IX.

The John of the Gospels.

"Ye know what things I saw; then came a test, My first, befitting me who so had seen :

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Forsake the Christ thou sawest transfigured, Him 'Who trod the sea and brought the dead to life? 'What should wring this from thee !'-ye laugh and ask. What wrung it? Even a torchlight and a noise,

The sudden Roman faces, violent hands,

And fear of what the Jews might do! Just that,

And it is written, I forsook and fled':

There was my trial, and it ended thus.

Ay, but my soul had gained its truth, could grow:
Another year or two,-what little child,
What tender woman that had seen no least

Of all my sights, but barely heard them told,
Who did not clasp the cross with a light laugh,
Or wrap the burning robe round, thanking God?"

WE

E are come now to the Apostle who for saintliness of character has justly won the warmest affection of the Christian Church. There is however reason to believe that in one respect at least full justice has not been done him. A tendency prevails among us to exaggerate and sharpen contrasts; the mind fastens upon some prominent feature in a man's character and remembers him by it to the ignoring of other features which, if taken into account, might considerably modify the general view. Thus, when it was desired to frame a conception of St. John, the world sought to distinguish him from the fiery James on the one hand and the impetuous Peter on the other; and, perceiving that there was in his temperament an ingredient of gentleness not found in either of these, came to dwell upon this gentleness and magnify it into his leading characteristic. In Western art he is always represented as "young, or in the prime of life; with little or no beard; flowing or curling hair, generally of a pale brown or golden hue, to express the delicacy

of his nature." Just as in later ages the virginmother was exalted as queen of heaven by a spirit which failed to understand that in Christ Jesus was neither male nor female but the blended grace of both sexes; so were men led to insist on the womanly element in John's character as a counterpoise to the masculine strength resident in Peter.

But we may do well to pause before accepting this current opinion. Albeit the gospel regenerates the man who is in Christ, we never find it change the fundamental cast of his mind. In this respect the transformation of the lion into the lamb is an inaccurate image of the effect of religious principle established in the heart. Fairer examples of its working are given in the lives of such men as Peter and Paul, whose idiosyncrasies remained after conversion as before, the proportion of the elements and their sphere of action alone being changed. The apostle John was called by our Lord a son of Thunder as well as his brother James, nor have we any ground for supposing the name less applicable to the one than the other; indeed the history records several occasions on which both were united in true Boanerges acts. This being so, it does not seem at all likely that John's youthful energy would ever be so crushed out as to make him in maturer years tame-spirited or effeminate. All we are warranted in expecting is that under his Saviour's influence the flame of his zeal would be purified from inconstancy, passion and selfishness.

Mrs. Jameson, Sacred and Legendary Art, p. 159.

Moreover, while we may be tempted to draw out contrasts between John and his fellows, it behoves us to bear in mind the assimilating effect of his association with them: if their corners were rounded off by his hand, his own countenance would in turn be sharpened by these his friends. And while from comrades like Simon his soul would gain robustness, it is yet more certain that he would be continually drawing resolution from Him who set his face as a flint against the vice and hypocrisy of the day. Christian art is indeed inconsistent in her treatment of the Apostle; for although, as has been said, he is portrayed by her as a frail youth, she has yet given him. for a symbol the eagle, which kingly bird

Sailing with supreme dominion
Through the azure deeps of air"

may be a fit emblem of his wide range amid the mysteries of divine truth, but with its strong sweep of wing, its distant ken and sharp talon must be taken as an image also of his penetration of intellect and lofty spirit.

The close intimacy in which John lived with his brother James and both the sons of Jonas has made unavoidable the anticipation of many points in his history. We are already acquainted with his family in its Galilean home, with his early knowledge of the household at Nazareth-a village but five leagues distant from that home-and with his discipleship under the Baptist; we have observed him in his first interview with the revealed Messiah, have seen him return to his fishing, and months later obey the sum