When we turn to the Fourth Gospel, we find that the name of John, son of Zehedce, is never once named. Hut there are in llie account of the Piussion and llesurrection certain references to an unnamed apostle wliom universal tradition has identified with St. Jolin. At tlie Last Supper we read of a disciple whom Jesus loved, who was reclining at the table in a place of special nearness to our Ixjrd. It seems from the language used (ch. 13) that the three, our Lord, St. Peter, and this un- named apostle, occupied one triclinium. Tliey rtclined, according to custom, on the left side, obliquely across the couch. Our Lord was in the centre, St. Peter in the place second in dignity to this, parallel to the position occupied by the Lord and behind Him ; St. John in the tliird place, parallel also but before Him. When the prophecy of the l>etrayal is made, St. Peter from behind beckons to St. John in front to ask who it i.s. St. John, leaning back upon the breast of Jesus as he lay (\?>^ dfaTTfffujc iKf'ivos oOtus itrl t6 arrjOos Tou 'lri<Tov), asks the question and receives the (probably whispered) communication. This same apostle is apparently he who was known to the high priest (18"), and used liis ac<|uaintance to admit St. Peter to the court of tlie high priest. The disciple whom Jesus loved is at the foot of the cross, and there receives the conmiission to take care of the Virgin- mother after the Lord's death (19-'). He is again in close connexion with St. Peter on the day of the re.surreclioM. The news is brought to Sijnon Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved (20-), and the two together make a visit to the tomb. In the last chapter of all, for the only time in this Gospel ' the sons of Zebedee' are mentioned (2F), and in the scene which follows, St. Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved are the prominent agents. It is the latter who is first to recognize the Lord. The chapter is indeed inserted in order to correct an impression that this disciple is to await the coming of the Lord without dying. And then, in words which are closely parallel to the claim (19"') to have been eye-witness of the scene upon the cross, it is distinctly asserted that the disciple whom Jesus loved is he that testitieth these things and tliat wrote the.se things (21^).
(6) In the Acts, St. Jolin appears in two im- pel taut scenes in company with St. Peter ; the connexion of these two apostles (noted in Lk 22" and closfly in ngroement with tlie Konrth Gospel, if the lii'loveii disciple is iiubed St. John i is cur- ried out ill these chii])ti>rM of tliu .Vets. These are the two who heal the lame man at the Heautiful Gate of the temple, and are brought before the Sanhedrin (Ac ;i.4l. These, ai;ain, are the two who go down to Samaria to bestow the ijift of the Holy Ghost on those whom I'hilip had ci>nvcrted and baptized (S"). Once more tlie name of John is mentioned, again in connexion with St Peter, ns having been seen at Jerusalem by St Paul when
he went up by revelation (Gal 2') and saw those who seemed to be pillars (Gal 2'). After this, except in the Revelation, the name of John dis- appears from the New Testament.
(c) When we pass beyond the New Testament, we find ourselves in the region of somewhat frag- mentary tradition. We learn that at some period undefined St. John left Jerusalem and took up his residence at Ephesus. Of the intervening perio<l between the departure from Jerusalem and the residence at Ephesus we know nothing, except that TertuUian (</<; Prwsc. II<cr. 3G) allirnis that St. John came to Home, and was there by way of sulluring martyrdom. He was placed in a cauldron of boiling oil, but was miraculously preserved from death. No date is fixed for this by TertuUian, but St. John is saiil to luave been banished after his escape to an island ('relegatur ad insulam '). Eusebius, however, definitely connects this banish- ment with the persecution of Uomitian (HE III. xviii.), and quotes in support of his view the statement of Irenajus that St. John saw the Revelation irpis ti} WXci rijs LojicTiavoii opx'/js (Iren. adv. Hier. V. xxx. 3). Eusebius then affirms (on the basis of A rdv irap* 7)^Xv dpxal(j}v Xi/yos, HE III. XX.) th.at, on the accession of Nerva, St. John removed from Patmos to Ephesus. Here he organized the Churches in Asia, and survived till the time of Trajan (Eus. HE in. xxiii., quoting Iren. adv. lUer. II. xxii. 5, III. iii. 4).
It is to this period that most of the remaining anecdotes of St. John are assigned. Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus, in a letter to Victor of Rome, s.ays that John was [iriest here, and wore tl.e ir^aXof or high-priestly headdress ; that he died, and was buried there (Eus. V. xxiv.). On the authority of ApoUonius, St. John is said to have raised a man from the dead at Ephesus (Eus. V. xviii.). It was in illustration of his exerci.se of the epLscopal office with characteristic love that Clement of Alexandria tells the story of his journey into the forest to reclaim a convert who had fallen into bad ways and joined a band of robbers (Clem. Alex. Quis Div. Salv. ch. 42). While at Ephesus he combats fiercely the heresy of Cerinthus, refusing even to be under the same roof with the heretic (Iren. adv. Htcr. III. iii. 4), and being persuaded to write his Gosjiel, specially to contute such heretics as tliis (ib. III. xi.). The Muratorian Fragment contains a story of the origin of the Gospel somewhat akin to this. It describes a discussion in which Andrew took part, in which St. John was pressed to write down his teaching about our Lord. After deliberation, and a special intimation from the Holy Spirit, he acts upon the advice. There are twostoriesof hise.vtremeuld age preserved, the one by Ciussian, the other by Jerome. Cassian tells how he used to play with a tjinie par- tridge, and when censured for such frivolity used the phraae, ' the bow cannot be always bent [Cull. xxiv. 21). And Jerome describes him at a time when he had to be carried into church, and was too old to speak for any length of time ; he used then, in ad<lressing the Church, to use simply the old commandment, ' Little children, love one another.' His di.sciple.s, weary of the continual repetition, asked why he always said this : his answer was, 'Quia pripceptum Domini est, et, si solum fiat, sntficit' (Jer. Comm. in Gal. vi. 10). The last chapter of the Gospel did not prevent the growth of a legend that the apostle was not really dead, but only asleep. And it was confidently allirnied that the ground where he lay rose anil fell with his breathing, and that the dust was moved by his breath. St. Augustine mentions tliia (Tract . in Juh. cxxiv. 2), but docs not altogether accejit it (' Viderint . . . qui locum sciunt, utruni hoc ibi facial vel patiatur terra, quod dicitur i