either of the preceding; nor is it possible to believe, that the narrative of the resurrection of Lazarus, or of the last scenes of our Saviour's life, were composed without tears. Such strokes of pathos, such touching simplicity, such minuteness of detail, without puerility or redundance, characterize the history of these extraordinary events, as could only have proceeded from one who felt himself a party concerned; who, with a most intimate acquaintance with his subject, wrote still more from his heart than from his head. He is little to be envied, who can peruse these inimitable narratives without being moved: the author places us in the very midst of the scenes he describes; we listen to the discourses, we imbibe the sentiments of the principal actors; and while he says nothing of himself, he lays open the whole interior of his character. We feel ourselves introduced, not so much to the acquaintance of an inspired apostle, as to that of the most amiable of men.

The selection of his materials is such as it were natural to expect from the disciple whom Jesus loved; for, while the other evangelists direct their chief attention to the miracles of our Lord, John relates his sentiments and discourses. The preceding evangelists content themselves, for the most part, with exhibiting his human history, in the record of those facts which established the truth of his doctrine, and the divinity of his mission; John commences from an earlier date, draws back the veil of eternity, and shews us the subject of his

history subsisting before all worlds, presiding in the work of creation and providence.

It is from this apostle we learn most fully the state of the controversy between our Lord and the unbelieving Jews; in the course of which, we have continual occasion to admire the quickness and dexterity, the subtlety and profundity, displayed in various discourses, which, but for him, would have been lost in oblivion. He expatiates with peculiar interest on the last interview between Christ and his disciples; where he assures them of his unalterable attachment, and exerts himself to console their grief, to reanimate their confidence, and dispel their fears, by the prospect of seeing them again, when their joy should be such as no man should take from them. He either entirely omits, or passes rapidly over, the transactions recorded by the other evangelists; but when he approaches the scene of the crucifixion, he lingers, and dwells upon the circumstances of that awful tragedy with a minuteness and particularity of detail, as though it had never been recorded before.

In the short epistles inscribed with his name, the topic on which he chiefly insists is LOVE, which, in its sublimer form, constitutes the moral essence of the Deity, as well as the very sum and substance of true religion. His heart was in perfect unison with his subject. Written, as is supposed, at a very advanced age, the spirit they breathe is that of a father inculcating on his children the cultivation of every virtue, and especially of mutual

affection, with that neglect of order and arrangement, and those reiterations and overflowings of tender importunity, which are suited to such a character. Instead of assuming an air of superiority, in his first epistle he suppresses his name; and in the two last, takes to himself a title common to every christian pastor. He is not satisfied with styling his converts children; he styles them little children. Little children, keep yourselves from idols; which reminds me of a beautiful anecdote related by Eusebius, that when he was too much oppressed with infirmity to permit him to exercise his public ministry any longer, he was accustomed to be carried into the church; and after stretching forth his feeble arms, and crying, Little children, love one another, to retire from the assembly. So deeply was he imbued with the seraphic love of the bosom on which he leaned, that it remained unimpaired, amidst the decays of nature, and the eclipse of intellect.

In the early part of his life, if we may judge from a single incident, from his proposing to call down fire from heaven to avenge the insult offered to our Lord, he possessed an impetuous and eager spirit, not always restrained by the wisdom that is from above; but in maturer years it appears to have subsided, and given place to none but benign affections. His meekness and tenderness, however, were never indulged at the expense of truth, his adherence to which was inviolable; nor did he fail to express the utmost abhorrence at any

attempt to corrupt it; insomuch that I can easily believe another anecdote related by Eusebius, that, on his entering a public bath, and finding the notorious heresiarch Cerinthus there, he left it with precipitation, exclaiming, "Let us flee from this place, lest it fall and crush that enemy of God!" His benevolence spent itself, not in a hollow and unmeaning complaisance to the impugners of the gospel, but in efforts to convert them; and just in proportion as he loved his fellow-creatures, was his anxiety to preserve, unimpaired, and unmixed, the doctrine by which they were to be saved.

But enough has been said on the character of this eminent apostle. Before we dismiss this branch of our subject, it will be proper to advert to a few indications of the preference with which he was honoured. On perusing the evangelists, it appears, that he was invariably selected by our Lord as one of the three, who were present in the most retired scenes of his life, on the mount of transfiguration, in the house of Jairus, and in the garden of Gethsemane. Whoever else were absent, John was sure to share his most confidential moments, and to witness his most secret joys and conflicts. At the paschal supper, to which he looked forward with so much eagerness, as the appointed season for a more unreserved disclosure of his purposes than he had made before, he placed John next to himself, in such a manner, that his head naturally rested on his bosom. Through him it was that the rest of the disciples applied to

our Lord to be informed who it was that should betray him. But the most decisive evidence of the preference bestowed upon John, arises from his being chosen to take care of his widowed mother after his decease. The circumstance is related with inimitable simplicity and beauty. No sooner was our Saviour elevated on the cross, than he sees his mother standing by, along with the disciple whom he loved: to the mother he said, Behold thy son; to John, Behold thy mother: and from that moment John took her to his own house. rebuke to that proud and false philosophy, which pretends to extinguish the feelings of nature, and to erect its trophies on the ruins of humanity! By committing to the beloved disciple so precious a deposit, he gave him a stronger demonstration of his esteem, than by a whole volume of panegyric.

What a

After the resurrection and ascension, he continued to receive from his Saviour similar proofs of his preference. Preserved amidst a violent and bloody persecution, he was permitted (such is the universal tradition of the church) to survive the rest of the apostles, to witness, in the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of its inhabitants, the fulfilment of his own predictions, and, finally, to close a life extended to an extreme old age in peace, and in the bosom of his friends. Nor was this the only distinction he enjoyed. To him it was given to convey to the churches of Asia among whom he dwelt, repeated messages from his ascended Lord, to behold his glory, and to