§. 23. On the record of St. John being cast into

boiling oil.

The few facts, of an indisputable characterthat is, drawn from the sources of Scripture-still before us, in regard to St. John, are only to be reached through a previous approach, in which the way must be slowly and carefully felt, in much cloud, obscurity and doubt involving each step. But this should not in the least dis

hearten us.

It may well be with us as with some traveller, resolute and earnest in his aim, who would readily pursue his way for some parts of his journey, amidst perplexity, and even many difficulties in ascertaining his course, if well assured that fair and renowned objects, either of nature or art, were thereby to be reached, for the reward of his pains". If, for a while, our materials must prove uncertain and traditional, there should not arise any faintness in research, still less any complaint that all is not placed before us just in that manner which we might naturally wish. On the contrary, let diligent and unprejudiced

m For instance, his being a sufferer, for the sake of Christ, on the isle of Patmos, and his receipt of messages in that place to the seven Asiatic churches, is a positive certainty, and on it, as such, due care must hereafter be employed in the course of these pages. But, on the other hand, his antecedent history, in connexion with that will and providence of God, which brought him to that place, is a subject for investigation, according to the testimonies, valuable no doubt, but confessedly uncertain, which we may possess, and to which we can have recourse.

use be made of such materials as we have. And here, accordingly, it may be well to introduce one particular narrative, namely, the supposed casting of St. John into the caldron of boiling oil at Rome, because, (while other narratives, such as the conversion of the Young Bandit and the Flight from the Bath, granting them to be true, are not of necessity connected with any one definite period of St. John's history,) this, as the first, or, at least an early example of those persecutions which he had to endure, and as a prelude to his banishment, cannot well be deferred".

But first, St. John is to be considered as residing at Ephesus, and as exercising there his apostolic office.

It may be well to pause for a moment here, and to regard him illustrating the doctrines which he preached and taught, in all his practical conduct, by "a life of faith in the Son of God," and by the constant exhibition of that love towards God and man which so distinguished him. We may also remember that he was now far advanced in years, and that he had reached a period of life quite beyond the usual duration of man's earthly course, even when protracted to a "good old age."

n In so doing I have the satisfaction of treading in the steps of one-namely, the commentator Lampe-whom I the more admire for his spirit, his learning, his judgment and his industry, the more I observe how he treats each subject of history, or supposed history, which he brings forward.

Of his personal condition during all that long time intervening between the circumstance last narrated in this volume and that now to be examined, little or nothing is known. No information remains telling whether his course, as to external things, was peaceful and prosperous, or whether it was the reverse. However, the latter may be held by far the most probable. There is no positive certainty that he was an unmarried man, though historical tradition speaks of him as such with one consent. And notwithstanding all the statements arising from the same source, there is no valid or trustworthy record preserved, telling how long the mother of our Lord dwelt with him, or when she died. However, from the holy trust with which he was invested, or rather from the mutual relationship formed by the Saviour on the cross, it may be supposed that the termination of the virgin's residence with St. John and her death were events which took place at one and the same time. Over all these circumstances dimness and obscurity prevail, which no research has in the least cleared up, howsoever eager and industrious, from various causes, into which I need not enter, that research has been.

0 "Constans satis traditio Patrum illum cœlibem testatur et fuisse, cum vocaretur, et permansisse. An vero satis antiqua sit, de eo disceptatur." Proleg. in Joan. 1. I. c. i. §. 13.

P Lampe in his Proleg. 1. I. c. iv. §. 2, rejects the statement of Eusebius Hist. Ec. 1. III. c. ii, that John took a journey, shortly after the destruction of Jerusalem, for the purpose of uniting

One of the great persecutions of the church is held to have taken place A. D. 95, and in the fifteenth year of the emperor Domitian. The circumstances leading to St. John's banishment to Patmos are connected with this persecution; and here investigation must be made, as to the amount of trustworthy history remaining for our use concerning those events.

The accounts of St. John's journey to Rome have neither more nor less authority than those which attend the statement of his being cast into the vessel of boiling oil, and coming forth unharmed. The same considerations will equally apply to both.

Tertullian is the writer, on whose assertion, with very little or no additional testimony, the

with the other surviving apostles, in electing one to supply the place of James, who had suffered martyrdom. That commentator thus expresses himself on the subject after having translated the passage from Eusebius: "Cum author non laudetur, et res hæc tanquam incerta fama constans narretur, nos quoque eam in medio relinquimus." Eusebius does not state the locality, where, according to him, the apostles met on this occasion. Singularly enough, (and I should suppose quite unwarrantably,) Tillemont fills up the vacancy, though adding no authority beyond that of Eusebius, to which he makes his reference. The passage of Tillemont is as follows:

'Saint Jean fit apparemment un voyage à Jérusalem en l'an 62 pour y donner à l'Eglise un pasteur digne de succéder à S. Jacques le Mineur, qui y avoit esté couronné par un glorieux martyre. Car, on tient, dit Eusèbe, que tous les apostres et tous les disciples du Seigneur, qui restoient encore sur la terre, s'y rassemblèrent pour ce sujet de tous costez. Ce fut Saint Simeon qui fut choisi par une si sainte et illustre assemblée." Hist. Ec. ed. MDCCI. St. Jean. Art. iv.

truth of this journey to Rome and of this miraculous preservation may be said to depend.

In his work, De Præscriptione Hæreticorum, he thus apostrophizes Rome, or rather the church in that city: "O happy church, for which the apostles sealed their whole doctrine with their blood; where Peter was likened to his Lord in the manner of his death; where Paul died a martyr, ending his days as John the Baptist had ended his and where John the apostle, after being cast into boiling oil, came forth unhurt and was banished to the island!"

r

Two writers only for two succeeding centuries, bear any testimony to this fact relative to St. John, namely, the author of the Fragments ascribed to Polycarps, and Jerome.

The words of the document contained in the Fragments are these: "It is read that the blessed John was cast into a caldron of boiling oil for the name of Christt." But the character and tone of

q "Habes Romam, unde nobis quoque auctoritas præsto est. Felix ecclesia, cui totam doctrinam apostoli cum sanguine suo profuderunt: ubi Petrus passioni Dominicæ adæquatur, ubi Paulus Johannis exitu coronatur, ubi apostolus Joannes, posteaquam in oleum igneum immersus, nihil passus est, in insulam relegatur!"

r "Nullus tamen ex sequentibus per duo sæcula Patribus ejus vestigia pressit, excepto authore fragmentorum Polycarpo adscriptorum, et Hieronymo." Lampe, Proleg. 1. I. c. iv. §. 3.

s See Jacobson's Patres Apostolici, vol. II. p. 493.

t I quote the Latin words thus rendered, as that is the original language in which they remain: "Legitur et in dolio ferventis olei pro nomine Christi beatus Johannes fuisse demersus." Jacobson quotes the very sensible observation of an earlier editor of