--Path of Prayer--Gathered Band--Lighted\n  Way--Empty Upper Room--John's Contrasted Memories--Betrayal\n  Sign--Warning Cry--Unshrinking Purpose--The Meeting--Traitor's\n  Kiss--Marred Visage--Repeated Question and Answer--Two Bands--One\n  Request--Peter's Sword--Changed Voice--A Captive and Legions of\n  Angels--The Fleeing Disciples                                        163\n\n\n  CHAPTER XXV\n\n  JOHN IN THE HIGH PRIEST'S PALACE\n\n  Flight of the Nine--Captive Lord--Peter and John Following--The\n  Palace--Disciple Within and Disciple Without--Peter Brought In--The\n  First Denial--John's Watch of Peter--Peter's Tears--His\n  Restlessness--His Sin and John's Silence--Three Turning and\n  Looking--John's Pity for Peter--John and Pilate--Christ a King--\"What is\n  Truth?\"--The Mocked King--\"Behold the Man\"--\"Behold your King\"--John the\n  Faithful Watcher and Comforter                                       176\n\n\n  CHAPTER XXVI\n\n  JOHN THE LONE DISCIPLE AT THE CROSS\n\n  Following the Cross--Jesus Bearing the Cross--Wearing the Thorny\n  Crown--Great Multitude Following--\"Daughters of\n  Jerusalem\"--Calvary--John's Memories--Group of Four Enemies--Seamless\n  Coat--Casting Lots--Jesus and the Gamblers--Three Marys and Salome--John\n  their Companion--A Contrast--Other Apostles--John and Salome--A Mother's\n  Love--Mary's Thoughts--Sword of Anguish--Comfort in Sorrow--Lonely\n  Future--Loyal Son--New Relation--Mary's Return from the Cross--Why John\n  Her Guardian--A Poet's Words to John--In the New Home                184\n\n\n  CHAPTER XXVII\n\n  JOHN THE LONE DISCIPLE AT THE CROSS--CONTINUED\n\n  \"I Thirst\"--\"It Is Finished\"--The Bowed Head--The Women and John--His\n  Anxious Thoughts Relieved--Pierced Side--Two Prophecies--Prayer in\n  Song--Joseph of Arimathaea--Nicodemus--Two Secret Friends of Jesus--Two\n  Gardens--The Stone Closing the Tomb--Two Mourners at the Tomb--John's\n  Thoughts on Leaving the Tomb                                         195\n\n\n  CHAPTER XXVIII\n\n  JOHN AT THE TOMB\n\n  John and Mary Magdalene--Mary's Mistaken Inference--Her Report to Peter\n  and John--Their Hastening Toward the Tomb--John Alone at the\n  Tomb--Silent Witnesses--Peter's Entry and Discovery--John Within the\n  Tomb--The Rolled Napkin--Seeing and Believing--Lingering in the\n  Tomb--The Return from the Tomb--Weeping Mary--Silence of Angels--Mary\n  and the Angels--Jesus Unknown to Mary--\"Mary\" and \"Rabboni\"--John's Two\n  Records of Mary--Day of Days--Evening Benedictions--Pierced Side--Close\n  of John's Gospel                                                     204\n\n\n  CHAPTER XXIX\n\n  \"WHAT SHALL THIS MAN DO?\"\n\n  An Added Chapter--Old Scenes Revived--Following Peter--Stranger on the\n  Shore--John and Peter--John's Remembrance of the Miracle--\"Fire of\n  Coals\"--Reverent Guests--\"Lovest Thou Me?\"--\"Feed My Lambs and\n  Sheep\"--An Interested Listener--A Prophecy--John Following\n  Peter--Question and Answer--Mistake Corrected by John--Partial Answer to\n  Peter's Questions--A Former Hour Recalled                            212\n\n\n  CHAPTER XXX\n\n  ST. JOHN A PILLAR-APOSTLE IN THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH\n\n  On a Mount in Galilee--The Great Commission--Waiting for the Promised\n  Comforter--Words of the Baptist Recalled--A Revived Hope and a\n  Question--Jesus' Reply--The Ascension--Angels' Question--\"The Upper\n  Chamber\"--Luke's Lists of the Apostles--The Lord's Mother, Brethren and\n  Sisters--The Day of Pentecost--A Great Miracle--Pentecostal Gifts to\n  John--Evening Prayer--Beautiful Gate--Lame man--A Gift Better than\n  Alms--John Twice a Prisoner--Prison Angel--Preaching of Philip--John\n  Sent to Samaria--John and the Samaritaness--His Changed Spirit--Death of\n  James--The Pillar Apostles                                           219\n\n\n  CHAPTER XXXI\n\n  LAST DAYS\n\n  Last Record--Meeting of Paul and John--Years of Silence--Leaving\n  Jerusalem--New Home in Ephesus--City and Temple--Paul and John--Churches\n  of Asia Minor--John in Patmos--Solitude--The Lord's Day--Aid to\n  Meditation--Calm and Turmoil--A Voice and a Command--A Contrast--\"As One\n  Dead\"--The Eagle--John's Three Kinds of Writings--The Revelation--John's\n  Gospel--His First Epistle--The Apostle of Love--His Second Epistle--The\n  Apostle of Childhood--\"Little Children, Love one\n  Another\"--John's Death                                                231\n\n\n  CHAPTER XXXII\n\n  A RETROSPECT\n\n  Boyhood--The Disciple--What John Saw--What He Heard--What He Made\n  Known--John a Reflector of Christ--Alone in History--Our Glimpses of\n  Him--In Everlasting Remembrance on Earth--With His Lord in Heaven    241\n\n\n  CHAPTER XXXIII\n\n  LEGENDS AND TRADITIONS OF ST. JOHN\n\n  St. John and the Robber-Chief--St. John and the Partridge--\"Little\n  Children, Love One Another\"--Miraculous Preservation from Death--The\n  Empty Grave--The Heaving Grave                                       251\n\n\n\n\n  ~LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS~\n\n  St. John                                   _Domenichino._  _Frontispiece_\n\n  Map of the Land Where St. John Lived                               19\n\n  Sea of Galilee                                    _Old Engraving_  20\n\n  Site of Bethsaida                               _From Photograph_  22\n\n  Calm on Galilee                                 _From Photograph_  26\n\n  Virgin, Infant Jesus and St. John\n       (Madonna della Sedia) _Raphael_                               32\n\n  Christ and St. John                                 _Winterstein_  35\n\n  Simeon and Anna in the Temple                     _Old Engraving_  39\n\n  The Boy John                                   _Andrea del Sarto_  41\n\n  Jerusalem                                         _Old Engraving_  43\n\n  Joshua's Host Crossing the Jordan                 _Old Engraving_  45\n\n  The Prophet Isaiah                                      _Sargent_  55\n\n  The Boy Jesus in the Temple                          _H. Hofmann_  58\n\n  A Street Scene in Nazareth                      _From Photograph_  60\n\n  Visit of Mary to Elisabeth                        _Old Engraving_  62\n\n  The Wilderness of Judea                         _From Photograph_  64\n\n  Traditional Place of Christ's Baptism           _From Photograph_  67\n\n  The Baptism of Jesus                              _Old Engraving_  68\n\n  The First Disciples                                   _Ittenbach_  83\n\n  The Marriage at Cana                              _Old Engraving_  85\n\n  Belshazzar's Feast                                _Old Engraving_  87\n\n  The Hill of Samaria                               _Old Engraving_  90\n\n  Jacob's Well                                    _From Photograph_  92\n\n  The Miraculous Draught of Fishes                  _Old Engraving_  94\n\n  Raising the Daughter of Jairus                       _H. Hofmann_  99\n\n  The Transfiguration                              _Old Engraving_  106\n\n  Moses on Mt. Pisgah                             _Artist Unknown_  109\n\n  Bethany                                          _Old Engraving_  120\n\n  Resurrection of Lazarus                          _Old Engraving_  126\n\n  Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.                  _Gustave Dore_   133\n\n  Christ and St. John                              _Ary Scheffer_   140\n\n  The Last Supper                                  _Benjamin West_  156\n\n  In Gethsemane                                    _Gustave Dore_   163\n\n  The Valley of Jehoshaphat                        _Old Engraving_  165\n\n  Christ Before Caiaphas                           _Old Engraving_  167\n\n  Christ Before Pilate (Ecce Homo)                    _H. Hofmann_  170\n\n  Christ Bearing His Cross                            _H. Hofmann_  185\n\n  The Virgin and St. John at the Cross             _Old Engraving_  192\n\n  The Descent from the Cross                              _Rubens_  195\n\n  In the Sepulchre                                    _H. Hofmann_  199\n\n  Jesus Appearing to Mary Magdalene\n        (Easter Morning)                           _B. Plockhorst_  202\n\n  The Descent of the Spirit                        _Old Engraving_  206\n\n  St. Peter and St. John at the Beautiful Gate     _Old Engraving_  211\n\n  Ephesus                                        _From Photograph_  227\n\n  The Isle of Patmos                               _Old Engraving_  231\n\n  Smyrna                                           _Old Engraving_  234\n\n  Pergamos and the Ruins of the\n        Church of St. John                         _Old Engraving_  242\n\n  Ruins of Laodicea                                _Old Engraving_  246\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: MAP OF THE LAND WHERE ST. JOHN LIVED]\n\n\n\n\nA Life of St. John\n\n\n\n\n_CHAPTER I_\n\n_A Home in the Blest Land, by the Sacred Sea_\n\n    \"Blest land of Judaea! Thrice hallowed in song,\n     Where the holiest of memories pilgrim like throng,\n     In the shade of thy palms, by the shores of thy sea,\n     On the hills of the beauty, my heart is with thee.\"\n                                       --_Whittier_.\n\n\nA Galilean boy, a fisherman, a follower of Jesus, one of the twelve\nApostles, one of the favored three, the beloved one, the Apostle of\nlove, the Apostle of childhood, the one of all men who gave to mankind\nthe clearest view of Jesus Christ--such was St John.\n\nFor young people he is a fitting study. To aid such is the purpose of\nthis volume.\n\nLet us first glance at the land where he lived, surrounded by influences\nthat directed his life, and moulded his character.\n\nPalestine was called by God Himself \"The Glory of All Lands.\" He made it\nthe home of His people the Jews, who long waited for the promised time\nwhen it should have greater glory by becoming the home of the Messiah,\nthe Son of God. Before He was born the Jews were conquered by the\nRomans, and governed by them instead of the Jewish judges and kings. The\ncountry was divided into three parts. The southern was called Judaea; the\nmiddle, Samaria; and the northern, Galilee, which was the most beautiful\npart. It contained the hills of Galilee, and the plain and sea of\nGennesaret, hallowed by the presence of Jesus, and what He there did.\n\nAt the time of which we write, two thousand years ago, Galilee was not\ninhabited wholly or chiefly by Jews. Other peoples, called Gentiles,\nwere mixed with the Jewish race which continued to cultivate the land,\nand to tend the vineyards and olive-yards, and to dwell in the\nfisherman's huts and moor their boats on the sandy beach. Some Jews were\nartisans, working at their trades in the smaller towns. But there were\nvast crowds of foreigners whose life was a great contrast to that of the\nJews. Their customs were those of the nations to which they belonged.\nThey spoke their own languages. They worshiped their own false gods.\nTheir amusements were such as they were accustomed to in their distant\nhomes. This was especially true of the Romans who had theatres, chariot\nraces, and gladiatorial combats, by the peaceful waters of Galilee.\n\n[Illustration: SEA OF GALILEE _Old Engraving_ Page 21]\n\nThere were also Greeks who had sought new homes far from their native\nland. Many Arabians came from the deserts on swift horses, in roving\nbands in search of plunder. They wore brightly-colored dresses, and\nflashing swords and lances, carrying terror wherever they went. Egyptian\ntravelers came with camels loaded with spices and balm. The bazaars were\ncrowded with merchandise from India, Persia and Arabia. Long caravans\nfrom Damascus passed through Galilee, with goods for the markets of\nTiberius on Lake Gennesaret, and the more distant cities of Jerusalem,\nCaesarea and Alexandria.\n\nThe gem of Galilee and of Palestine itself, is the Lake of Gennesaret,\nor the Sea of Tiberius. Its length is twelve and three-fourths miles;\nits greatest width, seven and one-fourth; its greatest depth, one\nhundred and sixty feet. On the west is the beautiful Plain of Galilee.\nOn the east are rounded hills; and rugged mountains which rise nine\nhundred feet above the waters, with grassy slopes, and rocky cliffs\nbarren and desolate. Bowers of olive and oleander deck the base of the\nhills whose sides yield abundant harvest. Around the lake is a level\nwhite beach of smooth sand. Gennesaret has been fittingly compared to a\nsapphire set in diamonds; and to a mirror set in a frame of richness and\nbeauty.\n\n\"He hath made everything beautiful,\" says Solomon concerning God. It is\na well-known saying of Jewish writers, \"Of all the seven seas God\ncreated, He made choice of none but the Lake of Gennesaret.\" It was\ncalled the \"beloved of God above all the waters of Canaan.\"\n\nThe writer of this volume gratefully recalls blessed memories of\nGennesaret, wishing his young friends could view with their own eyes\nthose scenes which he asks them to behold through his own. Then could\nthey join him in singing with the saintly McCheyne,\n\n    \"How pleasant to me thy deep blue wave,\n        O Sea of Galilee!\n     For the glorious One who came to save,\n        Hath often stood by thee.\n\n           *       *       *       *       *\n\n    \"O Saviour, gone to God's right hand,\n        Yet the same Saviour still,\n     Graved on Thy heart is this lovely strand,\n        And every fragrant hill.\"\n\nAt the period of which we speak the region was full of people. Nine\nlarge towns, each containing fifteen thousand inhabitants, bordered on\nthe lake. Numerous populous villages lined the shores, or nestled in the\nneighboring valleys, or were perched on the hilltops. Fishermen's\nhuts--which were mere stone sheds--fringed the lake. They stood in every\nrift of rock, and on every knoll, with their little cornfields and\nvine ledges extending to the sandy beach.\n\n[Illustration: SITE OF BETHSAIDA _From Photograph_ Page 23]\n\nOn the seashore, among the chief buildings, were palaces for Roman\nprinces, and quarters for Roman soldiers. The waters were covered with\nboats for pleasure, merchandise and fishing. Four thousand floated at\none time on the narrow lake. Vast quantities of fish were caught in the\nwaters, supplying not only the people of Galilee, but the populous city\nof Jerusalem, especially when crowded with pilgrims; and were even sent\nto distant ports of the Mediterranean. We shall see John's interest in\nsuch labors.\n\nOn the north-western shore of Gennesaret is a beautiful bay sheltered by\nhills and projecting cliffs. The sight is such as would be a fisherman's\ndelight--a little haven from storm, with a broad beach of sand on which\nto moor his boats. There is no place like it in the region of Galilee.\nClose to the water's edge, it is supposed, was the town of Bethsaida,\nprobably meaning House of Fish.\n\n\n\n\n_CHAPTER II_\n\n_Five Boys of Bethsaida--Rambles About Home_\n\n     \"Walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brethren, Simon who is\n     called Peter, and Andrew his brother.\"--_Matt._ iv. 18.\n\n     \"And going on from thence, He saw other two brethren, James the son\n     of Zebedee, and John his brother.\"--_v._ 21.\n\n     \"Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and\n     Peter.\"--_John_ i. 44.\n\n\nBethsaida was honored as being the home of five of the Apostles of\nJesus. We know nothing definitely concerning them until their manhood.\nWe wish we knew of their childhood. It is only because of their relation\nto Jesus that they have been remembered. Had it not been for this they\nwould, like many other boys of Galilee, have lived on the shores of\nGennesaret, fished in its waters, died, and been forgotten. These five\nBethsaidan boys were two pairs of brothers and a friend. The names of\none pair were Andrew and Peter. They were the sons of Jonas, a\nfisherman. As they grew up they were engaged with him in casting the net\nand gathering fish, by day or by night, and thus securing a livelihood\nwithout thought of change of occupation. It was a Jewish custom for\nboys to learn a trade or business, which was generally that of their\nfathers.\n\nThe names of the other pair of brothers were James and John. Their\nfather was named Zebedee. He also was a fisherman having so much\nprosperity in his business that he employed servants to help him.\nJudging by what we know of the family they must have been highly\nrespected by the people among whom they lived.\n\nWe do not know the exact date of John's birth. He was probably younger\nthan James, and several years younger than Peter.\n\nThe mother of James and John was named Salome. We know more of her than\nof her husband. She was a warm friend of Jesus, ministering to Him when\nHe was living, and was one of the few who cared for His dead body. Her\nsons seemed to be greatly attached to her. All were of kindred spirit,\nhaving like thoughts, feelings and plans.\n\nJames and John were brothers indeed, companions until the death of James\nseparated them. The feelings of boyhood must have been greatly\nstrengthened in later scenes, and by influences which we shall have\noccasion to notice. As we know of them as daily companions in manhood,\nwe think of the intimacy and affection of boyhood. It will help us to\ngain an idea of their companionship, and the influences of their\nsurroundings, if we notice some things with which they were familiar in\nthe region of their home.\n\nStanding on one of the hills behind Bethsaida they beheld a magnificent\npanorama. In the northeast Hermon rose like a mighty giant, called by\nthe people of the land the \"Kingly Mountain.\" They knew it by the name\nMoses had given it--\"the goodly mountain.\" They were to know it by the\nname which Peter would give in after years, \"The Holy Mount,\" so called\nfor a blessed reason of which all of them were to learn. Down from its\nsnowy glittering sides a thousand streamlets blended in larger streams\ncombining in the Jordan, which flowed through marshes and Lake Merom\nuntil it entered Gennesaret near their home. Eastward, across the lake,\nthe rugged cliffs of Gadara cut off their view. Perhaps at this very\nhour the winds from Hermon rushed through the gorges, first ruffling the\nplacid waters of the lake, and then tossing them as if in rage. They\nlittle thought of a coming time when they themselves would be tossed\nupon them until they heard a voice saying, \"Peace be still.\" And now\n\n    \"The warring winds have died away,\n     The clouds, beneath the glancing ray,\n     Melt off, and leave the land and sea\n     Sleeping in bright tranquillity.\n       Below, the lake's still face\n       Sleeps sweetly in th' embrace\n     Of mountains terraced high with mossy stone.\"\n\n[Illustration: CALM ON GALILEE _From Photograph_ Page 26]\n\nIn another hour they watch the more quiet movements of pleasure\nboats,--gay barges and royal galleys--and trading vessels, and fishing\nboats,--all crowding together seemingly covering the lake.\n\nAs it narrows in the southern distance, the Jordan commences the second\nstage of its journey of one hundred and twenty miles through rugged\ngorges. As it leaves the quiet lake, we can almost hear them saying to\nit\n\n    \"Like an arrow from the quiver,\n       To the sad and lone Dead Sea,\n     Thou art rushing, rapid river,\n       Swift, and strong, and silently,\n     Through the dark green foliage stealing,\n       Like a silver ray of light.\"\n\nDescending from the hill we may follow James and John in their rambles\nin the region near their home. On the northern extremity of the lake,\namong the colossal reeds, and meadow grass and rushes, they watch the\nlittle tortoises creeping among them; and the pelicans which make them\ntheir chosen home; and the blue and white winged jays that have strayed\nfrom the jungles through which the Jordan has pushed its way; and the\nfavorite turtle-doves; and the blue birds so light that one can rest on\na blade of grass without bending it; and the confiding larks and storks\nwhich, not fleeing, seem to welcome the visitors to their haunts. Here\ngrow oleanders of such magnificence as is seen nowhere else in the\ncountry, twenty feet high, sometimes in clumps a hundred feet in\ncircumference; and \"masses of rosy red flowers, blushing pyramids of\nexquisite loveliness.\"\n\nOur ramblers follow the western shore to the shallow hot stream, where\nboy-like,--or manlike as I did--they burn their hands in trying to\nsecure pebbles from its bottom. They rest under the shade of an olive or\na palm. They gather walnuts which are in great abundance; and grapes and\nfigs, which can be done ten months in the year; and oranges and almonds\nand pomegranates.\n\nThey wander through meadows rich in foliage, and gay with the brightness\nand richness of flowers which retain their bloom in Galilee when they\nwould droop in Judaea or Samaria.\n\nWe hear the poet Keble asking them,\n\n        \"What went ye out to see\n         O'er the rude, sandy lea,\n    Where stately Jordan flows by many a palm,\n         Or where Gennesaret's wave\n         Delights the flowers to lave,\n    That o'er her western slope breathe airs of balm?\n\n        \"All through the summer night,\n         These blossoms red and white\n    Spread their soft breasts unheeding to the breeze,\n         Like hermits watching still,\n         Around the sacred hill,\n    Where erst our Saviour watched upon His knees.\"\n\nTo the poet's question James and John would answer that they \"went out\nto see the blue lupin and salvia, the purple hyacinth, the yellow and\nwhite crocus, the scarlet poppy, and gladiolus, the flowering almond,\nthe crimson and pink anemone.\"\n\nThey also saw the cultivated fields, and the sower casting his seed\nwhich fell on the hardened pathway, or barren rocks, or bounteous soil.\nThey watched the birds from mountain and lake gather the scattered\ngrain. They thought not of the parable into which all these would be\nweaved; nor of Him who would utter it in their hearing near where they\nthen stood. They saw the shepherds and their flocks, the sparrows and\nthe lilies, that became object lessons of the Great Teacher yet unknown\nto them. In their rambles they may have climbed the hill, only seven\nmiles from their home, not thinking of the time when they would climb it\nagain; after which it would be forever known as the Mount of Beatitudes.\n\nSuch were some of the charming and exciting scenes with which John was\nfamiliar in his early life, and which would interest his refined and\nobserving nature, of which we know in his manhood. They must have had\nan important influence in the formation of his character.\n\nWe have spoken of five Bethsaidan boys--Andrew and Peter, James and\nJohn--and a friend. His name was Philip. We know but little of him. What\nwe do know is from John. He tells us that \"Philip was of Bethsaida, the\ncity of Andrew and Peter.\" Perhaps he was their special friend, and so\nbecame one of the company of five, as he afterward became one of the\nmore glorious company of twelve. We shall find three of these five in a\nstill closer companionship. They are Peter, James and John. One of these\nshall have the most glorious honor of all. It is John.\n\n\n\n\n_CHAPTER III_\n\n_John's Royal Kindred_\n\n\nIt seems almost certain that Salome and Mary the mother of Jesus, were\nsisters. Royal blood was in their veins. They were descendants of David.\nThe record of their ancestry had been carefully preserved for God's own\nplans, especially concerning Mary, of which plans neither of the sisters\nknew until revealed to her by an angel from God. We think of them as\nfaithful to Him, and ready for any service to which He might call them,\nin the fisherman's home of Salome, or the carpenter's home of Mary.\nMary's character has been summed up in the words, \"pure, gentle and\ngracious.\" Salome must have had something of the same nature, which we\nfind again in her sons.\n\nIf Salome and Mary were sisters, our interest in James and John deepens,\nas we think of them as cousins of Jesus. This family connection may have\nhad something to do with their years of close intimacy; but we shall\nfind better reason for it than in this kinship. There was another\nrelation closer and holier.\n\nWe wonder whether Jesus ever visited Bethsaida, and played with His\ncousins on the seashore, and gathered shells, and dug in the sand, and\nsailed on Gennesaret, and helped with His little hands to drag the net,\nand was disappointed because there were no fish, or bounded with glee\nbecause of the multitude of them.\n\nWe wonder whether James and John visited Jesus in Nazareth, nestled\namong the hills of Galilee. Did they go to the village well, the same\nwhere children go to-day to draw water? Did James and John see how Jesus\ntreated His little mates, and how they treated Him--the best boy in\nNazareth? Did the cousins talk together of what their mothers had taught\nthem from the Scriptures, especially of The Great One whom those mothers\nwere expecting to appear as the Messiah? Did they go together to the\nsynagogue, and hear the Rabbi read the prophecies which some day Jesus,\nin the same synagogue, would say were about Himself?\n\nJesus was the flower of Mary's family, the flower of Nazareth, of\nGalilee, of the whole land, and the whole world. Nazareth means\nflowery--a fitting name for the home of Jesus. It was rightly named. So\nmust James and John have thought if their young cousin went with them to\ngather daisies, crocuses, poppies, tulips, marigolds, mignonette and\nlilies, which grow so profusely around the village. Did they ramble\namong the scarlet pomegranates, the green oaks, the dark green palms,\nthe cypresses and olives that grew in the vale of Nazareth, and made\nbeautiful the hills that encircled it? Did they climb one of them, and\ngain a view of the Mediterranean, and look toward the region where John\nwould live when his boyhood was long past, in the service of his cousin\nat his side?\n\n[Illustration: VIRGIN, INFANT JESUS, AND ST JOHN (Madonna della Sedia)\n_Raphael_ Page 31]\n\nA great artist, Millais, painted a picture of the boy Jesus,\nrepresenting Him as cutting His finger with a carpenter's tool, and\nrunning to His mother to have it bound up. Did John witness any such\nincident? How little did he think of a deeper wound he was yet to behold\nin that same hand.\n\nWe cannot answer such questions. These things were possible. They help\nus to think of Jesus as a boy, like other boys. James and John thought\nof Him as such only until long after the days of which we are speaking.\n\nWhile thinking of John and Jesus as cousins, we may also think of a\nkinsman of theirs, a second cousin of whom we shall know more. John was\nto have a deep interest in both of the others, and they were to have\nmore influence on him than all other men in the world.\n\nThere were some things common to them all. They were Jews. According to\nJewish customs they were trained until six years of age in their own\nhomes. Their library was the books of the Old Testament. They learned\nmuch of its teachings. They read the stories of Joseph, Samuel and\nDavid. At six they went to the village school, taught by a Rabbi. Some\nattention was paid to arithmetic, the history of their nation, and\nnatural history. But, as at their homes, the chief study was the\nScriptures. They were taught especially about One--\"Of whom Moses in the\nlaw and the prophets did write.\" Let us remember those words for we\nshall hear them again. That One was called the Messiah--He whom we call\nJesus, the Christ, the Saviour of the world. He had not then come. _We_\nlook back to the time when He did come: those boys looked forward to the\ntime when He _would_ come. The Messiah was the great subject in the\nhomes of the pious Jews, and in the synagogues where old and young\nworshiped on the Sabbath.\n\n[Illustration: CHRIST AND ST. JOHN _Winterstein_ Page 34]\n\n\n\n\n_CHAPTER IV_\n\n_The Great Expectation in John's Day_\n\n\nMoses wrote of a promise, made centuries before the days of John, to\nAbraham--that in the Messiah all the nations of the earth,--not the Jews\nonly--should be made happy with special blessings. Isaiah and other\nprophets wrote of the time and place and circumstances of His coming,\nand of the wonders He would perform.\n\nThe Jews understood that the Messiah would descend from David. They\nbelieved that He would sit \"upon the throne of David,\" ruling first over\nthe Jews, an earthly ruler such as David had been, and then conquering\ntheir enemies; thus being a great warrior and the king of the world.\n\nBut they were sadly mistaken in many of their ideas of the Messiah. They\nhad misread many of the writings of the prophets. They had given wrong\nmeanings to right words. They made real what was not so intended. They\noverlooked prophecies about the Messiah-King being despised, rejected\nand slain, though God had commanded lambs to be slain through all those\ncenturies to remind them of the coming Messiah's cruel death. Each of\nthose lambs was a \"Lamb of God.\" Remember that phrase; we shall meet it\nagain. They looked for wonders of kinds of which neither Moses nor the\nprophets had written. Many did not understand what was meant by the\nkingdom of God in the hearts of men, as differing from the earthly\nkingdom of David. They did not understand that Messiah's kingdom would\nbe in the hearts of all people.\n\nWith such mistaken views of the Messiah at the time of which we are\nwriting, the Jews had not only the great expectation of the centuries,\nbut the strong belief that Messiah was about to appear.\n\nA great event had happened which made them especially anxious for His\nimmediate coming. The Jewish nation had been conquered by the Romans.\nThe \"Glory of All Lands\" was glorious only for what it had been. Galilee\nwas a Roman province which, like those of Judaea and Samaria, longed for\nthe expected One to free them from the Roman yoke, and show Himself to\nbe the great Messiah-Deliverer of the Jews. They were prepared to\nwelcome almost any one who claimed to be He. Such an one was at hand.\n\nIn those days appeared a man who has been known as Judas of Galilee. He\nhad more zeal than wisdom. In his anger and madness at the Romans he was\nalmost insane. He was an eloquent man. He roused the whole Jewish\nnation. Multitudes welcomed him as the promised Messiah. Thousands\ngathered around him; many of them fishermen, shepherds, vine-dressers\nand craftsmen of Galilee. They followed him throughout the entire land\nwith fire and sword, laying waste cities and homesteads, vineyards and\ncornfields. Their watchword was, \"We have no Lord or master, but God.\"\n\nBut this rebellion against the Roman government failed. Judas himself\nwas slain. Villages in Galilee--Bethsaida probably one of them--became\nhospitals for the wounded in battle. The whole region was one of\nmourning for the dead. There was terrible disappointment concerning\nJudas of Galilee. None could say of him, \"We have found the Messiah.\"\n\"We have found Him, of whom Moses in the Law, and the prophets, did\nwrite.\" Again think of these words; they are yet to be spoken concerning\nanother.\n\nWhat the five young Galileans of Bethsaida saw and heard of these events\nmust have made a deep impression on them. They were old enough to be\nyoung patriots interested in their nation. Their sympathies would be\nwith those trying to free their people from Roman power. Perhaps their\nthoughts concerning Messiah became confused by the false claims of\nJudas, the pretender, and his deluded followers.\n\nBut this did not destroy their confidence in the Scriptures. They\nbelieved the prophecy it contained would yet be fulfilled. At this time\nJohn is supposed to have been about twelve years of age. Had he been\nolder, the temperament which he afterward showed, and which sometimes\nmisled him, allows us to think that he might have been drawn into the\nrebellion. Peter also in his fiery zeal might have drawn his mistaken\nsword. They might have become comrades in war, as they did become in\npeace. For many years they continued their Scripture studies, without\nhowever gaining the full knowledge of the Messiah and His kingdom, to\nwhich at last they attained.\n\n[Illustration: SIMEON AND ANNA IN THE TEMPLE _Old Engraving_ Page 39]\n\n\n\n\n_CHAPTER V_\n\n_Early Influences on Character_\n\n\nAs we trace the history of the five youthful Bethsaidans, it seems\nalmost certain that some special influence or influences helped to shape\ntheir characters, and to unite them in thought, purpose and effort; and\nso secure marked and grand results. This union was not a mere\ncoincidence. Nor can it be accounted for by their being of the same\nnation or town, and having the same education common to Jewish boys.\nThere was something which survived the mere associations of boyhood, and\ncontinued to, or was revived in, manhood. The influence whatever it was\nmust have been special and powerful. What was it? In that little village\nwere their faithful souls praying more earnestly than others, and\nsearching the Scriptures more diligently, finding spiritual meanings\nhidden from the common readers, and so understanding more correctly,\neven though not perfectly, who was the true Messiah, and what He would\ndo when He came? Or, was there some rabbi in Bethsaida like Simeon in\nJerusalem, of whom it could be said, \"the Holy Ghost was upon him,\" and\n\"he was waiting for the consolation of Israel\"--the coming of the\nMessiah? Or, was there a teacher of the synagogue school in Bethsaida,\ninstructing his pupils as no other teacher did? Or, was there some aged\nAnna, like the prophetess in the Temple, who \"served God with fastings\nand prayer,\" who going about the village full of thoughts concerning the\nMessiah, \"spake of Him to all them that looked for His coming\"? Or, was\nit in the homes of the five that we find that special influence? Did\nJonas talk with his sons as few other fathers did, while Andrew and\nPeter listened most attentively to his words? Did Zebedee and Salome, as\nJonas, prepare by teaching their sons for the coming time when the two\npairs of brothers should be in closer companionship than the family\nfriendship of these Galilean fishermen and business partnership could\nsecure? Was Peter, full of boyish enthusiasm, a leader of the little\ncompany; or did John in quiet loveliness draw the others after himself?\nDid Philip have such family training as had the other four, or was he\nguided by the lights that came from their homes?\n\nAnd now in thought we disband the little circle of five, to be reunited\nelsewhere after many years. We glance into the home of James and John.\nWe have already spoken of Salome's royal descent, and of the sympathy\nbetween her and her sons. With what deep interest we would listen to her\nteachings and watch the influence on them as they talked together of\nDavid their ancestor, and of how they were of the same tribe and family\nto which the Messiah would belong. Salome understood much about Him,\nmore probably than most mothers: but she was much mistaken about what\nwas meant by His Kingdom. She thought He would rule like David on an\nearthly throne. Her sons believed as she did, and so were as sadly\nmistaken. It was long before they discovered their mistake. That was in\ncircumstances very different from what were now in their minds.\n\n[Illustration: THE BOY JOHN _Andrea del Sarto_ Page 41]\n\nThus far we have attempted to restore the surroundings of John in his\nearly days, which did much in shaping his early life, and fitting him\nfor the great work he was to perform. We have glanced at the country and\ntown in which he lived. As we see them through his eyes, he appears the\nmore real to us. We have watched the little circle of his intimate\nfriends, on whom he must have had an influence, and who influenced him.\nWe have glanced at his home with his parents and brothers. We have tried\nto gain some idea of what and how much he had learned, especially\nconcerning the Messiah. We are now prepared to look at him alone, and\ntry to get a more distinct view of his character.\n\nWe are not told what kind of a boy John was. We are told of many things\nhe said and did when he was a man. These help us to understand what he\nmust have been when young. Though there be great changes in us as we\ngrow older, some things remain the same in kind if not in degree.\nJudging by certain things in John's manhood, we form an idea of his\nchildhood. We may think of him as a lovable boy. His feelings were\ntender. He was greatly interested in events which pleased him. He was\nquick and active. He was modest and generally shy, yet bold when\ndetermined to do anything. He was not ready to tell all he felt or knew.\nHe was helpful in his father's business. He thought and felt and planned\nmuch as his mother did. He was thoughtful and quick to understand, and\nsought explanation of what was not easily understood. He was frank in\nall he said, and abhorred dishonesty, especially in one who professed to\nbe good. Above all he was of a loving disposition, and this made others\nlove him. He was beloved because he loved.\n\n[Illustration: JERUSALEM _Old Engraving_ Page 44]\n\nYet John was not perfect, as we shall see in another chapter. We know of\nsome things he said and did when a man, which help us to understand the\nkinds of temptations he had in his younger days. They were such as\nthese; contempt for others who did not think and do as he did, judging\nthem unjustly and unkindly, and showing an unkind feeling toward them; a\nrevengeful spirit, ready to do harm for supposed injury; selfishness;\nambition--wanting to be in honor above others. His greatest temptation\nwas to pride. But at last he overcame such temptations. What was lovable\nin childhood became more beautiful in manhood. He more nearly reached\nperfection than any other of whom we know--by what influence, we shall\nsee.\n\n\n\n\n_CHAPTER VI_\n\n_First Visit to Jerusalem_\n\n\nAt twelve years of age a Jewish boy was no longer thought of as a child,\nbut a youth. Before he reached that age he looked forward to an event\nwhich seemed to him very great. It was his first visit to Jerusalem.\nPeter was probably older than James or John. With boyish interest they\nlistened to the report of his first pilgrimage to the Holy City. When\nthe time came for James to accompany him, John's interest would increase\nas he heard his brother's story; and much more when he could say, \"Next\nyear I too shall see it all.\" And when at last he, probably the youngest\nof the five Bethsaidan boys, could be one of the company, a day of\ngladness indeed had come. With his father, and perhaps his mother, he\njoined the caravan of pilgrims, composed chiefly of men and boys. Their\nprobable route was across the Jordan, then southward, through valleys\nand gorges, and along mountain-sides which echoed with the Psalms which\nwere sung on these pilgrimages, called \"Songs of Degrees.\"\n\nAt Bethabara, nearly opposite Jericho, the travelers recrossed the\nJordan. There John might think of that other crossing many years\nbefore when Joshua led the hosts of Israel between the divided waters;\nand when Elijah smote them with his mantle, and there was a pathway for\nhim and Elisha. John was to add to his memories of the spot. At a later\nday he would there witness a more glorious scene.\n\n[Illustration: JOSHUA'S HOST CROSSING THE JORDAN _Old Engraving_ Page 45]\n\nAt last from the Mount of Olives, at a turn in the road, he had his\nfirst view of the Holy City; its walls and seventy towers of great\nheight, and the Holy House--the Temple of God, with which in after years\nhe was to become familiar. There he saw for himself of what he had often\nheard;--the Holy Altar and lamb of sacrifice--reminders of the coming\nMessiah; the offering of incense; and the many and varied forms of\nstately worship.\n\nAt the time that John made this visit to Jerusalem, there was a\ncelebrated school known as that of Gamaliel, who was the most noted of\nthe Jewish Rabbis, or teachers. Boys were sent to him from all parts of\nPalestine, and even from distant countries in which Jews lived. There\nwas one such boy from the town of Tarsus, in the Roman province of\nCilicia in Asia Minor. Though living in a heathen city, surrounded by\nidolatry, he had received a Jewish training in his home and in the\nsynagogue school, until he was old enough to go to Jerusalem to be\ntrained to become a Rabbi. Like John he had learned much of the Old\nTestament Scriptures, but it does not appear that he had the special\ninfluences which we have imagined gave direction to the thoughts and\nplans of the five boys of Galilee. In his boyhood he was known as Saul;\nafterward as Paul. He and John in their early days differed in many\nthings; in the later days they became alike in the most important\nthoughts, feelings, purposes and labors of their lives. And because of\nthis they became associated with each other, and are remembered together\nas among the best and greatest of mankind.\n\nIt is possible that John visited the school of Gamaliel, and that the\nboy from Bethsaida and the one from Tarsus met as strangers, who would\nsome day meet as friends indeed. It is more probable that they worshiped\ntogether in the temple at the feast, receiving the same impressions\nwhich lasted and deepened through many years, and which we to-day have\nin what they wrote for the good of their fellow-men.\n\nWhen John returns from Jerusalem to his home we lose even the dim sight\nof him which our imagination has supplied. During the silent years that\nfollow we have two thoughts of him,--as a fisherman of Galilee, and as\none waiting for the coming of the Messiah. His parents' only thought of\nhim is a life of honest toil, a comfort in their old age, a sharer in\ntheir prosperity, and an heir to their home and what they would leave\nbehind. They little think that he will be remembered when kings of their\nday are forgotten; that two thousand years after, lives of him will be\nwritten because of a higher relationship than that of mere cousinship to\nJesus; and that their own names will be remembered only because John was\ntheir son. Only God sees in the boy playing on the seashore, and in the\nfisherman of Gennesaret, the true greatness and honor into which He will\nguide him.\n\n\n\n\n_CHAPTER VII_\n\n_John's View of the Coming Messiah_\n\n\nIn our thoughts of Jesus we have chiefly in mind the things that\nhappened at the time of His birth and afterward. We read of them in the\nGospels. John had the Old Testament only, containing promises of what\nwas yet to happen. We have the New Testament telling of their\nfulfilment.\n\nThus far we have spoken of Jesus as John knew Him--as a boy in Nazareth,\nthe son of Mary, and his own cousin. We have also spoken of John's ideas\nof the Messiah. As yet he has not thought as we do of Jesus and the\nMessiah being the same person. It is not easy for us to put ourselves in\nhis place, and leave out of our thoughts all the Gospels tell us. But we\nmust do this to understand what he understood during his youth and early\nmanhood, respecting the Messiah _yet to come_.\n\nLet us imagine him looking through the Old Testament, especially the\nbooks of Moses and the prophets, and finding what is said of Him; and\nsee if we can what impressions are made on this young Bible student of\nprophecy. His search goes back many years. He finds the first Gospel\npromise. It was made while Adam and Eve, having sinned, were yet in the\nGarden of Eden. It was the promise of a Saviour to come from heaven to\nearth, through whom they and their descendants could be saved from the\npower of Satan and the consequences of sin. We do not know how much our\nfirst parents understood of this coming One: but we feel assured that\nthey believed this promise, and through repentance and faith in this\nSaviour, they at last entered a more glorious paradise than the one they\nlost. That promise faded from the minds of many of their descendants and\nwickedness increased. But God had not forgotten it. John could find it\nrenewed by him to Abraham, in the words, \"In thee shall all the families\nof the earth be blessed,\"--meaning that the Messiah should be the\nSaviour of all nations, Gentiles as well as Jews. The promise was\nrenewed to Isaac, the son of Abraham; and then repeated to his son\nJacob, in the same words spoken to his grandfather. Jacob on his dying\nbed told Judah what God had revealed to him, that the Messiah should be\nof the tribe of which Judah was the head.\n\nMany years later God made it known to David that the Messiah should be\none of his descendants. This was a wonder and delight to him as he\nexclaimed, \"Who am I, O Lord God, and what is mine house! for Thou hast\nspoken of Thy servant's house for a great while to come.\" John must\nhave been taught by his mother that they were of the honored house of\nDavid. They, in common with other Jews, believed that the \"great while\nto come\" was near at hand.\n\nJohn read in Isaiah of her who would be the mother of the Messiah,\nwithout thought that she was his aunt Mary. He read that she should call\nher son Immanuel, meaning \"God with us,\" without thinking this was\nanother name for his cousin Jesus. John would find other names\ndescribing His character. His eye would rest on such words and phrases\nas these--\"Holy One;\" \"Most Holy;\" \"Most Mighty;\" \"Mighty to Save;\"\n\"Mighty One of Israel;\" \"Redeemer;\" \"Your Redeemer;\" \"Messiah the\nPrince;\" \"Leader;\" \"Lord Strong and Mighty;\" \"King of Glory;\" \"King over\nall the earth.\"\n\nMost of all John would think again and again of a wonderful declaration\nof Isaiah, writing as if he lived in John's day, saying, \"Unto us a\nchild is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon\nHis shoulders, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, The\nMighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the exercise\nof His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of\nDavid.\"\n\nHad John known that these words of Isaiah referred to Jesus, he might\nhave repeated them, not as a prophecy, but with a present meaning,\nsaying, \"The Child _is_ born!\" As he read the prophecy of Haggai,\nuttered more than five hundred years before--\"The desire of all nations\nshall come\"--he might have exclaimed, \"He _has_ come!\"\n\nIn John's reading in the Old Testament it seems strange to us that some\nthings made a deeper impression on him than did others, and that he\nunderstood some things so differently from what we do, especially about\nthe Messiah's kingdom. He noticed the things about His power and glory,\nbut seems to have misread or overlooked those about the dishonor, and\nsuffering and death that would come upon Him. We read in the fifty-third\nchapter of Isaiah, how He was to be \"despised and rejected of men, a man\nof sorrows and acquainted with grief, ... wounded for our transgressions\nand bruised for our iniquities, ... brought as a lamb to the slaughter,\nand as a sheep before his shearers, ... and make His grave with the\nwicked.\" We know that all this happened. We think of a suffering\nSaviour. We wonder that John did not have such things in his mind. But\nin this he was much like his teachers, and most of the Jews. Though, as\nwe have imagined, his family and some others were more nearly right than\nmost people, even they did not have a full knowledge or correct\nunderstanding of all that the Old Testament Scriptures taught,\nconcerning these things.\n\nBut at last John learned more concerning Christ than any of them. We are\nyet to see how this came to pass. For the present we leave him in\nBethsaida, increasing in wisdom and stature. So is also his cousin in\nNazareth, of whom let us gain a more distinct view before He is revealed\nto John as the Messiah.\n\n\n\n\n_CHAPTER VIII_\n\n_Jesus the Hidden Messiah_\n\n     \"There has been in this world one rare flower of Paradise--a holy\n     childhood growing up gradually into a holy manhood, and always\n     retaining in mature life the precious, unstained memories of\n     perfect innocence.\"--_H.B. Stowe_.\n\n\nThe aged Simeon in the Temple, with the infant Jesus in his arms, said,\n\"Now lettest Thou Thy servant depart, O Lord, ... in peace; for mine\neyes have seen Thy salvation\"--the expected Messiah. But it was not for\nHim to proclaim His having come. The aged Anna could not long speak \"of\nHim to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem,\" or anywhere\nelse. For awhile the shepherds told their wonderful story, and then\ndied. The angels did not continue to sing their hymn of the Nativity\nover the plains of Bethlehem. The Wise Men returned to their own\ncountry. Herod died, and none thought of the young child he sought to\nkill. The hiding in Egypt was followed by a longer hiding of another\nkind in Nazareth. The stories of those who gathered about the infant\ncradle were soon forgotten, or repeated only to be disbelieved. Mary,\nand her husband Joseph--who acted the part of an earthly father to the\nheaven-born child--carried through the years the sacred secret of who\nand what Jesus was.\n\nWe long to know something of the holy childhood. We have allowed our\nimagination to have a little play, but this does not satisfy our\ncuriosity, nor that desire which we have concerning all great men, to\nknow of their boyhood. What did He do? Where did He go? What was His\nlife at home, and in the village school? Who were His mates? How did He\nappear among His brothers and sisters? So strong is a desire to know of\nsuch things that stories have been invented to supply the place of\npositive knowledge; but most of them are unsatisfactory, and unlike our\nthoughts of Him. Thus much we do know, that, \"He grew in wisdom and\nstature\" not only, but also \"in favor with God and man.\"\n\nIt has been finally said; \"Only one flower of anecdote has been thrown\nover the wall of the hidden garden, and it is so suggestive as to fill\nus with intense longing to see the garden itself. But it has pleased\nGod, whose silence is no less wonderful than His words, to keep it\nshut.\" That \"one flower\" refers to Jesus' visit to Jerusalem just as He\nwas passing from childhood to youth, when He tarried in the Temple with\nthe learned Rabbis, asking them questions with which His mind was\nfull, and making answers which astonished them.\n\n[Illustration: THE PROPHET ISAIAH _Sargent_ Page 50]\n\nA most interesting question arises in connection with that visit; Did\nJesus then and there learn that He was the Messiah? When He asked His\nmother, \"Wist ye not that I must be in My Father's house,\" or, \"about My\nFather's business?\" did He have a new idea of God as His Father Who had\nsent Him into the world to do the great work which the Messiah was to\nperform?\n\nThere were eighteen silent years between His first visit to Jerusalem,\nand the time when, at thirty years of age, he made Himself known as the\nMessiah. They were spent as a village carpenter. He was known as such.\nNo one suspected Him to be anything more. In His work He must have been\na model of honesty and faithfulness. We can believe that \"all His works\nwere perfect, that never was a nail driven or a line laid carelessly,\nand that the toil of that carpenter's bench was as sacred to Him as His\nteachings in the Temple, because it was duty.\"\n\nIn His home He was the devoted eldest son. It was of that time that the\npoet sings to Mary;--\n\n    \"O, highly favored thou, in many an hour\n       Spent in lone musings with thy wondrous Son,\n     When thou didst gaze into that glorious eye,\n       And hold that mighty hand within thine own.\n\n    \"Blest through those thirty years when in thy dwelling\n       He lived as God disguised with unknown power,\n     And thou His sole adorer, His best love,\n       Trusted, revering, waited for His hour.\"\n                                          --_H.B. Stowe_.\n\nJoseph had probably died, and the care of Mary fell especially on Jesus.\nBut in the carpenter's shop, in the home, and wherever He was, He had\nthoughts and feelings and purposes hidden from all others. They were\nsuch as no mere human being could have. He was alone in the world. In\nsilence and solitude His communions were with His Father in heaven.\nCalmness and peace filled His soul. His great work was before Him, ever\npresent to His thought. So was His cross, and the glory which should\ncome to God, and the blessedness to man, when His work on earth was\ndone. As John long after declared, \"He was in the world and the world\nknew Him not.\" As a great King He had come from heaven, and was waiting\nfor a certain one to proclaim His coming. Toward that herald let us turn\nand with John listen to his voice.\n\n\n\n\n_CHAPTER IX_\n\n_\"The Prophet of the Most High\"_\n\n     \"Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying,\n     ... \"Yea, and thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Most\n     High: For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to make ready\n     His ways.\"--_Luke_ i. 67, 76.\n\n     \"There came a man, sent from God, whose name was John. The same\n     came for witness, that he might bear witness of the light, that all\n     men might believe through him.\"--_John_ i. 6, 7.\n\n     \"He was the lamp that burneth and shineth.\"--_John_ v. 35.\n\n     \"In devotional pictures we see St. John the Evangelist and St. John\n     the Baptist standing together, one on each side of Christ.\"--_Mrs.\n     Jameson_.\n\n\nSalome and Mary had a cousin named Elizabeth. Her home was not in\nGalilee, but in Judaea--the southern part of the Holy Land--probably near\nHebron, possibly near Jerusalem. She had a son also named John. He was\nso called because the angel Gabriel, who had told Mary to call her son\nJesus, had said to Zacharias, an aged high priest, the husband of\nElizabeth, concerning their son, \"Thou shalt call his name John.\" This\nname means \"The Gift of God.\" Born in their old age he seemed especially\nsuch to them. He was a gift not only to his parents, but to his country\nand mankind. While Zebedee and Salome had not been told what their John\nshould become, Zacharias and Elizabeth had been told the future of their\nJohn. The angel declared, \"He shall be great.\" Had he said only this, we\nmight think he meant great in power, or learning, or in other things\nwhich men call great, but which the Lord does not. Gabriel said, \"He\nshall be great in the sight of the Lord.\"\n\nMary visited the home of Elizabeth and the happy cousins praised God for\nwhat He had revealed to them concerning their sons.\n\nThe greatness to which Elizabeth's son was to attain was that of a\nprophet--greater than Elijah, or Isaiah, or any other who had lived\nbefore him. With exultation Zacharias said to him, \"Thou, child, shalt\nbe called the prophet of the Most High.\"\n\nGod had arranged that he should be ready to proclaim the coming One just\nbefore the Messiah should appear among men. For this reason he was\ncalled the Fore-runner of the Messiah. But though Jesus was in the\nworld, the time for His appearance as the Messiah had not yet come.\n\nJohn was greatly saddened by what he saw of the wickedness of men, even\nthose who professed to be the people of God, and their unfitness to\nreceive Him for whom they were looking. Led by the Spirit of God, John\nretired to the wilderness of Judaea, in the region of the Dead Sea and\nthe Jordan, for meditation and communion with God. But he was not\nentirely concealed. There were a few who heard of his sanctity and\nwisdom, sought instruction from him, and abode with him, becoming his\ndisciples. He seems to have had special influence over young men. Our\nBethsaidan boys have now grown to be such since we saw them in their\nearly home, and as school and fisher boys. They were now toiling at\ntheir nets with their fathers, closer than ever in their friendship for\neach other, still waiting and watching for Him whom they had been taught\nfrom their earliest days to expect. We think of their interest in the\nrumors concerning the prophet of Judaea.\n\n[Illustration: THE BOY JESUS IN THE TEMPLE _H. Hofmann_ Page 54]\n\nAs the two pair of brothers talk together, we can hear one of them\nsaying, \"I must see and hear and know for myself. I will lay aside my\nfishing, and go to the wilderness of Judaea.\" To this the others reply,\nas on another occasion to Peter, \"We also come with thee.\" Leaving the\nquiet shores of Gennesaret, they follow the road each has traveled\nannually since twelve years of age on his way to the feast in Jerusalem.\n\nThey met the hermit in the wilderness. His appearance was strange\nindeed. His hair was long and unkempt; his face tanned with the sun and\nthe desert air; his body unnourished by the simple food of locusts and\nwild honey. His raiment was of the coarsest and cheapest cloth of\ncamel's hair. His girdle was a rough band of leather, such as was worn\nby the poor,--most unlike those made of fine material, and ornamented\nwith needlework. His whole appearance must have been a great contrast to\nhis gentle and refined namesake from Galilee.\n\nThe solemn earnestness of the prophet, and the greatness of the truths\nhe taught, were well calculated to excite the greatest interest of the\nyoung Galileans. They looked upon him with increasing conviction that he\nwas \"a prophet of God.\" Instead of returning to their homes, they\nremained in Judaea and attached themselves to him, and became known as\nhis disciples. In their new service there was a new bond of union for\nthemselves, which--though they then knew it not--would lead to another\nyet stronger.\n\nAt last \"the word of the Lord came unto\" John, when he was about thirty\nyears old, calling him to a more public ministry. So \"He came into all\nthe country about Jordan.\" Beginning in the south he moved northward\nfrom place to place.\n\nRumors concerning the new strange prophet spread rapidly. \"There went\nout to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about\nJordan.\" Shepherds left their flocks and flocked around him. Herdsmen\nleft their fields, and vine-dressers their vineyards, and Roman soldiers\ntheir garrisons, for the wilderness. Rabbis left their parchments in\nthe synagogue, the schoolroom and the home, to hear the living voice of\na teacher greater than any one of them. Self-righteous Pharisees and\ncommon people followed them. Some sought the preacher only from\ncuriosity; some to hear the truth. John's preaching was summed up in two\nphrases,--\"Repent ye,\" and \"The kingdom of heaven is at hand.\"\n\n[Illustration: STREET SCENE IN NAZARETH _From Photograph_ Page 55]\n\nHis preaching was bold, clear, earnest, and forcible. Many yielded to\nthe power of his preaching. They were baptized by him; for this reason\nhe was known as St. John the Baptist, or the Baptizer.\n\nJohn of Galilee was one of those who obeyed the injunction \"Repent ye.\"\nWith all his lovable qualities which we have imagined in his\nchildhood--his refinement, his faithfulness in his home and synagogue,\nand his honest toil--he saw that within himself which was not right in\nthe sight of God. He repented of his sins and sought forgiveness. A\nlovely character became more lovely still, to be known as the loving and\nbeloved one. He was ready to welcome the Messiah of whom the Baptist\ntold. He had no fears that another Judas of Galilee had arisen. He\nbelieved that the promises concerning the coming One were being\nfulfilled. He was a faithful disciple of the prophet and forerunner, to\nwhom he must have been a great joy, but who was ready to have him,\nwhenever the time should come, transfer his following to the Lord of\nthem both. For how long a period the two Johns continued together, we do\nnot know, but it was drawing to its close.\n\n[Illustration: VISIT OF MARY TO ELISABETH _Old Engraving_ Page 58]\n\n\n\n\n_CHAPTER X_\n\n_The Messiah Found_\n\n    \"They found Him not, those youths of noble soul;\n     Long seeking, wandering, watching on life's shore,\n     Reasoning, aspiring, yearning for the light.\n\n           *       *       *       *       *\n\n    \"But years passed on; and lo! the Charmer came,\n       Pure, simple, sweet, as comes the silver dew,\n     And the world knew Him not,--He walked alone,\n       Encircled only by His trusting few.\"\n                                     --_H.B. Stowe_.\n\n     \"We\"--Andrew and John--\"have found the Messiah.\"--_Andrew to\n     Peter_.\n\n     \"We\"--Andrew and Peter, James and John, and Philip--\"have found\n     Him, of Whom Moses in the law, and the prophets did write, Jesus of\n     Nazareth.\"--_Philip to Nathanael_.\n\n\n\"The fulness of the time was come,\" not only when \"God sent forth His\nSon,\" but \"when the Son should reveal Himself to the world.\" So Jesus\ncame forth from His retirement in Nazareth to enter on His public\nministry.\n\n\"Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan, unto John to be baptized of\nhim.\" What a meeting! Probably the first in their lives. It is no marvel\nthat John said, \"I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to\nme?\" But he obeyed Jesus' bidding, \"Suffer it to be so now.\" \"So He was\nbaptized of John in Jordan.\" Then followed the prayer of the Son of God;\nand then \"the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon\nHim\"; and then the voice of the Father, saying, \"Thou art my beloved\nSon: in Thee I am well pleased.\" Let us remember that voice: we shall\nhear it again.\n\nAnd then for forty days and forty nights Jesus was hidden completely\nfrom the face of man, alone on the Mount of Temptation, with wild\nbeasts, until ministering angels come to Him from heaven.\n\nHe returned to the region where the Baptist was preaching. \"John seeth\nJesus coming to him.\" His eye is turned away from the multitude\nthronging about him, and is fastened upon Jesus only. His thought is of\nHim of whom Isaiah wrote long before--\"He is brought as a lamb to the\nslaughter.\" Pointing to Jesus he exclaims, \"Behold the Lamb of God which\ntaketh away the sin of the world!\"\n\nThe Galilean disciples were doubtless present, and were deeply moved by\ntheir Master's exclamation. Because of their previous training in their\nhomes, and in the wilderness with the prophet, it must have kindled in\nthem deeper emotion than it did in any others of that astonished throng.\nBut it was to become deeper still. This was especially true of two of\nthem.\n\n[Illustration: THE WILDERNESS OF JUDEA _From Photograph_ Page 59]\n\nThe next day, probably a Sabbath, was to become a memorable day in the\nhistory of the two and of their master. It was a morning hour. We think\nof the three as alone, before the multitudes had gathered, or the day's\nministry of preaching and baptizing had begun. They walked along the\nbank of the river communing together of Him whom they had seen the day\nbefore. In the distance John saw the Figure again. In awe and reverence,\nand with a fixed gaze, \"John was standing, and two of his disciples; and\nhe looked upon Jesus as He walked, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God!\"\nThe exclamation was in part that which they had heard in the presence of\nthe multitude; but that was not enough. It was as if John had said,\n\"Behold the Messiah for whom our nation has waited so long; Him of whom\nour Scriptures have told us; Who has been the theme in our homes from\nchildhood; of whom I have been the prophet and herald. He it is of whom\nI have taught you, my disciples, as you have followed me in the\nwilderness until I now can bid you behold Him. Henceforth follow Him.\"\n\nJohn says that one of the two was Andrew. There is no doubt that the\nother was himself. We shall notice in his writings that he never uses\nhis own name. This incident is our first definite knowledge of him. All\nwe have said hitherto is what we think must have been true, judging from\ncircumstances of which we do know, and from his character revealed\nafter this time.\n\nWe long to know whether \"Jesus as He walked\" came near the Baptist, and\nwith what salutation they met, and what were their parting words, for\nthis seems to be the last time of their meeting. If Mary and Salome were\nsisters, and Elizabeth was their cousin--as we use the term--John of\nGalilee and Jesus were related to John the Baptist in the same way. But\nthere was a closer relationship than that of family. In this Jesus was\nthe connecting link between the two Johns. \"One on each side of\nChrist\"--this was their joy and their glory. One was the last prophet to\nproclaim His coming: the other was to be the last evangelist to tell the\nstory of His life on the earth.\n\nWhen the Baptist the second time uttered the cry, \"Behold the Lamb of\nGod!\" \"the two disciples heard Him speak and followed Jesus.\" Their old\nmaster saw them turn from him without a jealous, but with a gladsome\nthought. Encouraged by him, and drawn by Jesus, with reverential awe, in\nsolemn silence or with subdued tone, they timidly walked in the\nfootsteps of the newly revealed Master. The quickened ear before them\ndetected their footsteps or conversation. \"Jesus turned and saw them\nfollowing,\" as if to welcome their approach, and give them courage. He\nthen asked them a question, \"What seek ye?\" It was not asked because\nHe was ignorant, but to encourage them in familiar conversation, as He\ndid at other times. Their answer was another question, \"Rabbi, where\nabidest Thou?\" They longed for a fuller opportunity than that on the\nroad to be taught by Him. \"Come and see,\" was His welcome reply. \"They\ncame and saw where He dwelt, and abode with Him that day.\" First by a\nlook, then a question, then an invitation, then hospitality, they were\ndrawn to Him, and into His service.\n\n[Illustration: TRADITIONAL PLACE OF CHRIST'S BAPTISM\n_From Photograph_ Page 63]\n\nOften in after years must Andrew and John have recalled that walk with\nJesus, and \"rehearsed the things that happened,\" and said one to\nanother, \"Was not our heart burning within us while He spake to us in\nthe way?\" So afterward did other two, of Emmaus, when \"Jesus Himself\ndrew near and went with them.\" But the eyes of Andrew and John were not\n\"holden that they should not know Him.\" The pleasing dream of years was\npast: they were wakening to a glorious reality. Their following of Him\nin that hour has been claimed to be \"the beginning of the Christian\nChurch.\"\n\nThat day of abiding with Jesus was the first of many days these\ndisciples spent with Him, knowing Him more and more perfectly, and the\ntruth which He alone could reveal. They were then passing from the\nschool of the Baptist to that of the Greatest Teacher. What was said in\nthose sacred hours? John has reported other private interviews with\nJesus, but concerning this one his lips are sealed. Did he tell of his\nsurprise and joy to learn that He, Jesus, the son of his aunt, Mary, was\nthe Messiah of whom his mother, Salome, had taught him from his early\ndays? Were there any memories of childhood--of the sandy beach of\nBethsaida, or the hills of Nazareth; or, were all such thoughts buried\nin newer and deeper question? Was there any hint of their future\nrelation too sacred for others then to know? Was this the beginning of\nthat sweet intimacy so private then, but of which the whole world should\nhear in all coming time?\n\nAfter the evening meal in Emmaus the two disciples there \"rose up the\nsame hour, and returned to Jerusalem,\" with joyful and quickened steps\nto report the glad tidings of what they had seen and heard. Andrew and\nJohn were to be of the number who, in three years, would hail these\ndisciples from Emmaus. Like them, Andrew and John hastened away from the\nsheltering booth on the Jordan bank on a like errand. But they went not\ntogether, nor to an assembled company. They each went in search of his\nown brother--Andrew for Peter, and John for James. Andrew found his\nbrother first. Afterward John found his: so we infer from his narrative.\nEach carried the same tidings, \"_We have found the Messiah!_\"\n\n[Illustration: THE BAPTISM OF JESUS _Old Engraving_ Page 64]\n\nAndrew is thought to have asked leave to bring his brother. \"He\nbrought him to Jesus.\" When John wrote that simple statement, he did not\nthink how much was included in it concerning Peter and his own relation\nto him. As little did Andrew think to what the promptings of his\nbrotherly affection would lead. His mission seems to have been that of\nbringing others to Christ--his own brother, the lad with five loaves and\ntwo fishes, and certain Greeks who desired to see Jesus. John only has\nmade note of these three incidents. In so doing he has given to us the\nkey to the character of his friend, and caused him to be held in\neverlasting remembrance. Andrew is remembered in the cross that bears\nhis name; in his anniversary day; in the choice of him for the patron\nsaint of Scotland; in orders of knighthood, and in Christian societies\nof brotherhood named after him, as an example and inspiration to the\nnoblest of Christian endeavor--that of bringing old and young to Christ.\n\nIt is John alone who wrote of that memorable day on the Jordan. His\nimpressions were deep and lasting. The record of them is so fresh and\nminute that we seem to be perusing a notebook which was in his hands\nwhen these events were transpiring. His memory is distinct of the exact\nlocation of each; of the attitudes and movements of the actors,--as when\n\"John stood,\" and \"Jesus walked,\" and \"Jesus turned\"; of the fixed and\nearnest look of Jesus--as on Andrew and John in the way, and Peter in\nthe place of His abode. John remembered the words of the Baptist, and of\nhis two disciples, and of Jesus. He remembered the day not only, but\nthat \"it was about the tenth hour when he accepted the invitation to\ncome and see where Jesus was tarrying.\"\n\nAll these pictures hung unfading on the walls of John's memory. This was\nnot strange. It was the day and the hour for which he looked through all\nhis early years, and to which he looked back in his latest. Then was the\nbeginning of a most blessed relationship, alone in the history of\nmankind; that which was to make his name immortal, and radiant with a\nhalo which encircles none other.\n\n\"The day following, Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth\nPhilip, and saith unto him, Follow Me. Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the\ncity of Andrew and Peter.\" So writes John, recalling to us the Galilean\ngroup of Bethsaidan boys. When we became familiar with their names,\nthere was no prospect that the two pairs of brothers and their friend\nwould head the roll of disciples of the Messiah for whom they were\nlooking. But such a day had come. We know not that Philip had a brother\nwhom he could bring to Jesus, as did Andrew and John, but he was as full\nof wonder and joy as they. Like them he must go in search of some one\nto whom he could repeat their exclamation. The search was not long. John\ntells the result. \"Philip findeth Nathanael and saith unto him, We have\nfound Him.\" But this simple declaration is not enough for Philip. He\nrecalls those Scripture scrolls in his home and the Rabbi's school, and\nthe synagogue, that told of the coming Messiah, and so he exclaims, \"We\nhave found Him of whom Moses and the Law, and the Prophets did\nwrite\"--thus repeating the phrase we were to remember till we should\nhear it again. Nathanael, coming to Jesus declared in wonder and\nadmiration, \"Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King of Israel.\" His\nname was added to those of the Galilean group.\n\nThe disciples now numbered five or six--Andrew, John, Peter, Philip,\nNathanael, and probably James. These were one half of a completed circle\nto surround Jesus. All but one of them were of the Bethsaidan band. John\nhas drawn lifelike pictures of them, more complete than those of the\nother apostles,--except that of Judas, whom he contrasts with all the\nrest. We have thought of James and John as nearest to Jesus in kinship.\nWe are already beginning to think of John as nearest in discipleship.\n\n\n\n\n_CHAPTER XI_\n\n_John a Wedding Guest_\n\n     \"There was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus\n     was there: and Jesus also was bidden, and His disciples to the\n     marriage.\"\n\n     \"The mother of Jesus saith unto Him, They have no wine.\"\n\n     \"The ruler of the feast tasted the water now become wine.\"\n\n     \"This beginning of His signs did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and\n     manifested His glory; and His disciples believed on Him.\"--_John_\n     ii. 1-3, 9, 11.\n\n\nAgain John notices the very day on which occurred a remarkable event, of\nwhich he had a vivid recollection. It was the third, as is probable,\nafter the departure of Jesus from Jordan for Galilee.\n\nHe was invited to a wedding in Cana. His disciples were invited also, we\nmay suppose out of respect to Him. James and John might have been there\nwithout the rest. It is possible that they were relatives of the family,\nas their aunt Mary is thought to have been. She was there caring for the\nguests, and what had been provided for them. The marriage feast lasted\nseveral days. Jesus and His disciples were not present at the beginning.\nAfter their arrival, Mary discovered that the wine had given out. Like\nthe sister of another Mary, in whose house Jesus was a guest, she was\ntroubled because it looked as if the family had not provided for all the\ncompany. She had probably been a widow for several years, and as Jesus\nwas her oldest Son, she had gone to Him for advice and help when in\ntrouble at home. So now \"when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus\nsaith unto Him, They have no wine.\" We are not to suppose that she\nintended to ask Him to do a miracle. Perhaps she simply said, \"What\nshall we do?\" as many a housekeeper has said when in doubt. He made a\nreply which seems harsh and unkind, unless we understand His meaning,\nand imagine His words to have been spoken in a kind tone, and with a\nkind and loving look. She was not offended by His reply. Thinking He\nmight do something--she knew not what--she said unto the servants,\n\"Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.\"\n\nIt might be said of Him at this time, as it was at another, \"He knew\nHimself what He would do.\" He gave three simple commands to the\nservants. The first was, \"Fill the water-pots with water.\" They did as\nMary had said, and obeyed Him. Watching them until the jars were full,\nHe said, \"Draw out now and bear unto the ruler of the feast.\" This was\nprobably a special friend of the family, who with Mary was directing it.\nWhile Jesus' command was being obeyed, His first miracle was performed.\n\"When the ruler had 'tasted the water now become wine, and knew not\nwhence it was,' ... he called the bridegroom,\" and in a playful joke\npraised the goodness of the wine which he imagined had purposely been\nkept to the last.\n\n\"The water now become wine\" is the brief statement of the first of the\nthirty-six recorded miracles of our Lord. It was seen by the six\ndisciples. They witnessed the first of the miracles since those in the\ndays of Daniel, of which they had read in their Scriptures, one of the\nlast of which was at the impious feast of Belshazzar. There the holy\ncups from Jerusalem were used in praising false gods of silver and gold,\nin the hands of the king and his lords, as they read the handwriting on\nthe wall, interpreted by Daniel. How different the feast in Cana. There\nwas no fear there. When the disciples saw the cup in the hands of the\nhilarious governor, and heard his playful words, they were not in a\nsportive mood. Theirs was that of astonishment and reverence at the\nmiracle. No Daniel was needed to interpret the meaning of that water\nchanged into wine. John tells us what they understood thereby--that\n\"Jesus manifested His glory.\" He showed the power which belongs to God\nonly.\n\nJohn immediately adds, \"And His disciples believed on Him.\" This is the\nfirst time they are spoken of as such. As yet they were disciples only.\nAt the end of the blessed week in which they had \"found the Messiah,\"\nthere had been formed a close companionship which was to become closer\nstill. But the time had not yet come for them to leave their homes and\nbusiness, and attend Him wherever He went. They were not yet Apostles.\nThe marriage feast had become to them more than a social festival. Their\nLord had intended that it should be so. Their faith in Him on the\nJordan, was strengthened in Cana.\n\n\"This _beginning_ of miracles,\" says John. What was this beginning? It\nwas not the healing of the sick, nor raising of the dead, nor supplying\na hungry company with bread, nor furnishing a necessary drink. There was\nno display. Jesus stretched forth no rod over the water-jars, as did\nMoses over the waters of the Nile when the same Divine power changed\nthem into like color, but different substance, and with a different\npurpose. The first manifestation of His glory was for \"the increase of\ninnocent joy.\"\n\nWhen John had read the story of Jesus in the first three Gospels, and\nfound no record of this miracle, did he not feel that there had been a\ngreat omission which he must supply? Nowhere else does Jesus appear just\nas He did at that feast, though other incidents of His life are in\nharmony with it. It is sometimes said He \"graced\" that marriage feast,\nas royalty does by mere presence. But He did more. He entered into the\ninnocent festivities, and helped to their success. A glance into that\nvillage home is a revelation of Jesus in social life, and His interests\nin human friendships and relations.\n\nWe must remember that it was only innocent pleasures that He helped to\nincrease, in which alone we can seek the presence of His Spirit, and on\nwhich alone we can ask His blessing.\n\nThis marriage feast must have been of special interest to John, if, as\nis supposed, the family was related to Mary and probably to him. This\nwould seem to be her first meeting with Jesus since He bid her farewell\nin Nazareth, and left the home of thirty years, to be such no longer.\n\nDid not Mary, mother-like, call John aside from the festive scene and\nsay to him, \"What has happened at the Jordan? tell me all about it.\" I\nseem to hear John saying to her; \"It is a wonderful story. Of some\nthings I heard, and some I both saw and heard. You know of the ministry\nof your cousin Elizabeth's son John--of his preaching and baptizing.\nJesus was baptized by him. Immediately they both had a vision of 'the\nSpirit of God descending upon Him; and lo! a voice from heaven saying,\nThis is My beloved Son.' Then John was certain who Jesus was. He told\nthe people about the vision, saying, 'I saw and bear record that this\nis the Son of God.' And one day when my friend Andrew and I were with\nhim, he pointed us to Jesus saying, 'Behold the Lamb of God,' whom we\nfollowed, first to His abode on the Jordan, and then here to Cana. We\nwere disciples of John, but now are _His_ disciples, and ever shall be.\nYou know, aunt Mary, how from childhood I had thought of Him as my\ncousin Jesus, and loved Him for His goodness. From what my mother has\ntold me, which she must have learned from you, there has been some\nbeautiful mystery about Him. It is all explained now. Hereafter, I shall\nlove Him more than ever, but I shall think of Him, not so much as my\ncousin Jesus, as the Messiah for whom we were looking, and as the Son of\nGod.\"\n\nHow the mother-heart of Mary must have throbbed as she listened to her\nnephew John's story of Jesus on the Jordan. How it must have gone out\ntoward him, because of his thoughts about her son, and his love for Him.\nHow grieved she must have been as she thought of her own sons who did\nnot believe as John did concerning their brother Jesus. The time was to\ncome when Jesus would make her think of John, not so much as a nephew,\nas a son.\n\nIn that festive hour, Mary too learned the lesson that human\nrelationships to Jesus, however beautiful, were giving way to other and\nhigher. The words He had spoken to her at the feast, like those He had\nuttered in the Temple in His boyhood, and the things that had happened\non the Jordan, showed her that henceforth she should think, not so much\nof Jesus as the Son of Mary, as the Son of God.\n\nIn thoughts she must have revisited the home of Elizabeth, whose walls,\nmore than thirty years before, had echoed with her own song, \"My soul\ndoth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.\"\n\n\n\n\n_CHAPTER XII_\n\n_John and Nicodemus_\n\n     \"There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the\n     Jews: the same came unto Him by night.\"\n\n     \"We speak that we do know, and bear witness of that we have\n     seen.\"--_John_ iii. 1, 2, 11.\n\n     \"There is Nicodemus, who visited Jesus by night--to the\n     astonishment of St. John--but who was soon afterward Jesus'\n     friend.\"--_John Watson_.\n\n     \"The report of what passed reads, more than almost any other in the\n     gospels, like notes taken at the time by one who was present. We\n     can almost put it again into the form of brief notes.... We can\n     scarcely doubt that it was the narrator John who was the witness\n     that took the notes.\"--_Alfred Edersheim_.\n\n\nThree incidents mentioned by John only comprise all we know of\nNicodemus. In each of them he refers to him as coming to Jesus by night.\nThat visit seems to have made a deep impression on John. We may think of\nHim as present at the interview between the Pharisee and the \"Teacher\ncome from God.\"\n\nWe are not told why Nicodemus came at a night hour. Perhaps he thought\nhe could make sure of a quiet conversation, such as he could not have in\nthe daytime. Perhaps he did not want to appear too friendly to Jesus\nuntil he knew more about Him, though he already had a friendly feeling\ntoward Him. Perhaps he was afraid of the Sanhedrin, the highest Jewish\nCourt. Most of its members hated Jesus and had commenced their\nopposition to Him, which was continued during His life, and resulted in\nHis death. Not so felt Nicodemus, though a member. At a later day he\nopposed their unjust treatment of Him. If he did not think of Jesus as\nthe Messiah, he yet thought of Him as a prophet, \"a teacher come from\nGod.\" He was anxious to know more. So cautiously and timidly he sought\nJesus in the night.\n\nWe suppose that, at the time of Jesus' death, John had a home in\nJerusalem. It has been thought possible that when and before he became a\ndisciple of Jesus he had an abode there, attending to the business\nconnected with the sale of fish from his home in Galilee. There Jesus\nmight be found in the guest-chamber on the roof of the oriental house\nwhich was reached by an outside stair. Nicodemus had no invitation, such\nas Andrew and John had to Jesus' abode on the Jordan, but he had an\nequal welcome to John's home, whither he had come on a like errand,\nthough with different views of Jesus, to learn of Him. He sees still\nburning in the upper chamber the night lamp of Him whom he is to know as\n\"the light of the world.\" He ascends the stair, stands at the door and\nknocks; and it is opened. Apparently without lengthy salutation, or\nintroduction, he makes known his errand in the single sentence, \"Rabbi,\nwe know that Thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these\nsigns that Thou doest, except God be with Him.\" He might have added,\n\"What shall I do?\" Jesus gave a very solemn answer to his\nquestion,--\"Except a man be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of\nGod.\" He taught him that doing certain things, and not doing others, was\nnot enough; he must _be_ good. To be good there must be a change of\nspirit. As a child has a beginning of its earthly life, he must have the\nbeginning of a spiritual life, or he cannot be fitted for the kingdom of\nGod in this world or that which is to come. That great change comes\n\"from above,\" from God Himself.\n\nListen to some of the wonderful truths Jesus taught to Nicodemus. They\nare for us as well as for him. 1. Those who do not have this change of\nspirit must \"perish.\" 2. But none need to perish, for \"eternal life\" has\nbeen provided. 3. This life is through the suffering and death of the\n\"Son\" of God. 4. God \"gave His only begotten Son\" to do all this. 5. God\ndid this because He \"so loved the world.\" 6. This \"eternal life\" can be\nhad only by \"believing on\" the Son of God. 7. \"Whosoever\" so believes\nmay have eternal life.\n\nAll this is included in one sentence:\n\n\"God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that\nwhosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have eternal life.\"\n\nThis is the golden text of St. John's Gospel, and of the whole Bible.\nThrough all the ages it has sounded, and will sound to the end of time,\nas the gospel itself.\n\nJohn must have been a most attentive listener to all that Jesus said.\nThis was at the beginning of His Lord's ministry. Fresh truths easily\nimpressed him. They were the buddings of which he was to see the bloom,\nof whose fruitage he would partake most abundantly, and which he would\ngive to others long after the echo of the Great Teacher's words had died\nin the chamber where he and Nicodemus heard them.\n\nIt was long after that nightly visit that John wrote his account of it,\nincluding the golden text whose keyword was _Love_. It is supposed that\nhe wrote his Epistle about the same time. That text was so present in\nhis thought that he repeated it in almost the same words: \"Herein was\nthe Love of God manifested in us, that God hath sent His only begotten\nSon into the world, that we might live through Him.\"\n\nAt the close of his long life, in which he had learned much of the power\nand justice and holiness and goodness of God, it seemed to him that all\nthese were summed up in the one simple saying, \"God is love.\"\n\n[Illustration: THE FIRST DISCIPLES _Ittenbach_ Page 67]\n\nWhen John bade Nicodemus good-night, he could not look forward to the\ntime, nor to the place where we see them together again. John the lone\napostle with Nicodemus and his Lord at the beginning of His ministry, is\nthe lone apostle at the cross. Then and there, he recalls the first\nmeeting of the three as he beholds the Rabbi approaching. This is his\nrecord; \"Then came also Nicodemus, who at the first came to Jesus by\nnight.\"\n\nThere is a tradition concerning Nicodemus that after the Resurrection of\nJesus, his faith in Him was strengthened. The \"teacher come from God\" he\nnow believed to be the Son of God. The timid Rabbi became a bold\nfollower of the Lord whom he once secretly sought. For this he was no\nlonger permitted to be a ruler of the Jews. He was hated, beaten, and\ndriven from Jerusalem. At last he was buried by the side of the first\nmartyr Stephen, who had baptized and welcomed him into the fellowship of\nthe Christian Band.\n\n\n\n\n_CHAPTER XIII_\n\n_St. John and the Samaritaness_\n\n     \"He cometh to a city of Samaria, called Sychar.... Jacob's well was\n     there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey, sat thus on\n     the well. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said\n     unto her, Give Me to drink.\"--_John_ iv. 5-7.\n\n     \"Probably John remained with the Master. They would scarcely have\n     left Him alone especially in that place; and the whole narrative\n     reads like one who had been present at what passed.\"--_Edersheim._\n\n\nThe vale of Sychar is one of the most interesting spots in the Holy\nLand. Jacob's well is one of the sacred sights about whose identity\nthere is no dispute. I count the Sabbath when my tent overshadowed it\none of the most memorable of my life. It was a privilege to read on the\nspot John's story of the Master tarrying there, and of the truths there\nrevealed.\n\nJohn tells us that Jesus, on His way from Judaea to Galilee, passed\nthrough Samaria, arrived at Jacob's well, and \"being wearied with His\njourney sat thus on the well,\" while His disciples went \"away unto the\ncity to buy food.\"\n\nIt is not necessary to suppose that all of the six went to the\nneighboring city. Probably John remained with the Master. His narrative\nis one of the most distinct word-paintings in the whole Gospel story.\nHe writes like one who saw and heard all that passed, not only when the\nother disciples were with him, but also and especially what happened\nwhen they were absent from the well.\n\n[Illustration: THE MARRIAGE AT CANA _Old Engraving_ Page 72]\n\nJohn tells us that Jesus \"was wearied with His journey.\" The observing,\ntender-hearted disciple saw and remembered his Master's weariness. In\nthis simple, brief record, he reminds us of Jesus' humanity, and so how\nmuch He was like ourselves. How much of his Lord's weariness and\nsuffering the sympathizing disciple was yet to witness.\n\nWe may think of John alone with Jesus, seated in an alcove which\nsheltered them from the sun. They may often have been thus found in\nloving companionship. With what delight would we read of those private\ninterviews. How sacred and precious they must have been to John.\n\nAt the well, what subjects there were for conversation, suggested by\nmemories of the spot. Here Abraham had erected his first altar in Canaan\nto the true God, whom Jesus was about to reveal more perfectly. This was\nthe parcel of ground which Jacob had bought, and in which he had buried\nthe false gods of his household. Here Joseph had been a wanderer seeking\nhis brethren. This was the place which Jacob when dying had given to his\nson Joseph, on whose tomb Jesus and John looked as they talked\ntogether. The twin mountains of Ebal and Gerizim looked down upon them,\nreminders of the days of Joshua, when the two Israelitish bands called\nto each other in solemn words, and the valley echoed with their loud\n\"Amen.\" Not every Jew could have the personal interest in that well,\nsuch as the two weary travelers could claim, through the family records\nof their common ancestor even to Abraham. It was not on account of John\nthat these records had been kept, but of the \"Son of Man\" at his side,\nwhom he had learned to look upon as \"the Son of God.\" As they sat\ntogether John could not look into the future, as his Master could, and\nthink of the time when they would be in the region together with an\nunfriendly reception; nor of that other time when John would come to it\nagain and have a friendly reception, but with memories only of his Lord.\n\n[Illustration: BELSHAZZAR'S FEAST _Old Engraving_ Page 74]\n\nBut their visit alone did not last until the return of His disciples. It\nwas suddenly interrupted. \"There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw\nwater.\" She was no fitting companion for them. She was not prepared to\nenter into their thoughts and feelings. She was an ignorant woman of the\nlower order of society, sinful, and not worthy of the respect of those\nwho knew her. \"Give me to drink,\" said Jesus--fatigued, hungry, thirsty.\nShe gazed upon Him with astonishment. She knew by His appearance and\ndress that He was a Jew. She supposed that any such would be too full\nof hatred and pride to ask even such a simple favor of a Samaritan. Her\nanswer showed her surprise. He gently spoke of her ignorance of Him, and\nof a richer gift than the one He asked, and which He was ready to\nbestow. It was \"living water\"--\"the grace and truth of which He was\nfull.\" Changing her manner toward Him, and addressing Him more\nrespectfully, she asked, \"Art _Thou_ greater than our father Jacob?\" She\nmeant, \"Surely Thou art not greater.\" How strange this must have sounded\nto John as his eye turned from her, to Him before whom Jacob would bow\nin adoration could he have joined that circle on the spot where he had\nbuilt an altar many years before. Jesus explained more fully the\ndifference between the water for which He had asked, and that which He\nwould give. He had asked a very small favor of her; He would bestow the\ngreatest of gifts, even eternal life.\n\nNot fully understanding Him, and yet believing He was some wonderful\nperson, she repeated His own request, but with a changed meaning,--\"Sir,\ngive me this water.\" Perhaps to make her feel her sinfulness and to lead\nher into a better life, He showed her that though He was a stranger, He\nknew her past history. Her astonishment increased and she exclaimed,\n\"Sir, I perceive that Thou art a Prophet.\" Ashamed, she quickly changed\nthe subject.\n\nShe and her people claimed that Mount Gerizim was the holy place of the\nHoly Land; while the Jews said that Jerusalem was \"the place where men\nought to worship.\" She wanted the Prophet she had so unexpectedly met to\ndecide between them. With calmness, solemnity and earnestness, He made a\nsublime declaration to her, meant for Jews, Samaritans and all men. It\nwas this: \"Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when neither in this\nmountain, nor yet in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father.... The hour\ncometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in\nspirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be His worshipers.\nGod is a spirit: and they that worship Him must worship in spirit and\ntruth.\"\n\nBut this did not satisfy her. It was all so new and strange, so\ndifferent from what she and her people believed, that she was not\nprepared to accept it from an unknown stranger, though he seemed to be a\nprophet. She thought of One greater than she thought He could be, One\nwho was wiser than any prophet then living, or who ever had lived, One\nwho she believed was to come. So, with a sigh of disappointment, her\nonly reply was, \"I know that Messiah cometh; ... when He is come, He\nwill declare unto us all things.\"\n\nHow the quickened ear of John must have made his heart thrill at the\nname Messiah. Until a few weeks before, he too had talked of His\ncoming, but already had heard Him declare many things which no mere\nprophet had spoken. Is he not prompted to break the silence of a mere\nlistener? Is not his finger already pointed toward Jesus? Are not the\nwords already on his tongue?--\"O woman, _this is He_,\" when Jesus makes\nthe great confession he made before Pilate, saying to the Samaritaness,\n\"I that speak unto Thee, am He.\"\n\nSo it was that He whose coming the angels in their glory announced to\nthe shepherds in Bethlehem, He whom the Baptist proclaimed to multitudes\non the Jordan, He whose glory was manifested to the company in Cana,\nmade Himself known to this low, ignorant, sinful, doubting, perplexed\nstranger, in words \"to which all future ages would listen, as it were\nwith hushed breath and on their knees.\"\n\nThese words of Jesus to the woman, \"I am He,\" closed their conversation,\nso unexpected to her when she came with her water-pot, in which she had\nlost all interest. Her mind and heart had been filled instead. She had\ndrawn from Him richer supplies than Jacob's well could ever contain.\nFrom that hour she thought of it, not so much as Jacob's well as the\nMessiah's well.\n\nThe disciples returning from the city, coming within sight of Jesus,\n\"marveled that He was speaking with a woman.\" The people then and there\nhad a mistaken idea that to do so was very improper. The disciples were\nthe more astonished because she was a Samaritan. But they had such a\nsense of His goodness, that they did not dare to ask, \"Why talkest Thou\nwith her?\"\n\nShe was interrupted in her conversation with Jesus, by the coming of the\ndisciples. She left her water-pot at the well. Too full of wonder and\ngratitude to stop to fill it, or to be hindered in carrying it, she\nhastened to the city with the good news of what she had seen and heard.\nSo had Andrew and John each carried the good news to his brother saying,\n\"We have found the Messiah.\" She believed she had found Him. But the\ngood news seemed almost too good to be true, and she wanted the men of\nthe city to learn for themselves. So she put her new belief in the form\nof a question, \"Is not this the Christ?\" A great number obeyed her call,\nand believed with her that Jesus was the Messiah.\n\n[Illustration: THE HILL OF SAMARIA _Old Engraving_ Page 84]\n\nMeanwhile the disciples asked Him to eat of the food they had brought.\nBut His deep interest in the woman, and joy in the great change in her,\nwas so great that for the moment He felt no want of food. So He said to\nthem, \"I have meat to eat that ye know not.\" ... \"My meat is to do the\nwill of Him that sent Me.\" Never again did the disciples marvel that\ntheir Master talked with a woman, or with a sinner of any kind. We\nseem to see John, weary and hungry as his Master, but unmindful of\nbodily discomforts, because of his intense interest in what is passing.\nHis record does not give his own experiences, but we can imagine some of\nthem. His watchful eye detects every movement and expression of his\ncompanions,--the calm, earnest, loving, pitying look of Jesus; and the\nexcited, scornful, surprised, joyful, constantly changing looks of the\nwoman. He first marks her pertness of manner; then the respectful \"Sir\";\nthen the reverence for a prophet; and at last the belief and joy in the\nMessiah.\n\nWhether or not John was witness to all that passed at the well, or\nwhether Jesus gave him the minute details, or whether the Samaritaness,\nduring the two days that Jesus and His disciples remained in Sychar,\ntold Him all, his story is one of the most lifelike in the Gospels,\nteaching the greatest of truths.\n\nIf that noon hour at Jacob's well was a memorable one for the woman, it\nwas also for John. For him Christ was the Well of Truth. Of it he was to\ndrink during blessed years. Standing nearest to it of any mortal,\nreceiving more than any other, he was to give of it to multitudes\nthirsting for the water of life.\n\n\n\n\n_CHAPTER XIV_\n\n_The Chosen One of the Chosen Three of the Chosen Twelve_\n\n     \"Walking by the sea of Galilee, He saw two brethren, Simon, who is\n     called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea,\n     for they were fishers. And He said unto them, Come ye after Me, and\n     I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left the nets,\n     and followed Him. And going on from thence He saw other two\n     brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the\n     boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and He called\n     them. And they straightway left the boat and their father, and\n     followed Him.\"--_Matt._ iv. 18-22.\n\n     \"He was the Supreme Fisher, and this day He was fishing for\n     them.\"--_Stalker._\n\n     \"When it was day, He called His disciples; and he chose from them\n     twelve, whom also He named apostles, Simon, whom He also named\n     Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and\n     Philip....\"--_Luke_ vi. 13, 14\n\n     \"Jesus taketh with Him Peter, and James, and John.\"--_Matt._ xvii.\n     1.\n\n     \"One of His disciples, whom Jesus loved.\"--_John_ xiii. 23.\n\n      \"We know not all thy gifts,\n         But this Christ bids us see,\n       That He who so loved all,\n         Found more to love in thee.\"\n\n\nOnce more we find the two pair of brothers on the shore of Gennesaret,\nnot together, but within hailing distance. All night long they have\ntoiled at fishing without any reward. The morning has dawned. Wearied\nand with the marks of labor on their persons and their garments, their\nempty boats drawn upon the beach, they are mending their nets which have\nbeen torn by the waves, and cleansing them from the sand which has been\ngathered instead of the fishes they sought.\n\n[Illustration: JACOB'S WELL _From Photograph_ Page 91]\n\nMeanwhile a multitude of people in the neighboring field is listening to\nthe Master. The fishermen may hear His voice, but their nets must not be\nleft in disorder; they must be put in readiness for another trial,\nwhich, though they know it not, will be most abundantly rewarded.\n\nThey cannot go to Him, but He comes to them with a greeting and a\ncommand, \"Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.\"\n\nThe time had come for Him to gather His first disciples more closely\nabout Him for instruction and preparation and service in His kingdom.\nThey had seen proofs of His Messiahship. They had been with Him long\nenough to know something of His work and teachings, and what was\nincluded in His call to follow Him. They understood it meant leaving\ntheir boats and nets by which they had earned their daily bread, and\neven leaving their homes, and going with Him wherever He went, trusting\nHim for support, ready to do anything to which all this would lead them.\nTheir belief in Him, and their love for Him, were enough to secure\nimmediate obedience to the new command.\n\nIn their faithfulness in their duties in their former life, in the\ncarefulness in mending their nets, in the patience and perseverance\nduring the nights of fruitless toil, in their thoughtfulness, skill and\nexperience in catching fish--in such things Christ found likeness of\nwhat He would make them to become--fishers of men. From their old\nbusiness He would teach them lessons about the new,--of His power, the\nabundance of His store, and the great things they were to do for Him and\ntheir fellow-men. Before they leave it, He makes Himself a kind of\npartner with them. Having used Simon's boat for a pulpit for teaching,\nHe tells him to launch out into the deep and to let down his net. It\nencloses a multitude of fishes. Andrew and James with their brothers\nwhom they had called to Jesus, the first company to follow Him from the\nJordan, are the first to do so in a new and fuller sense from the shores\nof Gennesaret, where they first learned of Him.\n\nThere is something touching in the special reference to the call of the\nsons of Salome, whose relation to Mary first interested us in them. It\nis said of Jesus, \"He saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother\nand He called them. And they immediately left their father in the ship\nwith the hired servants. They forsook all and followed Him.\"\n\n[Illustration: THE MIRACULOUS DRAUGHT OF FISHES _Old Engraving_ Page 94]\n\nWhat reminders do we here have of the past! James and John, true\nbrothers in childhood, united in business in early life, now hand in\nhand commence life anew. Having become the help, and much more the\ncompanions of their father they must leave him to the companionship of\nhired servants. But in this hour of sundering family ties, the loving\nfather and loving sons rejoice in Jesus as their Master whom they all\nwillingly obey.\n\nHe chose twelve whom He called Apostles. Such was the glorious company,\ncomposed of young men, the most honored in all earthly history, to be\nHis closest companions, His missionary family. During the remainder of\nHis life He would train them; and when leaving the world trust their\nfaithfulness and devotion in extending His kingdom. The two pair of\nbrothers and their early friend Philip are the first named of the\nApostles. The early Bethsaidan group composed almost one-half of the\napostolic company. But within that circle there was another. Three of\nthe twelve were chosen by the Lord for closer intimacy. They were to be\nspecial witnesses of His greatest power, His most radiant glory, and His\ndeepest sorrow upon earth. They were Peter, James and John. Two of the\nthree, Peter and John, were to be united in special service for their\nLord while He was with them, and so continue after He was gone. But of\nthe twelve Jesus drew one closest to Himself, most loved and the most\nglorious of them all: it was John.\n\nIn seeking a reason for Christ's fixing the number of His disciples,\nsome have found a fancied one in the twelve precious stones of Aaron's\nbreastplate. The most precious stone would represent John, the chosen\none of the Great High Priest. In his own vision of the new Jerusalem\n\"the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner\nof precious stones.\" \"And the wall of the city had twelve foundations,\nand on them twelve names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb.\" It was\nthat Lamb of God to which he had been pointed on the Jordan, and to\nwhich he points us as he beholds Him by the \"glassy sea.\" As John read\nthose names did he not recall the day when Jesus chose twelve whom \"He\nnamed Apostles\"?\n\n\n\n\n_CHAPTER XV_\n\n_John in the Home of Jairus_\n\n     \"He suffered no man to follow with Him, save Peter, and James, and\n     John. And they came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue.\"\n\n     \"And taking the child by the hand, He saith unto her, Talitha cumi;\n     which is, being interpreted, Damsel I say unto thee, Arise. And\n     straightway the damsel rose up, and walked.\"--_Mark_ v. 37, 38, 41,\n     42.\n\n\nThe first scene in which we find John as one of the favored three is in\nthe house of mourning. It was the home of Jairus in Capernaum. He was a\nruler of the synagogue. \"He had an only daughter, about twelve years of\nage, and she lay a dying.\" He hastened to Jesus, fell at His feet,\nworshiped Him, and besought Him saying, \"Come and lay Thy hands on her\nthat she may be healed; and she shall live.\"\n\nDid he not have in mind Peter's wife's mother, living in the same town,\nand how Jesus \"came and took her by the hand and lifted her up; and\nimmediately the fever left her\"? Jesus started for the house, followed\nby a throng, some doubtless full of tender sympathy for their townsman,\nand some curious to see what the wonder-worker would do.\n\nA messenger from Jairus' home met him saying, \"Thy daughter is dead;\ntrouble not the Master.\" But the father's faith in Jesus was not limited\nto the power to heal. Could not the hand that had already touched the\nbier of the widow's only son, be laid on his only daughter, with\nlife-restoring power? Could not the command spoken in Nain \"I say unto\nthee, arise,\" be repeated in Capernaum, and in like manner be obeyed?\nWithout heeding the messenger's question about troubling the Master, he\ncried out yet more earnestly, \"My daughter is even now dead; but lay Thy\nhand upon her, and she shall live.\" But the father's entreaty was\nunnecessary, for Jesus was already responding to the messenger's words\nas, turning to Jairus, He said, \"Fear not, only believe.\"\n\nHow eagerly the curious crowd hastened toward the ruler's home, because\nof a possible miracle, even raising the dead. But they were not to be\nwitnesses of such display of Divine power. Yet even if the throng be\nexcluded, might not the Twelve, following close to Jairus and Jesus,\nexpect admission to the home? What was the surprise and disappointment\nof nine of them to be forbidden admission by Him whom they were\nfollowing. But so it was. \"When He came to the house He suffered not any\nman to enter in with Him, save Peter, and John and James, and the father\nof the maiden, and her mother.\"\n\n[Illustration: RAISING THE DAUGHTER OF JAIRUS _H. Hofmann_ Page 99]\n\nThis is the first we know of this distinction in the apostolic band. We\nalmost hear the nine saying, \"Why is this?\" Can it be that, in that\nhour, at the door of this house of mourning, there was awakened the\nfeeling of jealousy which afterward appeared? Did it inspire in the\nthree a sense of superiority, and ambition to be higher in position than\nthe rest in the kingdom of their Lord? Did James and John especially\nhope for promotion above the nine, and even the ten including Peter? So\nit will appear. But all this was to pass away when the band better\nunderstood the nature of their Lord's kingdom, and possessed more of His\nspirit.\n\nThe death-chamber was too sacred a place for numbers, even for the nine,\nwhose admittance would be more fitting than that of the hired mourners\nwhom Jesus excluded with them. He had His own wise reasons for the\nchoice of the three. We do not wonder that John was one of them. With\nall his manifest failings--which he at last overcame--he was the most\nlike his Master. In that death-chamber the Lord was to show His\n\"gentleness and delicacy of feeling and action\" such as John could\nunderstand, and with which he could sympathize.\n\n\"And taking the child by the hand, He saith unto her, Talitha, cumi.\" We\nare glad that Mark has preserved for us the very words that must have\nthrilled the heart of John. They had been interpreted, \"My little lamb,\nmy pet lamb, rise up.\" In them was a lesson for John. They were a\nrevelation of his Master's tenderness toward childhood. It was a needed\nlesson, which he finally learned.\n\nAs John and Peter saw the returning life of the little maid, and heard\ntheir Master's command \"that something should be given her to eat,\" they\nthought not of the time when they should stand together again near the\nsame spot with the same Master, Himself risen from the dead, and hear\nHim utter another command, \"Feed My lambs.\"\n\nAs they with James followed their Lord out from the death-chamber--such\nno longer--and heard His charge \"that no man should know\" what had\nhappened, the very secrecy drew more distinctly the line of the inner\ncircle about the three. It was not to be erased during the Lord's\nearthly sojourn with the twelve.\n\n\n\n\n_CHAPTER XVI_\n\n_John a Beholder of Christ's Glory_\n\n     \"We beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the\n     Father.\"--_St. John_ i. 14.\n\n     \"We were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the\n     Father honor and glory ... when we were with Him in the holy\n     mount.\"--2 _Peter_ i. 16-18.\n\n      \"As brightest sun, His face is bright;\n       His raiment, as the light, is white,\n         Yea, whiter than the whitest snow.\n       Moses, Elias, spake with Him.\n       Of deepest things, of terrors grim,\n         Of boundless bliss, and boundless woe,\n         Of pangs that none but Christ may know.\n\n      \"A voice sublime I panting hear,\n       A voice that conquers grief and fear,\n         Revealing all eternity;\n       Revealing God's beloved Son,\n       Born to redeem a world undone;\n         Filled with God's fulness from on high,\n         To gain God's noblest victory.\"\n                             --_Trans. Kingo of Denmark._\n\n\nWe may think of the twelve as Christ's family with whom He often prayed\napart from the multitude. One such occasion was in Caesarea Philippi. The\nprayer was followed by two earnest and solemn questions. \"He asked the\ndisciples, saying, Who do men say that the Son of Man is? And they said,\nSome say John the Baptist; some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah or one of\nthe prophets.\"\n\nHow strange these sayings must have sounded to St. John and his Jordan\ncompanions, who had been directed by the Baptist to their Messiah. Three\nof them were soon to witness Elijah's tribute to Him, as being more than\nthe \"Son of Man.\" Such already had He become to them. He was more\ninterested in the opinions of the disciples than in those of the\nmultitude. So He asked with emphasis, \"But who say ye that I am? And\nSimon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the\nliving God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou,\nSimon Bar-Jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but\nMy Father which is in heaven.\"\n\nBut in the mind of Jesus even this blessed revelation was not enough for\nHis believing yet frail disciples. Even the three, the most enlightened\nof the twelve, needed a clearer vision of Him and His kingdom, and\nstrength for trials they were to endure. So they needed His prayers.\n\n\"From that time began Jesus to show unto His disciples how that He must\ngo to Jerusalem, and suffer many things, ... and be killed.\" He needed\nprayer also for Himself. So \"Jesus taketh with Him Peter, and James and\nJohn, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart by themselves.\"\nThe favored three, who had witnessed His power in the raising of Jairus'\ndaughter, were to be witnesses of his glory. Luke says He \"went up into\nthe mountain to pray.\" Not Tabor,--for which mistaken tradition has\nclaimed the honor--but Hermon was doubtless the \"high mountain.\" This\nkingly height of the Lebanon range was a fitting place for Jesus the\nKing. The glittering splendor of its snows is a fitting emblem of His\ncharacter. It was the highest earthly spot on which He stood. From it He\nhad His most extensive views. Here He had His most exalted earthly\nexperience. Peter rightly named it \"the Holy Mount\" because of its\n\"glory that excelleth\" all other mountains.\n\nWe do not know the thoughts or feelings or words of the nine when Jesus\n\"taketh with Him the three.\" We wonder whether their wonder was at all\nmixed with jealousy. As they saw the three \"apart by themselves,\" their\nlessening forms ascending Hermon, and at last hidden from their view by\nthe evening shades, can it be that the dispute began which cast a gloom\nover their Lord when He descended from that mountain of glory?\n\nAnd the three themselves--what were their emotions as they looked down\nupon their companions in the plain below, and upward to the height\nwhither their Master was bringing them. Did they whisper together\nconcerning the word He had just spoken--that He must die. They must have\nhad such mingling of feelings as they never had before.\n\nIt was the evening after a Sabbath. At the close of the weary summer\nday, after the long and steep ascent of the mountain, and in the strong\nmountain air, it is no wonder that the three disciples were \"weighted\nwith sleep.\"\n\nLuke not only tells us that Jesus went up \"to pray\" but also that \"He\nprayed.\" Would that John had recorded that prayer, as he did those\nsupplications in the Upper Room and in Gethsemane. \"As we understand\nit,\" says Edersheim, \"the prayer with them had ceased, or merged into\nsilent prayer of each, or Jesus now prayed alone and apart.\"\n\nOn the banks of the Jordan, where Jesus and the three had met, while He\n\"was praying, the heavens were opened,\" and the dove-like form descended\nupon Him, and His Father's voice was heard. And now \"as He prayed,\"\nthere came an answer, immediate and glorious: \"He was transfigured\nbefore them.\"\n\nThe disciples though \"weighted with sleep,\" \"having remained awake, they\nsaw His glory, and the two men that stood with Him.\" It was many years\nafter this vision that John, speaking for the three, testified, \"We saw\nHis glory.\"\n\n\"The fashion of His countenance was altered.\" \"His face did shine as\nthe sun.\" \"His garments became exceeding white; so as no fuller on earth\ncan whiten them,\" \"white as the light,\" \"glistering,\" \"dazzling.\"\n\n\"Behold there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with Him.\" How\ndid the disciples know the Lawgiver and the Prophet? We are not told.\nThere may have been given them some supernatural powers of discernment.\nThey may have known by the conversation between Jesus and His celestial\nvisitants, as, in earthly language with heavenly tone, they \"spoke of\nHis departure which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem,\" of which\nHe had told them on the plain below.\n\nIt was that Moses who fifteen hundred years before came down from Mount\nSinai with the two tables of the law in his hands, when Aaron and the\nchildren of Israel stood in awe before His shining face. But now He had\ncome, not from the mount which Paul describes as \"darkness,\" but unto\nthat other whose snowy whiteness has given it the name of Lebanon. He\nhad come from Heaven, to yield homage to Him to whom He would sing with\nus,\n\n    \"My dear Redeemer and my Lord,\n       I read my duty in Thy Word;\n     But in Thy life the Law appears,\n       Drawn out in living Characters.\"\n\n\"The children of Israel could not look steadfastly upon Moses for the\nglory of His face.\" In the \"excellent glory\" by which Peter describes\nthe scene on Hermon, the whole figure of His Lord was bathed in light.\nBut the glory of that vision was not yet complete. A cloud, brighter\nthan any on which the moon was shining, enwrapped Jesus and Moses and\nElijah. It was no other than the Shechinah, once more returning to the\nearth,--\"the symbol of Jehovah's presence.\"\n\nThis cloud overshadowed the disciples. As its light gleamed upon them,\nthey were filled with reverential fear. They were ready to do the\nheavenly visitors immediate and humble service. But the mission of the\ntwo was ended. Their last words of comfort to Jesus had been spoken. If\nthey could be detained, it must be done quickly. So, awed and confused\nby the strange vision, yet longing for its continuance, the disciples,\nPeter being the spokesman, proposed to make booths for their Master and\nHis two heavenly visitors. But the two had gone, and the crown of glory\nthat had enveloped them spread to the disciples, filling them with yet\nincreasing awe. The silence that had followed Peter's call was broken.\n\"There came a voice out of the cloud, This is My Beloved Son; hear ye\nHim.\" Startled by such a response, \"they fell on their face and were\nsore afraid.\" They did not dare to look about them. The Cloud of\nGlory lifted. How long they lay prostrate and trembling, we do not know.\nAt last a hand gently touched them. It was the hand of Jesus. His voice\nbid them, \"Arise, and be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their\neyes they saw no man, save Jesus only.\"\n\n[Illustration: THE TRANSFIGURATION _Old Engraving_ Page 106]\n\nThe Transfiguration was over. Its grand purpose was accomplished. Master\nand disciples were prepared for the labors and trials to which they must\nreturn. The night ended. As the morning sun glistened on the peaks of\nHermon, while darkness yet overspread the plain below, Jesus descended\nwith the three, to the nine awaiting their return.\n\n\"And as they were coming down from the mountain, He charged them that\nthey should tell no man what things they had seen, save when the Son of\nMan should have risen again from the dead. And they kept the saying,\nquestioning among themselves what the raising again from the dead should\nmean.\"\n\nPeter's and John's memories of that vision of their Lord were ever\ndistinct and precious. When it was no longer a secret, Peter wrote in\necstasy of the hour in which they \"were eyewitnesses of His majesty, ...\nwhen they were with Him in the holy mount.\"\n\nLet us notice the record by John. In the beginning of his gospel he says\n\"The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us.\" By this he means that\nthe Son of God became a man, and lived among men who witnessed His\nlife. But of all the events of that life which John had seen, there was\na special one in his mind, which not all men had witnessed. So he adds,\n\"We beheld His glory.\" This probably refers to the Transfiguration and\nthe Shechinah, which he and Peter and James had seen. And then he thinks\nof how much greater Jesus was than John the Baptist, \"a man sent from\nGod,\" \"to bear witness of\" Him. He thinks also of the great Lawgiver of\nwhom he says, \"the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came by\nJesus Christ.\"\n\nWe imagine that ever after the Transfiguration, John thought of Moses\nand the Shechinah together. Had he with his companions been permitted to\nbuild three tabernacles or booths, \"one for Moses,\" what delightful\nvisits John would have made him there, like that one which he had made\nin the abode of Jesus on the banks of the Jordan.\n\n[Illustration: MOSES ON MT. PISGAH _Artist Unknown_ Page 109]\n\nI seem to hear Moses telling John something of his own history when on\nthe earth, and teaching him lessons from it in words like these: \"This\nis not the first time I have heard the Lord's voice, from out this cloud\nof glory. Out of the burning bush He called me, 'Moses, Moses.' At Sinai\nHe said, 'Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud.' And again He appeared\nin 'a pillar of a cloud,' and said, 'Behold thou shall sleep with thy\nfathers.' I saw not that cloud again on earth until you beheld it. My\nthoughts were about death. I prayed about it, not as your Master and\nmine has done in preparation therefor, but that I might not then die.\nThis was my prayer: 'Let me go over I pray Thee and see the good land\nthat is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon,'--the very\nmountain where we now are. But the Lord would not hear me. I prayed yet\nagain more earnestly, and the Lord said unto me, 'Let it suffice thee;\nspeak no more unto me of this matter.' From yonder mountain of Nebo He\nshowed me all the land we now see from Hermon; and then I died. The Lord\nburied me in yonder land of Moab. No man knoweth my sepulchre unto this\nday. I died, my great hope of forty years disappointed. My repeated\nearnest prayer was ungranted then, but it has not been unanswered. This\n'goodly' Lebanon, to which I looked from Nebo with longing eyes, is more\n'goodly' now than when it sadly faded from my dying vision. You, John,\nare one of the witnesses to the answer to my dying prayer. Never did the\nShechinah at Horeb, or Sinai, or the Tabernacle, seem so resplendent as\non this Mount Hermon. Here it has enwrapped Elijah and me, the favored\ntwo whose mission Gabriel might have envied. We were sent down from\nheaven to talk with Jesus concerning His death, of which He has told\nyou. In view of it He has lead you, the favored three hither to pray.\nIt was while He prayed that ye 'beheld His glory.' Not only for me, but\nmuch more for Him, is Hermon _the_ mount--'The Holy Mount,' because the\nmount of Prayer, and therefore the mount of Transfiguration.\"\n\n\n\n\n_CHAPTER XVII_\n\n_St. John's Imperfections_\n\n     \"Master, we saw one casting out demons in Thy name; and we forbade\n     him, because he followeth not with us.\"--_John._\n\n     \"Lord, wilt Thou that we bid fire to come down from heaven, and\n     consume them, even as Elijah did?\"--_James and John._\n\n     \"Grant us that we may sit, one on Thy right hand, and one on Thy\n     left hand, in Thy glory.\"--_James and John._\n\n     \"And when the ten heard it, they began to be moved with indignation\n     concerning James and John.\"--_Mark_ x. 41.\n\n\nJohn was not perfect. There were unlovely traits in his otherwise noble\ncharacter. It is not pleasant to write of his faults. We would gladly be\nsilent concerning them. But there are four reasons for making record of\nthem. 1. If we think of his virtues and not of his faults, we do not\nhave a just view of his character; it is one-sided; we have an imperfect\npicture. 2. We see how Jesus loved him notwithstanding his\nimperfections. While hating his sins he loved the man. 3. Remembering\nJohn's faults, we give him all the more credit when we see how he\novercame them, and what he became under the example and teachings of\nJesus. 4. Having failings ourselves, we are encouraged by the full and\ntruthful story of John's life, to overcome our own sins. Such are good\nreasons why the imperfections of good men like David and Peter and John\nare recorded in the Bible.\n\nIn speaking of John's boyhood, we hinted at some of his faults. Let us\nnow notice them more particularly as given by the Evangelists. Sometimes\nhe was evidently included when Jesus rebuked the disciples for some\nwrong they had said or done. On one occasion, he alone is mentioned; on\ntwo others he and his brother James are rebuked together. The first\nrecorded incident, showing imperfection, is soon after the descent from\nHermon. Jesus seems to have accompanied Peter to his home in Capernaum,\nto which the other disciples followed them. The favor which Christ\nshowed the three in taking them to the mount may have caused a feeling\nof pride in them, and of jealousy in the nine. Pride was John's\nbesetting sin, as we shall see. A great privilege had been granted him.\nWithout telling the secret of Hermon to his fellow-disciples, he may, by\nimproper word or act, or both, have shown a feeling of superiority,\nwhich displeased them, as the same spirit did on another occasion. At\nany rate, something led to a dispute who should be the greatest in the\nkingdom which they believed their Lord was to establish. This was a sad\nrevelation of the ambitious spirit of these good men. It was probably on\nthe way to Capernaum that an incident happened in which John seems to\nhave been the chief actor. He exhibited a spirit of intolerance--a want\nof patience and forbearance toward a man whom they met. He was a\ndisciple of Christ, in whose power he had such faith that he was enabled\nto cast out evil spirits in His name. He was doing a good work such as\nChrist gave His apostles power to do. They prided themselves in it, and\nfelt as if they only had a right to it. So John, speaking for the rest,\nas if he had authority, forbade this man to use the power any more. On\ntheir reaching the house of Peter, Jesus asked, \"What was it that ye\ndisputed among yourselves by the way?\" Perceiving that He knew their\nthoughts, they were silent with shame, until one of them, yet\nunconquered by His question of reproof, asked Him \"Who is the greatest?\"\nHe did not answer the question immediately. As if in preparation for\nsomething special, \"He sat down and called the twelve\" about Him; He\nuttered one reported sentence, \"If any man would be first, he shall be\nlast of all, and minister of all.\" And then \"He called a little child to\nHim and set him in the midst of them.\" It was His object lesson. Through\nit He rebuked and taught them. He made childhood a test of character.\nWith solemnity and earnestness He declared, \"Verily I say unto you,\nExcept ye turn and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter\ninto the kingdom of heaven.\"\n\nThat child-spirit included simplicity, meekness, harmlessness,\nobedience, dutifulness, trustfulness and, especially at this time,\nhumility.\n\nThe Lord's declaration must have startled the disciples. They thought of\nthemselves as His chosen ones, superior to others, having special\npowers, and destined to special honors which none other might claim. In\na spirit contrary to His declaration, they were contending who should be\nthe greatest in His kingdom. He revealed to them, then and there, the\nnature of that kingdom which they had so greatly misunderstood.\n\nUpon one at least, Christ's lesson was not altogether lost. That was\nJohn. He recalled his proud and unjust treatment of the humble man whom\nhe had forbidden to do good work in the name of Christ. He saw that his\nown spirit had been contrary to that of which Christ had just spoken. He\nfinally confessed his fault. But the lesson of his Master was not\nperfectly learned, or if learned, was not, as we shall see, perfectly\nobeyed. Though the beloved, he was still an imperfect, disciple, as is\nshown in another incident.\n\nAt the time when Jesus lived, and in the country where He journeyed,\ntravelers were generally welcomed as guests in any home. Though\nstrangers, they were treated as friends. This was a necessary kindness\nbecause there were no hotels such as we have in our day and country.\n\nBut to this hospitality there was a noted exception. We have noticed\nthe hatred of the Samaritans to the Jews. This was especially shown to\npilgrims going up to Jerusalem to attend the feasts.\n\nJesus was on His last journey thither. As ever, He was teaching and\nhealing on the way. His own heart was burdened with the thought of what\nHe was to endure, but He was steadfast in His purpose to reach the Holy\nCity, willing there to suffer and to die. Nearing the first Samaritan\nvillage, He sent messengers before Him to prepare for Himself and His\ncompany. Even the common hospitality was refused, and that in a most\nunfriendly manner. The Master was treated as a teacher of falsehood.\nEven the kind healer was not permitted to enter the village. He was a\nJew on His way to Jerusalem. In the minds of the villagers, this was\nmore than enough to balance all the good in Him.\n\nJames and John especially were indignant at the unkind treatment. They\nfelt keenly the insult to their Lord, whom they believed was on His way\nto Jerusalem to establish His Kingdom, and was worthy of the most\ngenerous hospitality and the sincerest homage. They had a fresh\nremembrance of the glory in which they had seen Him on the Holy Mount in\ncompany with Elijah. They were reminded of that prophet's experience\nmore than nine hundred years before. It was this: Ahaziah, a king of\nIsrael, was seriously injured by a fall from the balcony of his house.\nHe sent to inquire of the false god Baal-zebub whether he should\nrecover. God sent Elijah to reprove him for his idolatry and insult to\nHimself. The king sent a captain with fifty men to seize the prophet,\nbut they were consumed by fire from heaven. Another captain and his\nfifty men were also destroyed in like manner.\n\nSuch a punishment James and John would call down on the Samaritans. They\nfelt that it would be just. If fitting for the enemies of Elijah, how\nmuch more for those of Jesus. They were ready to give the command which\nGod permitted Elijah to give, if Jesus would allow them to do likewise.\nAnd so, being displeased, provoked, revengeful, with a fiery spirit,\nthey said to Him, \"Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down\nfrom heaven, and consume them, even as Elijah did?\" But Jesus \"turned\nand rebuked them,\" and said, \"Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are\nof.\"\n\nIt was contrary to the spirit of meekness and love manifest in His\ndeclaration to them, \"The Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives,\nbut to save them.\" And so He inspired them with another spirit, as He\nquietly led them \"to another village.\" We sadly turn to another scene in\nwhich imperfection in the beloved disciple is especially revealed.\n\nThe favored brothers had not yet learned perfectly the lesson of\nhumility which their Lord had tried to teach them. They were still\ndevoted to Him, following Him, loving Him. But they still misunderstood\nwhat He said about His death, and His kingdom, in which they hoped for\nthe most honored places. They wanted to be assured of promotion above\ntheir fellow-disciples. They were earnest in an unholy desire. They had\na bold, ambitious request to make of the Lord. It was the chief occasion\non which their pride was revealed. We have two accounts of it. In one of\nthem the mother Salome appears as the speaker. She brings her sons to\nJesus, prostrates herself before Him, and offers this petition, \"Grant\nthat these my two sons may sit, the one on Thy right hand, and the other\non Thy left, in Thy Kingdom.\" She had a loving mother's pride. She was\nthe aunt of Jesus, and perhaps felt that because of this relationship,\nher sons had a right which the other Apostles could not claim. She had\ngiven them to His service, and had proved her own love and devotion to\nHim by following Him with other women of Galilee, ministering to His\ncomforts. Meanwhile James and John, according to another account,\nthemselves urged their mother's request saying, \"Grant unto us that we\nmay sit, one on Thy right hand, and one on Thy left hand, in Thy glory.\"\n\nMother and sons shared in the spirit of self-seeking and\nself-exaltation. But we must not forget that it was faith in Him as the\nMessiah, and in His coming \"glory,\" that led them to show it, though in\na mistaken way.\n\nIn sorrow and tenderness, and pity for their ignorance, Jesus replied,\n\"Ye know not what ye ask.\" While His eye rested on them, His thoughts\nwere on another scene. It was a cross with Himself upon it, and a\nmalefactor on each side, instead of the brothers in their pride. As John\nat last stood by it, did he recall the hour of his mistaken ambitious\nrequest, which had never been repeated. There had been no need that the\nLord should say to him, as to Moses, \"Ask me not again,\" yet like Moses,\nhe was to receive a most glorious answer in another form. In his pride,\nwith an earthly throne in mind, he had asked, \"Grant that I may sit with\nThee in Thy glory?\" Having conquered his unholy ambition there was\nfulfilled in him the promise of His Lord in glory, \"To him that\novercometh will I grant to sit with Me on My throne.\"\n\nThe time came when there was no longer occasion for the other ten\napostles to be \"moved with indignation concerning James and John,\"\nbecause of their pride and ambitious seeking. This John is the disciple\nwhom, with all his imperfections, Jesus loved most of all; this the man\nknown as the most lovable of men; this the one who well-nigh reached\nhuman perfection through his ardent and ever increasing love for Jesus;\nthis the one who is called _the Apostle of Love_.\n\n\n\n\n_CHAPTER XVIII_\n\n_John and the Family of Bethany_\n\n     \"He entered into a certain village; and a certain woman named\n     Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called\n     Mary, which also sat at the Lord's feet, and heard His\n     word.\"--_Luke_ x. 38, 39.\n\n     \"Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, of the village of\n     Mary and her sister Martha.\"--_John_ xi. 1.\n\n     \"Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.\"--_v._ 5.\n\n     \"Jesus ... said, ... Lazarus is dead.\"--_v._ 14.\n\n     \"Jesus wept.\"--_v._ 35.\n\n     \"He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. He that was dead\n     came forth.\"--_vs._ 43, 44.\n\n     \"As he (John) gives us so much more than the synoptists about the\n     family at Bethany, we may infer that he was a more intimate friend\n     of Lazarus and his sisters.\"--_A. Plummer, D.D._\n\n\nIn four sentences Luke draws an unfinished picture of a family group,\nwhose memory has become especially precious because of what John has\nadded to it. His probable familiarity with the family made this\npossible. No wonder if he felt that the original picture must be\nenlarged and retouched. The place where that family lived had become to\nhim too sacred a spot to be called simply \"a certain village.\" Martha\nwas more than \"a certain woman,\" who though hospitable, was distracted\nin her housekeeping. Mary was fairer than Luke had painted her. John\nhad seen her do more than sit at Jesus' feet. He manifestly felt that\nthe resurrection of Lazarus was too great an event to be omitted from\nthe gospel story, as it was by the other Evangelists who, when they\nwrote, might have endangered the life of Him whom the Jews sought to\ndestroy. John's heart demanded a stronger tribute to Mary than Matthew\nor Mark had given. Let him be our guide to the blessed home. With his\neyes let us see Jesus' relation to it, and with his ears listen to the\nMaster's words there spoken.\n\n[Illustration: BETHANY _Old Engraving_ Page 120]\n\nAs he opens the door we see a family of wealth, refinement, hospitality\nand affection. Its members are of kindred spirit with him: and so would\nbe attracted to him, and he to them. But there was a special bond of\nunion. \"Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.\" Such is the\ntender passing remark of John who elsewhere calls himself \"the disciple\nwhom Jesus loved.\" These four form a group of special objects of\nChrist's affection. They ardently loved Him. We may suppose that John's\nrelation to the family of Bethany was closer than that of any other\ndisciple. This fitted him to make us familiar with their characters, and\nmany incidents of their home.\n\nJohn was with Jesus in Bethany in Peraea, when there came the sad, brief,\nconfiding message from Mary and Martha, \"Lord, behold, he whom Thou\nlovest is sick.\" Doubtless it touched the heart of the apostle as well\nas that of his Master, whose response he records: \"This sickness is not\nunto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be\nglorified thereby.\" We are reminded of John's own words concerning the\nchange of water into wine: \"This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana\nof Galilee, and manifested forth His glory.\"\n\nJesus' plan for Lazarus included a delay of two days in Bethany of\nPeraea. Meanwhile His heart went out toward Bethany in Judaea. So did\nJohn's. But, though Jesus tarried, it can be said, as on another\noccasion, \"He Himself knew what He would do.\" While John was wondering,\nwaiting and watching, perhaps he remembered how the nobleman's son was\nhealed in Capernaum when Jesus was in Cana, and thought it possible that\nthe messenger would be told to say to the sisters, \"Thy brother liveth.\"\n\nWhen at last Jesus proposed to His disciples that they all go to Judaea,\nJohn's love may have contended for a moment with fear, as they\nprotested, because of danger from His enemies: but it was for a moment\nonly. When Jesus said, \"Let us go unto him,\" we almost wonder that it\nwas not John the loving, nor Peter the bold, but Thomas the sometimes\nunready, that said concerning Jesus, \"Let us also go that we may die\nwith Him.\" But we imagine that John was the readiest to go, and kept\nthe closest to his Master in the pathway to Bethany in Judaea.\n\n\"Our friend Lazarus sleepeth,\" said Jesus. Though all of the disciples\nwere thus addressed, we think of John as especially including Jesus and\nhimself in that word \"our,\" because of the nearness of their relation to\nthe afflicted family. And then that other word \"sleepeth\"--it must have\ncarried him, as well as James and Peter, back to the home of Jairus,\nwhere they heard the same voice to which they were now listening say,\n\"The child is not dead but sleepeth.\"\n\nWe almost wonder that the three did not turn to their fellow-disciples\nand say that \"Jesus had spoken of the _death_ of Lazarus,\" while \"they\nthought that He spake of taking rest in sleep.\" But evidently not so;\nand when Jesus \"said unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead,\" doubtless John\nwas the saddest of them all, because of his special interest in him. The\nfull record--the only one of what transpired in that sad, joyful\nhome--shows how closely John watched every movement of Jesus and the\nsisters, and how carefully he noted what they said. We may give credit\nto his memory, even with the aid which he says was promised the\ndisciples in their remembrance. He notes the coming of Martha to meet\nJesus, while \"Mary sat still in the house;\" Martha's plaintive cry,\n\"Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died;\" the\nconversation between her and Jesus concerning the resurrection; the\nsudden change from it to His asking for Mary; Martha's return to the\nhouse and whispering in her sister's ear, \"The Master is come and\ncalleth for thee;\" the hurried obedience to the call--all these\nincidents are recorded by John with the particularity and vividness of\nan eyewitness.\n\nIt appears as if Jesus would not perform the intended miracle until the\narrival of Mary. John's account of their meeting is full of pathos. He\nwatches her coming, notices the moment she catches sight of Him through\nher tears, and her first act of falling down at His feet, and her\nrepetition of Martha's cry, \"Lord, if thou hadst been here my brother\nhad not died.\" He looks into the faces of both as \"Jesus sees her\nweeping.\" He contrasts Mary's real and deep sorrow with the outward and\nheartless outcries of pretended grief, at which Jesus \"groans in\nspirit,\" because a seeming mockery in the presence of His loving friend.\nJohn measures the depth of the Lord's \"troubled\" spirit by His outward\nmovements. He opens to us His heart of hearts in the brief, tender\nrecord, \"Jesus wept.\" Where in the whole story of His life do we gain a\nkeener sense of His humanity, especially His tenderness and sympathy.\nWhat a revelation we would have missed if John had been silent, but the\nemotion of His own heart had been too deep to allow any such omission.\n\"Jesus wept.\" As Professor Austin Phelps declares, \"The shortest verse\nin the Bible is crowded with suggestions.\"\n\nWhile John is our guide to the tomb of Lazarus, and more than that, the\nsincere mourner with the afflicted sisters, he is yet more the disciple\nof Jesus, receiving new and lasting impressions of divine truth and of\nhis Master, which are embodied in his story.\n\nJohn recorded seven miracles of our Lord. The first was that of turning\nwater into wine. The last was the raising of Lazarus. In both of them He\npoints us to the same glorious purpose. He says that in the first,\nChrist \"manifested forth His glory,\" and that the second was \"for the\nglory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.\" And now\nstanding with Martha by the yet unopened tomb, John hears their Lord\nremind her of His assurance that if she believed, she \"should see the\nglory of God.\" That hour had come. The Lord had commanded, \"Take ye away\nthe stone.\" John was most attentive to every act of the passing scene.\nHis eyes glanced from the stone to his Lord. As soon as the command\nconcerning it was obeyed Jesus lifted His eyes upward, and said,\n\"Father\"--calling upon Him with whom He was to be glorified.\n\nJohn had stood at the bedside of the only daughter of Jairus, and heard\nthe command, \"Damsel, I say unto thee, Arise.\" By the bier of the\nwidow's only son he had probably heard that other, \"Young man, I say\nunto thee, Arise.\" And now standing by the open door of the tomb of the\nonly brother, was He not listening for a like command? He had not long\nto wait. The prayer of his Lord was ended. The tone of prayer was\nchanged to that of command. \"He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus come\nforth. And he that was dead came forth.\" John describes his appearance.\nHe was \"bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was bound\nabout with a napkin.\" When Jesus saith unto them, \"Loose him and let him\ngo\"--away from the excitement and curiosity of the heartless\nmourners--who was so ready as John to obey the command, while welcoming\nhis friend back to life? Who could so fittingly escort him from the\ndarkened tomb to the relighted home, with the sisters still weeping--but\nfor joy.\n\nIn John's old age when he recalled this resurrection scene, he seems to\nhave had a special memory of the younger sister's sorrow. He speaks of\nthe \"Jews which came to Mary\" in the hour of her sadness.\n\nBut His memory of that resurrection day was tinged with gloom. He traced\nback, from the cross on Calvary to the tomb in Bethany, the way by which\nhis Lord had been led by His enemies. \"From that day forth they took\ncounsel together for to put Him to death.\"\n\n[Illustration: THE RESURRECTION OF LAZARUS _Old Engraving_ Page 126]\n\nIt is tradition, not John, which tells us concerning Lazarus that the\nfirst question which he asked Christ after He was restored to life was\nwhether He must die again; and that being told that he must, he was\nnever more seen to smile. But John, better than tradition, tells of\nanother scene in which we imagine his smiles were not restrained. To it\nlet us turn.\n\n\n\n\n_CHAPTER XIX_\n\n_John's Memorial of Mary_\n\n     \"When Jesus was in Bethany, ... there came unto Him a woman having\n     an alabaster cruse of exceeding precious ointment, and she poured\n     it upon his head, as He sat at meat.\"--_Matt._ xxvi. 6, 7.\n\n     \"Verily I say unto you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached\n     in the whole world, that also which this woman hath done shall be\n     spoken of for a memorial of her.\"--_Matt._ xxvi. 13.\n\n     \"It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped\n     His feet with her hair.\"--_John_ xi. 2.\n\n     \"There is something touchingly fraternal in the momentary pleasure\n     which He (Christ) appears to have taken in the gift of the\n     alabaster box.\"--_Austin Phelps._\n\n      \"Her eyes are homes of silent prayer,\n         Nor other thought her mind admits\n         But, he was dead, and there he sits,\n       And He that brought him back is there.\n\n      \"Then one deep love doth supersede\n         All other, when her ardent gaze\n         Rose from the living brother's face,\n       And rests upon the life indeed.\"\n                                --_Tennyson._\n\n\nThat is an impressive picture drawn by Saints Matthew and Mark, of a\nscene in Bethany, where an unnamed woman brought a flask of ointment\nwhich she poured on the head of Jesus, thus exciting murmuring and\nindignation against her, who was defended by Him, with assurance of\nperpetual remembrance of her deed.\n\nYet a comparison of the accounts of these two Evangelists with the story\ngiven by John, suggest the thought that he was not satisfied with the\npicture. His remembrance of the things that happened before and after\nthat scene, his friendship for the family of Bethany, his understanding\nof the Master's feelings and thoughts, his sense of justice to himself\nand to his fellow-disciples, the omission of an important figure in the\ngrouping, and especially his tender sympathy for the unnamed heroine of\nthe story--these things demanded in his mind additions and re-touchings\nto make the picture complete.\n\nLet us imagine ourselves before him while he is reading the manuscripts\nof Matthew and Mark, long after they were written. He tells us of\nincidents, unmentioned by them, that enlarge and make clearer our view\nof the scene. We note the impressions we may suppose were made on him at\nthe time of the event, and were still fresh in his old age when he tells\nthe story.\n\n\"I remember distinctly\"--so he might say--\"this scene in Bethany, both\nwhat these two writers report, and what they do not. The hour was\ndrawing near when my Lord must die. So He had told me; but somehow I\ndid not understand that this must be. It seems strange to me now that I\ndid not, as well as one of my friends did, who realized the nearness of\nthe sad hour. I had arrived with Him at Bethany 'where Lazarus was which\nhad been dead, whom He raised from the dead.' It was a great joy to meet\nagain the friend whom I had welcomed from the tomb.\"\n\nIt is true, as here written by Mark, that Jesus \"sat at meat.\" But this\ndoes not tell the whole story. The people of Bethany wished to unite in\ndoing Him honor: \"So they made Him a supper there.\" It was fitting that\nit should be \"in the house of Simon\" whom Jesus had healed from leprosy,\nand who was probably a relative or special friend of the family loved by\nJesus. I wonder that their names do not appear in the story given by\nthese two Evangelists: I could not forget them. I remember how \"Martha\nserved\" at the table, as if in her own home, seeming more of a hostess\nthan a guest; and how \"Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table\nwith Him\" who had bid him rise from the tomb; and how Mary showed her\ngratitude for her brother's restoration, and love for his Restorer. To\nme that supper loses half its interest without the mention of these\nnames, so suggestive of near relation to the Lord. Here I read, \"There\ncame unto Him a woman.\" That is indeed true; but I find no hint of who\nthis unknown woman was. Could Matthew probably present, have forgotten\nit? Had Mark absent, never been told?\n\nMatthew says she had \"an alabaster cruse of precious ointment,\" which\nMark explains was \"spikenard very costly.\" This also is truly said, for\nI learned that \"Mary ... took a _pound_ of ointment of spikenard very\nprecious.\" This she could well afford. Some have suggested that perhaps,\nlike oriental girls of fashion, she had bought it in her pride, but\nafter coming under the influence of Jesus, had left it unused. But I am\nmore inclined to believe she intended it from the first as an expression\nof overflowing love.\n\nMark says \"she broke the cruse.\" I remember, as she crushed the neck of\nit, all eyes were turned upon her, watching her movements. Lazarus,\nreclining at the table, gazed upon her with brotherly interest; and\nMartha, moving around it glanced at her with sisterly affection. There\nwas one man whose expression was something more than curiosity. In it\nthere was a shade of displeasure.\n\nThese two Evangelists tell that Mary \"poured the ointment upon\" and\n\"over\" the \"head\" of Jesus. This was a common custom in rendering honor\nand adoration. But it did not satisfy Mary, if the Lord could only say\nwith David, \"Thou anointest my _head_.\" Her anointing was so profuse\nthat He could say,--as Matthew testifies that He did--\"She poured this\nointment upon My body.\" But I would testify to another act, fuller yet\nof meaning. She \"anointed the _feet_ of Jesus.\" This meant far more than\nthe washing of feet, as an humble act of hospitality and honor. It was\nan unusual act of adoration. I saw bathed in spikenard what I have since\nseen bathed in blood. But that was not all. Making of her long tresses a\nfine but unwoven towel, \"she wiped His feet with her hair\"; kneeling in\ndevotion where she had loved to sit in learning.\n\nI noticed the glowing rapture in her face, and an occasional glance into\nthat of her Lord, unmindful of the presence of all others, while He\nlooked kindly upon her. It was then that I discovered that \"the house\nwas filled with the odor of the ointment.\" But, alas, not so with the\nperfume of her deed. \"There were some that had indignation among\nthemselves, ... and they murmured against her\": so says Mark. \"When the\ndisciples\" saw Mary's deed \"they had indignation\": so says Matthew. It\nis true that signs of dissatisfaction came from the group of the\ndisciples, but it is the voice of one of them that has ever since rung\nin my ears, to whom \"the unworthy grumbling should be assigned.\" In\njustice to the disciples he should not be unnamed. Mary was still in the\nact of her devotion to Jesus. \"But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples,\nwhich should betray Him, saith, 'Why was not this ointment sold for\nthree hundred pence, and given to the poor?' This he said, not because\nhe cared for the poor\"--not he--\"but because he was a thief and, having\nthe bag, took away what was put therein.\" He it was who from the first\nshowed displeasure at Mary's act. His words were both an exclamation and\na question, a sort of soliloquy, and yet addressed to anybody who might\nhear and answer: but they needed no answer. It was too late to gather up\nthe ointment already used, and sell it for the poor or for any other\npurpose. But Judas' purpose I well understand. I see through his\nhypocrisy now more clearly than I did then.\n\n[Illustration: TRIUMPHAL ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM _Gustave Dore_ Page 138]\n\nWith the sharp, reproving voice of Judas, Mary glanced into his angry\nface. This would have filled her with terror had she not immediately\nlooked into that of Jesus beaming upon her. One hand of His was over\nher, as if in protection and benediction, while the other waved in a\nreproving gesture. As I read how He answered the question of Judas with\nanother, \"Why trouble ye her?\" and then commanded, \"Let her alone\"; and\nthen declared, \"She hath wrought a good work upon me,\" I recall the\nchanging expressions of His face, and His tones of indignation and\naffection.\n\nI was startled by the reason He gave for letting her alone,--that she\nmight preserve what remained of the ointment, not for the poor, but to\nbe used for His burial, near at hand.\n\nShe it was of whom I have spoken who understood better than I or any of\nmy fellow-apostles, that our Lord's life was nearing its end.\n\nI find here in the records of Matthew and Mark the assurance of the Lord\nconcerning the unnamed woman of whom they have written. It is this,\n\"Verily I say unto you, 'Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in\nthe whole world, that also which this woman hath done shall be spoken of\nfor a memorial of her.' Let it be known that this woman was Mary of\nBethany, then at Jesus' feet. Henceforth let her name be linked with her\ndeed.\"\n\nThus ends the words we have imagined St. John might have spoken with the\nGospels of Matthew and Mark in his hand. The additions to their story\nare suggested by his own Gospel. He has drawn a beautiful picture of\nMary, in brighter colors and more delicate shades than has any other. To\nhim artists are chiefly indebted for their ideas of her. His own\ncharacter was so completely in harmony with hers that he understood what\nhis fellows did not. By them she was misjudged and condemned; he saw and\nadmired the sweetness of her spirit, and the purity and nobleness of her\nmotive. Upon the monument reared by other Evangelists, he inserted her\nname. In her he saw a reflection of her Lord and his. His memory and\nhis record alone secured for her in particular the fulfilment of the\nLord's prophecy concerning the remembrance of her deed. Every Christian\nhome in the whole world has been, or will be, filled with the spiritual\nfragrance of her offering. But the prophecy is more than fulfilled. That\nwhich she hath done is not only \"_spoken of_,\" for in many a home\ninspired by her spirit, her name has been given as a memorial of her\nwhom John distinguished from all others as \"that Mary which anointed the\nLord with ointment and wiped His feet with her hair.\" It was of Mary\nthat Jesus said, \"She hath done what she could.\"\n\nJohn's picture of her is all the brighter because of his dark background\nof Judas. He has forever associated their names in contrast. In his\nmind, the anointing was ever suggestive of the betrayal. He remembered\nhow the \"thief\" asked his hypocritical question at the moment of the\ngreatest perfume; and how Judas was planning the betrayal while Mary was\nmeditating on the death to which it would lead. It appears almost\ncertain that Judas, stung by the Lord's reproof of him and defence of\nMary, ready to sell his Lord's body for a less sum than he valued the\nointment, turned from the feast in anger, hastening to the chief priest\nwith the cursed question and promise, \"What will ye give me, and I will\ndeliver Him unto you?\" Wheresoever the gospel is preached throughout\nthe whole world, that also which _this man_ hath done is spoken of--but\nnot for a memorial of him.\n\nJohn's picture of Mary, Judas and Jesus is a most suggestive grouping.\nWhat harmony and contrast! What light and shade! What revelation of love\nand hate, of friendship and enmity, of devotion and sacrilege! To no\nother scene does Christ sustain quite the same relation. The friendship\nof His first feast--that of Cana--is deeper and tenderer in His last, at\nBethany.\n\nThere is something sublime in this Son of God having all power, pleading\nwith Judas that Mary might be permitted to continue her service of love\nfor Him.\n\nAdd John's own likeness to the three at whom we have been looking, and\nwhat a grouping we have--Jesus with His loved Mary, and John the most\nbeautiful illustration of human friendship, and Judas the _betrayer_.\nLet imagination complete what no artist has attempted.\n\nWhen John recalls the odors of Mary's ointment filling the house, he\nseems to catch a refrain from Solomon's song, and addresses it to\nher,--\"Thine ointments have a goodly fragrance; thy name is as ointment\npoured forth; therefore do the maidens love thee.\"\n\nIt is not the \"maidens\" alone, especially the Marys of Christendom,\nthat \"love\" her, but all to whom the gospel is preached, who join in\nJohn's refrain, while thanking him for his \"memorial of her.\"\n\n\n\n\n_CHAPTER XX_\n\n_John a Herald of the King_\n\nPROPHECY:\n\n     \"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of\n     Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: ... lowly, and riding\n     upon ... a colt.\"--_Zech._ ix. 9.\n\nPROPHECY FULFILLED:\n\n     \"He sent two of his disciples, saying, Go your way into the village\n     over against you; in the which as ye enter ye shall find a colt\n     tied: ... loose him, and bring him.... And they brought him to\n     Jesus: and they threw their garments upon the colt, and set Jesus\n     thereon.\"--_Luke_ xix. 30, 35.\n\nPROPHECY UNDERSTOOD:\n\n     \"These things understood not His disciples at the first: but when\n     Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were\n     written of Him, and that they had done these things unto\n     Him.\"--_John_ xii. 16.\n\n    \"Daughter of Zion! Virgin Queen! Rejoice!\n     Clap the glad hand and lift th' exulting voice!\n     He comes,--but not in regal splendor drest,\n     The haughty diadem, the Tyrian vest;\n     Not arm'd in flame, all glorious from afar,\n     Of hosts the chieftain, and the lord of war:\n     Messiah comes!--let furious discord cease;\n     Be peace on earth before the Prince of Peace!\"\n                                     --_Heber's Palestine_.\n\n\nZechariah foretold the coming of Christ five hundred years before the\nangels over Bethlehem heralded His birth. The prophets saw Him as the\nMessiah-king, but not such a ruler as most of the Jews of Christ's day\nexpected. Even the disciples, believing Him to be the Messiah, had\nmistaken views of His kingdom. Yet He was the King foretold by the\nprophets; the Son of David who sang of Him as the \"King\" and as the\n\"Lord's anointed\"; the Messiah or Christ; the king of the Jews not only,\nbut of all men. As such He would make a triumphal entry into the \"City\nof the Great King.\" This would not be in the pride and pomp of an\nearthly conqueror, but in the \"lowly\" manner which Zechariah had\nforetold.\n\nAll the accounts of Jesus' journeyings leave the impression that He went\na-foot. Only once do we know that He rode; that was in fulfilment of\nprophecy. That prophecy He purposed to fulfil the day after the feast of\nBethany. This was intended by Christ to be His royal and Messianic entry\ninto Jerusalem. The hour had come. A colt unused, and so fitted by\ncustom for sacred purposes, was ready for His use. Having left the\nvillage \"He sent two of His disciples to bring it to Him.\" These two are\nunderstood to be Peter and John, for whose united service He would soon\ncall again. We may think of the owner of the colt as friendly toward\ntheir Master. When told by the disciples, \"The Lord hath need of him,\"\nhe was ready to serve Him by the loan of his beast. That\n\"need\"--whatever the owner or the disciples thought--was not so much to\naid in Christ's journey as to make true the prophetic words concerning\nHim, \"Thy King cometh ... riding upon ... a colt.\"\n\nThe two disciples \"brought him to Jesus, and they threw their garments\nupon the colt, and set Jesus thereon.\"\n\nWe may think of Peter and John, having arranged for the royal ride, as\nheralds of their Lord, leading the procession from Bethany, and the\nfirst to greet with signal and shout the other coming from Jerusalem.\n\nBeside their King, perhaps leading the colt on which they had placed\nHim, they would be the first to tread where \"a very great multitude\nspread their garments in the way,\" and others \"branches from the trees,\"\nand yet others \"layers of leaves which they had cut from the\nfields\"--thus carpeting the road winding around the slope of Olivet.\n\nWere not Peter and John leaders in song when \"at the descent at the\nMount of Olives the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice\nand praise God,\" and especially when \"the City of David\" came into view?\nThe joyful strains were from the Psalms of David--\"Hosanna to the Son of\nDavid, Hosanna in the Highest Blessed is the kingdom that cometh, the\nkingdom of our Father David. Blessed is the King that cometh in the\nname of the Lord; peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.\"\n\n[Illustration: CHRIST AND ST. JOHN _Ary Scheffer_ Page 155]\n\nIn that last strain it would almost seem as if the angelic song of\nthirty-three years before, over the plain of Bethlehem, had not yet died\naway, and was echoed from Olivet.\n\nIn that hour did John and James have thoughts about sitting one on the\nright hand and the other on the left in a kingdom which seemed near at\nhand? Did they and the other disciples, who had been disappointed\nbecause their Lord had refused on the shore of Galilee to be made king,\nimagine that He certainly would now be willing to be crowned in\nJerusalem?\n\nWhen John wrote his account of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, he\nrecalled the prophecy concerning it. It is claimed that he speaks of\nhimself and Peter in particular when he says, \"These things understood\nnot the disciples at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then\nremembered they that these things were written, and that they had done\nthese things unto Him.\" This was a frank confession of his own dulness\nand ignorance: it is also an assurance of his later wisdom.\n\nWe see John on the highway of Olivet, a chosen disciple to aid His Lord\nin the hour of His earthly glory. We shall see him, even down to old\nage, in a yet nobler sense, a Herald of the King.\n\n\n\n\n_CHAPTER XXI_\n\n_With the Master on Olivet_\n\n     \"Some spake of the Temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones\n     and offerings.\"--_Luke_ xxi. 5.\n\n     \"One of His disciples saith unto Him, Master, behold, what manner\n     of stones and what manner of buildings! And Jesus said unto him,\n     Seest thou these great buildings? There shall not be left here one\n     stone upon another, which shall not be thrown down.\"\n\n     \"As He sat on the Mount of Olives over against the Temple, Peter\n     and James and John and Andrew asked Him privately, Tell us, when\n     shall these things be? and, What shall be the sign when these\n     things are all about to be accomplished?\"--_Mark_ xiii. 1-4.\n\n\nThe Temple was the most sacred of all places, even before the Lord of\nthe Temple entered it. His presence became its chiefest glory. In the\nhour when the waiting Simeon at last could there say \"he had seen the\nLord's Christ,\" it had a new consecration, and a beauty which its\nrichness of materials and adornments had never given. In the hour when\nHe there said to His mother, \"Wist ye not that I must be in My Father's\nHouse?\" or, \"I must be about My Father's business,\" it was more\nconsecrated still. Twice He had cleansed it from the profanation of\nunholy worshipers. Within it He had spoken as no man had ever done. It\nhad been a theatre of His divine power.\n\nThat was a sad and solemn hour in the last week of His life when, as\nMatthew says, \"Jesus went out and departed from the Temple.\" That was\nHis farewell to it. With sadness He thought not only that He would never\nreturn to it for a blessed ministry of word and healing, but that the\nplace itself would be destroyed. As He led His disciples from it, their\nminds were also upon the Holy House: but their thoughts were not His\nthoughts. They had long been familiar with its magnificence, from the\nday when each of them, at twelve years of age, for the first time had\ngazed upon it in wonder and admiration. We do not know why, as they were\nturning away from it and walked toward Olivet, \"some spake of the\nTemple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and offerings,\" nor why\n\"one of His disciples saith unto Him, Master, behold what manner of\nstones, and what manner of buildings!\" But so they did. Doubtless they\nwere surprised and disappointed that the Lord did not respond with like\nspirit to their enthusiastic exclamations. Were not such richness and\nbeauty worthy of even His admiration? Why His momentary silence? Why His\nsadness of expression, as He looked toward the Temple, beholding it as\nthey bid Him do, but manifestly with different purpose and feeling from\nwhat they intended? His appearance seemed most inconsistent with the\nglorious view. His response was startling,--\"Seest thou these great\nbuildings? There shall not be left here one stone upon another, which\nshall not be thrown down.\"\n\nThe astonished disciples were silenced, but an unspoken question was in\nthe minds of some of them. Christ turned aside and ascended the\nmountain, taking with Him the chosen three, Peter, James and John. On\nthis occasion Andrew is added to the private company. Once more we see\nby themselves the two pair of brothers with whom in their boyhood we\nbecame familiar in Bethsaida. We are reminded of the days when they sat\ntogether on the sea-shore, the time when they were watching for the\ncoming of the Messiah with whom they now \"sat on the Mount of Olives\nover against the Temple.\" Two days before, in the road below He had also\nprophesied of the destruction of the city, as He gazed upon it through\nHis tears. Now He was on the summit, directly opposite the Temple, from\nwhich the city was spread out before Him. To me it is still a delight in\nthought, as it was in reality, to stand where they sat, and look down\nupon the same Temple area, and think of the Holy and Beautiful House, as\nit appeared before the sad prophecy had been fulfilled.\n\nOn this spot the poet Milman makes Titus to stand just before the\ndestruction of Jerusalem, with determination and yet with misgiving,\nlooking down on the city in its pride and the Temple in its\ngorgeousness, and saying:\n\n                                 \"Yon proud City!\n    As on our Olive-crowned hill we stand,\n    Where Kidron at our feet its scanty waters\n    Distills from stone to stone with gentle motion,\n    As through a valley sacred to sweet Peace,\n    How boldly doth it front us! How majestically!\n    Like as a luxurious vineyard, the hillside\n    Is hung with marble fabrics, line o'er line,\n    Terrace o'er terrace, nearer still, and nearer\n    To the blue Heavens. Here bright and sumptuous palaces,\n    With cool and verdant gardens interspersed;\n    Here towers of war that frown in massy strength;\n    While over all hangs the rich purple eve,\n    As conscious of its being her last farewell\n    Of light and glory to the fated city.\n    And as our clouds of battle, dust and smoke\n    Are melted into air, behold the Temple\n    In undisturbed and lone serenity,\n    Finding itself a solemn sanctuary\n    In the profound of Heaven! It stands before us\n    A mount of snow, fettered with golden pinnacles!\n    The very sun, as though he worshiped there,\n    Lingers upon the gilded cedar roofs;\n    And down the long and branching porticoes,\n    On every flowery, sculptured capital,\n    Glitters the homage of His parting beams.\n    .... The sight might almost win\n    The offended majesty of Rome to mercy.\"\n\nBut Roman majesty was not to be won to mercy. To the Twelve, Christ had\nforetold the destruction of the city. And now when the four were alone\nwith Him, they \"asked Him privately, tell us when shall these things\nbe.\" For wise reasons Jesus did not tell. But one of them at least would\nlearn both when and what these things would be. This was John. His\ntender and loving heart was to bleed with the horrible story of the fall\nof Jerusalem. There hunger and famine would be so dire that mothers\nwould slay and devour their own children. Multitudes would die of\ndisease and pestilence. Rage and madness would make the city like a cage\nof wild beasts. Thousands would be carried away into captivity. The most\nbeautiful youths would be kept to show the triumph of their conqueror.\nSome of them would be doomed to work in chains in Egyptian mines. Young\nboys and girls would be sold as slaves. Many would be slain by wild\nbeasts and gladiators. Saddest of all would be the Temple scenes. Though\nTitus command its preservation his infuriated soldiery will not spare\nit. On its altar there would be no sacrifice because no priest to offer\nit. That altar would be heaped with the slain. Streams of blood would\nflow through the temple courts, and thousands of women perish in its\nblazing corridors. The time was to come when John, recalling his\nquestion on Olivet and his Lord's prophecy concerning Jerusalem, could\nsay,\n\n    \"All is o'er, Her grandeur and her guilt.\"\n\nWas he the one of the disciples who hailed the Master, saying, \"Behold\nwhat manner of stones, and what manner of buildings!\"? If so, with what\nemotions he must have recalled his exclamation after the prophecy of\ntheir destruction had been fulfilled. Outliving all his fellow-apostles\nthe time came when he could stand alone where once he stood with Peter\nand James and Andrew, not asking questions \"When shall these things be?\"\nand, \"What shall be the sign when these things are all about to be\naccomplished?\" but repeating the lament of Bishop Heber over Jerusalem\nin ruins:\n\n    \"Reft of thy son, amid thy foes forlorn,\n     Mourn, widow'd Queen; forgotten Zion, mourn.\n     Is this thy place, sad city, this thy throne,\n     Where the wild desert rears its craggy stone;\n     Where suns unblessed their angry luster fling,\n     And way-worn pilgrims seek the scanty spring?\n     Where now thy pomp, which kings with envy viewed?\n     Where now thy might which all those kings subdued?\n     No martial myriads muster in thy gate;\n     No suppliant nations in thy temple wait;\n     No prophet bards, thy glittering courts among,\n     Wake the full lyre, and swell the tide of song:\n     But lawless force and meagre want are there,\n     And the quick-darting eye of restless fear,\n     While cold oblivion, 'mid thy ruins laid,\n     Folds its dank wing beneath the ivy shade.\"\n\n\n\n\n_CHAPTER XXII_\n\n_John a Provider for the Passover_\n\n     \"He sent Peter and John, saying, Go and make ready for us the\n     Passover, that we may eat.\"--_Luke_ xxii. 8.\n\n     \"And they went ... and they made ready the Passover.\"--_v._ 13.\n\n\nThe last time we saw Judas was when he left the feast of Bethany,\nmurmuring at Mary's deed, angry at the Lord's defence of her, and\nplotting against Him. \"From that time He sought opportunity to betray\nHim.\"\n\n\"The day ... came on which the Passover must be sacrificed.\" A lamb must\nbe provided and slain in the Temple for Jesus and His disciples.\nMoreover a place must be provided for them to eat it. This preparation\nwould naturally fall on Judas, the treasurer of the company, whom at a\nlater hour the disciples thought Jesus instructed to buy some things for\nthe feast. The place in Jesus' mind was yet a secret, unknown to the\ndisciples, including Judas who could not therefore reveal it to His\nenemies. Who shall be entrusted with the service which He needed, and be\nin sympathy with Him in the solemn approaching hour? Not Judas. The two\nwho had been the heralds of the King should be His messengers. So \"He\nsent Peter and John saying, Go and make ready for us the Passover that\nwe may eat.\" Again and again we shall find Peter and John together in\ncircumstances of joy and sorrow, trial and triumph. Their first question\nwas a very natural one, \"Where wilt Thou that we make ready?\" The Lord's\nsecret was not at once revealed. He gave them a sign by which their\nquestion would be answered--another proof of His divine fore-knowledge.\nHe told them to go into the city, entering which they would find a man\nbearing a pitcher of water. Him they were to follow to the house he\nentered, and tell its owner of His purpose to keep the Passover there.\nIn a furnished room they were to prepare for His coming. They were full\nof curiosity, but had no doubt concerning the result of their errand.\nThey trusted Him who had entrusted them with it.\n\nSoon at the public fountain they were watching for the servant who\nshould be their guide. Having done \"as Jesus appointed them,\" they\n\"found as He said unto them.\" As instructed they said \"unto the goodman\nof the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guest-chamber\nwhere I shall eat the Passover with My disciples?\"\n\n\"The goodman of the house\" is the only name by which this owner has\nbeen known. Some have thought He was Joseph of Arimathaea; others the\nFather of Saint Mark; others Mark himself. It is the name by which Jesus\nhas called Him; that is honor enough. Without doubt he was a friend of\nthe Lord. Perhaps like Nicodemus he had come to Him privately for\ninstruction. He was ready to do what he could for His necessities when\nhomeless in Jerusalem. He was ready to give Him a place of protection\nwhen, that very night, His enemies were seeking His life. Peter and John\nmay never have met this unnamed disciple before. If so, it was doubtless\nthe beginning of an acquaintance close and tender between them and him\nwho was \"the last host of the Lord, and the first host of His Church.\"\n\nHe showed them \"a large upper room.\" It was probably reached, as in many\noriental houses, by outside stairs. It was the choicest and most retired\nroom. The goodman led the disciples into it. They found it \"furnished\"\nwith a table, and couches around it on which Jesus and His company could\nrecline. But this probably was not all. The table was \"prepared\" with\nsome of the provisions required for the feast. These included the cakes\nof unleavened bread, the five kinds of bitter herbs, and the wine mixed\nwith water for the four cups which it was the custom to use.\n\nBut there was something more which Peter and John must do to \"make\nready\" for the feast. It was the most important thing of all. It was to\nprepare the \"Paschal Lamb.\" With such a lamb they had been familiar from\nchildhood. As their fathers brought it into their homes, and their\nmothers roasted it, and parents and children gathered about it in solemn\nworship, the Bethsaidan boys had no thought of the day when the Messiah\nwould bid them prepare for the feast of which He Himself would be the\nhost, at the only time apparently when He acted as such.\n\nWhen John was pointed by the Baptist to Jesus, he had no thought that He\nwould prepare the last Lamb for Him whom He was to see sacrificed as\n\"the Lamb of God.\" No wonder that Jesus sent Peter and John to make\nready, instead of Judas the usual provider, who in the same hour \"sought\nopportunity to betray Him.\"\n\nWe follow them from the house of the goodman toward the Temple. Nearing\nit they listen with mournful solemnity to the chanting of the\neighty-first Psalm, with its exhortation to praise,--\"Sing aloud unto\nGod our strength. Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time\nappointed, on the solemn feast day.\" Then they listen for the threefold\nblast of the silver trumpets. By this they know that the hour has come\nfor the slaying of the lambs. Peter and John enter the court of the\npriests, and slay their lamb whose blood is caught by a priest in a\ngolden bowl, and carried to the Great Altar.\n\nOf this they must have been reminded a few hours later when Christ spoke\nof His own blood shed for the remission of sins. John must have\nremembered it when he saw and wrote of the \"blood and water\" that flowed\nfrom the pierced side of his Lord. While the lamb is being slain the\npriests are chanting, and the people responding, \"Hallelujah: Blessed is\nHe that cometh in the Name of the Lord.\"\n\nThe lamb of sacrifice, slain and cleansed and roasted, is carried by the\ntwo disciples on staves to the upper room. After lighting the festive\nlamps, they have obeyed their Lord's command, \"Make ready the Passover.\"\n\nMeanwhile He and the remaining ten, as the sun is setting, descend the\nMount of Olives, from which He takes His last view of the holy but fated\ncity. The disciples follow Him, still awed by what He had told them of\nits fate, and with forebodings of what awaited Him and them. Among them\nwas the traitor carrying his terrible secret, bent on its awful purpose\nwhich is unknown to the nine, but well known to the Master. Thus they go\nto the upper room where Peter and John are ready to receive them.\n\nIn Jesus' message to the goodman He said, \"I will keep the Passover at\nthy house with My disciples.\" They were His family. He chose to be\nalone with them. Not even the mothers Mary and Salome, nor Nicodemus on\nthis night, nor the family of Bethany, could be of His company. No Mary\nwas here to anoint His feet with ointment; nor woman who had been a\nsinner to bathe them with her tears. Lazarus was not one of them that\nsat with them; nor did \"Martha serve.\" It was the twelve whom He had\nchosen, and who had continued with Him. It was to His apostolic family\nthat He said, \"With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you\nbefore I suffer.\" And so \"He sat down with the twelve\" alone, the only\ntime--as is supposed--that He ever ate the Passover meal with His\ndisciples.\n\nThat room became of special interest to John. Sent by his Master to find\nit, he was mysteriously guided thither. There he was welcomed by the\ngood owner of the house, who united with him in preparation for the most\nmemorable feast ever held. It is there that we see him in closest\ncompanionship with his Lord. It was the place in Jesus' mind when He\nsaid, \"Go and make ready for us the Passover.\" \"Where shall we go?\"\nasked John. He found answer when he entered that upper room. Because of\nhis relation thereto it has been called \"St. John's Room\"--more sacred\nthan any \"Jerusalem Chamber,\" so named, or any \"St. John's Cathedral!\"\n\n\n\n\n_CHAPTER XXIII_\n\n_John's Memories of the Upper Room_\n\n     \"When the hour was come, He sat down, and the apostles with\n     him.\"--_Luke_ xxii. 14.\n\n     \"There was at the table reclining in Jesus' bosom one of His\n     disciples, whom Jesus loved.\"--_John_ xiii. 23.\n\n\nThree Evangelists leave the door of the upper room standing ajar.\nThrough it we can see much that is passing, and hear much that is said.\nJohn coming after them opens it wide, thus enlarging our view and\nincreasing our knowledge.\n\nLuke says of Jesus, \"He sat down and the apostles with Him.\" That is a\nvery simple statement. We might suppose all was done in quietness and\nharmony. But he tells us of a sad incident which happened, probably in\nconnection with it. \"There arose also a contention among them which of\nthem is accounted to be greatest.\" The question in dispute was possibly\nthe order in which they should sit at the table. They still had the\nspirit of the Pharisees who claimed that such order should be according\nto rank.\n\nWe wonder how John felt. Did he have any part in that contention; or had\nhe put away all such ambition since the Lord had reproved him and his\nbrother James for it? Or was his near relation to the Lord so well\nunderstood that there was no question by anybody where John might\nsit--next to the Master?\n\nLet us notice the manner of sitting at meals. The table was surrounded\nby a divan on which the guests reclined on their left side, with the\nhead nearest the table, and the feet extending outward.\n\n\"There was at the table reclining in Jesus' bosom one of His disciples,\nwhom Jesus loved.\" This is the first time John thus speaks of himself.\nHe never uses his own name. His place was at the right of the Lord.\nThere he reclined during the meal, once changing his position, as we\nshall see. Judas was probably next to Jesus on His left. This allowed\nthem to talk together without others knowing what they said.\n\nJohn begins his story of the upper room as a supplement to Luke's record\nof the contention. He first tells two things about Jesus,--His knowledge\nthat His hour \"was come that He should depart out of this world unto the\nFather,\" and His great and constant love for His disciples. With these\ntwo thoughts in mind, how grieved He must have been at the ambitious\nspirit of the Apostles. He had once given them a lesson of humility,\nusing a little child for an object lesson. That lesson was not yet\nlearned; or if learned was not yet put into practice. So He gave them\nanother object lesson, having still more meaning than the first.\n\nBut before making record of it John, as at the supper in Bethany,\npoints to Judas. We are reminded of the traitor's purpose formed while\nMary anointed and wiped Jesus' feet. So awful was that purpose, so full\nof hatred and deceit, that John now tells us it was the devil himself\nwho \"put into the heart of Judas ... to betray Him.\" \"Humanity had\nfallen, but not so low.\"\n\nJohn seems to have well understood his Master's thoughts and interpreted\nHis actions in giving the second object lesson. He noticed carefully,\nand remembered long and distinctly, every act. Was there ever drawn a\nmore powerful picture in contrast than in these words,--\"Jesus, knowing\nthat the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He came\nforth from God, and goeth unto God, riseth from supper, and layeth aside\nHis garments; and He took a towel, and girded Himself. Then He poureth\nwater into the basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe\nthem with the towel wherewith He was girded.\"\n\nThis was the service of a common slave. It is easy to imagine the silent\nastonishment of the disciples. The purpose of Jesus could not be\nmistaken. It was a reproof for their contention. The object lesson was\nended. John continued to closely watch His movements, as he took the\ngarments He had laid aside and resumed His seat at the table. The\nvery towel with which the Lord had girded Himself, found a lasting place\nin John's memory, worthy of mention as the instrument of humble service.\nWhat a sacred relic, if preserved, it would have become--more worthy of\na place in St. Peter's in Rome than the pretended handkerchief of\nVeronica.\n\n[Illustration: THE LAST SUPPER _Benjamin West_ Page 158]\n\nChrist's treatment of one of the disciples at the feet-washing left a\ndeep impression on John's mind. With sadness and indefiniteness the Lord\nsaid, \"He that eateth My bread lifted up his heel against Me\": one who\naccepts My hospitality and partakes of the proofs of My friendship is My\nenemy. For that one whoever it might be, known only to himself and to\nJesus, it was a most solemn call to even yet turn from his evil purpose.\nBut the faithless one betrayed no sign; nor did Jesus betray him even\nwith a glance which would have been a revelation to John's observant\neye.\n\nIt is John who tells us that as they sat at the table \"Jesus ... was\ntroubled in spirit.\" The apostle closest to Him in position and sympathy\nwould be the first to detect that special trouble, and the greatness of\nit, even before the cause of it was known. But that was not long. \"Jesus\nsaid, Verily, verily, I say unto you that one of you shall betray Me.\"\nSuch is John's record of Christ's declaration. It is in His Gospel alone\nthat we find the double \"Verily\" introducing Christ's words, thus\ngiving a deeper emphasis and solemnity than appears in the other\nEvangelists. A comparison of this declaration of Christ as given by the\nfour, illustrates this fact. John immediately follows this statement of\nthe betrayal with another, peculiar to himself. Its shows his close\nobservation at the time, and the permanence of his impression. What he\nnoticed would furnish a grand subject for the most skilful artist,\nbeneath whose picture might be written, \"The disciples looked one on\nanother, doubting of whom He spake.\" As John gazed upon them, raising\nthemselves on their divans, looking first one way, then another, from\none familiar face to another, exchanging glances of inquiry and doubt,\neach distrustful of himself and his fellow, he beheld what angels might\nhave looked upon with even deeper interest. There has been no other\noccasion, nor can there be, for such facial expressions--a blending of\nsurprise, consternation, fear and sorrow. Was John one of those who\n\"began to question among themselves which of them it was that should do\nthis thing\"? Did he take his turn as \"one by one\" they \"began to say,\n... Is it I, Lord?\" If so it must have been in the faintest whisper; and\nso the blessed answer, \"No.\" But we must believe that Jesus and John\nunderstood each other too well for any such question and answer. The\ndefinite answer was not yet given to any one by the Master, yet with an\nawful warning, He repeated His prediction of the betrayal.\n\nPeter was impatient to ask Jesus another question. At other times he was\nbold to speak, but now he was awed into silence. Yet he felt that he\nmust know. The great secret must be revealed. There was one through whom\nit might possibly be done. So while the disciples looked one on another,\nPeter gazed on John with an earnest, inquiring look, feeling that the\nbeloved disciple might relieve the awful suspense. \"Peter therefore\nbeckoneth to him, and saith unto him, Tell us who it is of whom He\nspeaketh.\" So \"He, leaning back, as he was, on Jesus' breast, saith unto\nHim, Lord, who is it? Jesus therefore answereth, He it is for whom I\nshall dip the sop and give it him.\" Did John on one side of Jesus hear\nthe whispered question of Judas on the other, \"Is it I, Rabbi?\" He\nwatched for the sign which Jesus said He would give. The morsel was\ngiven to Judas. That was more than a sign, more than kindness to an\nunworthy guest; it was the last of thousands of loving acts to one whom\nJesus had chosen, taught and warned--yet was a traitor. Of that moment\nJohn makes special note. Having told us that at the beginning of the\nsupper \"the devil ... put into the heart of Judas ... to betray,\" he\nsays, \"After the sop, Satan entered into him.\" As he saw Judas, with a\nheart of stone and without a trembling hand, coolly take the morsel from\nthat hand of love, he realized that the evil one had indeed taken\npossession of him whose heart he had stirred at the feast of Bethany.\n\nIt must have been a relief to John when he heard the Lord bid Judas\ndepart, though \"no man at the table knew for what intent.\"\n\n\"He then having received the sop went out straightway,\"--out from that\nmost consecrated room; out from the companionship of the Apostles in\nwhich he had proved himself unfit to share; out from the most hallowed\nassociations of earth; out from the most inspiring influences with which\nman was ever blessed; out from the teachings, warnings, invitations and\nloving care of his only Saviour. \"When Satan entered into him, he went\nout from the presence of Christ, as Cain went out from the presence of\nthe Lord.\" As John spoke of the departure, no wonder he added, \"It was\nnight.\" His words mean to us more than the darkness outside that room\nillumined by the lamp which Peter and John had lighted. They are\nsuggestive of the darkness of the traitor's soul, contrasted with the\n\"Light of the World\" in that room, to whose blessed beams he then closed\nhis eyes forever. Night--the darkest night--was the most fitting symbol\nfor the deeds to follow. Possessed by Satan, Judas went out to be\n\"guide to them that took Jesus.\" To them, two hours later, He who was\nthe Light of the World said, \"This is your hour and the power of\ndarkness.\"\n\nIt was when \"he was gone out\" that Christ called the disciples by a new\nname, and gave them a new commandment. In both of them John took a\nspecial interest which he showed long after. That name was \"Little\nChildren.\" The word which Christ used had a peculiar meaning. This is\nthe only time we know of His ever using it. It was an expression of the\ntenderest affection for His family, so soon to be orphaned by His death.\nWhen John wrote his Epistles, he often used the same word, whose special\nmeaning he had learned from his Lord, to show his own love for his\nfellow-Christians.\n\nThe new commandment was this--\"That ye love one another; as I have loved\nyou, that ye also love one another.\" The command itself was not new, for\nit had been given through Moses, and repeated by Christ, \"Thou shalt\nlove thy neighbor as thyself.\" But Christ gave the disciples a new\nreason or motive for obeying it. They were to love one another because\nof His love for them. As John grew older he became a beautiful example\nof one who obeyed the command. In his old age he urged such obedience,\nsaying, \"If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.\"\n\nThrough the door of the Upper Room left ajar by three Evangelists, we\ncatch glimpses of the group around the table of the Last Supper. Through\nit as opened wide by John we hear the voice of Jesus as He utters His\nfarewell words. He comforts His disciples and tells of heavenly\nmansions. He gives His peace in their tribulations. He promises the Holy\nSpirit as a Comforter. He closes His address, even in this hour of\nsadness and apparent defeat, with these wonderful words, \"Be of good\ncheer; I have overcome the world.\"\n\nAnd now as John still holds open the door, we hear the voice of prayer,\nsuch as nowhere else has been offered. It is ended. There are moments of\nsilence, followed by a song of praise. Then John closes the door of the\nUpper Room, which we believe was opened again as the earliest home of\nthe Christian Church. There we shall see him again with those who,\nbecause of his experience with his Lord in that consecrated place, gave\nhim the name of \"The Bosom Disciple.\"\n\n[Illustration: IN GETHSEMANE _Gustave Dore_ Page 163]\n\n\n\n\n_CHAPTER XXIV_\n\n_With Jesus in Gethsemane_\n\n     \"He went forth with His disciples over the brook Kidron, where was\n     a garden.\"--_John_ xviii. 1.\n\n     \"Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and\n     saith unto His disciples, Sit ye here while I go yonder and\n     pray.\"--_Matt._ xxvi. 36.\n\n     \"And He taketh with Him Peter and James and John, ... and He saith\n     unto them, ... abide ye here, and watch.\"--_Mark_ xiv. 33, 34.\n\n     \"And He went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed.\"\n     _v._ 35.\n\n\nJohn was our leader to the Upper Room. And now he guides us from it,\nsaying, \"Jesus ... went forth with His disciples.\" That phrase \"went\nforth\" may suggest to us much more than mere departure. The banquet of\nlove was over. The Lord's cup of blessing and remembrance had been drunk\nby His \"little children,\" as He affectionately called them. He was now\nto drink the cup the Father was giving His Son--a mysterious cup of\nsorrow. It was probably at the midnight hour that Jesus \"went forth\" the\nlast time from Jerusalem, which He had crowned with His goodness, but\nwhich had crowned Him with many crowns of sorrow.\n\nOther Evangelists tell us that He went \"to the Mount of Olives,\" \"to a\nplace called Gethsemane.\" John shows us the way thither, and what kind\nof a place it was. Jesus went \"over the ravine of the Kidron,\" in the\nvalley of Jehoshaphat. At this season of the year it was not, as at\nother times, a dry water-bed, but a swollen, rushing torrent, fitting\nemblem of the waters of sorrow through which He was passing. Whether the\nname Kidron refers to the dark color of its waters, or the gloom of the\nravine through which they flow, or the sombre green of its overshadowing\ncedars, it will ever be a reminder of the darker gloom that overshadowed\nJohn and His Master, as they crossed that stream together to meet the\npowers of darkness in the hour which Jesus called their own.\n\nThe garden of Gethsemane was an enclosed piece of ground. We are not to\nthink of it as a garden of flowers, or of vegetables, but as having a\nvariety of flowering shrubs, and of fruit-trees, especially olive. It\nmight properly be called an orchard. On the spot now claimed to be the\ngarden, there are several very old gnarled olive-trees. Having stood\nbeneath them, I would be glad to believe that they had sheltered my\nLord. But I remember that when the prophecy concerning Jerusalem was\nfulfilled, the most sacred trees of our world were destroyed.\n\n[Illustration: THE VALLEY OF JEHOSHAPHAT _Old Engraving_ Page 164]\n\nWho was the owner of that sacred garden? He must have known what\nhappened there \"ofttimes.\" Perhaps, like the \"goodman of the house\" in\nJerusalem, he was a disciple of Jesus, and provided this quiet retreat\nfor the living Christ, in the same spirit with which Joseph of Arimathaea\nprovided a garden for Him when He was dead. To these two gardens John is\nour only guide. From the one he fled with Peter in fear and sadness: to\nthe other he hastened with Peter in anxiety followed by gladness.\n\nWhen at the foot of Hermon, Jesus left nine of His disciples to await\nHis return. Now one was no longer \"numbered among\" them, as Peter\nafterward said of him \"who was guide to them that took Jesus.\" At the\nentrance to the garden Jesus paused and said to eight, \"Sit ye here\nwhile I go yonder and pray.\" So had Abraham nineteen hundred years\nbefore, pointing to Mount Moriah, visible from Olivet in the moonlight,\nsaid \"unto his young men, Abide ye here ... and I and the lad will go\nyonder and worship.\"\n\nThat very night Jesus was to ascend that very Mount on His way as a\nsacrifice, without any angel to stay the sacrificial hand.\n\nAt the garden gate there was no formal farewell, but a solemn final\ncharge, \"Pray that ye enter not into temptation.\" Jesus knew that the\nhour had come in which should be fulfilled Zechariah's prophecy. Sadly\nHe had declared in the Upper Room, \"All ye shall be offended because of\nMe this night; for it is written, I will smite the Shepherd, and the\nsheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.\"\n\nHe dreads to be entirely alone. He longs for companionship. He craves\nsympathy. In whose heart is it the tenderest and deepest? There is no\nguessing here. The names are already on our lips. Answer is found in the\nhome of Jairus and on Hermon. Those whom He had led into the one, and\n\"apart\" onto the other, He would have alone with Him in the garden. So\n\"He taketh with Him Peter and James and John.\" These companions of His\nglory shall also be of His sorrow.\n\nAs Jesus advanced into the garden, the three discovered a change in\nHim--a contrast to the calmness of the Upper Room and the assurances of\nvictory with which He had left it. He \"began to be sore amazed and\nsorrowful and troubled,\" and \"to be very heavy.\" We have seen John\napparently quicker than others to detect his Lord's thoughts and\nemotions. We imagine him walking closest to His side, and watching as\nclosely every change of His countenance and every motion that revealed\nthe inward struggle. And so when Jesus broke the silence, he was\nsomewhat prepared to hear Him say to the three, \"My soul is exceeding\nsorrowful even unto death.\"\n\n[Illustration: CHRIST BEFORE CAIAPHAS _Old Engraving_ Page 176]\n\nThe moment had come when He must deny Himself even the little comfort\nand strength of the immediate presence of the three. So saying, \"Tarry\nye here and watch with Me,\" He turned away. They must not follow Him to\nthe spot of His greatest conflict. There He must be alone, beyond the\nreach of human help, however strong or loving. Even that which He had\nfound in the few moments since leaving the garden entrance must end.\nTheir eyes followed Him where they might not follow in His steps. It was\nnot far. \"He went forward a little.\" \"He was parted from them about a\nstone's cast\"--probably forty or fifty yards. This separation implies\nsorrow. They were near enough to watch His every movement as He \"kneeled\ndown\" and \"fell on His face to the ground\" They were near enough to hear\nthe passionate cry of love and agony, \"O, My Father.\" This is the only\ntime we know of His using this personal pronoun in prayer to His Father.\nHe thus showed the intensity of His feeling, and longing for that\nsympathy and help which the Father alone could give.\n\nOn Hermon the glories of the Transfiguration were almost hidden from the\nthree disciples by their closing eyes. And now weariness overcame them\nin the garden. They too fell to the ground, but not in prayer. They\ntarried indeed, but could no longer watch.\n\nThey had seen Moses and Elijah with their Lord on the Holy Mount, but\nprobably did not see the blessed watcher in the garden when \"there\nappeared unto Him an angel from heaven strengthening Him\" in body and\nsoul. So had angels come and ministered unto the Lord of angels and men\nin the temptation in the wilderness.\n\n\"Being in agony He prayed more earnestly\" until mingled blood and sweat\nfell upon the ground. The heavenly visitants on Mount Hermon in glory\nhad talked with Him of His decease now at hand. The cup of sorrow was\nfuller now than then. He prayed the Father that if possible it might\npass from Him. Then the angel must have told Him that this could not be\nif He would become the Saviour of men. He uttered the words whose\nmeaning we cannot fully know, \"Not My will, but Thine, be done.\"\n\nThe angelic presence did not make Him unmindful of the three. \"He rose\nup from His prayer,\" and turned from the spot moistened by the drops of\nHis agony. With the traces of them upon His brow, \"He came unto the\ndisciples.\" How much of pathos in the simple record, \"He found them\nsleeping.\" Without heavenly or earthly companionship, His loneliness is\ncomplete.\n\n    \"'Tis midnight; and from all around,\n       The Saviour wrestles 'lone with fears;\n     E'en that disciple whom He loved,\n       Heeds not His Master's griefs and tears.\"\n\nThe head that reclined so lovingly on the bosom of the Lord in the Upper\nRoom now wearily rests on the dewy grass of Gethsemane. The eyes that\nlooked so tenderly into His, and the ear that listened so anxiously for\nHis whisper, are closed.\n\nAs Jesus stood by the three recumbent forms held by deep sleep, and\ngazed by the pale moonlight into their faces which showed a troubled\nslumber, He knew they \"were sleeping for sorrow.\" In silence He looked\nupon them until His eye fastened--not on the beloved John--but on him\nwho an hour ago had boasted of faithfulness to His Lord. The last\nutterance they had heard before being lost in slumber was that of\nagonizing prayer to the Father. The first that awakened them was sad and\ntender reproof--\"Simon, sleepest _thou_? Couldest thou not watch one\nhour?\" In the Master's words and tones were mingled reproach and\nsympathy. In tenderness He added, \"The spirit indeed is willing, but the\nflesh is weak.\" Because of the spirit He pardoned the flesh. The\nquestion, \"Why sleep ye?\" was to the three, as well as the charge, \"Rise\nand pray, that ye enter not into temptation.\"\n\nLet imagination fill out the outline drawn by the Evangelists:--\"He\nwent away again the second time and prayed; He came and found them\nasleep again; He left them and went away again and prayed the third\ntime; and He cometh a third time and saith unto them, 'Sleep on now and\ntake your rest.'\" If we may suppose any period of rest, it was soon\nbroken by the cry, \"Arise, let us be going; behold he that betrayeth Me\nis at hand.\" They need \"watch\" no longer. Their Lord's threefold\nstruggle was over. He was victor in Gethsemane, even as John beheld Him\nthree years before, just after His threefold conflict in the wilderness.\n\nAs they rose from the ground the inner circle that had separated them,\nnot only from the other Apostles but from all other men, was erased. We\ndo not find them alone with their Lord again. They rose and joined the\neight at the garden gate.\n\nRecalling Gethsemane we sing to Jesus,\n\n    \"Thyself the path of prayer hast trod.\"\n\nThe most sacred path of prayer in all the world was in Gethsemane. It\nwas only \"a stone's cast\" in length. The Lord trod it six times in\npassing between the place where He said to the three, \"tarry ye here,\"\nand that where He \"kneeled down and prayed.\" One angel knows the spot.\nWould that he could reveal it unto us.\n\n[Illustration: CHRIST BEFORE PILATE (Ecce Homo) _H. Hofmann_ Page 182]\n\nWhen Jesus was praying and the three were sleeping, Judas reported\nhimself at the High-Priestly Palace, ready to be the guide of the band\nto arrest his Master. There were the Temple-guard with their staves, and\nsoldiers with their swords, and members of the Sanhedrin, ready to aid\nin carrying out the plot arranged with the betrayer. It was\nmidnight--fit hour for their deed of darkness. The full moon shone\nbrightly in the clear atmosphere; yet they bore torches and lamps upon\npoles, to light up any dark ravine or shaded nook in which they imagined\nJesus might be hiding. If any cord of love had ever bound Judas to his\nMaster, it was broken. That very night he had fled from the Upper Room,\nwhich became especially radiant with love after his departure. To that\nroom we believe he returned with his murdering band. But the closing\nhymn had been sung, and the Passover lamps extinguished two or three\nhours before. The consecrated place was not to be profaned with\nmurderous intent. Another place must be sought for the victim of hate\nand destruction.\n\nJohn in his old age recalled precious memories of it, because Jesus\nofttimes resorted thither with His disciples. But he had a remembrance\nof another kind. It is when speaking of this midnight hour that he says,\n\"Judas also which betrayed Him knew the place.\" Thither he led his\nband--to Gethsemane.\n\n\"Lo, he that betrayeth Me is at hand,\" said\n\nJesus to the three, as He saw the gleams of the torches of the coming\nmultitude. His captors were many, but His thought was especially on\none--His betrayer. Again John reads for us the mind of Jesus, as he did\nwhen the \"Lord and Master washed the disciples' feet.\" He would have us\nunderstand the calmness of the fixed purpose of Jesus to meet without\nshrinking the terrible trial before Him, and to do this voluntarily--not\nbecause of any power of His approaching captors. \"Knowing all things\nthat were coming upon Him,\" He \"went forth\" to meet them--especially him\nwho at that moment was uppermost in His thought. John now understood\nthat last, mysterious bidding of the Lord to Judas, with which He\ndismissed him from the table--\"That thou doest, do quickly.\" He now\n\"knew for what intent He spake this unto him.\" It was not to buy things\nneeded for the feast, nor to give to the poor. It was to betray Him.\n\nWhat a scene was that--Jesus \"going forth,\" the three following Him; and\nJudas in advance, yet in sight of his band, coming to meet Him.\n\n\"Hail, Rabbi,\" was the traitor's salute. And then on this solemn\nPassover night, in this consecrated place, just hallowed by angelic\npresence, interrupting the Lord's devotions, rushing upon holiness and\ninfinite goodness, with pretended fellowship and reverence, profaning\nand repeating--as if with gush of emotion--the symbol of affection,\nJudas covered the face of Jesus with kisses.\n\nHow deep the sting on this \"human face divine,\" already defaced by the\nbloody sweat, and to be yet more by the mocking reed, and smiting hand\nand piercing thorn. The vision of the prophet seven hundred years before\nbecomes a reality--\"His visage was so marred more than any man.\" \"But\nnothing went so close to His heart as the profanation of this kiss.\"\n\nAccording to John's account, Judas' kiss was an unnecessary signal.\nJesus Himself leaving the traitor, advanced toward the band, with a\nquestion which must have startled the Apostles, as well as the traitor\nand his company--\"Whom seek ye?\" The contemptuous reply, \"Jesus of\nNazareth,\" did not disturb His calmness as He said, \"I am He,\" and\nrepeated His question, \"Whom seek ye?\" Nor was that infinite calmness\ndisturbed by the deeper contempt in the repeated answer, \"Jesus of\nNazareth.\" They had come with weapons of defence, but they were as\nuseless as the betrayal kiss, especially when some of them, awed by His\npresence and words, \"went backward and fell to the ground.\"\n\nWe have seen Jesus going forward from His company and meeting Judas\ngoing forward from his. We must now think of Judas joining his band, and\nthe eleven disciples surrounding their Lord. John has preserved the\nonly request made of the captors by the Master. It was not for Himself,\nbut for His disciples;--\"If therefore ye seek Me, let these go their\nway.\"\n\nThree Evangelists tell that one of the disciples struck a servant of the\nhigh priest and cut off an ear. Luke the physician says it was the right\near, and that Christ touched it and healed it. John gives the disciple's\nname, which it was not prudent for the other Evangelists to do when\nPeter, who struck the blow, was still living. He also preserves the name\nof the servant, Malchus--the last one on whom he saw the Great Physician\nperform a healing act, showing divine power and compassion. John records\nthe Lord's reproof to Peter, \"Put up thy sword into the sheath; the cup\nwhich My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?\" Can this firm\nvoice be the same which an hour ago, a stone's cast from these two\ndisciples, said beseechingly, \"O My Father, if it be possible, let this\ncup pass from Me.\" Yea, verily, for He had added to the prayer, \"Not as\nI will, but as Thou wilt.\"\n\nThus does John's record concerning Peter testify to the triumph of his\nLord. But he also notes the immediate effect of Peter's mistaken zeal.\nThe captain and officers \"bound Him.\" That was a strange, humiliating\nsight, especially in connection with the Lord's words to Peter while\nreturning the sword to its sheath, \"Thinkest thou that I cannot beseech\nMy Father, and He shall even now send Me more than twelve legions of\nangels?\" Wonderful words! fitting to be the last of the Lord's\nutterances to a disciple in Gethsemane. With burning and just\nindignation at His being bound, Jesus turned to His captors, saying,\n\"Are ye come out as against a robber, to seize Me?\" As they closed\naround Him His disciples were terrified with the fear of a like fate.\n\"And they all left Him and fled.\" Prophecy was fulfilled; the Shepherd\nwas smitten; the sheep were scattered.\n\nWithout the voice of friend or foe, the garden of Olivet was silent. One\nhad left it who, outliving his companions, gives us hints of his lone\nmeditations. The beloved disciple cherished memories of joyous yet sad\nGethsemane. He it was who longest remembered, and who alone preserved\nthe prophecy in the Upper Room, so soon fulfilled--\"Ye shall be\nscattered every man to his own, and shall leave Me alone.\"\n\nIn George Herbert's words we hear the Master cry,\n\n    \"All My disciples fly! fear put a bar\n     Betwixt My friends and Me; they leave the star\n     Which brought the Wise Men from the East from far.\n         Was ever grief like Mine!\"\n\n\n\n\n_CHAPTER XXV_\n\n_John in the High Priest's Palace_\n\n     \"And they that had taken Jesus led Him away to the house of\n     Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were\n     gathered together.\"--_Matt._ xxvi. 57.\n\n     \"Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. That\n     disciple ... entered in with Jesus into the court of the high\n     priest; but Peter was standing at the door without. So the other\n     disciple ... went out ... and brought in Peter.\"--_John_ xviii. 15,\n     16.\n\n     \"Everywhere we find these two Apostles, Peter and John, in great\n     harmony together.\"--_Chrysostom._\n\n      \"Bow down before thy King, My soul!\n         Earth's kings, before Him bow ye down;\n       Before Him monarchs humbly roll,--\n         Height, might, and splendor, throne and crown.\n       He in the mystic Land divine\n         The sceptre wields with valiant hand.\n       In vain dark, evil powers combine,--\n         He, victor, rules the better Land.\"\n                               --_Ingleman.--Trans. Hymns of Denmark._\n\n     \"It is probable that St. John attended Christ through all the weary\n     stages of His double trial--before the ecclesiastical and the civil\n     authorities--and that, after a night thus spent, he accompanied the\n     procession in the forenoon to the place of execution, and witnessed\n     everything that followed.\"--_Stalker._\n\n\nWe know not what became of nine of the disciples fleeing from\nGethsemane; whether they first hid among the bushes and olive-trees,\nand escaped into the country; or took refuge in the neighboring tombs;\nor stole their way to some secret room where the goodman of the house\nfurnished them protection; or scattered in terror each in his lonely\nway.\n\nThe captive Lord was dragged along the highway where Peter and John had\nbeen for a single hour the Heralds of the King. Over the Kidron, up the\nslope of Moriah, through the gate near the sacred Temple, along the\nstreets of the Holy City, He was led as a robber to the high-priestly\npalace.\n\nThree Evangelists tell us, \"Peter followed afar off.\" But love soon\novercame his fears. He was not long alone. John says, \"Simon Peter\nfollowed Jesus and so did another disciple.\" We cannot doubt who was\nPeter's companion as he turned from his flight. They \"went both\ntogether,\" as two days later they ran on another errand. In the shadows\nof the olive-trees along the roadside, or of the houses of the city,\nthey followed the hurrying band which they overtook by the time it\nreached the palace gate. John did not \"outrun Peter,\" who was probably\nthe leader. But at the gate they were separated.\n\nWe must not think that this palace was like an American house. The\nentrance to it was through a great arched gateway. This was closed with\na large door or gate, in which there was a small entrance called a\nwicket gate, through which people passed. These gates opened into a\nbroad passage or square court. Around it on three sides the house was\nbuilt. All rooms upstairs and down looked into it. One large room,\nforming one side, was separated from it, not by a wall, but by a row of\npillars. Being thus opened it was easy to see what was passing in the\nroom or the court.\n\n\"That disciple,\" who accompanied Peter to the gate, \"was known unto the\nhigh priest and entered in with Jesus into the court of the high priest.\nBut Peter was standing at the door without.\" John was doubtless familiar\nwith the place and the servants, and went in with the crowd. He kept as\nnear as he could to his Master during the dark hours of His trial, as he\nwas to do during the yet darker hours at the cross.\n\nBut the disciple within could not forget the one without. They must not\nbe separated in their common sorrow. Peter too must show by his presence\nhis continued love for his Master. He must have opportunity to show in\nthe palace something of the faithfulness of which he had boasted in the\nUpper Room, though it had faltered in Gethsemane.\n\n\"Then went out that other disciple which was known unto the high priest\nand spake unto her that kept the door, and brought in Peter.\" That\ndoorkeeper was not Rhoda--she who with a different spirit joyfully\nanswered Peter's knocking at another door--but was a pert maiden who,\nsympathizing with the enemies of Jesus, \"saith unto Peter, Art thou also\none of this man's disciples?\" She understood that John was such. Her\ncontempt was aimed at them both. But it was not her question so much as\nPeter's answer--\"I am not\"--that startled John. Was it for this denial\nthat he had gained admission for his friend? It would have been better\nfar if Peter had been kept \"standing at the door without\" though \"it was\ncold,\" than to be brought into the court of temptation and sin, where he\n\"sat with the servants\" in his curiosity \"to see the end,\" warming\nhimself at the fire they had kindled.\n\nMeanwhile we think of John hastening back to the judgment hall, from\nwhich he anxiously watched the movements of Peter \"walking in the\ncounsel of the ungodly, and standing in the way of sinners, and sitting\nin the seat of the scornful.\"\n\nPoor Peter! He fears to look into any man's face, or to have any one\nlook into his. He has obeyed the Master's bidding, \"Put up thy sword\ninto the sheath,\" but Malchus has not forgotten it; nor has his kinsman\nwho saw Peter in the garden with Jesus,--though he may have forgotten\nthe healing of Malchus' ear by his prisoner.\n\nThree Evangelists tell how Peter \"sat\" with the enemies of Jesus. John\ntells how at different times he \"stood\" among them. Thus does he report\nas an eye-witness, and show his own watchfulness of Peter's\nrestlessness;--of the conflicting emotions of shame and fear, the\nscornful frown, the enforced and deceiving smile, the defiant look, the\nvain effort to appear indifferent, and the storm of anger. Amazed at the\nfirst denial, shocked at the second, horrified at the third, what were\nJohn's feelings when one was \"with an oath,\" and with another \"he began\nto curse and to swear.\" But concerning this climax of Peter's sin, John\nis silent. It finds no place in his story.\n\nAt last \"the Lord turned and looked upon Peter,\" either from the hall,\nor as He was being led from it. At the same moment, Peter turned and\nlooked upon Him. We imagine John turning and looking upon them both,\nmarking the grief of the one, and the sense of guilt and shame of the\nother. But he knew the loving, though erring disciple so well that he\nneed not be told that when \"Peter went out\" \"he wept bitterly.\" We\nalmost see John himself weeping bitterly over his friend's fall; then\ncomforting him when they met again, with assurances of the Lord's love\nand forgiveness. John's next record of their being together shows them\nunited in feeling, purpose and action for their Lord.\n\nThere was another toward whom John's watchful eyes turned during the\nlong and painful watches of that night. The picture of him is not\ncomplete without this Apostle's records.\n\n\"Art thou the King of the Jews?\" asked Pilate of Jesus. Such John had\nthought Him to be. For three years he had waited to see Him assume His\nthrone. He has preserved the Lord's answer,--\"My kingdom is not of this\nworld.\" This declaration contained a truth to which even the favored\ndisciple had been partly blind. Was he not ready to ask with Pilate,\nthough with different spirit and purpose, \"Art thou a King then?\" The\nLord's answer must have meant more to the listening Apostle than to the\ncaptious and heedless Governor. It was a declaration of the true\nkingship of the Messiah-King,--\"To this end have I been born, and to\nthis end am I come into the world, that I should bear witness unto the\ntruth.\"\n\n\"What is truth?\" asked Pilate in a careless manner, not caring for an\nanswer. \"What is truth?\" was the great question whose answer the Apostle\ncontinued to seek, concerning the King and the kingdom of Him whom He\nhad heard say, \"I am the Truth.\"\n\nIn that night he saw the Messiah-King crowned, but with thorns. He saw\nthe purple robe upon Him, but it was the cast-off garment of a Roman\nGovernor. A reed, given Him for a sceptre, was snatched from His hand to\nsmite Him on His head. Instead of pouring holy oil of kingly\nconsecration, as upon David's head, His enemies \"spit upon Him.\" It was\nin mockery that they bowed the knee before Him saying, \"Hail King of the\nJews.\"\n\nThere are two scenes with which John alone has made us familiar. One is\ndescribed in these words:--\"Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of\nthorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith, Behold the man!\" Did not\nthat word \"Behold,\" recall to John another scene--that on the Jordan\nwhen he looked upon this same Jesus as the Lamb of God, whom His enemies\nwere about to offer unwittingly, when He offered Himself not unwillingly\na sacrifice upon the cross? The Baptist's exclamation had been in\nadoration and joyfulness: Pilate's was in pity and sadness. It was an\nappeal to humanity, but in vain. There was no pity in that maddened\nthrong. Pilate turned in bitterness toward those whom he hated, but\nwhose evil deeds he did not dare to oppose. So in irony \"Pilate ...\nbrought forth Jesus ... and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!\"\n\nJohn was the only one who heard the three cries of \"Behold\"--one at the\nbeginning, the others at the close of the Lord's ministry. How much he\nhad beheld and heard and learned between, concerning \"the Lamb,\" \"the\nMan,\" and \"the King.\"\n\nThe only earthly throne on which John saw Him sit was one of mockery.\nHe did not ask to sit with Him. It was a sad yet blessed privilege to be\nwith Him during that night of agony--the only friendly witness to\nprobably all of His sufferings. While John's eyes were turned often and\nearnestly toward Peter and Pilate, they were yet more on the Lord. When\nhe went in with Jesus into the palace, and while he tarried with Him, he\ncould _do_ nothing--only _look_. No angel was there as in Gethsemane to\nstrengthen the Man of sorrows, but did He not often look for sympathy\ntoward that one who had leaned lovingly upon Him a few hours before? Was\nnot John's mere waking presence among His foes in the palace, a solace\nwhich slumber had denied Him in the garden? John's eyes were not heavy\nnow. There was no need of the Lord's bidding, \"Tarry ye here and watch\nwith Me.\" Love made him tarry and watch more than \"one hour\"--even\nthrough all the watches of the night. Then he was the Lord's only human\nfriend--the one silent comforter.\n\n\n\n\n_CHAPTER XXVI_\n\n_John the Lone Disciple at the Cross_\n\n     \"When they came unto the place which is called Calvary, there they\n     crucified Him.\"--_Luke_ xxiii. 33.\n\n     \"At Calvary poets have sung their sweetest strains, and artists\n     have seen their sublimest visions.\"--_Stalker._\n\n      \"Now to sorrow must I tune my song,\n          And set my harp to notes of saddest woe,\n       Which on our dearest Lord did seize ere long,\n          Dangers, and snares, and wrongs, and worse than so,\n          Which He for us did freely undergo:\n       Most perfect Hero, tried in heaviest plight\n       Of labors huge and hard, too hard for human wight.\"\n                                             --_Milton.--The Passion._\n\n\nEven careful students of the life of John are not together in their\nattempts to follow him on the day of crucifixion. Some think they find\nevidence, chiefly in his silence concerning certain events, that after\nhearing the final sentence of Pilate condemning Christ to be crucified,\nhe left the palace and joined the other disciples and faithful women and\nthe mother of Jesus, and reported what he had seen and heard during the\nnight; and at some hour during the day visited Calvary, and returning to\nthe city brought the women who stood with him at the cross: and\nwitnessed only what he minutely or only describes. Other students think\nhe followed Jesus from the palace to the cross, remaining near Him and\nwitnessing all that transpired. This is certainly in keeping with what\nwe should expect from his peculiar relation to Christ. It is in harmony\nwith what we do know of his movements that day. So we are inclined to\nfollow him as a constant though silent companion of Jesus, feeling that\nin keeping near him we are near to his Lord and ours. This we now do in\nthe \"Dolorous Way,\" along which Jesus is hurried from the judgment-seat\nof Pilate to the place of execution.\n\n[Illustration: CHRIST BEARING HIS CROSS _H. Hofmann_ Page 185]\n\nIt is John who uses the one phrase in the Gospels which furnishes a\ntragic subject for artists, and poets and preachers, on which\nimagination dwells, and excites our sympathies as does no other save the\ncrucifixion itself. His phrase is this,--\"Jesus ... bearing the cross\nfor Himself.\" We notice this all the more because of the silence of the\nother Evangelists, all of whom tell of one named Simon who was compelled\nto bear the cross. As John read their story, there was another picture\nin his mind, too fresh and vivid not to be painted also. He recalled the\nshort distance that Christ carried the cross alone, weakened by the\nagonies of the garden and the scourging of the palace, until, exhausted,\nHe fell beneath the burden. We are not told that the crown of thorns\nhad been removed, though the purple robe of mockery had been. So this\nadded to His continued pain. As John looked upon those instruments of\nsuffering he heard the banter and derision of shame that always\naccompanied them.\n\nThere followed Jesus \"a great multitude of the people,\" whose morbid\ncuriosity would be gratified by the coming tragedy. But there were\nothers--\"women who bewailed and lamented Him.\"\n\nIt is surmised that at the moment when Jesus could bear His cross no\nlonger, and was relieved by Simon, He turned to the weeping \"Daughters\nof Jerusalem\" following Him, and in tenderest sympathy told of the\ncoming days of sorrow for them and their city, of which He had told John\nand his companions on Olivet.\n\nJohn says that Jesus \"went out ... unto the place called the place of a\nskull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha.\" The place was also called\nCalvary. We do not certainly know the sacred spot, though careful\nstudents think it is north of the city, near the Damascus gate, near the\ngardens of the ancient city, and tombs that still remain. We think of\nJohn revisiting it again and again while he remained in Jerusalem, and\nthen in thought in his distant home where he wrote of it. \"There,\" says\nJohn, \"they crucified Jesus, and with Him two others, on either side\none, and Jesus in the midst.\" How few his words, but how full of\nmeaning. We long to know more of John's memories of that day--of all\nthat he saw and felt and did. They were such in kind and number as none\nother than he did or could have.\n\nThere were two contrasted groups of four each around the cross, to which\nJohn calls special attention. One, the nearest to it, was composed of\nRoman soldiers, to whom were committed the details of the\ncrucifixion--the arrangement of the cross, the driving of the nails, and\nthe elevation of the victim upon it.\n\nHaving stripped Jesus of His clothing, according to custom they divided\nit among themselves; the loose upper garment or toga to one, the\nhead-dress to another, the girdle to another, and the sandals to the\nlast. John watched the division--\"to every soldier a part.\" But his\ninterest was chiefly in the under-garment such as Galilean peasants\nwore. This must have been a reminder of the region from which he and\nJesus had come. He thinks it worth while to describe it as \"without\nseam, woven from the top throughout.\" Perhaps to him another\nreminder--of Mary or Salome or other ministering women by whose loving\nhands it had been knit. If ever a garment, because of its associations,\ncould be called holy, surely it is what John calls \"the coat\" of Jesus.\nEven without miraculous power, it would be the most precious of relics.\nWe notice John's interest in it as he watches the soldiers'\nconversation of banter or pleasantry or quarrel, in which it might\nbecome worthless by being torn asunder. He remembered their parleying,\nand the proposal in which it ended,--\"Let us not rend it, but cast lots\nfor it whose it shall be.\" How far were their thoughts from his when\ntheir words recalled to him the prophecy they were unconsciously\nfulfilling,--\"They part My garments among them, and upon My vesture do\nthey cast lots.\"\n\nWith what pity did Jesus look down upon the lucky soldier--so he would\nbe called--sporting with the coat which had protected Him from the night\nwinds of Gethsemane. How He longed to see in the bold and heartless\nheirs to His only earthly goods, the faith of her, who timidly touched\nthe hem of His garment. What a scene was that for John to behold! What a\nscene for angels who had sung the glories of Jesus' birth, now looking\ndown upon His dying agonies of shame--and upon the gambling dice of His\nmurderers! No marvel John added to the almost incredible story, \"These\nthings ... the soldiers did.\"\n\nIt is at this point that we notice a sudden transition in John's\nnarrative. He points us from the unfriendly group of four, to another of\nthe same number; saying as if by contrast, \"_But_ there were standing by\nthe cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife\nof Clopas and Mary Magdalene.\" By \"His mother's sister\" we understand\nSalome.\n\nThe centurion had charge of the plundering soldiers; John was the\nguardian of the sympathizing women. He had a special interest in that\ngroup, containing his mother and aunt, and probably another relative in\nMary the wife of Clopas. Mary Magdalene was not of this family\nconnection, though of kindred spirit. So must John have felt as she\nstood with him at the cross, and at a later hour when we shall see them\ntogether again.\n\nIn the days of the boyhood of John and Jesus, we thought of their\nmothers as sisters, and of parents and children as looking for the\ncoming Messiah. None thought of the possibilities of this hour when they\nwould meet in Jerusalem at the cross. By it stands John the only one of\nthe Apostles. Judas has already gone to \"his own place.\" If Peter is\nfollowing at all it is afar off. The rest have not rallied from their\nflight enough to appear after their flight. James the brother of John is\nnot with him. As their mother looks upon Jesus between two robbers, does\nshe recall her ambitious request, \"Command that these my two sons may\nsit, one on Thy right hand, and one on Thy left hand\"? She understands\nnow the fitness of the reply she had received,--\"Ye know not what ye\nask\"?\n\nBut Salome and John are loyal to the uncrowned King. Though they may\nnot share the glory of His throne, they are yet ready to stand beneath\nthe shameful shadow of His cross.\n\nBut another is there,--drawn by a yet stronger cord of affection. She\nheads John's list of the women \"by the cross of Jesus--His mother,\"\nwhose love is so deep that it cannot forego witnessing the sight that\nfills her soul with agony. Yes, Mary, thou art there.\n\n    \"Now by that cross thou tak'st thy final station,\n       And shar'st the last dark trial of thy Son;\n     Not with weak tears or woman's lamentation,\n       But with high, silent anguish, like His own.\"\n                                          --_H.B. Stowe_.\n\nAs she stands there we seem to read her thoughts: \"Can that be He, my\nbabe of Bethlehem, my beautiful boy of Nazareth, in manhood my joy and\nmy hope! Are those hands the same that have been so lovingly held in\nmine; those arms, outstretched and motionless, the same that have so\noften been clasped around me! Oh! that I might staunch His wounds, and\nmoisten His parched lips, and gently lift that thorny crown from His\nbleeding brow.\"\n\nBut this cannot be. There is being fulfilled Simeon's prophecy, uttered\nas he held her infant in his arms,--a foreboding which has cast a\nmysterious shadow on the joys of her life.\n\n    \"Beside the cross in tears\n        The woeful mother stood,\n     Bent 'neath the weight of years,\n       And viewed His flowing blood;\n     Her mind with grief was torn,\n       Her strength was ebbing fast,\n     And through her heart forlorn,\n       The sword of Anguish passed.\"\n\nShe can only draw yet nearer to His cross and give the comfort of a\nmother's look, and perhaps receive the comfort of a look from Him,\nand--oh, if it can be--a word of comfort from His lips for the\nmother-heart. Perhaps for a moment her thoughts are on the future,--her\nlonely life, without the sympathy of her other sons who believed not on\ntheir brother. Oh! that they were like John, to her already more of a\nson than they.\n\nIn childhood Jesus had been \"subject\" to her: in youth and manhood He\nhad been faithful to her. In the Temple He had thought of her as His\nmother, and of God as His Father. But no exalted relation, no greatness\nto which He had attained on earth, had made Him disloyal to her. While\nclaiming to be the Son of God, He was still the loving son of Mary. Such\nHe would show Himself to be on the cross. We thank John for the record\nof that moment when \"Jesus ... saw His mother.\" \"The people stood\nbeholding\" Him, but His eyes were not on them; nor on those passing by\nHis cross wagging their heads, nor the malefactor at His side reviling\nHim; nor on the chief priest and scribes, the elders and soldiers\nmocking Him; nor the rulers deriding Him. His thought was not on them,\nnor even on Himself in His agonies, as His eyes rested keenly on His\nmother. It was a deep, tender, earnest gaze.\n\nJohn tells that Jesus also \"saw\" \"the disciples standing by, whom He\nloved.\" The Lord turned His head from His mother to His disciple. This\ncould be His only gesture pointing them one to the other.\n\nThe prayer for His murderers had apparently been uttered when His hands\nwere pierced, before the cross was raised. He may have spoken once after\nit was elevated, before He saw the two special objects of His love. His\neyes met His mother's. She saw Him try to speak. The utterance of His\nparched lips, with gasping breath, was brief, full of meaning and\ntenderness--\"Woman! behold, thy son!\" Then turning toward John He said,\n\"Behold! thy mother!\"\n\nIn these words Jesus committed His mother to John without asking whether\nhe would accept the charge.\n\n\"From that hour the disciple took her unto his own home.\" It is a\nquestion whether or not the phrase, \"from that hour,\" is to be taken\nliterally. It may be that the blessed words, \"mother\" and \"son,\" were as\na final benediction, after which John led her away, and then returned\nto the cross. Or, it may be that the mother-heart compelled her to\nwitness the closing scenes.\n\n[Illustration: THE VIRGIN AND ST. JOHN AT THE CROSS _Old Engraving_\n Page 193]\n\nIf we pause long enough to inquire why John was chosen to be trusted\nwith this special charge, we can find probable answer. Jesus' \"brethren\"\ndid not then believe on Him. Mary's heart would go out toward him who\ndid, especially as he was her kindred as well as of a kindred spirit.\nHis natural character, loving and lovable, made him worthy of the trust.\nApparently he was better able to support her than were any other of the\nApostles, and perhaps even than her sons. He seems to have been the only\nApostle or relative of Mary who had a home in Jerusalem, where she\ncertainly would choose to dwell among the followers of the Lord. Above\nall John was the beloved disciple of Mary's beloved son. So to him we\ncan fittingly say:\n\n          \"As in death He hung,\n    His mantle soft on thee He flung\n    Of filial love, and named the son;\n    When now that earthly tie was done,\n    To thy tried faith and spotless years\n    Consigned His Virgin Mother's tears.\"\n                        --_Isaac Williams_.--Trans. An. Latin Hymn.\n\nBlessed John. When Jesus called His own mother \"thy mother,\" didst thou\nnot almost hear Him call thee \"My brother\"?\n\nOne tradition says that John cared for Mary in Jerusalem for twelve\nyears, until her death, before his going to Ephesus. Another tradition\nis that she accompanied him thither and was buried there. What a home\nwas theirs, ever fragrant with the memory of Him whom they had loved\nuntil His death. No incidents in His life, from the hour of brightness\nover Bethlehem to that of darkness over Calvary, was too trivial a thing\nfor their converse. That home in Jerusalem became what the one in\nNazareth had been, the most consecrated of earth. What welcomes there of\nChristians who could join with Mary as she repeated her song of\nthirty-three years before, \"My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit\nhath rejoiced in God my Saviour.\" Of her we shall gain one more distinct\nview--the only one.\n\n[Illustration: THE DESCENT FROM THE CROSS _Rubens_ Page 200]\n\n\n\n\n_CHAPTER XXVII_\n\n_John the Lone Disciple at the Cross--Continued_\n\n     Three sayings on the cross reported by John:\n\n      \"Woman, behold, thy son! Behold, thy mother!\"\n\n      \"I thirst.\"\n\n      \"It is finished.\"\n\n                            --_John_ xix. 26, 27, 28, 30.\n\n\nOf the seven sayings of Christ on the cross, three are preserved by John\nonly; one of love, another of suffering, and another of triumph. The\nfirst is that to Mary and John himself. The second is the cry, \"I\nthirst\"--the only one of the seven concerning the Lord's bodily\nsufferings. John was a most observing eyewitness, as is shown by the\ndetails of the narrative,--the \"vessel _full_ of vinegar,\" the \"sponge\nfilled with vinegar,\" and the hyssop on which it was placed, the\nmovements of the soldiers as they put it to Christ's lips, and the\nmanner in which He received it. He was willing to accept it to revive\nHis strength to suffer, when \"He would not drink\" the \"wine mingled with\ngall\" that would relieve Him from the pain He was willing to endure. The\nend was drawing near. The thirst had long continued. He had borne it\npatiently for five long hours. Why did He at last utter the cry, \"I\nthirst\"? John gives the reason. A prophecy was being fulfilled, and\nJesus would have it known. It was this: \"In My thirst they gave Me\nvinegar to drink.\" So \"Jesus, ... that the Scripture might be fulfilled,\nsaith, 'I thirst.'\"\n\nJohn watched Him as He took His last earthly draught. It was probably of\nthe sour wine for the use of the soldiers on guard. What varied\nassociations he had with wine,--the joyful festivities of Cana, the\nsolemnities of the Upper Room, and the sadness of Calvary.\n\nWhen Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, \"It is\nfinished.\" This is the third of the sayings of Jesus on the cross\npreserved by John, who was a special witness to the chief doings of his\nLord on the earth. So the declaration meant more to him than to any\nother who heard it. Yet it had a fulness of meaning which even he could\nnot fully know. Jesus' life on earth was finished. He had perfectly\nobeyed the commandments of God. The types and prophecies concerning Him\nhad been fulfilled. His revelation of truth was completed. The work of\nman's redemption was done. On the cross He affirmed what John said He\ndeclared in the Upper Room to His Father: \"I have glorified Thee on the\nearth, having accomplished the work Thou hast given Me to do.\"\n\nAll four Evangelists tell of the moment when Jesus yielded up His life,\nbut John alone of the act that accompanied it as the signal thereof,\nwhich his observant eye beheld. \"He bowed His head,\"--not as the\nhelpless victim of the executioner's knife upon the fatal block, but as\nthe Lord of Life who had said, \"No one taketh it away from Me, but I lay\nit down of Myself.\"\n\nJohn makes mention of another incident without which the story of the\ncrucifixion would be incomplete. Mary Magdalene and other loving women\nhad left the cross, but were gazing toward it as they \"stood afar off.\"\nJohn remained with the soldiers who were watching the bodies of the\ncrucified. \"The Jews, ... that the bodies should not remain upon the\ncross upon the Sabbath, asked of Pilate that their legs might be\nbroken\"--to hasten death--\"and that they might be taken away.\" As John\nsaw the soldiers \"break the legs of the first and of the other which was\ncrucified with\" Jesus, with what a shudder did he see them approach His\ncross; but what a relief to him when they \"saw that He was dead already,\nand brake not His legs.\"\n\nIn a single clause John pictures a scene ever vivid in Christian\nthought. He knew that Jesus \"gave up His spirit\" when \"He bowed His\nhead.\" The executioners pronounced Him dead. \"Howbeit one of the\nsoldiers\"--to make this certain beyond dispute--\"with a spear pierced\nHis side, and straightway there came out blood and water.\" There was now\nno pain to excite the Apostle's sympathy, and yet he reports the\nincident as being of special importance. He calls attention to the fact\nthat he was an eye-witness, and that there was something in it that\nshould affect others as well as himself. He says, \"He that hath seen\nhath borne witness, and his witness is true; and he knoweth that he\nsaith true, that ye also may believe.\" He explains why these incidents\nso deeply impressed him. They recalled two prophecies of the Old\nTestament. One was this, \"A bone of Him shall not be broken.\" This\nreminded John of the Paschal Lamb which should be perfect in body; and\nof Jesus as the Lamb of God, by which name He had been called when\npointed out to him as the Messiah. All through life Jesus had been\npreserved from accident that would have broken a bone, and in death even\nfrom the intended purpose that would have defeated the fulfilment of the\nprophecy.\n\nThe other prophecy was this,--\"They shall look on Him whom they\npierced.\" Because of what John saw and tells, we pray in song,\n\n    \"Let the water and the blood\n     From Thy riven side which flowed,\n     Be of sin the double cure:\n     Cleanse me from its guilt and power.\"\n\n[Illustration: IN THE SEPULCHRE _H. Hofmann_ Page 201]\n\nJohn once more furnishes a contrast between Jesus' foes and friends. He\nsays that the Jews asked Pilate that the bodies of the crucified might\nbe taken away. This was to the dishonored graves of malefactors. John\nmore fully than the other Evangelists tells of Joseph of Arimathaea who\n\"besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus\"--for\nhonorable burial. Other Evangelists tell of his being \"rich,\" \"a\ncounsellor of honorable estate,\" \"a good man and a righteous,\" who \"had\nnot consented to\" the \"counsel and deed\" of the Sanhedrin of which he\nwas a member, because he \"was Jesus' disciple.\" Mark says, \"He boldly\nwent in unto Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.\" He had summoned\ncourage so to do. Hitherto as John explains he had been \"a disciple of\nJesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews.\" John implies that Joseph was\nnaturally timid like Nicodemus. As Pilate had delivered Jesus to His\nopen enemies to be crucified, he delivered the crucified body to Joseph,\nthe once secret but now open friend. The Jews \"led him\"--the living\nChrist--\"away to crucify Him.\" Joseph \"came\" and tenderly \"took away His\nbody\" from the cross.\n\n\"There came also Nicodemus,\" says John, \"he who at the first came to Him\nby night.\" Yes, that night which John could not forget, in which to this\nsame Nicodemus Jesus made known the Gospel of God's love, manifested in\nthe gift of His Son whose body in that hour these timid yet emboldened\nmembers of the Sanhedrin took down from the cross. They were sincere\nmourners with him who watched their tender care as they \"bound it in\nlinen cloths with the spices\" for burial, with no thought of a\nresurrection.\n\nPerhaps Joseph and Nicodemus recalled moments in the Sanhedrin when they\nwhispered together, speaking kindly of Jesus, but were afraid to defend\nHim aloud; thus silently giving a seeming consent to evil deeds because\ntimidity concealed their friendship. But at last the very enmity and\ncruelty of His murderers emboldened them as they met at the cross.\n\nIt is John who tells us that Jesus the night before His crucifixion went\n\"where was a garden into which He entered,\" and who also says, \"Now in\nthe place where He was crucified there was a garden.\" The one was ever\nmore suggestive to him of a coming trial; the other of that trial past.\n\"There,\" in the garden--probably that of Joseph--John says \"they laid\nJesus.\" There also were laid John's hopes, which seemed forever buried\nwhen Joseph \"rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and\ndeparted.\" What a contrast in his thoughts and feelings between the\nrolling _away_ of the stone from the tomb of Lazarus, and the rolling\n_to_ that of Jesus. The one told him of resurrection; but the other of\ncontinued death; for as he afterward confessed, \"as yet\" he and Peter\n\"knew not that Jesus must rise from the dead.\"\n\nTwo mourners at least lingered at the closed tomb. \"Mary Magdalene was\nthere, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre\" of their\nLord, after they \"beheld where He was laid.\" John's parting from them at\nthat evening hour was in sadness which was to be deepened when he met\nMary Magdalene again.\n\nIt is not easy for us to put ourselves in the place of John, as he turns\nfrom the tomb toward his lonely home. _We_ know what happened afterward,\nbut he did not know what would happen, though his Lord had tried to\nteach him. He is repeating to himself the words he had heard from the\ncross, \"It is finished,\" but he is giving them some difference of\nmeaning from that which Jesus intended. He is walking slowly and sadly\nthrough the streets of Jerusalem, dimly lighted by the moon that shone\nin Gethsemane the night before upon him and his living Lord. We imagine\nhim saying to himself:--\"Truly it is finished: all is over now. How\ndisappointed I am. I do not believe He intended to deceive me, yet I\nhave been deceived. From early childhood I looked, as I was taught to\ndo, for the coming of the Messiah. On Jordan I thought I had found Him.\nHe chose me for one of His twelve, then one of the three, then the one\nof His special love. What a joy this has been, brightening for three\nyears my hopes and expectations. I have seen Him work miracles, even\nraising the dead. I have seen Him defeat the plots of evil men against\nHim, and did not believe any power on earth could destroy Him. I have\nwatched to see Him the great and glorious King. But to-day instead of\nthis I have seen Him crucified as the feeblest and worst of men. I do\nremember now how Moses and Elijah, when we were with them on the Holy\nMount, talked with Him of 'His departure which He was about to\naccomplish at Jerusalem.' But I did not understand them, nor even\nHimself when, just before we ascended the Mount, He told us 'how that He\nmust go to Jerusalem and suffer many things, ... and be killed.' I do\nnot wonder that Peter then said to Him, 'Be it far from Thee, Lord,'\nthough the Lord was right in rebuking him. Can it be only last night He\nsaid, 'Tarry with Me.' How gladly would I do it now. But He is dead, and\nburied out of my sight. Oh that I might see Him rise, as I did the\ndaughter of Jairus. Oh that I might roll away the stone from His tomb as\nI helped to do from that of Lazarus, and see Him come forth. How gladly\nwould I 'loose Him' from His 'grave-bands' and remove the 'napkin bound\nabout His face.' I know it was a mean and shameful taunt of His revilers\nwhen they said, 'If Thou art the Son of God, come down from the\ncross.' But why did He not do it? I remember how once He said concerning\nHis life, 'no one taketh it away from Me.' But have not Pilate and the\nJews taken it away? I shall never lean upon His bosom again. But this I\nknow--He loved me, and I loved Him, and love Him still. The mysteries\nare great, but the memories of Him will be exceedingly precious\nforever.\"\n\n[Illustration: JESUS APPEARING TO MARY MAGDALENE (Easter Morning)\n              _B. Plockhorst_ Page 209]\n\nPoor John. He forgot those other words of His Lord concerning His\nlife,--\"I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.\"\nThe Lord had done the one already: He was soon to do the other, though\nHis sorrowing disciple understood it not. Meanwhile we leave him,\nresting if possible from the weariness of the garden and the palace and\nCalvary, during that Friday night, which was to be followed by a day of\ncontinued sadness, and that by another night of sorrowful restlessness.\n\n\n\n\n_CHAPTER XXVIII_\n\n_John at the Tomb_\n\n     \"Now on the first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early,\n     while it was yet dark, unto the tomb, and seeth the stone taken\n     away from the tomb. She runneth therefore, and cometh to Simon\n     Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved.\n\n     \"Peter therefore went forth, and the other disciple, and they went\n     toward the tomb.\n\n     \"Simon Peter ... entered into the tomb.\n\n     \"Then entered in therefore the other disciple also, ... and he saw\n     and believed.\"--_John_ xx. 1, 2, 3, 6, 8.\n\n     \"Let us take John for our instructor in the swiftness of love, and\n     Peter for our teacher in courage.\"--_Stalker_.\n\n      \"Oh, sacred day, sublimest day!\n         Oh, mystery unheard!\n       Death's hosts that claimed Him as their prey\n         He scattered with a word;\n       And from the tomb He valiant came;\n         And ever blessed be His name.\"\n                             --_Kingo. Trans. Hymns of Denmark_.\n\n      \"Mine eye hath found that sepulchral rock\n       That was the casket of Heav'n's richest store.\"\n                                         --_Milton_.--_The Passion_.\n\n\nOf the women who visited the tomb of Jesus on the morning of the\nResurrection, John was especially interested in Mary Magdalene, from\nwhom seven demons had gone out, probably in his presence; thus giving\nhim opportunity to see the marvelous change from a most abject\ncondition, to grateful devotion to her Healer, perhaps beyond that of\nany other one whom He healed. John long remembered her starting on her\nerrand \"while it was yet dark.\" So he remembered Judas starting when \"it\nwas night\" on his errand, of which Mary's was the sad result. One was a\ndeed of love which no darkness hindered: the other was a deed of hate\nwhich no darkness prevented or concealed.\n\nJohn had a special reason for remembering Mary. When she had seen that\nthe stone was taken away from the tomb, it had a different meaning to\nher from what it did when she and John saw it on Friday evening. And\nwhen she \"found not the body of the Lord Jesus,\" she imagined that\neither friends had borne it away, or foes had robbed the tomb. In\nsurprise, disappointment and anxiety, her first impulse was to make it\nknown--to whom else than to him who had sorrowed with her at the\nstone-closed door? So she \"ran\"--not with unwomanly haste, but with the\nquickened step of woman's love--\"to Simon Peter and to the other\ndisciple whom Jesus loved.\" They were both loved, but not in the fuller\nsense elsewhere applied to John. Astonished at her early call, startled\nat the wildness of her grief, sharing her anxiety, \"they ran both\ntogether\" \"toward the tomb\" from which she had so hastily come. But it\nwas an uneven race. John, younger and nimbler, \"outran Peter and came\nfirst to the tomb.\" \"Yet entered he not in.\" Reverence and awe make him\npause where love has brought him. For a few moments he is alone. His\nearnest gaze confirms the report of Mary that somebody has \"taken away\nthe Lord.\" He can only ask, Who? Why? Where? No angel gives answer.\nStill his gaze is rewarded. \"He seeth the linen cloths lying.\" These are\nsilent witnesses that the precious body has not been hastily and rudely\nsnatched away by unfriendly hands, such as had mangled it on the cross.\n\nPeter arriving, everywhere and evermore impulsive, enters at once where\nJohn fears to tread. He discovers what John had not seen,--\"the napkin\nthat was upon His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up\nin a place by itself.\" John does not tell whose head, so full is he of\nthe thought of his Lord.\n\n\"Then entered in therefore that other disciple also,\" says John of\nhimself, showing the influence of his bolder companion upon him. Though\nthe napkin escaped his notice from without the tomb, it found a\nprominent place in his memory after he saw it. Who but an eye-witness\nwould give us such details? What does he mean us to infer from the\n\"rolled\" napkin put away, if not the calmness and carefulness and\ntriumph of the Lord of Life as He tarried in His tomb long enough to lay\naside the bandages of death. When he saw the careful arrangement of the\ngrave-cloths, \"he believed\" that Jesus had risen. We are not to infer\nfrom his mention of himself only that Peter did not share in this\nbelief. We can believe that Luke does not complete the story when he\nsays that Peter \"departed to his home wondering at that which was come\nto pass.\" As they came down from the Mount of Transfiguration they were\n\"questioning among themselves what the rising again from the dead should\nmean.\" As they came from the tomb they questioned no longer.\n\n[Illustration: THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT _Old Engraving_ Page 224]\n\nWe long for a yet fuller record than that which John has given of what\npassed when he and Peter were within the tomb. He frankly tells us that\n\"as yet they knew not the Scriptures, that He must rise again from the\ndead.\" Neither prophecy, nor the Scriptures, nor the Lord's repeated\ndeclarations, had prepared them for this hour of fulfilment.\n\nWe imagine them lingering in the tomb, talking of the past, recalling\nthe words of their Lord, illumined in the very darkness of His\nsepulchre, and both wondering what the future might reveal. At last they\nleft the tomb together. There was no occasion now for John to outrun\nPeter. They were calm and joyful. There was nothing more to see or to\ndo. \"So the disciples went away again unto their own home.\"\n\n\"But Mary was standing without at the tomb weeping.\" In these words John\nturns our thoughts from himself to her who had summoned him and Peter,\nand then followed them. After they had left the sepulchre she continued\nstanding, bitterly weeping. She could not refrain from seeking that\nwhich she had told the disciples was not there. Her gaze was \"at the\nvery cause of her grief.\" \"She stooped and looked into the tomb\" as John\nhad done.\n\nFrom the infancy of Jesus to His death there was no ministry of angels\nto men, though they ministered to Him. \"The Master being by, it behooved\nthe servant to keep silence.\" But the angelic voices that proclaimed His\nbirth, were heard again after His resurrection. According to John's\nminute description Mary \"beholdeth two angels in white sitting, one at\nthe head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.\" The\nangelic silence was broken by them both, with the question, \"Woman, why\nweepest thou\"--so bitterly and continuously? They might have added, \"It\nis all without a cause.\" Her answer was quick and brief; and without any\nfear of the shining ones who lightened the gloomy tomb, and were ready\nto lighten her darkened spirit. Her reply was the echo of her own words\nto Peter and John, slightly changed to show her personal loss;--\"Because\nthey have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid\nHim.\"--Am I not wretched indeed? Is there not a cause? Why should I\ncheck my tears?\n\nTo answer was needless. Were not the angels in the blessed secret which\nwas immediately revealed? Were they not glancing from within the tomb,\nover her bowed head, to the gently moving form without? Did Mary become\nsuddenly conscious of some presence as \"she turns herself back, and\nbeholdeth Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus\"? His question\nseemed an echo of the angelic voices, \"Woman, why weepest thou?\" with\nthe added question, \"Whom seekest thou?\" This was the first utterance of\nthe risen Lord. In the garden, at this early hour, who--so thought\nMary--can this be but the gardener? As such she addressed Him, \"Sir, If\n_thou_ hast borne Him hence, tell me where thou hast laid Him, and I\nwill take Him away.\" We can hardly restrain a smile when we see how the\nstrength of her love made her unmindful of the weakness that would\nattempt to \"take Him away.\"\n\n\"Jesus saith unto her, Mary.\" That name, that familiar voice, that\nloving tone, sent a thrill through her heart which the name \"woman\" had\nfailed to excite. More completely \"she turned herself, and saith unto\nHim, Rabboni,\" with all the devotion of her impassioned soul.\n\nLet us recall John's account of Mary's report of her first visit to the\ntomb, full of sadness--\"_They have taken away the Lord_,\" and then in\ncontrast place by its side his record of her second report, full of\ngladness--\"Mary Magdalene, cometh and telleth the disciples, _I have\nseen the Lord_.\" The one was a mistaken inference; the other a blessed\nreality. Between these two utterances on the same day what revelations\nto them both. But the end was not yet.\n\n\"When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week,\nand when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the\nJews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be\nunto you.\" So John describes the first meeting of Jesus with the\ndisciples after His resurrection. He gives hints of some things of which\nother Evangelists are silent. With emphasis he notes \"that day\" as the\nday of days whose rising sun revealed resurrection glory. That \"evening\"\nmust have recalled the last one on which they had been together. Then\nthe Lord had said unto them, \"Peace I leave with you.\" But the\nbenediction had seemed almost a mockery, because of the sorrow which\nfollowed. But now it was repeated with a renewed assurance of His power\nto bestow it. Through fear of the Jews they had closed the doors of\nprobably the same Upper Room where they had been assembled before. These\ndoors were no barrier to His entry, any more than the stone to His\nleaving His tomb.\n\n[Illustration: ST. PETER AND ST. JOHN AT THE BEAUTIFUL GATE\n              _Old Engraving_ Page 225]\n\nAs John alone preserved the incident of the pierced side, he alone tells\nhow Jesus \"showed unto them His ... side,\" and said to Thomas, at the\nnext meeting, \"Reach hither thy hand and thrust it into My side;\" and\nhow this was followed by Thomas' believing exclamation, \"My Lord, and my\nGod.\" With this and the Lord's beatitude for other believing ones, John\noriginally ended his story of the Lord, in these words,--\"Many other\nsigns therefore did Jesus in the presence of His disciples which are not\nwritten in this book: but these are written, that ye may believe that\nJesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye may have life\nin His name.\"\n\n\n\n\n_CHAPTER XXIX\n\n\"What Shall This Man Do_?\"\n\n     \"Jesus manifested Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of\n     Tiberias.\"--_John_ xxi. 1.\n\n     \"There were together Simon Peter ... and the sons of\n     Zebedee.\"--_v_. 2.\n\n     \"Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved\n     following.\"--_v._ 20.\n\n     \"Peter ... saith to Jesus, Lord, and What shall this man do?\"--_v_.\n     21.\n\n\nThe twenty-first chapter of John's Gospel is without doubt an addition,\nwritten some time after the original Gospel was finished. Why this\naddition? To answer the question we must recall the things of which the\naddition tells. They are of special interest in our studies of Peter and\nJohn.\n\nIn our last chapter we were with John in Jerusalem. From there he\ncarries us to the Sea of Tiberias. He tells us that he and his brother\nJames, and Peter, with four others, \"were there together.\" They were\nnear their childhood home, where they had watched for the Messiah, and\nwhere, when He had appeared He called them to leave their fishing\nemployment, and to become fishers of men. They had been saddened by His\ndeath, then gladdened by His resurrection. He had told them to meet Him\nin Galilee. And now they were waiting for His coming. They were within\nsight of a boat from which perhaps some day they had fished. Peter, ever\nactive and ready to do something, said to his companions, \"I go\na-fishing.\" As John had followed him into the tomb, he and the others\nfollowed him to the boat saying, \"We also come with thee.\" Let John\nhimself tell what happened. \"They went forth and entered into the boat;\nand that night they took nothing. But when day was now breaking, Jesus\nstood on the beach: howbeit the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.\nJesus therefore saith unto them, Children, have ye aught to eat? They\nanswered Him, No. And He said unto them, Cast the net on the right side\nof the boat, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were\nnot able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.\"\n\nOnce more we are to find Peter and John the prominent figures, and see\nthe difference between them, John being the first to understand, and\nPeter the first to act. When John saw the multitude of fishes he\nremembered the same thing had happened before at the beginning of\nChrist's ministry. Looking toward the land, and whispering to Peter, he\nsaid, \"It is the Lord.\" \"So when Simon Peter heard that it was the\nLord, he girt his coat about him\"--out of reverence for his Master--\"and\ncast himself into the sea,\" and swam or waded about one hundred yards to\nthe beach. The other disciples followed in the boat, dragging the net\nwith the fishes. John remembered their great size, and the number \"an\nhundred and fifty and three.\" He says, \"When they got out upon the land,\nthey see a fire of coals there.\" Did it not remind him of another \"fire\nof coals\" of which he had already written, kindled in the court of the\nhigh-priestly palace where \"Peter stood and warmed himself,\" and near\nwhich he denied his Lord three times? If he did not recall that scene\nimmediately, he did very soon.\n\nJesus invited the disciples to eat of the meal he had prepared. As they\ndid so they were filled with awe and reverence, \"knowing that it was the\nLord.\" In the light of the palace fire, \"the Lord turned and _looked_\nupon Peter\"--that only. But in the morning light on the seashore, \"when\nthey had broken their fast, Jesus _saith_ to Simon Peter, Lovest thou\nMe?\" Three times, with some difference of meaning, gently and solemnly\nHe asked the question as many times as Peter had denied Him. On Peter's\nfirst assurance of his love Christ gave him a new commission, \"Feed My\nlambs.\" This was a humble work,--not so exalted as it is now--a test of\nPeter's fitness for Apostleship. He was ready to accept it; and thus he\nshowed his fitness for the enlarged commission, \"Feed My sheep.\"\n\nWith what intense interest John must have listened to the conversation\nbetween his friend and their Lord. Was he not as ready as Peter to say,\n\"Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee\"? In the\nend John fulfilled the commission, \"Feed My lambs,\" better than either\nPeter or any of the other Apostles. Of them all he had the most of the\nchild-like spirit. He may fittingly be called the Apostle of Childhood.\n\nPeter was told by the Lord something about his own future,--how in\nfaithful service for his Master he would be persecuted, and \"by what\nmanner of death he should glorify God.\" By this his crucifixion is\napparently meant. As John listened, perhaps he wondered what his own\nfuture would be. He was ready to share in service with Peter. Was he not\nalso ready to share in his fate, whatever it might be?\n\n\"Follow Me,\" said Jesus to Peter. They seem to have started together\naway from the group. John felt that he must not be thus separated from\nhis friend and his Lord. Though he had not been invited to join them, he\nstarted to do so, as if the command to Peter had been also for himself.\n\"Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following;\nwhich also leaned back on His breast at the supper, and said, Lord, who\nis he that betrayeth Thee?\" As Peter at the supper beckoned unto John to\nask that question concerning Judas, is it not possible that John now\nbeckoned to Peter to ask Christ concerning himself? However this may be,\n\"Peter, seeing him, saith to Jesus, Lord, what shall this man do?\" or,\nas it is interpreted, \"Lord--and this man, what?\" It is as if he had\nsaid, \"Will John also die a martyr's death, as you have said I shall\ndie?\" It is not strange that he wanted to know the future of his friend.\nBut he did not receive the answer he sought, for \"Jesus saith unto him,\nIf I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?\"\n\nThese words may mean that John would live to old age and escape\nmartyrdom, which became true. But this was not the meaning which\nChristians of his day put into them. They had the mistaken idea that\nChrist, having ascended to Heaven, would soon come again. They also\nbelieved that John would live until Christ's second coming. \"This saying\ntherefore went forth among the brethren, that that disciple should not\ndie.\" John was unwilling to have this mistake concerning Christ's words\nrepeated over and over wherever he was known. So he determined to\ncorrect the false report by adding what is the twenty-first chapter of\nHis Gospel, telling just what Christ did say, and the circumstances in\nwhich He uttered the words to Peter concerning John. His testimony is\nthis:--\"Jesus said not unto him, he shall not die; but, If I will that\nhe tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou Me.\"\n\nPeter became the suffering; John the waiting disciple, \"tarrying\" a long\ntime, even after his friend was crucified, and all his fellow-Apostles\nhad died, probably by martyrdom.\n\nBut after all that John wrote to correct the mistaken report concerning\nHis death, tradition would not let him die. It affirmed that although he\nwas thrown into a caldron of boiling oil at Rome, and though he was\ncompelled to drink hemlock, he was unharmed; and that though he was\nburied, the earth above his grave heaved with his breathing, as if,\nstill living, he was tarrying until Christ should return.\n\n\"What shall this man\"--John--\"do?\" asked Peter. He found partial answer\nin what they did together for the early Christian Church, until John saw\n\"by what manner of death Peter should glorify God.\" And then that church\nfound yet fuller answer in John's labors for it while alone he \"tarried\"\nlong among them.\n\nWhen John tells us that Peter turned and saw him following, we recall\nthe hour when Andrew and he timidly walked along the Jordan banks, and\n\"Jesus turned and saw them following,\" and welcomed their approach and\nencouraged them in familiar conversation. How changed is all now! John\ndoes not ask as before, \"Where dwellest Thou?\" Nor does Jesus bid him\n\"Come and see.\" He who has become the favored disciple is now better\nprepared than then to serve his Master, following in the path they had\ntrod together, and having an abiding sense of the blessed though unseen\nPresence, until his Lord shall bid him, \"Come and see\" My heavenly\nabode, and evermore \"be with Me where I am,\" and share at last, without\nunholy ambition, the glory of My Throne.\"\n\n\n\n\n_CHAPTER XXX_\n\n_St. John a Pillar-Apostle in the Early Christian Church_\n\n     \"James and Cephas and John, they who are reputed to be\n     pillars.\"--_Paul. Gal._ ii. 9.\n\n     \"They went up into the upper chamber where they were abiding; both\n     Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip, ...\"--_Acts_ i. 13.\n\n     \"When the day of Pentecost was now come, they were all together in\n     one place.\"--_Acts_ ii. 1.\n\n     \"An angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought\n     them out.\"--_Acts_ v. 19.\n\n     \"Now when the Apostles which were in Jerusalem heard that Samaria\n     had received the word of the Lord, they sent unto them Peter and\n     John.\"--_Acts_ viii. 14.\n\n     \"He (Herod) killed James the brother of John with the\n     sword.\"--_Acts_ xii. 2.\n\n\nThe next place where we may think of John with his Lord was on a\nmountain in Galilee. At least once before His death, and twice after His\nresurrection, He directed His Disciples to meet Him there. For what\npurpose? Evidently to receive His final commission.\n\n\"Jesus came to them and spake unto them, saying, All authority hath been\ngiven unto Me in Heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore, and make\ndisciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father\nand of the Son and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all\nthings whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you alway, even\nunto the end of the world.\"\n\nBut the disciples were not yet prepared to fulfil this commission. So He\nappointed another meeting, to be held in Jerusalem, where He met them,\n\"speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.\" Here the\ncommand on the mountain was limited by another--not to depart from\nJerusalem immediately. \"Wait\" said He, \"for the promise of the Father\nwhich you heard from Me.\" That promise we find in John's record:--\"I\nwill pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He\nmay abide with you forever.\" \"The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost,\nshall teach you all things.\" \"He shall testify of Me.\" In the\nfulfilment of that promise, the disciples were to find the preparation\nto \"go\" and \"preach.\" For that preparation they were to \"wait.\"\n\nJesus then reminds them of the assurance given by John the Baptist\nconcerning Himself:--\"He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.\" Once\nmore John is carried back to the Jordan, and reminded of the time when\nhe and Jesus had been baptized. All those former scenes must have been\nrecalled when Jesus at the final meeting in Jerusalem declared, \"John\ntruly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost\nnot many days hence.\"\n\nThese words revived in the disciples the hope which had died in them\nwhen Jesus died upon the cross. So, with yet mistaken ideas, they asked,\n\"Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?\" John\nand the rest of the Bethsaidan band, who had heard the Baptist say that\nthe kingdom of God was at hand, hoped that \"at this time\" it would\nappear. But, as when Jesus gave no direct answer to the two pairs of\nbrothers on Olivet concerning the time of the destruction of Jerusalem,\nor to Peter's question concerning John's future, so now He avoided a\ndirect answer to this last question. He reminded them of something more\nimportant for them than knowledge of the future: that was their own\nduty,--not to reign, but to be witnesses for Him, first in Jerusalem,\nthen throughout Judaea, then in Samaria, then \"unto the uttermost parts\nof the earth.\" Yet this could not be until they had \"received power\nafter that the Holy Ghost had come upon them.\" This was promised them:\nthey did not clearly understand what was meant: they were waiting to\nsee.\n\n\"He led them out until they were over against Bethany,\"--well-remembered\nBethany. From there Jesus had made His triumphal entry into the City of\nthe Great King: from there He would make a more glorious entry into the\nNew Jerusalem. John was not His herald now. He, with the other ten, was\n\"led\" by Him to witness His departure.\n\nAs He ascended Olivet the last time, did He not give a parting glance\ndown the slope into the village below, His eye resting on the home of\nthose He loved, made radiant for us by the search-light thrown upon it\nby the loved disciple at His side? In thought did He not say, \"Lazarus,\nMartha, Mary, farewell.\"\n\nThe lifted hands, the parting blessing, the luminous cloud, and the\nvanishing form--such is the brief story of the Ascension.\n\n\"Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking into Heaven?\" The questioners\nwere two angels. Without waiting for answer, they gave promise of Jesus'\nreturn. \"Then returned the disciples unto Jerusalem from the Mount\ncalled Olivet.\" Whither bound? We are told, \"They went up into _the_\nupper chamber.\" No longer simply \"_A_ large upper room\" to which Jesus\nhad told Peter and John they would be guided. Were they not now the\nguide of the nine thither, to the place where they had six weeks before\n\"prepared\" for the Passover? Did not the goodman of the house give the\nDisciples a second welcome, and offer it to them as a temporary place\nfor the Christian Church? So it would appear, for again we are told,\n\"they were there abiding.\" Once more Luke gives their names, in the\nActs as he did in his Gospel. All except Judas answered, in that upper\nroom, to the roll call of the company scattered from Gethsemane, but\nreunited in a closer union. In each of Luke's lists he begins with the\nBethsaidan band. But he does not preserve the same order. In the latter\nhe begins, not with the two pairs of brothers as such--Peter and Andrew,\nJames and John,--but with the Apostles whom Christ had drawn into His\ninner circle, Peter, John and James, naming first the two who were\nalready becoming the acknowledged leaders of the Christian band. In that\nlist we find the name of Andrew recorded the last time in Holy Writ.\n\nBut the eleven were not alone: others resorted thither for the same\npurpose. What was that purpose? and who were some of them? This is the\nanswer:--\"These all with one accord continued steadfastly in prayer,\nwith the women, and Mary the Mother of Jesus, and with His brethren.\"\n\nIt is here, for the last time, that we read of Mary, in the Gospels. In\nwhat better place could we bid her farewell than in the room consecrated\nby the presence of her Son. How we rejoice with her that in that place\nthe longing of her heart must have been satisfied as she joined \"with\none accord in prayer ... with His brethren\"--her sons who during His\nlife had not believed on Him. What a welcome to that room did they\nreceive from John, their adopted brother! May we not indulge the thought\nthat among \"the women\" were her own daughters; and that we hear her\njoyfully asking the once carping question of the Jews concerning \"the\ncarpenter's son,\" but with changed meaning, saying, \"His _sisters_, are\nthey not all with us?\" If so \"His Mother called Mary,\" \"and His\nbrethren,\" \"and His sisters,\" and John the adopted son and brother, were\nat last a blessed family indeed. Mary on her knees with her children\naround her, rejoicing in God her Saviour, of whom she had sung in the\ninfancy of her Son--that certainly is a fitting scene to be the last in\nwhich we behold the Mother of Jesus.\n\n\"When the day of Pentecost was now come, they were all together in one\nplace.\" They were united in feeling, purpose and devotion, in the \"one\nplace,\" the home of the early Church.\n\nThe hour had come for the fulfilment of the promise of their Lord, for\nwhich they were to tarry in Jerusalem and wait. There was a great\nmiracle,--a sound from Heaven as of the rushing of a mighty wind which\nfilled the house. Flame-like tongues, having the appearance of fire\nrested on the heads of the disciples, who were \"all filled with the Holy\nGhost.\" He gave them utterance as they spoke in languages they had not\nknown before. Crowds of foreigners in the city \"were confounded because\nthat every man heard them speaking in his own language.\"\n\nOn the morning of that day the Church numbered one hundred and twenty.\n\"There were added unto them in that day about three thousand souls.\"\n\nSt. John was one of those filled with the Holy Ghost, according to the\nprophecy he had heard by the Baptist, and the promise by Christ. On him\nrested a fiery tongue. To him the Spirit gave utterance, perhaps in the\nlanguages of those among whom he was to labor in Asia Minor, from where\nsome of these strangers had come. He was in full sympathy with that\nChristian company, an actor with them, a leader of them, a pillar for\nthem strong and immovable.\n\nBut the Upper Room was not the only place where John worshiped. The\nTemple was still a sanctuary where such as he communed with God. The\nhour for the evening prayer was nearing when \"Peter and John were going\nup into the Temple.\" They reached the Beautiful Gate, which Josephus\ndescribes as made of Corinthian brass, surpassing in beauty other temple\ngates, even those which were overlaid with silver and gold. By it they\nsaw what doubtless they had often seen before, a lame man who, during\nmost of the forty years of his life, had been daily brought thither. His\nweakness was a great contrast to the massive strength of the pillar\nagainst which he leaned, as he counted the long hours and the coins he\nreceived in charity. His haggard appearance and ugly deformity were a\ngreater contrast to the richness and symmetry of the gate which was so\nfittingly \"called Beautiful.\"\n\nWas there something especially benignant in the faces of the two\nApostles, that encouraged the poor creature to hail them as he saw them\n\"about to go into the Temple\"? They were willingly detained. \"Peter,\nfastening his eyes on him, with John, said, 'Look on us.'\" A gift was\nbestowed richer far than that for which he had hoped. They were full of\njoy themselves, and of pity for him, and of a sense of the power of\ntheir Lord, so often exercised in their presence. Therefore the command,\n\"In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.\"\n\nThat was a strange sight to those who had long known the beggar, as he\nheld Peter with one hand and John with the other, as if leading them\ninto the Temple, into which he entered, \"walking, and leaping, and\npraising God.\"\n\nThe glad shout of the healed man attracted a crowd around him, \"greatly\nwondering.\" The Apostles declared that the miracle was by no power of\ntheir own, but by that of Jesus who had been killed, but had risen from\nthe dead. For this they were arrested and put in prison--strange place\nfor such men and for such a reason. On the next day they were brought\nbefore the rulers who demanded by what power they had done this thing.\nAgain the disciples declared it was in the name of Jesus Christ of\nNazareth, whom the Jews crucified, but whom God had raised from the\ndead. The rulers were amazed when \"they saw the boldness of Peter and\nJohn.\" They had known the power of Jesus' words: they saw a like power\nin the words of the Apostles, whom they were assured had been with Him\nand been aided by Him. But this did not check their rage, which was\nincreased as they saw how many believed the Apostles. The three thousand\nconverts on the day of Pentecost were increased to five thousand.\n\n[Illustration: EPHESUS _From Photograph_ Page 232]\n\nAs leaders of the Christian company Peter and John were again put into\nprison--into the public jail for malefactors. But the divine power which\nhad been used through them was now used for them. A solemn warning was\ngiven to the daring wickedness of the rulers. When they thought their\nprisoners kept \"with all safety,\" in the darkness, behind bolted doors,\n\"an angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them\nout, and said, 'Go ye, and stand and speak in the temple to the people\nall the words of this Life.'\"\n\nWe know not the manner in which he led them out as he invisibly opened\nand closed the doors through which they passed, to obey without fear\nthe heavenly bidding. With consternation the rulers heard a messenger\ndeclare, in words almost echoing the angel's command, \"Behold the men\nwhom ye put in prison are in the temple standing and teaching the\npeople.\"\n\nPersecution scattered Christians who fled from Jerusalem, telling\nwherever they went, of Christ as the Saviour. A deacon named Philip\npreached in Samaria with great effect. \"Now when the Apostles which were\nat Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent\nunto them Peter and John, who, when they were come down, prayed for them\nthat they might receive the Holy Ghost.\"\n\nThese two were chosen because they had taken the most active part in\nestablishing the church in Jerusalem, and were specially fitted for\nsimilar work elsewhere. With what peculiar feelings John must have\nentered Samaria. He must have recalled a day when hot and weary he had\njourneyed thither with his Lord and met the Samaritaness at the well.\nPerhaps he now met her again, and together they talked over that\nwonderful conversation which made her the first missionary to her\npeople, many of whom declared, \"We know that this is indeed the Saviour\nof the world.\"\n\nDid John on this visit enter into \"a village of the Samaritans\"--the\nsame where he had said, \"Lord, wilt Thou that we bid fire to come down\nfrom heaven and consume them?\" Is it of them that it is now said he\n\"prayed for them\"? His fire of indignation and revenge had changed to\nthe fire of love. The pentecostal flames had rested on his head.\n\nOnce more--only once--we find the names of James and John together. One\nshort sentence, full of pathos, of injustice and cruelty, of affection\nand sorrow, tells a story of the early Church: Herod \"killed James the\nbrother of John with the sword.\" He was the first martyr of the\nApostles. The smaller circle of the three, and the larger one of the\ntwelve, is broken. For these brothers we may take up David's lamentation\nover Saul and Jonathan, slightly changed, and say, \"They were lovely and\npleasant in their lives: but in their death they were divided,\"--for\nthrough half a century John mourned the loss of his loved companion from\nchildhood.\n\nAfter James--one of the three whom Paul named pillars--had fallen, the\nother two, Peter and John, stood for awhile side by side in strength and\nbeauty. To each of them he might have given the name Jachin by which one\nof the pillars of Solomon's temple was called, meaning, \"whom God\nstrengthens.\" Peter was the next to fall, after which John long stood\nalone, until at last the three whom first we saw by the Sea of Galilee,\nstood together by the glassy sea, in each of them fulfilled the promise\nmade through John, by their Lord,--\"He that overcometh, I will make him\na pillar in the Temple of my God, and he shall go out thence no more.\"\n\n[Illustration: THE ISLE OF PATMOS _Old Engraving_ Page 233]\n\n\n\n\n_CHAPTER XXXI_\n\n_Last Days_\n\n     \"I John ... was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of\n     God, and the testimony of Jesus.... And I heard behind me a great\n     voice, as of a trumpet saying, What thou seest, write in a book,\n     and send it to the seven churches.\"--_Rev._ i. 9-11.\n\n      \"Since I, whom Christ's mouth taught, was bidden teach,\n       I went, for many years, about the world,\n       Saying, 'It was so; so I heard and saw,'\n       Speaking as the case asked; and men believed.\n       Afterward came the message to myself\n       In Patmos Isle. I was not bidden teach,\n       But simply listen, take a book and write,\n       Nor set down other than the given word,\n       With nothing left to my arbitrament\n       To choose or change; I wrote, and men believed.\"\n\n\nFrom Samaria John with Peter \"returned to Jerusalem.\" This is the last\nrecord of him in the Acts. We have but little information concerning him\nafter that event. He suddenly disappears. We have two glimpses of him\nwhich are historic, and several through shadowy traditions.\n\nThere was a very important meeting in Jerusalem to settle certain\nquestions in which the early Church was greatly interested, and about\nwhich there had been much difference in judgment and feeling. St. Paul\nwas present. He says that St. John was there, one of the three\nPillar-Apostles who gave to him and Barnabas \"the right hands of\nfellowship.\" This is the only time of which we certainly know of the\nmeeting of these two Apostles; though we have imagined the possibility\nof John's visiting the school of Gamaliel, and worshiping in the Temple\nwhen young Saul was in Jerusalem. From this time, A.D., 50, we\nlose sight of John and do not see him again until A.D., 68, in\nthe Isle of Patmos. As his Lord was hidden eighteen years, from the time\nof His boyhood visit to Jerusalem until He entered on His public\nministry, so long His disciple is concealed from our view. Leaving\nJerusalem he probably never returned. Why he left we do not know. It may\nhave been because of persecutions. Perhaps the death of Mary relieved\nhim from the charge we may believe he had faithfully kept, and thus made\nit possible for him to go about like other Apostles to preach the\nGospel. If so we have no hint in what direction he went. He may have\ngone directly to Ephesus. On reaching it perhaps he found a welcome from\nsome who had heard him speak in their own language on the day of\nPentecost. It was a populous city, wealthy and wicked. Its magnificent\nTemple of Diana was one of the seven wonders of the world. Its ruins\ngive us a hint of its former glory.\n\nAll the traditions of early times make Ephesus the home of St. John in\nthe latter part of his life. From it as a centre he ministered to the\nChurches of Asia Minor.\n\nGospel truth found its way thither, even before Paul made it the centre\nof his third missionary tour. He was driven from it, but he left the\nfoundation of a Christian Church, upon which John builded. There were\nlike foundations in at least six other important cities of Asia\nMinor--Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.\n\nThe silence of the latter half of St. John's life is broken but once,\nand that by himself. He tells us that he \"was in the isle that is called\nPatmos.\" It was not far from Ephesus, within a day's sail. It is a huge\nrock, rugged and barren, only a few miles in length.\n\nWhy was John in Patmos? He says, \"for the word of God and the testimony\nof Jesus.\" What does he mean by this? Perhaps that he was led thither by\ncircumstances of which we do not know, or by the guidance of the Spirit\nof God, who there would make wonderful revelations to him. But more\nprobably he was banished thither for the preaching of the Gospel of\nJesus, and for being a faithful follower of Him, notwithstanding the\npersecutions of Nero or Domitian. As told in an ancient Latin hymn,--\n\n    \"To desert islands banished,\n       With God the exile dwells,\n     And sees the future glory\n       His mystic writing tells.\"\n\nThe grotto of La Scala may have been the spot from which he looked out\nupon the AEgean Sea, and upward into the heavens, communing in solitude\nwith his own thoughts, or with his Lord for whom he was there. Patmos\nwas for this a fitting place, whether he had gone there from his own\nchoice, or had been driven thither by the cruelty of his persecutor. In\nsuch solitude did Milton muse, and Bunyan dream.\n\nIt was the \"Lord's Day,\" says John. He alone, and at this time only,\nuses that name with which we have become familiar, though it may have\nbeen in common use among the early Christians. It meant much to John,\neven more than to us. It was a reminder of the day when he looked into,\nand then entered, the tomb of his Lord, and believed that He had risen\nfrom the dead.\n\nHis meditations may have been aided by Old Testament Manuscripts, his\nonly companions; especially that of Daniel, in which it is claimed \"the\nspirit and imagery of the Book of Revelation is steeped.\"\n\nWhat a contrast there was between the peaceful waves of Gennesaret,\ncreeping silently upon the sandy beach of his childhood home, and the\nbreakers dashing upon the rocky coast of his exile abode in his old\nage! How suggestive of the calm and turmoil of his life!\n\n[Illustration: SMYRNA _Old Engraving_ Page 233]\n\nBut his musings were suddenly broken by \"a great voice, as of a\ntrumpet,\" giving a command--\"What thou seest, write in a book.\" He says,\n\"I turned to see the voice that spake with me.\" He beheld his Lord in\ngreater grandeur than he had seen Him on earth, even on Hermon. As he\ngazed upon the divine figure he must have exclaimed,\n\n    \"Can this be He who used to stray,\n     A pilgrim on the world's highway,\n     Oppressed by power, and mocked by pride,\n     The Nazarene, the Crucified!\"\n\nWe do not wonder that he says,--\"When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as\none dead.\" So had Paul done when the Lord appeared to him at Damascus.\nJohn adds, \"He laid His right hand upon me, saying, Fear not.\" The words\nseem almost an echo from the Holy Mount,--\"Jesus came and touched them,\nand said, Arise, and be not afraid.\"\n\nThe command to John was renewed, to write--of things which he had seen,\nand what he was yet to behold. The early Christians called him the\nEagle, meaning that of all the sacred writers he had the loftiest\nvisions of divine truth.\n\nJohn's writings are of three kinds, the Book of The Revelation of the\nsecret purposes of God; his Gospel; and his three Epistles or letters.\n\nAlthough The Revelation is the last of the books of the Bible, it is\nprobably the first of those by John. It contains messages from the Lord\nin Heaven to the seven churches in Asia, which we have mentioned,\nconcerning their virtues and their failings. To each was given a special\npromise of reward to those who overcame sin, and were faithful to\nChrist. From this Revelation of John we get our imagery of Heaven,\nhelping us to understand something of its glory.\n\nHis Gospel is supposed to have been written next. Why did he write it?\nAs we have noticed, Matthew, Mark and Luke had already written their\nGospels. But there was abundant reason for John's writing the fourth\nGospel. We need not doubt the tradition that he was urged to do so by\nthe disciples, elders and bishops of the early Church. They had heard\nhim tell much concerning Christ of which the first three Evangelists had\nnot told. These things were too precious to be forgotten, or to be\nchanged by frequent repetition after his lips were silent. That must be\nsoon, for he was very old, having long passed the limit of human age.\nThey had listened to the story of the early call of the disciples, and\nof the first miracle at Cana, and of the night visit of Nicodemus to\nJesus, and of the talk by the well of Samaria with the Samaritaness, and\nof the washing of the disciples' feet, and of many other things which\nJesus said and did of which no one had written. In John's talks with\nChristians, and his preaching in their churches, he explained fully and\nsimply the teachings of Jesus, as no one else had done, or could do.\nThey longed for a record of them, that they might read it themselves,\nand leave it to their children, and those who never could hear the words\nfrom his lips.\n\nSo St. John wrote his Gospel, giving to his first readers his great\nreason,--\"These are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the\nChrist, the Son of God; and that believing ye may have life in His\nname.\"\n\nFor the writing of his first Epistle he also gives a reason,\nsaying,--\"That which we have heard, that which we have seen with our\neyes, that which we beheld, and our hands handled concerning the word of\nlife, ... that ... declare we unto you also, that ye also may have\nfellowship with us.\"\n\nThrough these words John draws us very near to his Lord and ours, Whom\nwe behold through his eyes, and hear through his ears. We almost feel\nthe grasp of a divine yet human hand.\n\nThe great theme is the love of God, or as Luther expresses it, \"The main\nsubstance of this Epistle relates to love.\" John's Gospel abounds in\ndeclarations and illustration of this greatest of truths, but it does\nnot contain the phrase in this Epistle in which he sums up the whole\nGospel, \"GOD IS LOVE.\" Because of John's deep sense of God's\nlove, and because of the depth of his own love, the Beloved Apostle is\ncalled, The Apostle of Love.\n\nJohn's second Epistle should be of special interest to the young. From\nit we infer that there were two Christian homes, in each of which John\ntook delight. The mothers were sisters. His letter is addressed to \"The\nelect lady\"--or as she is sometimes called the Lady Electa--and her\nchildren. John tells of his love and that of others for them,--Mother\nand children--because of their Christian character. He tells of his\ngreat joy because of the children \"walking in the truth\"--living as\nchildren should live who have learned of the teachings of Christ.\n\nFrom the group of children around him in the home where he wrote, he\nsends messages to their aunt, saying, \"The children of thine elect\nsister salute thee.\" How the children of Electa must have prized that\nletter! How little they thought that nineteen hundred years after they\nreceived it, other children would read it, and think how happy were\nthose who had the Apostle John for their friend.\n\nThis letter is one of the things that revealed his child-like spirit. We\nremember the time when he did not have that spirit. At last he did have\nit because he became so much like his Master who loved the little ones,\nand taught His disciples to do the same.\n\nJohn thought of the child-spirit as the Christ-spirit, whether it was in\nthe old or the young. He called all who had it children. He called those\nto whom he ministered in his old age his little children. This he does\nin the last sentence of his last letter to the Christian church,--\"My\nlittle children, guard yourselves from idols.\"\n\nBecause of his own child-like spirit and his seeking to cultivate it in\nothers, and because of his manifest interest in children, he may be\ncalled the Apostle of Childhood.\n\nThere is a beautiful tradition concerning him, that in his old age, when\nhe was too feeble to walk to the church or to preach, he was carried\nthither, and said again and again,--\"Little children, love one another.\"\nSome said, \"Master, why dost thou always say this?\" He replied, \"It is\nthe Lord's command, and if this alone is done, it is enough.\" Of his\ndeath at the probable age of about one hundred nothing is known. It is\nclaimed that there is a sacred spot somewhere among the tangled thickets\nof Mt. Prion which looks down on Ephesus where his body was laid.\n\nThere is a tradition, inconsistent with the supposition that Mary died\nin Jerusalem, that she accompanied John to Ephesus and was buried near\nhim; her eyes having been closed by him on whom her Son had looked with\ndimming vision, commending her to his loving care.\n\nNo magnificent tomb marks the place of John's burial. None is needed.\nBut there are richer and abundant memorials of St. John the Divine--an\nimperishable name because that of the Beloved Disciple of Him Whose name\nis above every name.\n\n\n\n\n_CHAPTER XXXII_\n\n_A Retrospect_\n\n\nHow wonderful and charming a history is that of St. John! Our glimpses\nof him have been few and often-times indistinct; but they have been\nenough in number and clearness to reveal a noble and lovable character.\n\nWe saw him first on the sea-shore of Gennesaret, not differing from any\nother Galilean boy. We watched him playing and fishing with his\nBethsaidan companions, none of them thinking of how long their\nfriendship would be continued, or in what new and strange circumstances\nof joy and sorrow, hope and fear, disappointment and glad surprises,\nthat companionship would become closer and closer.\n\nWe saw John in his rambles about his home, amid scenes beautiful in\nthemselves, which became sacred because of what he there beheld and\nheard.\n\nWe discovered his relationship to a child in Nazareth whom he did not\nknow at first as the most wonderful being in the world.\n\nWe entered his home and visited the school where he was taught of Him\nwho was called the coming Messiah; but who had already come, though his\nparents and teachers knew it not.\n\nWe followed him as a Jewish boy into the Temple, whose glories were to\nbecome more glorious in his manhood by what he beheld therein.\n\nWe saw him on the Jordan, standing with his kindred and namesake, who\npointed him to Jesus as the Messiah for whom he had been looking. From\nthat hour we have known him as a disciple of Jesus, later as one of his\ntwelve Apostles, then one of the chosen three, then the one--the beloved\nDisciple.\n\nThrough his eyes we have beheld the wonderful works of our Lord: with\nhis ears we have heard the most wonderful words ever spoken to man. We\nhave caught glimpses of him in most wonderful scenes which he was almost\nthe only one to behold--amid the glories of the transfiguration, in the\ndeath-chamber changed to that of life, in the shadows of Gethsemane.\n\nWe have learned through John the sacredness of human friendships, made\ncloser and holier by friendship with the loved and loving Lord. He has\nbeen our guide to the Upper Room of joy and sadness; to the Priestly\nPalace of suffering and of shame; to the cross of agony and death; to\nthe tomb of surprise and exaltation; to the mount of final blessing and\nascension.\n\n[Illustration: PERGAMOS AND THE RUINS OF THE CHURCH OF ST. JOHN\n              _Old Engraving_ Page 233]\n\nJohn saw what kings and prophets longed to see, but died without the\nsight--the Messiah come. He witnessed probably all the miracles of\nJesus, from his first in Cana as a guest, to his last on the sea-shore\nas a host--the signs of divine power inspired by pity and love. He\nlooked upon the enthusiastic but mistaken throng who in Galilee would\nforce upon Jesus an unwelcome crown; then upon the multitudes who hailed\nhim with hosannas on Olivet; then the maddened crowd who shouted through\nthe streets of Jerusalem, \"Crucify Him.\" He witnessed Christ's movements\nwhen the multitudes gathered about Him for instruction and healing, and\nwhen he withdrew from them to pray. His eyes were dazzled by the\nbrightness of the transfiguration as he looked upon the form which at\nlast was enshrouded in darkness on Calvary. With another vision he\nbeheld that form in Heaven itself.\n\nOn the Jordan he beheld Jesus as the Lamb of God which was to be offered\nas a sacrifice. He saw the cross become His altar of sacrifice, and then\nin Heaven discerned Him as the \"Lamb as it had been slain.\" He was\nwitness of Christ's joys and sorrows, shame and suffering, humiliation\nand exaltation, entering into them more fully than did any other human\nbeing.\n\nFrom the hour in which John stood with the Baptist who told him to\nbehold Jesus, his eye was upon Him, until, because there was no more\nfor him to behold of his Lord on earth, the angels asked, \"Why stand ye\ngazing?\" Having seen Him \"lifted up\" on a beclouded cross, he saw Him\n\"taken up\" as a glorious \"cloud received Him out of sight.\"\n\nJohn heard wondrous things. He became familiar with his Lord's voice,\nits tones of instruction and exhortation, warning and reproof,\ninvitation and affection, forgiveness and benediction, prayer and\npraise, depression and agony, joy and triumph. He was no careless\nlistener to the words spoken to Jesus--those of inquiry and pleading,\nhypocrisy and contempt, mockery and deceit, hatred and love. Beside his\nLord, he heard saintly voices, and the voice of the Father.\n\nMuch that John saw and heard when with his Lord he has made known. We\nimagine some things were too tender and sacred for others' ears:\nconcerning such his lips were sealed. Other things were too precious for\nsilence: of such he is the most distinct echo. His Gospel is often a\ncommentary on the other three. He was an eye-witness of most of the\nevents of which he tells. His Gospel is rich with illuminated texts.\nHaving the best understanding of \"the words of the Lord Jesus,\" he is\nthe fullest reporter of His teachings. Having the deepest insight into\nthe heart of hearts of his Lord, he is its clearest revealer. While many\nothers grasped separate truths, he placed them side by side in harmony\nand unity, and thus held them up and revealed them to mankind. His\nLord's words were the most sacred treasures of his memory: his greatest\njoy was to bring them forth for others to view and admire, that they too\nmight be inspired thereby to \"love and good works.\" Without erasing\naught from the pictures drawn by his fellow-Evangelists, he has added\nto, and filled in, and re-touched with a sympathizing hand. So familiar\nhad he become with his Lord's countenance, with all its varied\nexpressions, and so skilful was he in reproducing them, that his\ncomposite portrait is the most beautiful and impressive of all attempts\nto portray \"the human face divine.\"\n\nStanding outside of some grand cathedral, before its stained window, we\nmark the figures with their rich depth of color. Passing within we see\nthe same figures, but the outline is more distinct; the colors are\nricher, and with more harmonious blending. So sometimes we seem to stand\nwith the three Evangelists outside the Gospel Cathedral; and then with\nJohn within.\n\nLike Ruth in the field of Boaz he followed the reapers--the first three\nEvangelists in the field of their Lord,--to \"glean even among the\nsheaves.\" He \"gleaned in the field until evening,\" the close of the long\nday of his life, \"and beat out that he had gleaned,\" and gave it to\nothers. There was not need for them to ask him, \"Where hast thou\ngleaned?\" There was only one field from which such harvest could be\ngathered. Rather could they say as Naomi to Ruth, \"Blessed is he that\ndid take knowledge of thee.\"\n\nThere have been more noted illustrations of change in character than is\nfurnished in St. John. His early life was not profligate like that of\nJohn Newton or John Bunyan. And yet the change in him was marked enough\nto furnish an exhibition of contrast, showing the power of Christ's\nteachings and example upon him, until he reached an unwonted degree of\nperfection. He combined the noblest traits of the loftiest manhood and\nwomanhood, with the simplicity of childhood. His human kinship to Jesus\nillustrated but faintly the closer and tenderer relation formed by the\ntransforming of his spirit into the likeness of Christ. This was more\nroyal than any merely human relationship. It was the closest relation of\nwhich we know of the perfect Christ with imperfect man. We have watched\nthe changes in John's spirit, and seen his imperfections smoothed away,\nand his character so polished that it became the brightest reflector of\nthe image of Jesus Christ. Yet from the first there were budding virtues\nin him which Mary Magdalene's supposed gardener brought to perfection.\n\n[Illustration: RUINS OF LAODICEA _Old Engraving_ Page 233]\n\nIn history John stands and must ever stand alone. He was one of the\ntwo who first accepted the call of Christ to come to Him: he was the\nlast of the Apostles to repeat, in another and yet as true a sense, that\ninvitation to multitudes of men. He was one of those two who first saw\nwhat may be called the beginning of the Christian Church, in the little\nbooth by the Jordan: and the last one of the Twelve to remember its\nfuller establishments in the Upper Chamber of Jerusalem. He was the last\nman who had seen the last prophet who told of the coming Messiah; and\nwas the last Evangelist to tell that He had come. He was one of the\nthree who were the last to behold the Shechinah, and to whom came the\nvoice of God the Father.\n\nJohn was the lone disciple in the palace of the high priest, witnessing\nthe injustice, mockery, and cruelty before Pilate; the last one with\nwhom the Lord spoke and on whom His eye rested before His death. He was\nthe lone disciple to gaze upon the cross and witness the dying agonies;\nthe first to look into the deserted tomb; the first of whom we are told\nthat he believed the Lord had risen therefrom. The last survivor of the\nApostolic band, he had the fullest opportunity to witness the fulfilment\nof prophecies of which he was a careful student and clear interpreter.\nHe saw the sad close of the Jewish dispensation, and the glorious\nbeginning of Christianity. He saw the Holy City overthrown, as Christ\ndeclared to Him on Olivet that it would be, and had a vision of the New\nJerusalem of which the old was a consecrated type, at last profaned.\n\nOf the golden Apostolic chain he was the last link binding the Church to\nits Lord. He was the last known human kindred of the Son of Man. The\nlast words of inspiration were spoken to and recorded by him. He was the\nlatest prophet, historian, and Evangelist. One of the first to say, \"I\nhave seen the Messiah,\" he was the last to say, \"I have seen the Lord.\"\n\nWe have caught glimpses of St. John in the early days of Christianity,\nas a light and a pillar, a teacher and a guide. Sometimes for years\ntogether he has been hidden from our view, and then has emerged with a\nyet brighter halo around his head. We have watched him on a lonely isle\ngazing into heaven, beholding glories of which he gives us hints, but\nwhich he tells us he cannot fully describe.\n\nBecause of his relation to the Lord, the fisher boy unknown beyond the\nhamlet of Bethsaida two thousand years ago is \"spoken of\" as truly as\nMary of Bethany, whose memory he especially has made sacred and\nperpetual. Wherever the Gospel is preached he too is remembered, honored\nand loved.\n\nBecause of his relation to the Lord, towns in lands of which he never\nknew, bear his name; in which people are taught by his words and\ninspired by his spirit. In them many a family is known by the name St.\nJohn. Rivers in their flow bear his name from generation to generation\non earth, while he points men to the pure river \"proceeding out of the\nthrone of God and the Lamb,\" which was \"showed\" him in Patmos. Societies\nfor fraternal fellowship and mutual helpfulness are called after him.\nSt. John's day has a sacred place in the calendar. Many a rural chapel\nand stately city church are reminders of him. The richness of his\ngraces, and the yet future of his saintly influence, are symbolized in\nthe yet unfinished temple of surpassing grandeur in the City of New\nYork,--\"The Cathedral of St. John the Divine.\"\n\nFrom all these earthly scenes in which we have beheld him, to which\nhistory and tradition have pointed us, and from those things which are\nmemorials of him, we turn to the Heavenly scenes which he bids us behold\nas they were revealed to him. Thither we follow him after all his trials\nand labors and triumphs of earth. With reverence and gladness for him,\nwe listen to the voice of the Lord saying to him what He had told him to\nsay to the Churches of Asia:--\"Because thou didst overcome I give thee\n'to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of\nGod.' Thou shalt 'not be hurt with the second death.' I give thee 'a\nwhite stone, and upon the stone a new name written.' I give thee 'the\nmorning star.' 'I will in no wise blot thy name out of the book of life!\nI make you a pillar in the temple of My God.' O John, rememberest thou\nthy petition and that of thy brother who has long been with Me,--'Grant\nunto us that we may sit, one on Thy right hand, and one on Thy left hand\nin Thy glory'? Thou thoughtest that 'glory' was an earthly throne, which\nthou never sawest. But thou hast overcome thy pride and ambition, thy\njealous and revengeful spirit. Thou hast triumphed over those who were\nthine enemies because thou wast My friend. Thou didst see My agonies and\nvictories in Gethsemane and on Calvary. Thou didst take up My cry on My\ncross concerning My work on earth, and sound it forth,--'It is\nfinished.' Dost thou remember My final promise to him that overcometh,\nwhich I made from this My true throne of glory, through thee, 'in the\nisle that is called Patmos'--precious name even here because of thy\n'testimony for' Me. That promise I now fulfil in thee. O John, one of My\nchosen Twelve on earth; yea more, one of My chosen three; yet more, My\nbeloved one, here in Heaven, now, 'Sit down with Me on My throne, as I\nalso overcame and sat down with My Father in His throne.'\"\n\n\n\n\n_CHAPTER XXXIII_\n\n_Legends and Traditions of St. John_\n\n\nAfter closing the history of St. John, we linger over the traditions\nthat cluster about his later years. They reveal the feelings of the\nearly Church toward him who was the last of the Apostolic band, and the\nlast who had seen their Lord.\n\nThere is one legend so beautiful, so much like him, that we can almost\nbelieve it as having a fitting place in his history. It belongs to the\ntime when he preached in the magnificent Church which Christians had\nreared for him in Ephesus. We may not credit the story that on his brow\nhe wore a golden plate engraven with the inscription, \"Holiness to the\nLord,\" but we can almost imagine it written there. His memorable\nappearance and his tender manner, the loving voice with which he told\nthe story of his Lord, fastened all eyes upon him, and opened all ears\nto his message of salvation. There was one, a young man, who standing in\nthe distance, looked and listened with such eager interest as to attract\nthe attention of the Apostle. In repentance and faith he found the peace\nwhich nothing else can give. He was baptized and numbered with the\nEphesian Christians. St. John took special interest in him, training him\nin Christian doctrine, and preparing him for a useful life. When the\nhour for John's banishment came, in his anxiety for the youth, he\ncommitted him to the care of the Bishop of the place, whom he charged to\nbe faithful in teaching and spiritual guidance.\n\nBut the youth was exposed to many temptations from the heathen about\nhim. Their songs and dances and wine again charmed him as they did\nbefore he heard the preaching of John. He yielded to their influences,\nand renounced his profession of Christianity. In the absence of the\nApostle, the reproofs of the Bishop only maddened him. He no longer\nattended the services of the Church, or sought the companionship of\nChristians. Having entered the paths of sin, he wandered farther and\nfarther therein. At last he committed a crime against the government. In\nfear of punishment he fled from Ephesus, and joined a company of robbers\nand bandits in the wild ravines of the mountains. Though young in years,\nhe was so cunning and bold in crime that he became the leader of the\nband. Inspired by his daring spirit they were ready for deeds of\nviolence that made them the terror of the whole region.\n\nOn John's return from his exile in Patmos to Ephesus, he longed to know\nof the welfare of the young disciple, who had been to him as an adopted\nson, ever present to his mind and heart in his lonely island. The\nBishop, with downcast eyes, sorrow and shame, declared, \"He is dead.\"\n\"How?\" asked John, \"and by what death?\" \"He is dead to God,\" said the\nBishop. \"He has turned out wicked and abandoned, and at last a robber.\"\n\nJohn rent his garments as a sign of distress. Weeping he cried with a\nloud lamentation, \"Alas! alas! to what a guardian have I trusted our\nbrother!\" The tender, faithful heart of the aged Apostle yearned for the\nyoung man. He was ready to say, \"How can I give thee up!\" He knew the\nmercy of God, and the power of love, human and divine; and determined\nthat the robber-chieftain should know it too.\n\nImmediately he procured a horse and guide, and rode toward the\nstronghold of the robbers. It was in a wild mountainous ravine, with\nrushing torrents and rugged rocks overgrown with brushwood and luxuriant\nherbage. It was a place of grandeur, and yet of gloom--a fitting haunt\nfor the robber-band. Few travelers passed that way, and that hurriedly\nand in terror.\n\nAt last the Apostle and his guide heard from behind the rocks the hoarse\nshouts of revelry. But he heeded them not, so intent was he on his\nerrand. He was seeking the prodigal, his adopted son--who was not\nseeking the loving father. He drew the reins of his horse, while he\ntold his guide that their journey was ended, and prayed for themselves\nand for him whom they sought. His nearness was discovered by one of the\nband, who led him to the rest, and bound his guide. There was a great\ncontrast between the old man with his snowy locks and beard, in his\nhumble garb; and the younger, the wild looking bandit with his streaming\nhair and loose white kilt; between the defenceless captive, and his\ncaptors armed with Roman swords, long lances, and bows and arrows before\nwhich he seemed perfectly powerless.\n\nAs he looked upon their hardened features they looked into his benignant\nface, and stood awed in his presence. Their rough manner, words and\ntones were changed by his smile and even friendly greeting. He made no\nresistance. His only motion was a wave of his hand. It was mightier than\nsword or lance or bow. His only request was, \"Take me to your captain.\"\nOver-awed by the dignity of his manner and his calmness, the captors\nobeyed their captive and silently led him to their chief. In an open\nspace the tall handsome young man was seated on his horse, wearing\nbright armor and breastplate, and holding the spear of a warrior. At a\nglance he recognized his old master, instructor and guide, who had been\nto him as a father. His first thought was, \"Why should this holy man\nseek me?\" He answered his own question, saying to himself, \"He has come\nwith just and angry threatenings which I well deserve.\" John had been\ncalled \"a son of thunder.\" As such the trembling chief thought of him,\nready to hear him pronounce an awful woe. So with a mingled cry of fear\nand anguish, he turned his horse and would have fled--a strange sound\nand sight for his fellow-robbers.\n\nBut St. John had no thunder tones for him, no threats of coming\npunishment. The kind shepherd had found the sheep that had been lost.\nThe father had found the prodigal, without waiting for the wanderer's\nreturn. John sprang toward him. He held out his arms in an affectionate\nmanner. He called him by tender names. With earnest entreaty he\nprevailed on him to stop and listen. As young Saul, when near Damascus\ncaught sight of Jesus and heard His voice, dropped from his horse to the\nground; so did the young chieftain at the sight and voice of St. John.\nWith reverence he kneeled before him, and in shame bowed his head to the\nground. Like Peter who had denied the same Lord, the young man wept\nbitterly. His cries of self-reproach and his despair echoed strangely in\nthat rocky defile. As St. John had wept for him, he wept for himself.\nThose were truly penitential tears. John still spoke encouragingly. The\nyoung man lifted his head and embraced the knees of the Apostle,\nsobbing out, \"No hope, no pardon.\" Then remembering the deeds of his\nright hand, defiled with blood, he hid it beneath his robe. St. John\nfell on his knees before him and enfolded him in his arms. He grasped\nthe hand that had been hidden, and bathed it in tears as if he would\nwash away its bloody stains, and then kissed it, in thought of the good\nhe said it should yet perform.\n\nThat hand cast away the sword it had wielded in murder, and lovingly,\ngratefully held that of John, as the Apostle, and the robber-chief now\npenitent and forgiven, together left the wilderness; within sight of the\nastonished band; some of whom were greatly touched by what they had seen\nand heard, while others were ready to scoff at what they called the\nweakness of their leader.\n\nAnother tradition is a beautiful illustration of the tenderness and\nsympathy which we may judge was increasingly manifest in St. John's\ncharacter, the spirit of the Lord \"whose tender mercies are over all His\nworks,\" the spirit St. John had seen in his Master who noticed the\nsparrow falling to the ground. True it is,\n\n    \"He prayeth well who loveth well\n     Both man, and bird, and beast.\n     He prayeth best who loveth best\n       All things, both great and small;\n     For the dear Lord who loveth us,\n       He made and loveth all.\"\n\nThere was a young tame partridge in which St. John took delight and\nfound recreation in many an hour from which he had turned from labor for\nrest. A young hunter anxiously seeking the great Apostle was surprised\nto find him in what seemed a frivolous employment. He doubted for a\nmoment whether this could be he. John asked, \"What is that thing which\nthou carriest in thy hand?\" \"A bow,\" replied the hunter. \"Why then is it\nunstrung?\" said John. \"Because,\" was the answer, \"were I to keep it\nalways strung it would lose its spring and become useless.\" \"Even so,\"\nreplied the Apostle, \"be not offended at my brief relaxation, which\nprevents my spirit from waxing faint.\"\n\nWe have already alluded to a tradition which is perhaps the best known\nof all, and universally accepted. In Ephesus, in extreme old age, too\ninfirm to walk, St. John was carried as a little child to the church\nwhere he had so long preached. In feebleness his ministry had ended. The\nlast sermon as such had been preached. He could no longer repeat the\nwords of Christ he had heard on the mountain, and the sea-shore, and in\nthe Temple. He could no longer tell of the wonders of which he was the\nonly surviving witness. In Christians he saw the child-spirit, whether\nin old or young. In his old age he was a father to all such as none\nother could claim to be. His great theme --his only theme--was love. So\nhis only words, again and again repeated as he faced the congregation\nwere \"Little children, love one another.\" And when asked why he repeated\nthe same thing over and over, he told them it was the Lord's command,\nand if they obeyed it, that was enough.\n\nTraditions alone tell of St. John's death. One claims that as his\nbrother James was the first of the Apostles to suffer martyrdom, he was\nthe last. Others tell of miraculous preservation from death;--that he\nwas thrown into a caldron of boiling oil, and drank hemlock, without any\neffect upon him. Sometimes he is pictured as holding a cup from which a\nviper, representing poison, is departing without doing him any harm.\n\nThere is still another story concerning his death. On the last Lord's\nDay of his life, after the Holy Communion, he told some of his disciples\nto follow him with spades. Leading them to a place of burial, he bid\nthem dig a grave into which he placed himself, and they buried him up to\nthe neck. Then in obedience to his command they placed a cloth over his\nface and completed the burial. With weeping they turned away and\nreported what had been done. But his disciples felt that, not the grave,\nbut the great church was the fitting place for his burial. So with\nsolemn service they went to bring his body thither. But on reaching the\ngrave they found it empty, as he and Peter had found the tomb of their\nLord on Easter morning. Then they remembered the words of Christ to\nPeter concerning John, \"If I will that he abide till I come, what is\nthat to thee?\"\n\nBut there is another tradition stranger still. People refused to believe\nthat St. John was dead, even though he had been supposed to be, and had\nbeen buried. For centuries his grave was shown at Ephesus. Pilgrims\nvisiting it beheld a wonderful sight. The ground above it rose and fell,\nas if the great Apostle were still breathing as he had done for one\nhundred years, while treading the earth which now guarded his immortal\nsleep.\n\nSuch stories seem strange to us when we remember the chapter he wrote to\ncorrect a mistake made by those who misunderstood his Master's word, and\nbelieved that he would not die until the Lord returned to the earth.\n\nHe probably escaped martyrdom which befell his fellow-Apostles. Dying,\nprobably in Ephesus, we think of him as peacefully entering the mansions\nof which he had heard his Lord tell in far-off Jerusalem nearly seventy\nyears before.","title":"A Life of St. John for the Young","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":56078}