Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

H. E. III. xxxi. 3, V. xxiv. 3) as a priest wearing the sacerdotal plate or mitre (petalon) which was a special badge of the highpriest (Exod. xxxix. 30); and we learn from the Apocalypse that from Ephesus as a centre he directed the churches of Asia Minor. What persecution drove him to Patmos or caused him to be banished thither is uncertain, as also is the date of his death, which may be placed somewhere near A.D. 100.

Of the traditions which cluster round this latter part of his life three deserve more than a passing mention. (1) John, the disciple of the Lord, going to bathe at Ephesus, and perceiving Cerinthus within, rushed out of the bath-house without bathing, crying out, 'Let us fly, lest even the bath-house fall on us, because Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, is within' (Iren. III. iii. 4). Epiphanius (Haer. XXX. 24) substitutes Ebion for Cerinthus. Both Cerinthus and the Ebionites denied the reality of the Incarnation. This tradition, like the incidents recorded, Luke ix. 49, 54, shews that in later life also the spirit of the 'son of thunder' was still alive within him.

(2) After his return from Patmos he made a tour to appoint bishops or presbyters in the cities. In one place a lad of noble bearing attracted his attention, and he specially commended him to the bishop, who instructed and at last baptized him. Then he took less care of him, and the young man went from bad to worse, and at last became chief of a set of bandits. The Apostle revisiting the place remembered him and said, 'Come, bishop, restore to me my deposit,' which confounded the bishop, who knew that he had received no money from S. John. 'I demand the young man, the soul of a brother;' and then the sad story had to be told. The Apostle called for a horse, and rode at once to the place infested by the bandits and was soon taken by them. When the chief recognised him he turned to fly. But the aged Apostle went after him and entreated him to stay, and by his loving tears and exhortations induced him to return with him to the church, to which in due time he restored him (Eus. H. E. III. xxiii. from Clement of Alexandria).

(3) Towards the very end of his life, when he was so infirm that he had to be carried to church and was too weak to preach,

he used often to say no more than this, 'Little children, love one another.' His hearers at last wearied of this, and said, 'Master, why dost thou always say this?' 'It is the Lord's command,' he replied, 'and if this alone is done, it is enough' (Jerome, Comm. in Ep. ad Gal. VI. 10).

Other traditions may be dismissed more briefly; that in his old age he amused himself with a partridge, and pleaded that a bow could not always be bent, but needed relaxation; that he was thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil at Rome and was none the worse; that he drank hemlock without being harmed by it; that after he was buried the earth above him heaved with his breathing, shewing that he was only asleep, tarrying till Christ came. This last strange story S. Augustine is disposed to believe: those who know the place must know whether the soil does move or not; and he has heard it from no untrustworthy people.

These fragments form a picture, which (as was said at the outset) although very incomplete is harmonious, and so far as it goes distinct. The two sides of his character, tender love and stern intolerance, are the one the complement of the other; and both form part of the intensity of his nature. Intensity of action, intensity of thought and word, intensity of love and hate-these are the characteristics of the beloved disciple. In the best sense of the phrase S. John was 'a good hater,' for his hatred was part of his love. It was because he so loved the truth, that he so hated all lukewarmness, unreality, insincerity, and falsehood, and was so stern towards 'whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.' It is because he so loved his Lord, that he shews such uncompromising abhorrence of the national blindness that rejected Him and the sacerdotal bigotry that hounded Him to death. Intolerance of evil and of opposition to the truth was sometimes expressed in a way that called for rebuke; but this would become less and less so, as his own knowledge of the Lord and of the spirit of the Gospel deepened. With his eagle gaze more and more fixed on the Sun of Righteousness, he became more and more keenly alive to the awful case of those who 'loved the darkness rather than the light, because their

works were evil' (iii. 19). Eternity for him was a thing not of the future but of the present (iii. 36, v. 24, vi. 47, 54); and whereas the world tries to make time the measure of eternity, he knows that eternity is the measure of time. Only from the point of view of eternal life, only from its divine side, can this life, both in its nothingness and in its infinite consequences, be rightly estimated : for 'the world passeth away and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever' (1 John ii. 17).

We thus see how at the end of a long life he was specially fitted to write what has been well called 'the Gospel of Eternity' and 'the Gospel of Love.' It is at the end of life, and when the other side of the grave is in sight, that men can best form an estimate both of this world and of the world to come. If that is true of all men of ordinary seriousness, much more true must it have been of him, who from his youth upwards had been an Apostle, whose head had rested on the Lord's breast, who had stood beside the Cross, had witnessed the Ascension, had cherished till her death the Mother of the Lord, had seen the Jewish dispensation closed and the Holy City overthrown, and to whom the beatific visions of the Apocalypse had been granted. No wonder therefore if his Gospel seems to be raised above this world and to belong to eternity rather than to time. And hence its other aspect of being also 'the Gospel of Love :' for Love is eternal. Faith and Hope are for this world, but can have no place when 'we shall see Him as He is' and 'know even as we are known.' Love is both for time and for eternity.

"They sin who tell us Love can die,
With life all other passions fly,

S. JOHN

All others are but vanity.

In heaven ambition cannot dwell,
Nor avarice in the vaults of hell;
Earthly, these passions of the earth
They perish where they had their birth,
But Love is indestructible,

2

Its holy flame for ever burneth,
From heaven it came, to heaven returneth.
Too oft on earth a troubled guest,

At times deceived, at times oppressed,
It here is tried, and purified,

Then hath in heaven its perfect rest:
It soweth here with toil and care,

But the harvest-time of Love is there."

SOUTHEY.

CHAPTER II.

THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE GOSPEL.

The Fourth Gospel is the battle field of the New Testament, as the Book of Daniel is of the Old: the genuineness of both will probably always remain a matter of controversy. With regard to the Gospel, suspicion respecting it was aroused in some quarters at the outset, but very quickly died out; to rise again, however, with immensely increased force in the eighteenth century, since which time to the present day the question has scarcely ever been allowed to rest. The scope of the present work admits of no more than an outline of the argument being presented.

i. The External Evidence.

In this section of the argument two objections are made to the Fourth Gospel: (1) the silence of the Apostolic Fathers; (2) its rejection by Marcion, the Alogi, and perhaps another

sect.

(1) The silence of the Apostolic Fathers, if it were a fact, would not be an insuperable difficulty. It is admitted on all sides that the Fourth Gospel was published long after the others, and when they were in possession of the field. There was nothing to lead men to suppose that yet another Gospel would be forthcoming; this alone would make people jealous

of its claims. And when, as we shall see, it was found that certain portions of it might be made to assume a Gnostic appearance, jealousy in some quarters became suspicion. The silence, therefore, of the first circle of Christian writers is no more than we might reasonably expect; and when taken in connexion with the universal recognition of the Gospel by the next circle of writers (A. D. 170 onwards), who had far more evidence than has reached us, may be considered as telling for, rather than against the authenticity.

But the silence of the Apostolic Fathers is by no means certain. The EPISTLE OF BARNABAS (C. A.D. 120-130) probably refers to it: Keim is convinced of the fact, although he denies that S. John wrote the Gospel. The shorter Greek form of the IGNATIAN EPISTLES (c. A.D. 150) contains allusions to it, and adaptations of it, which cannot seriously be considered doubtful. Bishop Lightfoot1 says of the expression 'living water' (Rom. vii.) "Doubtless a reference to John iv. 10, 11, as indeed the whole passage is inspired by the Fourth Gospel," and of the words 'knows whence it cometh and whither it goeth' (Philad. vii.), "The coincidence (with John iii. 8) is quite too strong to be accidental;" and "the Gospel is prior to the passage in Ignatius;" for "the application in the Gospel is natural: the application in Ignatius is strained and secondary." Again, on the words 'being Himself the Door of the Father' (Philad. ix.) he says, "Doubtless an allusion to John x. 9." The EPISTLE OF POLYCARP (C. A.D. 150) contains almost certain references to the First Epistle of S. John: and as it is admitted that the First Epistle and the Fourth Gospel are by the same hand, evidence in favour of the one may be used as evidence in favour of the other.

Besides these, PAPIAS (martyred about the same time as Polycarp) certainly knew the First Epistle (Eus. H. E. III. xxxix.). BASILIDES (C. A.D. 125) seems to have made use of the Fourth Gospel. JUSTIN MARTYR (c. A.D. 150) knew the

1 I am enabled to make these quotations from the great work of his life (unhappily still unfinished and unpublished) through the great kindness of the Bishop of Durham.

« ZurückWeiter »