touching the bier, as his Master did, at the gates of Nain, but as praying earnestly; and there seems to be the same distinction preserved between this miracle and those of our Lord as we notice in those recorded by Luke in the Acts, and those recorded in the Gospels. There are many other striking and beautiful legends of which as much cannot be said; for example, that John was made to drink of a poisoned cup, intended to cause his death, and suffered no harm from it; that no rain fell on the uncovered oratory near Ephesus, where the narrators of the story say that he penned his Gospel; that two young men, who had sold all their possessions to follow him, afterwards repented, and he sent them to gather pebbles and fagots, and on their return changed them into nuggets and ingots of gold, saying, "Take back your riches, as you regret having exchanged them for heaven"; that when he felt his death approaching he gave orders for the preparation of his grave, and when it was finished calmly laid himself down in it, and died, and there were strange movements in the earth that covered him, the dust gently heaving, like the covering of a couch beneath which one is quietly sleeping; and that sacred oil (according to some) and manna (according to others) might be gathered there that it was through his agency the great temple of Diana was at last reft of its magnificence and levelled with the ground. And so of the story that at Ephesus, as one who was a true priest of the Lord, he wore on his brow a plate of gold, lamina, with the sacred name engraved on it which was the badge of the Jewish pontiff. Credat Judæus Apella! It is here again not improbable that some strong statement of an early writer as to the new priesthood was misinterpreted, and that what was mere rhetoric was mistaken for veritable history.1 Most accounts of St. John's life give, as illustrating his character, some notice of his refusing to enter the bath at Ephesus because Cerinthus the heretic was within. It rests on the authority of Eusebius,2 as primarily given by Irenæus as a narrative orally delivered to his hearers by Polycarp; and on that of Epiphanius, who, with his accustomed inaccuracy, substitutes the name of Ebion for that of Cerinthus while evidently recording the same narrative. There are other important discrepancies in the two accounts, which serve to throw doubt over the whole and lead to the conclusion that the writers, in their imperfect knowledge of some actual incident, have ascribed to the apostle their own subjective states of feeling and disposition towards heretics. The conduct and words ascribed to the apostle are hardly consistent 1 For numerous stories of this kind see Lampe, Prolegomena in Joannem, I, vi. 7; and Cave's Lives, § 9. 2 Hist. Eccl., iv., chap. 14. with that sanctity and dignity wherewith he always appears in his writings and in sacred history. It is one of the early legends concerning this apostle that he was translated, like Enoch and Elijah; but in the middle ages, and even in comparatively modern times, the saying has been widely spread that he still lives on earth. The legendary interpretation of his Gospel (chap. xxi. 22), "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?" makes the words expressive of the mysterious survival of the apostle till the second coming of Christ. In the Menologium Græcum1 the grave into which St. John descends is, according to the legend, in the form of a cross. "In a series of the deaths of the apostles 2 St. John is ascending from the grave; for according to the Greek legend he died without pain or change, and immediately rose again in bodily form." In a small curious picture at Rome 3 there is a tomb something like the Xanthian tombs in form. One end is open, and St. John is seen issuing from it. The legend which supposes him preserved alive on the earth is interesting in the history of art, and has been treated in sculpture. As an illustration of the power which such legends exerted over the minds of men, and the way in which their influence might sometimes prove salutary in promoting deeds of kindness and charity, the following is taken from Mrs. Jameson's admirable work. King Edward the Confessor had a special veneration for St. John. One day returning from his church at Westminster, where he had been. hearing mass in honour of the evangelist, he was accosted by a pilgrim, who asked him for an alms for the love of God and St. John. The king drew from his finger a ring, and, unknown to any one, delivered it to the beggar. When the king had reigned twenty-four years, two pilgrims, Englishmen, in the Holy Land, who were about to return to England, were met by one who was also in the habit of a pilgrim, who inquired of what country they were; and being told, 'Of England,' he said to them, 'When ye shall have arrived in your own country, go to King Edward, and salute him in my name. Say to him that I thank him for the alms bestowed on me in a certain street in Westminster; for there on a certain day, as I begged of him an alms, he bestowed on me this ring. And ye shall carry it back to him, saying that in six months from this time he shall quit the world, and come and remain with me for ever.' "The pilgrims, being astonished, said, 'Who art thou, and where is thy dwelling-place ? ' And he answering said, I am John the Evan 1 Vatican MSS., tenth century. * MSS., ninth century, Paris National Library, referred to by Mrs. Jameson. 3 Vatican Christian Museum. Idem, page 160, vol. i. gelist. Edward, your king, is my friend, and for the sanctity of his life I hold him dear. Go now therefore, deliver him this message and this ring; and I will pray to God that ye may arrive safely in your own country.' He then vanished out of their sight. The pilgrims, praising and thanking the Lord for this vision, went on their journey. Arrived in England, they repaired to the king and delivered the ring and message. The king received the news joyfully, and conferred honour on the pilgrims. He then set himself to prepare for his departure from the world, and died according to the message he had received. According to one account, the pilgrims met him near his palace at Waltham, at a place since called Havering. This legend is represented along the top of the screen of Edward the Confessor's chapel, in three compartments." 1 It is a legend on which poets as well as artists have seized. One of the most celebrated poets of our day has made it the subject of the finale of the principal production of his pen; and for beauty of expression and conception it is worthy of him and the place he has assigned it. 2 But, in the words of Professor Plumptre, "we find it better and more satisfying to turn again for all our conceptions of the apostle's mind and character to the scanty records of the New Testament and the writings which he himself has left. The truest thought that we can attain to is still that he was 'the disciple whom Jesus loved,' returning that love with a deep, absorbing, and unwavering devotion. One aspect of that feeling is seen in the zeal for his Master's glory, the burning indignation against all that seemed to outrage it, which runs with its fiery gleam through his whole life, and makes him from first to last one of the sons of thunder.' To him, more than to any other disciple, there is no neutrality between Christ and Antichrist. The spirit of such a man is intolerant of compromises and concessions. The same strong personal affection shows itself in another form, in the chief characteristics of his Gospel. While the other evangelists record principally the discourses and parables which were spoken to the multitude, he treasures up every word and accent of dialogues and conversations which must have seemed to most men less conspicuous. In the absence of any recorded narrative of his work as a preacher, in the silence in which he appears to have kept for so many years, he comes before us as one who lives in the unseen, eternal world, rather than in that of secular 1 Sacred and Legendary Art, pp. 170, 171. 2 When calling on Mr. Longfellow at his home in Cambridge, in company with Professor Warren, now President of the Boston University, the poet presented the author with a copy of this gem before it was yet published, and explained the place it was destined to fill in the completed poem. or even spiritual activity. If there is less apparent power to enter into the minds and hearts of men of different temperament and education, less ability to become all things to all men, than there is in St. Paul, there is a perfection of another kind. The image mirrored in his soul is that of the Son of man, who is also the Son of God. He is the Apostle of Love, not because he starts from the easy temper of a general benevolence, nor again as being of a character soft, yielding, feminine; but because he has grown ever more and more into the likeness of Him whom he loved so truly. Nowhere is the vision of the Eternal Word, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, so unclouded; nowhere are there such distinctive personal reminiscences of the Christ karà σáρka, in His most distinctively human characteristics. It was this union of the two aspects of the truth which made him so truly the 'Theologus ' of the whole company of the apostles, the instinctive opponent of all forms of a mystical, or logical, or Docetic gnosticism." 1 See Smith's Dictionary of Bible, Art. John the Apostle. CHAPTER XV. ANALYSES OF THE EPISTLES, WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES. THEME OF THE FIRST EPISTLE.-FELLOWSHIP.-I. ITS NATURE, AS EFFECTED BY THE INCARNATION AND SACRIFICE OF CHRIST.—AS AFFORDING NO GROUND FOR THE DENIAL OF SINFULNESS.-AS THE ONLY SUFFICIENT BASIS OF BROTHERLY LOVE.-GREAT IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT TO ALL WORLD. NON-FELLOWSHIP CHRISTIANS.-NON-FELLOWSHIP WITH THE LOVE. WITH ANTICHRISTIAN ERROR.-ITS RELATION TO SONSHIP AND FUTURE OF THE FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF JOHN. SUBJECT OF THE EPISTLE.-Christian Fellowship in its twofold aspect; the union of believers with God and His Son Jesus Christ, and their union with one another. I. Fellowship, its Nature.-Chapter I. to III. 2. 1. The nature of fellowship presented as effected by the incarnation and death of Christ. I.] [Ver. 1-7. 1 THAT which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, 1 A comparison of the opening of this Epistle with that of the Gospel by the same writer shows a striking similarity. It is addressed to no particular place, person, or body of Christians; and while it was originally addressed to the churches of |