PREFACE TO VOL. III.

S. JOHN was born in Bethsaida. He was the son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother of S. James the Greater. He was also cousin to Our Lord, and called His brother, by the other Evangelists. He was the youngest of the Apostles, and the favourite of Our Lord. He is called by the Greeks The Divine, by the oldest of the Fathers Пaplévos (the Virgin), and by all ages the Beloved Disciple.

He is supposed to have written his Gospel about the close of the first century in 98 or 99, sixty-seven years after the death of Our Lord, and two before his own.

He remained in Jerusalem whilst Our Lady lived, then took the spiritual charge of Asia Minor, and finally settled down as bishop of Ephesus.

In one of the persecutions under Domitian, he was brought to Rome, cast into a cauldron of boiling oil, and came out of it, not only uninjured, but younger-looking and fresher than when he went in.

He was then exiled to the Island of Patmos, where he wrote the Apocalypse. One of his Epistles is supposed to have been a preface to his Gospel, but this is only a conjecture. When Nerva became Emperor, John was released from exile.

He then returned to Ephesus, where he used to be brought to the church door, and preach the monotonous sermon to the people-my little children love one another.

He was requested by many to write a supplementary Gospel, and give under his own hand the omissions he spoke of in the accounts handed down of Our Lord. Heresies against Our Lord's divinity were beginning to appear, and people wished for some

authentic arguments, more clearly expressed than what were gleaned from the previous writers. A general fast was ordered, prayers were sent up to Heaven.

When he began to write "Ev apx. In principio, there were peals of thunder heard, and as he proceeded in his narrative the Holy Spirit supplied him with his inspiration. He is likened to an eagle because he soared so high, even unto Heaven. The others began on earth, John went to Heaven.

His Greek is simple and artless, yet many find it purer than the more elaborate style of S. Luke. His theme is pitched upon a higher key, and his simple language but allows us to see more clearly into the sublimity of his thoughts and of his doctrine.

Modern German rationalists have found fault with him and tried to disprove the authenticity of this Gospel. Their arguments are very poor and ably refuted by a recent commentator and Jesuit Father, named Corluy, Professor of Sacred Scripture in the University of Louvain. Others have likewise rebutted objections, but Pere Corluy seems to have taken them at their word and scattered them in a very few pages.

The theory started by some writers that S. John did not die at all; but, that he is reserved with Elias to come at the end of the world has few upholders at present. It never was solidly grounded. Throughout this Gospel and in his epistolary writings we find him brimming over with charity. He drank deep of this beautiful virtue from the bosom of Our Divine Lord.