01. PREFACE

"AM the Vine; ye are the branches."

These words of Jesus say that we are dependent on Him for our Christian being. They place our union to Him in a very remarkable light. It is not here—as in the Epistle to the Romans (xi. 17—24)—that we have been "graffed" unto Him. The branch is not "graffed" into the vine, but grows out of it. Even so, our believer-life is but the outgrowth (so to speak) of the Eternal Life. The life that was placed in the first Adam was lost in the Fall; the life that is in the last Adam is immortal and sure. And it is in Him as life is in the vine-root—which grows forth into living branches. Because there is a living vine-root, there must be branches; and Christ the Living One must have His branches also; and the endlessness of His life is security that ours shall be endless too.

We know the vine by its branches. It is in them that the fruit is put forth which shows the qualities vi

PREFACE.

and power of the life. We know Christ by His branches. We know Him in His disciples, because in every one of them He liveth, and His fruit is found in them. In such a man as the Apostle John, we see Him more fully than in common saints; not merely by what he tells us—though that is much—but even more by what he is, in his new being.

To regard the Apostle thus is not to make him an object of hero-worship—as there are so many subtle and perilous temptations to do. This hero-worship is a fashion of our age, and grows in the same soil with envy and detraction. Man praises man, and God is robbed of His due. This, I believe, has not a little to do with the decay of true reverence among us, and the debility of faith. It tends also to divisions and alienations. We may not choose out even an Apostle for such worship. Of all saints, perhaps, the Apostle John would have shrunk from it the most sensitively, with the most earnest, See thou do it not! What he was he owed to Christ, and hence could not accept glory for himself. Hence, also, while shrinking from hero-worship, he would have stood forth anywhere—albeit in a pillory—if he might thereby show the glory of his Lord and Saviour more fully. To contribute to the exhibition of this glory is the design of the things which follow. In so far as they are according to the truth, may the Lord bless them.


CONTENTS.

I.—INTRODUCTORY.

Manifestation of the Son of God. The Chosen Witnesses. What they had in Common. Their Individuality. Breadth of Fitness ... ... ... ... ... ... 1

II.—THE MAN.

The Home of John. His General Character. Son of Thunder. "The Disciple whom Jesus Loved." Greatness of Mind. Symbolized by the Eagle. An Example of Christ's New-fashioning Power. John's Fitness for being a Witness ... 7

III.—THE COMPANION OF JESUS.

The Forerunner. John's First Meeting with Jesus. With Him in Galilee, Jerusalem, and Samaria. "Follow Me." The Apostolic Appointment. His New Name. Jairus' Daughter. The Transfiguration. "Who is Greatest?" "Shall we call down Fire from Heaven?" "Thy Right Hand and Thy Left." Gethsemane and the Closing Scenes. The Risen Life. ... ... ... 27

IV.—THE APOSTLE.

The Commission. John, the Associate of Peter in Jerusalem and Samaria. Disappears from the History. Ephesus. Patmos. Close of his Life. ... ... ... ... 64 viii

CONTENTS.

V.—THE SEER.

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The Book of Revelation. Difference between it and John's other Writings. The Vision of the Lord. Patmos. The Seven Churches. The Apocalypse the one Prophetic Book of the New Testament. Schools of Interpretation. Structure of the Book ... ... ... ... 84

VI.—THE EVANGELIST.

The Gospel of John. The battle-field of the New Testament. Relation to the other Gospels. Characteristics and Contents. How it impresses different Men. The Prologue. Exposition of the Prologue ... ... ... ... 98

VII.—THE FATHER AND HIS LITTLE CHILDREN.

John's Epistles. Condition of those to whom the First Epistle was sent. "Knowledge." Opinions as to the Person of the Redeemer. The Epistle itself. The "Elect Lady" and the Second Epistle. Gaius and the Third Epistle ... 145

VIII.—THE THEOLOGIAN.

The New Testament Writings. Different Modes of presenting the same Truth. John's Starting-point. The Word. Manifested humanly. Sphere of the Manifestation. Its Character and Purpose. The Holy Spirit. "For Judgment am I come." Sinning and not Sinning. Faith and Unbelief. Standing of Believers. The Future. ... 176

IX.—HIS INFLUENCE.

On Christian Thought. Christian Philosophy. The Origin and Nurture of the New Life. Faith, Love, Hope. The Early Ages. The Dark Ages. Mysticism. The Reformation. The Present. Influence of John's Personality. Results of Studying his Writings... ... ... 208

Legends, Traditions, etc. ... ... ... ... 229


JOHN, WHOM JESUS LOVED.

I.