the things related by him in his Gofpel: and that he was an eye and ear-witnelle of our Lord's labours, journeyings, difcourfes, miracles, his low abasement even to an ignominious death, and his being alive again, and then afcending to heaven.

Having (1) been prefent with the reft of the Apostles at the Lord's afcenfion, he (m) returned with them from mount Olivet to Jerufalem, and continued with them, joyning with them in their devotions, and in the choice of another, to fupply the place of Judas: and (n) partook in the plentiful effusion of the Holy Ghost upon the Apoftles and their companie on the day of Pentecoft next ensuing.

Peter and John, who often accompanied each other, healed the lame man at the temple, and upon that occafion preached to the people who affembled about them. For which they were brought before the Jewish Council, and after fome debates were difmiffed with orders, not to preach any more in the name of Jefus. Acts iii. and iv.

1... 22.

Some while after this, the number of believers still increasing in JeTufalem, John and the reft of the Apoftles were apprehended, and put into the common prifon. But they were the fame night delivered by an angel, who commanded them to go and speak in the temple to the people. Which they did early in the morning. Whereupon they were again taken up, and brought before the Council, who confulted how they might put them to death. But by the advice of Gamaliel that design was laid afide. And when they had beaten them, they commanded, that they bould mot fpeak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. Whereupon the Apostles departed from the presence of the Council, rejoicing... And daily in the temple, and from houfe to houfe, they ceafed not to teach and preach Jefus Chrift.

Afterwards, there being a violent perfecution at Jerufalem, many were scattered abroad. Philip, one of the feven, went down to Sama› ia, and preached to them, and wrought many miracles, infomuch that great numbers believed. When the Apostles, who were at Jerusalem, heard of this, they fent unto them Peter and John, that they might receive the Holy Ghoft. Having performed that fervice, they returned to Jerufalem. And in their way preached the gofpel in many villages of the Samaritans. Acts viii. 5. . . 25.

From

lectionis difcipulorum initium Jefus fecit, uti L. i. cap. 2. §. ii. oftendimus inde colligimus, Evangeliftam noftrum ftatim ab initio rebus, quæ fcribit, interfuiffe, et hanc effe veram rationem, cur non altius filum hiftoriæ fuæ inciperat. Ex omnibus quoque fequentibus narrationibus nulla eft, in qua ab fentem Evangeliftam noftrum ftatuamus fuiffe, nifi forte excipere velis illa, quæ in palatio Annæ et Caiaphæ acciderunt. Cap. xviii. 13... 17. De quibus tamen res eft dubia, quia definiri accurate nequit, annoh difcipulus, qui Petrum in Palatium Caiaphæ introduxerit, ipfe Evangelifta nofter fuerit. Sed licet illa præfens non perceperit, a Petro tamen, focio intimo, ftatim proculdubio audivit. Et forte per ejus relationem excitatus eft, u. ad Prætorium Pilati fummo mane advolaret, atque ita cum reliquis mulieribus Jefum ad crucem fequeretur... Ex quo patet, quanta cum emphafi præ ceteris Apoftolis et Evangeliftis dicere potuit: Quæ audivimus, quæ vidimus. 1 Jo. i. 1. 2. Lamp. Proleg. 1. 2. cap. 4. num, wis

(1) Mark xvi. 19. Luke xxiv, 50.... 53. Acts i. t. . . .
(m) Ads i. 12... 26.
(n) Acts ii. 1. .. 13.

12.

From what St. Paul fays in the fecond chapter of the epiftle to the Galatians we perceive, that John was prefent at the Council of Jerufalem: of which an account is given Acts xv. Which Council was held in the year 49. or 50. or thereabout. And it may be reckoned probable, that till that time John had ftaid in the land of Ifrael, and had not been abroad in any Gentil countreys.

I would add, that though no miracles are related to be done by St. John, befide thofe, which have been here taken notice of; I reckon it very probable, that many miracles, befide thofe particularly mentioned by the hiftorian, were wrought by him, and other Apoftles, during their tay in Judea. This may be inferred from general expreffions of St. Luke in feveral places. And many figns and wonders were done by the Apostles. Acts ii. 43. And with great power gave the Apostles witneffe of the refurrection of the Lord Jesus. ch. iv. 33. And by the hands of the Apostles were many figns and wonders wrought among the people. ch. v. 12. Comp. iv.

29.30.

From the book of the Revelation. ch. i. 9. we learn, that St. John was for a while in the island called Patmos, where he was favored with vifions and revelations.

Thus far we have endeavored to collect the hiftorie of this Apostle from the New Teftament.

II. From ecclefiaftical hiftorie we learn, that St. John lived

to a great age, and that in the later part of his life he refided His age. in Afia, particularly at Ephefus, the chief city of that countrey.

Po

Concerning his abode in Afia we have divers teftimonies of good credit. Irenæus in (0) two places of his work against Herefies, both (p) cited by Eufebe, fays, that John the Apoftle lived in Afia till the time of Trajan. [Who fucceeded Nerva in the year of Chrift 98.] Eufebe (q) understands Clement of Alexandria to fpeak to the like purpose. Origen alfo fays, that (r) John having lived long in Afia, died at Ephefus. lycrates, Bishop of Ephefus about 196. is an unexceptionable witneffe, that (5) John was buried in that city. Jerome (t) in his book of Illuftrious Men, and in his books againft Jovinian, fays, " that the Apostle John lived in Afia, to the time of Trajan. And dying at a great age, in the fixty-eighth year after our Lord's paffion, was buried near the city of Ephefus." Suppofing our Lord to have been crucified in the year 32. of the vulgar æra, which (u) feems to have been Jerome's opinion, fixty-eight years will reach to the year 100. or the third of Trajan. At which year of that Emperour the death of St. John is placed by Jerome in his (x) Chronicle.

What was John's age, when called by Chrift, we are not informed. Baronius

(0) Iren. adv. Haer. 1. 2. cap. 22. n. v. p. 148. ed. Maff. et l. 3. cap. 3.

p. 178.

(p) Eufeb. H. E. 1. 3. cap. 23. in.

(g) Vid. Eufeb. ibid.

(s) Ap. Eufeb. 1. v. cap. 24. in.

(t) See Gredib. Vol. x. p. 100. and 101.
(u) Vid. Bafnag. Ann. 101. num. ii.
(*) P. 165, ex ed. Scalig.

VOL. II.

I

(r) Ap. Eufeb. 1. 3. cap. 1.

Baronius (y) thought he might then be about 22 years of age. Having been with Chrift three years, he was about 25 years of age when our Lord was crucified. Tillemont (z) supposes St. John to have been about 25 or 26 years of age when called to be an Apoftle. Lampe (a) thinks, that he was about the fame age with our Saviour. For my part, I cannot perfuade myself, that any of Chrift's Apoftles, when called to attend upon him, that they might be his witneffes to the world, were much under the age of thirty. If it hence follows, that John was a hundred years of age, or thereabout, when he died, it is not at all incredible, nor unlikely.

When he

III. As it is an allowed point, that John dwelt in Afia in the later part of his life; we may be reafonably defirous to left Judea. know, when he fettled in that countrey. And for determining this, the books of the New Testament may afford good hints. For (b) in all St. Luke's hiftorie of the preaching and travels of Paul, particularly in Afia, no mention is made of John. Which may induce us to think, that he was not there at that time. Nor are there any falutations fent to John in any of St. Paul's epiftles, writ at Rome: feveral of which were fent to Ephefus, or other places, not very remote from it: as the epiftle to the Ephefians, the fecond epiftle to Timothie, probably, at Ephefus, the epiftle to the Coloffians, and the epiftle to Philemon, at Coloffe.

I will now observe the opinions of fome learned moderns. Baronius thought, that (c) this Apostle did not come to refide in Afia, until after the death of St. Peter, and St. Paul. Du Pin fays: We (d) do not exactly know, when he came into Afia. Perhaps it was about the year 70. Tillemont was of opinion, that (e) St. John did not come to refide in Afia, till about the year 66. But he fuppofeth, that upon fome occafion, he had before that been in that countrey, without making a stay there. Which laft, as I apprehend, is faid without any good authority. Mr. Lampe was of opinion, that (f) John did not leave Judea, till after the death of James, called the Less, and but a short time only, before the deftruction of Jerufalem.

To me it seems not unlikely, that St. John came into Asia, about the time that the war broke out in Judea, in the year 66. or a short time be

(y) Ann. 101. num. ix.

Mem. Tom. i.

fore,

(x) S. Jean l'Evangelifle. art. x. et note xv. (a) Quare nihil impedit, quo minus ejufdem ferme ætatis cum fervatore noftro fuerit. Prolegom. in Jo. l. i. cap. 2. num. i. not. (a)

(b) In the divifion of provinces, which the Apoftles made among themfelves, Afia fell to his fhare, though he did not prefently enter into his charge. Otherwife, we must have heard of him in the account, which St. Luke gives of St. Paul's feveral journeys into, and refidence in those parts," Cave's Life of St. John. §. iv.

(c) A. d. 97. num, ii.

(d) Du Pin Diff. Prel. l. 2. ch. 2. §. vi.

(e) St. Jean. art. iv.

(f) Poft ejus (Jacobi Minoris) exceffum neminem ex a ddxa grege et conftantius et diutius Hierofolymis fubftitiffe noftro Apoftolo: ita ut vix exiguo ante exordium intervallo, inde fe avelli pateretur. Proleg. 1. i. cap. 2. n. xv. p. 29.

fore, when, probably, St. Peter and Paul had been before crowned with martyrdom.

As St. John ftaid a good while in Palestine, it may be reasonably con cluded, that the virgin Marie did not go with him to Ephefus, as (gBaronius, and fome others have thought, but died, before he went thither) Which was the opinion of (h) Cave, and (i) Bafnage.

IV. St. John having had a long life, many things have been faid of him, fome true, others falfe. Moft of them have been already taken notice of in feveral chapters of this work. It may not be improper to recollect them here, with fome remarks.

His Hiftorie

from other

Writers.

1. Apollonius, who wrote against the Montanifts, and flourished about the year 211. fays, in a fragment, preferved by Eufebe, "That (k) by the divine power John raised up a dead man to life at Ephefus." Which miracle is alfo taken notice of by (1) Sozomen, and (m) Nicephorus, and may have been really done. But if we had had a more circumftantial hifto rie of it, and if it had been mentioned by some other early writers, befide Apollonius, it would have been more credible.

2. There was a book forged with the title of the Travels of Paul and Thecla by a Presbyter, who was depofed for fo doing, as related by Tertullian. Jerome fays, that he was a Prefbyter in Afia, and that he was convicted before St. John of being the author of it, and for that reason was depofed. Of this matter we have already spoken distinctly already, and therefore refer to what was then (n) said.

3. It is also related of our Apoftle, that going to bathe at Ephefus, and perceiving, that Cerinthus, or, as others fay, Ebion, was already in the bath, he came out again haftily, and would not make use of the bath. The probability of which account was examined (o) formerly.

4. It is faid, that by order of the Emperour Domitian St. John was caft into a caldron of boyling oyl at Rome, and came out again, without being hurt. The (p) truth of which storie likewife has been confidered by us.

5. Polycrates, Bishop of Ephefus in the later part of the fecond centu rie, fays, that John was Chrift's High-Prieft, wearing on his forehead a golden plate. Which account (q) has been confidered, and the judgements of divers learned men upon it alleged.

6. Eufebe has a ftorie, from a work of Clement of Alexandria, of a young man in a city of Afia, not far from Ephesus, who after having been inftructed

(g) A. d. 44. n. xxix.

(b) Probable therefore it is, that he dwelt in his own houfe at Jerufalem, at leaft till the death of the bleffed Virgin." Cave's Life of St. John, §. iv.

(i) Vid. Bafnag. Ann. 46. num. xxxviii.

(k) See ch. 31. num. iv. Vol. iii. p. 16. (1) Sox. 1. 7. cap. 27. p. 750.

(m) Niceph. 1. 4. cap. 25.

(n) See ch. 27. vol. ii. p. 641... 643. and ch. 29. p. 698. &c.

(0) See ch. 6. vol. i. p. 190. 191. note (B) the fecond edition, and ch. 114. vol. x. p. 108.

(p) See ch. 27. vol. ii. p. 604. note (E) the fecond edition, and ch. 114. vol.

*. p. 108.

(9) See ch. 114. vol. x. p. 104. . ..107.

ftructed in the Chriftian Religion took to evil courfes, and became profligate but nevertheless was afterwards brought to repentance by our Apoftle. This account is inferted at large by Eufebe (r) in his Ecclefiaftical Hiftorie. It has been repeated in like manner by Simeon Metaphraftes in his Life of St. John. Chryfoftom (s) has referred to it. It is alfo briefly told in the (t) Paschal Chronicle. I have already taken fome notice of this (u) ftorie. S. Bafnage (x) thinks it to be a fable, or feigned apologue, compofed to convey useful instruction. Mr. Lampe (y) is favorable to this hiftory. And, perhaps, it may be true, abating fome circumftances. Which are not seldom added to fuch accounts, to render them the more entertaining.

7. Jerome has given an account of St. John's method of preaching, when he was of a great age, and was not able to make a long difcourfe. This (z) was taken notice of by us in a proper place. Nor is the truth of it, though related by Jerome only, difputed, either by (a) Lampe, or (b) Le Clerc.

8. It is generally fuppofed, that (c) John is one of those Apostles, who lived a fingle life. It is faid by (d) Tertullian, and Jerome. Which last affirms, that (e) ecclefiaftical history affures us of it. And he makes it the ground of all the peculiar privileges of this Apostle.

(r) L. 3. cap. 23.

(s) Ad Theodor. Lapf. T. i. p. 31. ed. Bened.

(t) Chr. Pafch. p. 251. D.

(u) See ch. 114. vol. x. p. 107. 108.

9. Another

(x) Apologo quam hiftoriæ videtur effe propior.... Ac fane nefcimus, fi vera hiftoria eft, cur Clemens pubs, fabula, nomen ipfi primum impofuerit. Fabula fuit ratione rei fignificantis, veritafque refpectu rei fignificatæ, que mentibus proponebatur, nempe eximii paftoris officium, ac vis pœnitentiæ. Non infolens erat antiquis, uti apologis ejufmodi ad informandos mores.

Si cui tamen placet de Joanne Clementis narrationem veram hiftoriam effe, quia fic veteribus vifum, de hac re quidem contendere nolumus. Bafn, ann. 97. num. x.

) Prolegom. 1. i. cap. v. num. iii. .. .. ix.

(z) Vol. x. p. 103.

(a) Licet enim Hieronymus folus hujus narrationis auctor fit, nihil tamen occurrit, quod non cum more Joannis, ut cum ratione Ecclefiæ ejus temporis apprime convenit. Lamp. Proleg. l. i. cap. v. n. xi.

(b) H. E. ann. 99. num. i.

(c) Vid. Lamp. Proleg. l. i. cap. i. num. xiii.

(d) Joannes Chrifti fpado. De Monog. cap. 17. p. 688.

e) Talem fuiffe eunuchum, quem Jefus amavit plurimum, Evangeliftam Joannem, ecclefiaftice credunt hiftoriæ: qui recubuit fuper pectus Jefu: qui, Petro tardius ambulante, elatus virginitatis alis cucurrit ad Dominum: qui in fecreta divinæ fe nativitatis immergens, aufus eft dicere: In principio erat Verbum, &c. In If. cap. LVI. Tom. 3. p. 410.

Joannes vero nofter, quafi aquila, ad fuperna volat, et ad ipfum Patrem pervenit, dicens: In principio erat Verbum, &c. Expofuit virginitas, quod nuptiæ fcire non poterant. Et ut brevi fermone multa comprehendam, doceamque, cujus privilegii fit Joannes, imo in Joanne virginitas: a Domino virgine, mater virgo virgini difcipulo commendatur. Adv. Jovin. 1. i. T. 4. P. 2. p. 169. Vid. et ad. Princip, virg. ep. 96. al. 16. ib. p. 780. ƒ.