compare the subject matter and the style of the Epistles with the fourth Gospel, it is manifest that they must have proceeded from the same author. In the Epistles, as in the Gospel, we find "the same delicacy and diffidence, the same lofty calmness and composure, and especially the same truly Christian modesty, that cause him to retire to the background as an apostle, and to say altogether so little of himself: he only desires to counsel and warn, and to remind his readers of the sublime truth they have once acquired; and the higher he stands the less he is disposed to humble the brethren' by his great authority and directions." 1

The simple, sublime thought, that lies at the foundation of the First Epistle is FELLOWSHIP; "fellowship in its twofold aspect: the union of believers with God and His Son Jesus Christ, and the union of believers with one another." 2 It admits of these five divisions :

1. The Nature of Fellowship; presented (1) As effected by the incarnation and death of Christ, chap. i. 1-7. (2) As affording no ground for the denial of our sinfulness, chap. i. 8—ii. 5. (3) As the only efficient basis of brotherly love, chap. ii. 6-11. (4) Reason for addressing all Christians, the feeblest and youngest, on this subject, chap. ii. 12-14. (5) Non-fellowship with the world, chap. ii. 15-17. (6) Non-fellowship with antichristian error, chap. ii. 18-29. (7) Relation of fellowship to sonship and future glory, chap. iii. 1, 2.

2. The Fruit of Fellowship, Holiness. (1) Its binding nature, chap. iii. 3-9. (2) Brotherly love one of the fruits of holiness, chap. iii. 10-18. (3) Other fruits, chap. iii. 19-24.

3. The Law of Fellowship, Truth, chap. iv. 1-6.

4. The Life of Fellowship, Love, chap. iv. 7-21.

5. The Root of Fellowship, Faith. (1) Its efficacy, chap. v. 1-5. (2) The three witnesses to its all-sufficient foundation, chap. v. 6-12. (3) Faith in intercessory prayer, or prayer for one another, chap. v. 13-17. (4) Conclusion, Christians urged to maintain fellowship through Christ, chap. v. 18-21.

It has been a question whether the Second Epistle is addressed to a church or the Church at large, ékλEKTη Kupią, “the elect lady," i.e., under the symbol of a godly woman; or to some individual woman, unnamed,

noted for her piety; or whether Kupía is to be taken for the proper name of the woman addressed. The weight of criticism seems to favour the view that it is to be taken as a proper name. This has been maintained by Benson, Bengel, S. G. Lange, Lücke, Alford, and others. The Epistle, in its few brief sentences, expresses great tenderness and affection for the elect Curia and her children. It enforces the commandment of brotherly love, with a warning against the doctrine of false teachers and against fellowship with them. It was written mainly to give utterance to John's gratification at the discovery, apparently made on one of his apostolical visitations in a distant city, that the children of this pious woman were walking in the truth; which is followed by an exhortation to observe the commandment as to brotherly love, and a warning against false teachers and fellowship with them.

The Third Epistle is addressed to Gaius, a prominent man in the congregation of which he was a member, though it cannot be determined whether he was an elder or held any office in the church. After a salutation containing the remarkable wish that he might prosper and be in health "even as his soul prospered," the apostle refers with special commendation to his hospitality to missionary brethren. He next deplores the opposition of the ambitious Diotrephes, and warns against his example. Finally he commends Demetrius, the probable bearer of this Epistle, to the friendly and Christian regard of Gaius. It admirably sketches these three distinct portraits.

In such care for the churches, and for individual believers, the old age and life of the apostle passed calmly away. He was "diligent in business." He not only preached, but was active with the pen, whereby he became a permanent witness for the truth and an instructor of the Church. These three Epistles were the last composed of his inspired writings, when he could not have been less than ninety years of age. They breathe the very spirit of heaven, and bear marks of a godly man, full of affection as well as of years, who was looking forward to the grave as not far distant. They contain the concluding testimony of the last survivor of the apostles, the last of the race of inspired men, and his tender exhortations to holiness and love. Love is the theme on which he dilates as he draws near to that world the very atmosphere of which is love, and to the God who is love.

When in extreme old age he was too weak to walk into the assembly, but, as Jerome1 relates, was still borne thither; unable to deliver a long discourse, he would lift his trembling hands, and simply say, "Little children, love one another"; and repeat these words again and again. When asked why he constantly repeated this ex

1 Epist. ad Gal., vi.

pression, his answer was, "Because this is the command of the Lord; and nothing is done unless this thing be done." He probably, of all the apostles (unless we also except Peter, with whom he had been so intimately associated), was the only one who died a natural death.

He continued to the beginning of the second century, to at least the third year of the emperor Trajan, and could not have been less than one hundred years old at the time of his departure. The event took place at Ephesus, and his sacred dust, as we are allowed to believe, awaits the resurrection among the sepulchres of Mount Prion. Gently he languished into life. Slowly he sank to his rest, like the descending sun of a long summer day to its setting. There was no sudden extinguishment of apostolic light. One apostle after another went to his rest; but the life of the youngest of their number was prolonged to the greatest age of all. Nearly or quite threescore years and ten after the crucifixion that light still glimmered; and when it went out, it was not as the sudden gust blows out a candle, but it burned to the socket. very And when men were ready to say, "Now it is gone," it would flash up and reveal those words which might well be written in letters of gold, "Little children, love one another."

The last three years of the reign of Domitian form one of the most frightful periods in the history of ancient persecution. The most distinguished and virtuous had to bleed for their excellence, or because their virtues distinguished them. He banished literary and cultivated men from Rome, and claimed divine honours for himself. Flavius Clemens, the consul, one of his cousins, being accused of atheism and Jewish manners, the common charge against Christians, was put to death; and his wife Domitilla, the emperor's niece, was banished. Ecclesiastical writers attribute to him a general persecution of the Christians; in which doubtless many known and dear to St. John perished. Domitian fell by the dagger of the assassin, in the year 96. Thus perished the last of the Cæsars, of whom it has been truly said, only four deserve the respect of posterity; Julius, Augustus, Vespasian and Titus. "Their unparalleled vices," says Gibbon, "and the splendid theatre on which they were acted have saved them from oblivion. The dark unrelenting Tiberius, the furious Caligula, the feeble Claudius, the profligate and cruel Nero, the beastly Vitellius, and the timid inhuman Domitian are condemned to everlasting infamy." 192 The apostle John, born under the reign of the first of these who received the title of emperor, (to wit, Augustus, who is reckoned the second in the list of the Cæsars) was contemporary with all the rest and probably outlived the last.

1 "Et si solum fiat, sufficit."

2 Decline and Fall, chap. iii., p. 96 ed. Boston, 1853.

Domitian was succeeded by Nerva, who reigned but two years and was followed A.D. 98 by Trajan. At an early period in his reign it is supposed that the apostle John closed his pilgrimage,1 and went to join the celestial companies of whom he had visions in Patmos. He whom Jesus loved, and who had felt the throbbings of the heart of eternal mercy, sees Him face to face and is like Him for ever.

The legendary history of St. John is singularly vivid and beautiful, and in some of its parts not without a good degree of probability. It is on the testimony of Tertullian, that the statement of his being carried to Rome, and there cast into a caldron of boiling oil which had no power to harm him, almost exclusively rests. Jerome, who twice refers to this subject, in one instance gives Tertullian as his authority, and makes the further statement that it was by Nero 3 he was immersed in the oil; and adds that he came out more pure and vigorous than when he was put in. In the other passage he speaks of the apostle as having been immediately afterwards banished to Patmos, i.e. by Nero. Tertullian, who wrote near the end of the second century, does not appear to have had any doubt of the truth of the statement made by him. Jerome writes as if he cordially accepted it. Cave, Tillemont, and other learned men have defended it, or have referred to it as of unquestionable authenticity. But the learned and critical Mosheim thinks it admits of doubt, and hazards the conjecture that the account might be nothing more than a figure, which had been made use of by some one, to convey a strong idea of the peril to which St. John had been exposed, and that Tertullian, who was strongly predisposed to catch at everything that had the appearance of a miracle, instead of taking what was said in a metaphorical sense, understood it literally. Neither Eusebius nor Origen, who both refer to the persecutions of St. John, by name make any allusion to his having been cast into the boiling oil; and no other record remains of

1 Euseb., Hist. Eccl., iii. 23.

2 In an apostrophe to the church at Rome, in his work, De Præscrip. Hæret., after speaking of it as the place where St. Peter and St. Paul gained the crown of martyrdom, he adds: "ubi apostolus Joannes posteaquam, in oleum igneum immersus, nihil passus est."

3" Refert Tertullianus quod a Nerone missus in ferventis olei doleum purior et vegetior exierit, quam intraverit."—Adv. Jovin., i., c. 14. Moreri writes: "Il en sortit plus sain et plus fort qu'il n'y étoit entré." Dict., Art. Jean. And Tillemont: "Il en sortit mesme encore plus net et plus vigoureux qu'il n'y estoit entré." Jean," Art. V.

.

4 "Statimque relegatus in Pathmos insulam sit." Comment. on Matt. xx. 23. 5 He makes the emperor to have been Domitian, and says: "that Providence that secured the three Hebrew captives in the flames of a burning furnace brought this holy man safe out of this one would have thought unavoidable destruction." 6 First Three Centuries, I. Cent., § 36, Note; Life of St. John, § 5.